Diamond In The Rough Trailer Part 4
Trailer Part 4 of 4
Sanji stirs and smiles sleepily. “Nami…. Morning….” He puckers his lips for a kiss. “How about a passionate good-morning kiss?”
Zoro wakes up just in time to see Sanji slowly closing in to kiss him. He makes a choked sound that has Sanji opening his eyes and seeing Zoro’s face instead of Nami’s. He makes a shocked face to make Zoro’s shocked face. The two of them stare at each other in shock.
It’s very shocking.
Sanji suddenly sits up. “You bastard! Your disgusting face nearly scared me half to death,” he yells.
“I scared you,” Zoro yells back, sitting up as well. “What the hell do ya think you’re do—”
Zoro grabs the front of Sanji’s shirt while Sanji grabs the front of his robe. Zoro grabs his wrist while Sanji puts his remaining hand on the swordsman’s head to push away. The two wrestle with each other angrily.
“There’s an island up ahead,” Nami shouts from above. “Guys, did you hear me? Island?”
That has the other men in the room waking up.
Or rather Luffy.
Like switching a light switch, Luffy went from sleeping to being awake. “Island?” He goes to roll of his hammock and knocks Usopp out of his hammock where he hits the ground face first and bends his nose at a weird angle. He barrels past Sanji and Zoro with a laugh. He temporary breaks up their wrestling, but they get back to it just as quickly. The rubber boy climbs up the main mast to get to the deck.
Iris groans softly as she’s awoken to yelling and scuffling. She opens her eyes to see that she’s facing the back of the couch that she fell asleep on. She props herself on her elbow and looks behind her to see Zoro and Sanji are up. The two are shouting while grabbing ahold of each other. Both of them raring to go for a fight.
Iris reaches out a hand and manages to grab the back of Zoro’s shirt in a weak grip. “Hey,” she rasped out, while gently tugging Zoro’s shirt.
Zoro stops shouting at Sanji to whip his head around to glare at her. “What?”
“Can you two please stop shouting,” Iris asks. Her voice heavy with sleep. “It’s still really early and others are still sleeping.”
They actually aren’t. She’s the last one to wake up, but it seems she might need a little longer.
Zoro stares at Iris. His steel-grey eyes take note of how exhausted she looked despite sleeping through the night. She’s developed a rather nasty habit of staying up late and not getting enough sleep to make up for it. It’s why he sometimes drags her into joining him in his naps. A silent way of him trying to help her take care of herself without nagging her.
“Sorry,” the swordsman said. “We’ll stop shouting. Sorry about waking you up.”
“‘S okay, Zo,” Iris murmured. “Jus’ go back t’ sleep, ‘kay? You too, Sanj’. ‘Kay?”
“We will,” Zoro assured her.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Sanji said, agreeing to stop.
Iris smiles sleepily. “M’kay. Night.” She rolls back over and collapses back on the couch. Zoro notices that her blanket had slid down when she sat up. So, the swordsman reaches out to grab the edge of the blanket and gently rights it. Readjusting the blanket so that it covers Iris properly who was already back asleep.
“Man, she looks rough. Is she okay,” Johnny asked in concern.
“She’s not getting enough sleep. That’s all,” Zoro replied. “Just let her sleep a little longer. We’ll wake her up for breakfast later.”
“Agreed.”
```````````````````````````````````````````
Nami starts with giving Usopp and Luffy (who came back with empty baskets despite Gin and Zoro’s full baskets) a pointed look. “Go on. Explain to me why you weren’t able to gather as much as a single piece of fruit!”
Luffy sits on a log next to Usopp. He has a piece of meat in one hand and a half eaten fruit in another. “That’s a good question. What’s your answer?”
Usopp huffs. “Look, I thought I was being attacked… by a huge condor who was trying to claw my face off!” He yells as he falls backwards off the log from his wild gesticulating. “Sorry I failed you! I tried my best! I really did! But I guess, in the end, it wasn’t good enough!”
Gin huffed. “And I told you that there was no condor. You just got startled when you heard the crash made by Luffy when he fell out of a tree.”
“And now I’m dead,” the sniper groans dramatically. He pops a ketchup star so that he looks like he’s covered in blood, then makes a death noise and “dies”.
Yosaku, Johnny, Niji, and Yonji politely applaud Usopp’s performance.
“Points for the blood,” Yosaku praised.
“I liked the death groaning. Very believable,” Johnny comments.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````
“You clean up nice,” Iris compliments when she notices Zoro next to her. There’s a fluttering in her chest as she lets herself notice how good he looks and that he faintly smells of eucalyptus and sandalwood.
Probably one of the other’s cologne selection that had been spritzed on Zoro for added measure after they made him clean up.
Zoro feels his cheeks warm when he looks at Iris and sees how beautiful she looks. “Uh, yeah….” He clears his throat. “You do too.”
Iris feels her own cheeks grow warm before she smiles wide. “Thanks. I’ve never dressed up like this before. I really like the dress. Nami found it for me back in the East Blue.”
Zoro is quiet as he sees how happy she is to be able to do something like this. He can’t help but wonder—probably for the 100th time or so if he were to admit it—what her life must’ve been like before meeting Luffy that she finds getting all dressed up for a fireworks festival that exciting. He can’t help but tighten his grip around Wado’s scabbard at the darker thoughts.
“I wonder where Usopp is,” Zoro finds himself saying to keep the conversation going before she noticed his frown.
“He wanted to get gunpowder from the fireworks master up on the mountain,” Iris explained. “However, it seems he’s been gone all day.” She leans closer to him to whisper to him. “He’s gonna be part of the show. So, if you’re worried that he’s in danger, don’t. This is one of the rare moments you guys get that doesn’t have anything dangerous happen.” She gives him a knowing smile.
Zoro blinks at her, then smiles back. “That’s good to know.”
````````````````````````````````````````````````
Luffy and Sanji were together since Nami had ditched them to run off with Reiju. The blonde seemed rather tense as he watched how the two looked together. Like they belonged together. He ends up in his usual fight with Zoro, but the words seem sharper which Zoro noticed. Iris and Luffy just wandered off to have snacks while the two of them figured their shit out.
“What is with you,” Zoro hissed. “Why are you acting even more bitchier than usual?”
“Bitchier?! That’s rich coming from you, smelly moss head,” Sanji snarled, kicked at the swordsman.
Zoro catches the leg. As he goes to throw out a rebuttal of his own, he notices Sanji not even looking at him. He’s facing him sure, but his eyes…. His eyes are looking past him. He glances back to see Iris and Luffy eating snacks together and laughing at something with their backs turned to the swordsman and cook. Then, it clicks.
“Oh, I see,” Zoro said, turning his gaze back to Sanji. “You’ve got a thing for Iris, huh?” He grins sharply. “Can’t stand to see that a girl give someone else attention instead of you? Or is it because you wanted to hang out with Iris instead of her hanging out with me?”
Sanji’s face goes blank as he stares at Zoro. Zoro actually gets a little nervous even if he doesn’t show it. The longer that Sanji stares at him, the more he starts thinking that he might’ve crossed a line. He’s not sure what to do since the cook hasn’t really done or said anything yet.
“Cook?”
Sanji blinks.
“Dude.”
Another blink.
“Look, uh…. If I crossed a line, then I’m gonna need you to actually tell me. I like our fights, but not if it’s going to genuinely upset you.”
Sanji’s face flushes red. “Shut up!” He yanks his leg back, then swings it up before bringing it down hard on Zoro’s head. He stomps off after that. Cursing under his breath as he goes.
``````````````````````````````````````````````
Nami gives Zoro an unimpressed look. “Wow…. Can’t even do one dance,” she says, poking his arm.
Zoro glared half-heartedly at her. “I don’t dance.”
“Not even just one? You can pretend it’s training.”
He gives her a look. “Training?”
“Yeah. Footwork and situational awareness, duh.”
Zoro rolls his eyes before looking back at the crowd. He finds Iris. Reiju has her in her arms, leading them in the dance. Iris looks happy and free. The smile on her face unguarded in a way that has Zoro feeling jealous that the pinkette is able to get it out of her so easily and that it’s not pointed at him.
Nami sees the look on his face and sighs. “Honestly, Zoro, I knew you were an idiot, but I never took you for a coward.”
Zoro bristled. “I’m not a coward.”
“Dude, you’re staring at Iris in a way you only read in romance novels. Full of longing and stuff.”
“Stop it. There’s nothing going on,” he hissed.
“Didn’t Iris once tell us about a river called Denial?”
“Stop, Nami,” Zoro said. His tone firm.
Nami rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. Just don’t do something stupid to hurt her.”
```````````````````````````````````````````````
Zoro hears Iris gasping in delight and finds himself glancing at her. He sees the wide-eyed excitement on her face as she watches the streaks of light fly through the air. Her eyes twinkling. Her skin looked like it glowed from the light. He feels his face grow warm before he quickly looks away to watch the fireworks before anyone notices.
(Robin and Yonji totally noticed and subtly high-fived each other.)
``````````````````````````````````````````````````
Robin chuckled. “So, it would seem.” She gives Zoro a sly look. “You and the First Mate seemed to have a good time as well.”
Zoro gives her a confused look. “Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well, you two spent the whole festival together. To be honest, you both looked rather cute together. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you two were together. Is there any merit to that?”
Zoro’s face flushes red in embarrassment. “What?! No! We’re not together!”
Robin gives him a slightly surprised look. “Oh? But you two always seem so close and more often than not, you two are always close together or pair up.”
Zoro pauses at that and mulls it over. “The reason I stick close with her so much is because of Luffy.”
“Oh?”
“When it was just the three of us, Luffy had ordered me to look after her. She’d lived the life of a civilian and didn’t have a lot of strength. He wanted me to watch over her until she could hold her own,” Zoro explained.
Robin hums in interest. She notices something in the orchard. “I understand. Still you two looked awfully cozy. I can’t help but wonder if there is something going on between you two? Maybe unspoken feelings?”
Zoro gives her a sour look. “You’ve been reading too many of Nami’s romance novels,” he shot back.
“You still haven’t answered my questions.”
“There’s nothing going on between me and Iris. There never will be.”
“Oh? Is it because you don’t have feelings? Or do you never plan to be in a relationship?”
“Both. I don’t plan to get with anyone like that,” Zoro grunts. “I plan to become the world’s greatest swordsman. I can’t afford any distractions. Not to mention, I’m a pirate. If I end up dating someone, that’s a weakness I’m giving myself. I can’t afford that.”
“And the First Mate?”
“What about her? I mean, she’s nice and all, but I don’t have feelings for her,” Zoro explained. “And even if I did, that’s a weakness I can’t afford like I’ve been saying. I can’t do my job if I’m worrying about her beyond my duties as her crewmate. She doesn’t mean anything to me beyond that.”
```````````````````````````````````````````````````
Zoro swings his sword at Luffy. The back of his blade facing the captain as he didn’t want to cause serious injury to Luffy. Just get him to stop. Luffy catches the blade between two hands. Zoro gives Luffy an annoyed look at that.
“Sorry, Zoro. I really wanna kick their asses,” Luffy said in a whiny voice.
“Don’t talk in that damn whiny voice,” Zoro chastises. “We’re fighting seriously here!”
Luffy moves the sword to the side, then headbutts Zoro in the nose. Chopper winces and grabs his nose in sympathy.
“You little….”
“But it wasn’t me!”
“You’d better not touch my mikan trees, or I’ll really let you have it,” Nami shouts.
Luffy throws another punch at Gin who ducks out of the way. Luffy’s fist continues stretching out until it goes through one of Nami’s trees. Thankfully, the blow didn’t do any damage to it.
“THAT’S IT,” Nami snarled.
``````````````````````````````````````````
Usopp screams as he falls down the gorge. He’s clutching his bag to his chest to make sure he doesn’t lose it. Tears spilling off his face into the air as he falls. “Is this the end of my brief and glorious life?” He gasps as he remembers something. “Oh, yeah! I have a new invention for just this kind of occasion!” He digs around in his bag and pulls out a belt. Once secured, he presses a button that shoots something out of the back. “Usopp Skyrider!”
It’s a parachute. He’d used a parachute. It’s a cute blue one.
“I-I’m safe!”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work to well. He’s still falling at a pretty fast pace.
“I-I-It’s too small!” He starts flapping his wings like a bird in a desperate hope that it slows him down more. “Is this how it all ends?! Oh no!”
He crashes into the forest below.
```````````````````````````````````````
Zoro’s shoulders tense. His breathing grows heavy as his anger bristles under his skin. He grabs her by the front of her shirt and drags her to a more secluded area before getting into her space. “You don’t know a goddamn thing about what you’re talking about.” His voice is low, hard. It’s coated with a sharpness that would make most men cower, especially when paired with the glare he’s giving her.
But Iris has learned what kind of man Zoro is. She knows that he won’t actually hurt her. Not just because Luffy ordered him to, but because he cares about her.
As a friend.
(God, what does that hurt her heart like that?)
“I know exactly what I’m talking about,” she hissed back.
“You don’t know a damn thing.” His voice is sharp. Sharper than it’s ever been with her.
She tilts her head to the side, almost mockingly. “Don’t you know, Zoro? I know more than I should.”
His hand is on her again, backing her up until he’s got her pinned against a wall. “No, you don’t,” he says, lowly. “You only know what used to be a story to you. But when it comes to knowing me as a person….” He leans closer to her so that their noses almost touched. “You don’t know a damn thing.”
Iris’s jaw clenches. “You’re right. I don’t,” she said. The coldness in her voice surprises him so much that he doesn’t resist when she pushes him away. “But I thought I did.” She starts walking off.
“Iris—”
She pauses to look back at him. “I really hope you know what you’re doing, Zoro, and that it’s worth it.” Then, she leaves him there.
Alone.
Zoro takes a deep breath, holds it, then slowly lets it out. His shoulders dropping in the exhale.
“Shit.”
``````````````````````````````````````````````
Before he could start panicking, he heard something from one of the tunnels. It sounds like laughter. He stares down the tunnel the laughter came from. Soon he saw a figure running towards him.
Oh!
It’s Luffy!
Luffy runs down the tunnel towards Usopp. He’s laughing as he runs towards the intersection.
Usopp cries in relief. “Luffy! You jerk!” He runs towards his captain.
Luffy’s grin widens. “Oh, Usopp!” He stops when he reaches the sniper.
“If you were here, you should’ve answered, jerk,” the sniper admonished. He shoves Luffy’s straw hat into his chest.
“Thank you, Usopp,” Luffy exclaimed happily. He puts his hat back on his head, then starts laughing again.
“W-what’s so funny?”
“Well, you see, when I pulled on a string, that thing came rolling down,” Luffy explained. He points at something behind Usopp that’s further down the tunnel he’d just exited.
Usopp turns in time to see a giant boulder rolling towards them like something out of those movies that Iris had recently started showing the crew. What was it called again? Oh, yeah! Indiana Jones because the main character was an archeologist and thought that it would be one of the movies series that Robin would like. That or maybe gets Luffy interested enough to talk to Robin about her interests since he’s always happy to talk about his.
(Robin didn’t really care for the Indiana Jones movies. She’d rather preferred the Mummy series a little more, but she appreciated Iris’s efforts in trying to find fictional media from her world that the older woman might like.)
Anyway, Usopp starts screaming. As is his usual response to anything going crazy. He and Luffy take off the opposite direction of the boulder with it chasing them.
“W-w-what is that!?”
“These tunnels are fun!”
Luffy’s laughter and Usopp’s screams echo through the tunnels. They ran as fast as they can to keep from being crushed by the enormous boulder.
`````````````````````````````````
Luffy gasped. “Hey, a string!” He rushes over to it and reaches out to grab it.
Usopp grabs him. “Huh? Don’t!”
Luffy yanks the string so hard that he rips it from where it’d been secured to the tunnel ceiling. “Huh? It broke.”
Usopp lets out a sigh of relief. “Whew! I thought it would be a trap….”
As if some trickster god had heard the sniper, the tunnel started rumbling ominously. Suddenly, the ceiling starts to collapse. Usopp jumps onto Luffy’s back with a scream. Luffy smiles widely, then takes off running to avoid the falling rocks. All while laughing his gleeful little head off.
“It is a trap,” Usopp wails.
“This cave is full of adventure,” Luffy crowed.
“Watch out! Watch out!”
Usopp’s screaming and shouting is overpowered by Luffy’s laughter as the rubber captain carried him to safety through the tunnel.
```````````````````````````````````
The marines are gathered in the dojo. All standing in uniform perfection before the raised floor where Saga stood. Toma is positioned on the stairs with Boo Kong and Bismarck standing on either side of the stairs. Iris and Zoro are on either side of Saga on the far sides of the raised floor. Zoro’s sat on the edge of a platform behind Saga. Iris standing on the other side, but closer to Saga.
The position had been deliberate. Something Zoro is starting to realize since he spies a marine in the front row with Iris’s swords.
“Soon, the awaited time will come,” Saga’s voice boomed through the dojo. “And then I will grant all of you an insurmountable power! The distinction between good and evil will not be determined by laws, or order, or even gods, but by power! Power!”
Zoro wonders if this is the part where sirens and red flags would be suddenly going off. He can almost hear Iris go “red flag” if she were in a quippy mood. Though, he’s positive that she’s been mentally saying that since they first arrived at the dojo. One glance at her is already telling him enough that she hadn’t slept a wink last night. Nor had she come to see him during the night for any form of comfort or safety.
He’s not sure if that had been Saga’s doing or if she’s still being distant with him.
“Those who possess power will become gods and the rulers of this world,” Saga continued. “That is the true meaning of justice!” He reaches for his sword while his eyes start glowing red. “My swordsman….” The blade glows an ominous green.
Fuck.
Iris is right.
Again.
“Bearing the Seven-Star Sword, in the name of true justice, we will cut a path into a new world with our power!”
And then Zoro notices that the eyes of all the marines facing Saga have started glowing red.
Double fuck.
The marines draw their swords and hold their blades up into the air as they cheered.
“This will make my dream a reality, Zoro,” Saga said. “That’s why I brought you here.”
Zoro tenses. “Dream?”
“Yes. My dream will be realized on the light of the Red Moon,” Saga said, grinning manically at the green swordsman. He holds his sword higher and cheers with the marines.
Triple fuck.
```````````````````````````````````````````
Iris recognized the stance. He’d made that same one before he set Luffy on fire. Just as Saga is about to unleash it, she shouts, “FREEZE!”
Saga’s body jolts as he loses control of his body. Her power prevented him from going through with his attack. “What?”
Iris looks at Zoro. “Zoro!”
Zoro looks at her. “Yeah?”
“Go find Luffy!”
Zoro’s body jolts. His body moves against his will. Swords go back into its scabbards. His body turns away. “No! Wait! Iris!” He runs out of the stronghold against his will. He screams for her as he gets further and further away. Before long, he disappears into the jungle.
Saga’s eyes widen. “What power is this,” he asks.
“It’s called a Devil Fruit,” Iris answered. “And it’s the last thing you should be worried about.” She holds her katana with one hand, then pulls out her wakizashi with her now free hand. She gets into a defensive stance as she feels her hold slip free.
Saga feels himself regain control of his body. “Interesting.” His eyes narrow as he recognizes her stance. “I see. So, you are Zoro’s apprentice.”
“It doesn’t matter what I am. What matters is that I’m not letting you win tonight,” Iris said.
``````````````````````````````````````````````
Saga dodges her attacks with ease. “Youkazan!” He sends a ball of green fire at her.
The attack lands. She’s sent flying across the courtyard before hitting the dojo. The wall cracking under her body from the impact. She shifts back into her human form as she falls to the ground again. A pained groan coming from her indicating that she’s still alive.
“I must say that I’m surprised that you’ve lasted as long as you have,” Saga said. “Then again, I should expect nothing less from Zoro’s apprentice. It seems that he passed on his stubbornness to you.”
“No, I’ve always been like this,” she said.
“Well, either way, you’re going to die. So, get up. You aren’t capable of killing me, but you’re strong. While I had wanted Zoro to be my sacrifice, you will make for a worthy substitute. You are far stronger than you look. You should be proud.”
“I’ll be proud when I defeat you.”
“Stand! I want your blood! The blood of someone strong!”
“Oh, go deep throat a cactus, you silver-haired fuckboi,” she snapped out as she slowly got to her hands and knees.
That actually makes Saga pause in his advance as the insult confused him. “What’s a… fuck boy?”
“If I have to answer that, then you’re going to look stupid.” She snorts. “Then again, you do look pretty stupid with that sword. Seriously! It’s almost as tall as you! You look like a little kid with a very long stick!”
“Insults won’t save you.”
“No, but they’ll make me feel better!”
Saga raises his sword to finish her off, but stops. A beam of light bursts from the jungle that reaches for the sky. “What’s that?” He turns to see another beam of light reaching the sky. “It can’t be! How!?” He’d had the jewel orbs disposed of.
How could all three have been found in time to get each one to its respective tower in time for tonight?! It’s impossible!
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did my crew shit on your parade,” Iris purred as she gets to her feet. She’s getting her second wind now that she knows that her delay attempt is working.
`````````````````````````````````````````
Zoro doesn’t respond. He’s frozen in place as he stares at Iris. A wave of shame flowing through him as he takes in her beaten form. He failed. He failed his first order from Luffy. His duty to the crew. He’s supposed to look after Iris. He’s supposed to have her back. Yet, there she is. On the ground and unresponsive.
Is she dead?
The thought sends cold fear down his spine. No. She can’t be dead. Luffy had told the crew how both he and Iris had been stabbed by Crocodile’s hook and they were both fine. Iris nearly had her arm bitten off at the shoulder by Arlong and she’d been fine. She’d gotten eaten by a dinosaur and hit point-blank by explosions. She’d gotten deathly ill. She’d gone through all of that and survived.
Why should this be any different?
(Because you were supposed to be the one on the ground like that.)
`````````````````````````````````````````````
Saga finds himself laughing. “I see.” He smiles softly. “I’m glad that he has more friends. I’d worried that he would always be alone.”
Iris nudges him with her shoulder. “He’s not going to lose us any time soon.” She gives him a pointed look. “Any of us.”
Saga smiles as he catches her meaning. The smile turns to confusion as a slip of paper is held in front of his face. “What’s this?”
“The number to the Den-Den Mushi on our ship. Anytime you want to call and check in on Zoro, feel free to hit him up,” she replied. “I think he’d appreciate being able to keep in touch.”
“Really?” He takes the paper.
“Yeah. I’ve been making him check in with his master once a week to let him know he’s alive. That and to bully him into better hygiene practices.”
“What?”
“That green motherfucker only bathes once a week and that’s only because we threaten to drown him in the bathtub if he doesn’t. I’ve been getting his master to basically lecture him almost every call into bathing more frequently.”
Saga snorts. “Ah, so he’s still as atrocious at bathing in adulthood as he was in childhood.” He lifts his mug to drink his tea.
“Oh my god! So, he’s always been a stinky boy!”
Saga snorts his tea out of his nose.
```````````````````````````````````````````
Zoro sighs. “Fine. I won’t push.” He turns to leave. Before he goes down the steps, he glances back at her. “Just… promise me something?”
“Sure,” she finds herself answering.
“Promise that you won’t keep things to yourself if it becomes too much. Talk to me. Or if you can’t, talk to someone on the crew. I don’t care who. Just don’t keep it to yourself if it ends up with you pushing us all away. We’re nakama. We’re supposed to look out for each other and support each other at our lowest, are we not?”
Iris feels her breath catch in her throat before smiling again. It’s more honest than the earlier one. “Okay.”
Zoro nods, then turns away and finally leaves.
He doesn’t see the tears spill down her face.
````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Not really. Caught a glimpse,” the swordsman admits. In the corner of his eye, he sees Chopper’s plate get swiped by Luffy. He gets hit in the head with a bone that the rubber boy had thrown to hit Chopper, but his aim sucks. The swordsman doesn’t react. “What do you think it is?”
“What do you mean,” Nami asked.
“You know what I mean. You smell something,” Zoro countered. A smirk growing on his face. He gets hit in the head with another bone as Chopper yells at Luffy. Money that you love so much.”
Sanji blinks. “Money?”
A third bone bounces off Zoro’s head.
Nami’s eyes narrowed. “Hey! You call me a money monger?” The heat of her glare goes away a little as she watches another bone bounce off Zoro’s head.
More bones are bouncing off Zoro’s head despite how he looks away and tries to be cool. “And you’re not?”
Sanji glares at the swordsman. “What what you say to her.”
Nami grins. “That I am!” She leans on the table. “I love monkey and mikans. Of course, I saw what just went on. Her eyes go to Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp who are arguing over the last piece of meat from the reindeer’s plate. “Luffy! Usopp! Chopper!” She slowly stands as their gazes go to her. “I smell adventure. You guys can fight later.”
``````````````````````````````````````````
Iris is grinning from her spot next to Luffy. Her sunglasses weren’t on her face since it was nighttime and now they’re in a dark tunnel. Her eyes shine creepily in the dim-lighting the same way Chopper and Lassoo’s eye do light flashes in their eyes. “Secret tunnel… secret tunnel… through the mountain~!”
“Mountain~,” Luffy echoed.
That has the two of them giggling like lunatics.
``````````````````````````````````````````
Before long, the crew reaches the end of the tunnel. Zoro notices something at the end. He glances, but Iris doesn’t react. So, either she hasn’t noticed because she’s too busy having fun or she did and logged it already as “not a threat”. He leans forward as he tries to squint into the darkness.
“What is it,” Niji asked, curiously.
“Nothing,” the swordsman replied, glancing back at the blue brother.
When he faces forward, he’s face to face with a random pale face. He freaks out and stumbles back. The lamp slips out of his hand. He scrambles to catch it before his hands wrap around the glass of it.
The really hot glass.
“Wow, it’s hot,” Zoro yelps. He throws it in the air as he drops back while blowing air on his hands to cool them.
Sanji quickly catches it with his leg. Balancing the lamp on his shin. He glares at the swordsman. “Zoro! What are you—?” He notices the floating face.
When he shines the light closer, it’s actually a large, portly man who stood guard before a door. His hands were behind his back.
“Who are you,” Yosaku asked. He’s already reaching for the hilt of his sword in case the man attacks.
“Yosaku, wait.” Nami walks forward, ducks under Sanji’s leg, and approaches the man. “Zoro, get out of my way,” she scolds.
Zoro moves his legs while grumbling something at her.
Iris’s ears perk up at the familiar sign of a knife being drawn. “I’d put that knife back in it’s sheathe if you don’t want to end up a corpse,” she warned.
That has Sanji reaching out to grab Nami’s arm to keep her from getting closer. Zoro already on his feet in case the man tries to attack the navigator.
```````````````````````````````````````````
“Lousy fighters. So annoying,” a man holding onto the chain says as the chain takes him higher. “Let’s stop this….”
The crew watches in mild interest as the man is followed by a literal ball of pirates. All of whom are staring up at the man with anger and fierce determination to make him hurt.
“You!”
“Dead meat!”
“Stand up!”
Shortly after the pirates, the crew aren’t surprised as they see Luffy and Iris holding onto the chain to follow after them.
“Wow! Cool,” Luffy crows.
Nami blinks. “Luffy! Iris! What are you doing?
“Nothing. It’s a fight,” Luffy said.
“Oh, okay. Just don’t get lost,” Nami said, dismissing the both of them.
“Okay!”
“You better not let Iris get hurt,” Sanji adds.
“Okay, Sanji!”
```````````````````````````````````````````
“You’re really good. It was just fun watching you,” Luffy continued.
“Hell yeah! It was awesome,” Iris gushed. “The way you did that flip that had you pull the table up with you to hide behind to avoid getting shot was fucking brilliant. I’m gonna use that in my next fight for sure!”
The man grins in amusement. “Oh, thanks. I never thought I’d come face to face with a 30 million Berri bounty.” He takes his foot off the oar.
Luffy’s grin sharpens. “What’s your name?”
“Me? I’m Sh….”
Pink Hair decides that he doesn’t like being ignored. “Hey, hey, hey!” He gets to his feet. “You think you can just ignore me?”
“Haven’t you had enough,” Luffy asked.
“Yeah, can’t you see that you’re totally out of your league here,” Iris asked.
Pink Hair glares at them. “IT’S NOT OVER,” he shouts. His voice is getting higher in pitch from how angry he is. It even cracks like he’s still going through puberty.
“Should we wait for your balls to drop first, squeaky,” Iris asked.
“Shut up,” Pink Hair shrieks at her. Then, he points at Luffy. “And you! 30 million Berris? Don’t even flatter yourself! Out boss is 95 million!! He’s the big deal!”
```````````````````````````````````````````
Usopp grins. “Hey, hey, hey! I think we’re one of the favorites!”
Luffy, Usopp, Johnny, Chopper, and Yosaku pose together. “Let’s win this race!”
“You guys, don’t do actions to mess up the odds!”
“Our money’s on the favorite!”
“We’ll kill you if you get in his way!”
Iris is immediately at the railing. “We’re gonna fucking win and take your money!” She pulls the skin under her left eye down and sticks out her tongue. “LOSERS!! HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE BEING FUCKING BROKE AFTER THIS!”
“Fucking bitch!”
“You better hope we don’t find you if you survive the race!”
Iris turns and smacks her ass at them. “KISS MY ASS, YOU MOUTH-BREATHING FUCKWADS!”
Luffy, Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku, Sanji, Niji, and Chopper crowd around her. “YEAH! KISS OUR ASS, FUCKWADS!”
````````````````````````````````````````````````
Chopper glares at them. “You guys, don’t just sit there!” He yelps as he sees Nami move for the kid and quickly intervenes.
Sanji sets a giant pot with steaming food inside it on the table. “Lunch is ready!”
Chopper glares at Sanji while holding Nami back in his Heavy Point. “Sanji!” He’s ignored as the crew move to crowd the dining table for lunch. Usopp and Luffy crash into their seats on either side of Iris.
Nami struggles in Chopper’s grip to get at the kid. Kicking her legs, waving her arms and sword. “What kind of life have you been living?!”
“Let’s eat!”
“I’ll cut your naïve ideas out of you,” Nami shrieks.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````
The five are now on the bow of Bigalo’s ship. Zoro and Sanji stand on the twin figureheads of the ship while Iris stands in the middle of the railing stretching between the figureheads with Gin and Ichiji on either side of her.
“We’re not mad at you, but we do fight back,” Zoro warned.
“I still have to make dinner after this,” Sanji adds with an annoyed frown at the pirates who are disrupting his schedule.
“Since you decided to pick a fight with us, it’s only fair that we get restitution for wasting our time,” Iris spoke. She grins sharply. “So, we’ll settle for kicking your asses while raiding your ship of everything valuable on it. If you’re lucky, you might walk away with your lives.”
“We’re not scared of a bunch of rookies,” one pirate shouts.
Iris holds up her hands to calm them. “Don’t get us wrong,” she continues without acknowledging the man’s words. “We’re not unreasonable. If you don’t want a fight, then simply surrender. We’ll take what we want and leave you all be. Even leave the ship functional so you can leave. However, we will be taking the Eternal Pose you have so you can’t reach the finish line.” She places her hands on her hips. “Now, this is your one chance: surrender or get your asses kicked. Your choice.”
“Fuck you, bitch! We’re gonna kill you all and sink that stupid ship of yours,” someone shouts.
Iris chuckles darkly (sounding frighteningly like Crocodile and Usopp did not like it) and grins. “Boys~.”
“We’ll finish this in one minute.”
```````````````````````````````````````````````
“Wait a minute,” Usopp shouts. “How do we know where to go?”
“Chopper, Rissy, and Lassoo’s noses,” Luffy declared.
Chopper stands up straighter. “Okay!”
Iris pouts. “I’m not a bloodhound!”
Lassoo barks.
Zoro pats Iris’s head. “You may not be a bloodhound, but you make for a great guard dog with how protective of the crew you get,” he teased.
Iris shoves his hand away and whirls on him. “C‘mere, Zoro! I think it’s time your swords got acquainted with your ass!”
Zoro puts a hand over her face as she reaches for him. “You need to get a little taller to do that,” he teased.
``````````````````````````````````````````
“You two finished,” Sanji asked. His eyes scanning to two. Taking note of their injuries. “The ship is about to sink.”
“Your missions,” Iris asked.
“All completed. Yonji and I were the last ones. We’re leaving now,” the blonde reported.
Luffy rises from the crouch he’s in. “You go ahead. It’ll take a few more minutes.”
“That one was pretty good,” Gusparde’s voice came from behind them. “When I’m not sugar syrup, I have a regular body….” The three turned to see the green syrup move to reform Gusparde. It forms around the mast that Luffy had stabbed him with. “It’s been awhile since I felt pain like that.” The mast is shot out of his body.
“Normally people would be dead,” Sanji gripes. “Oh well, we’re about to leave, but we’ll be back for you. Have any problems with that?”
“No,” Luffy replied simply.
“Iris-love, you should come with me too,” Sanji adds.
Iris shakes her head. “If this ship goes down while Luffy is still fighting, he’s going to need someone who can still swim get him to safety.”
“Alright, I’ll leave you to it,” Sanji relents, reluctantly. He gives Luffy the bags he’s carrying. “Here. Take these.”
“What are they,” Luffy asked.
“Use them well,” is all Sanji says before taking off. “We don’t have time.”
``````````````````````````````````````
Gusparde sends syrup spikes down at them. The spikes hit one of the flour bags that Luffy’s holding, which exploded into a cloud of white flour dust that covered the whole mast and consumed the two pirates. The two cough as the wind and rain take care of the flour dust cloud. They’re covered in flour.
“Look what just happened to my ship,” Gusparde growled. “It was my favorite. Your men must have done it.”
“We don’t do that,” Iris shot back.
“They’re not our men either. They’re our friends,” Luffy adds.
“Huh?”
“They’re my friends on this ship.”
Gusparde scoffed. “Listen to you. You’re a pirate. Pirates don’t play house. Don’t be a fool! On the high seas, you’re either dominate or are dominated. Power is everything! That’s why I quit the Navy and became a pirate. I hate the ocean, but it was the surest way to get power.” He lets out a laugh.
Iris gasped. “I knew you were a bottom!”
That has Gusparde stop laughing to glare at Iris in annoyance.
“That’s why you’re a scumbag,” Luffy growled.
“Luffy, don’t say that. Being a bottom doesn’t make one a scumbag,” Iris lectured.
“I’m not a bottom,” Gusparde growled. He blinks. “What the fuck does that even mean?!”
“Oof. You’re a boomer too.”
“What does that fucking mean?!”
````````````````````````````````````````````````
“This is nice,” Chopper hummed. “I usually only just take baths to get clean, but I didn’t know that they could be so relaxing.”
“Baths can be super relaxing,” Iris says tiredly. “If there is a place that has hot springs, we should take a soak in those. Hot springs are usually filled with all sorts of naturally occurring minerals that are actually good to absorb in a good soak. Plus, soaking in warm water is good for relaxing sore muscles and aches in your body.”
“Oh yeah,” the reindeer says sleepily against her boobs.
“There’s also thinks like bath salts and bath bombs that you can put in your tub to make it smell nice and also put those same helpful minerals in normal bathwater.”
“There are bombs for baths,” Chopper asked excitedly.
“Do they explode,” Luffy asked with stars in his eyes.
Iris giggled. “It’s not a literal bomb. It’s called a bath bomb because the way it reacts in water instantly makes it seem like it’s exploding through color and smell,” she explained.
The two pout. “Aaaawwwww…. Laaammeeee!!”
Iris snorts.
There’s a polite knock on the door. “You three okay in there?” It’s Zoro.
“Yeah. What’s up,” Iris called out.
“Nami wanted me to check on you guys. You three have been in there over an hour and have been pretty quiet for almost 20 minutes. She wanted someone to make sure that you three didn’t accidentally drown yourselves in bath water,” the swordsman explained.
“Aw, Zoro, you do love us,” Iris teased.
“Shut up!”
“Aw, don’t be bashful! We love you too, Green Bean,” she calls back.
Luffy laughs. “Yeah, Green Bean! Love you too!”
“Love you lots, Green Bean,” Chopper calls out. “Lots and lots and lots!”
Iris didn’t need to see his face, but she just knew that Zoro’s face was all red with how flustered he is.
“Ugh!” He stomps off without another word.
```````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris smiles proudly at him. “Excellent work, Master Inventor. I’m impressed and I know the others will be too.”
Usopp swells with pride at the praise. “Thanks!” Then, he’s off. A pep in his step.
Iris laughs softly before picking up one of the bullets. She holds it in her finger carefully as she studies it. The lacquer gleams in the light. “Things are going to get a lot more interesting, huh?”
