luffy & law!
Based on the image of them from bounty rush
Ive drawn luffy and Law 10 times each separately so I drew one of them together <3
seen from Malaysia
seen from Japan
seen from United States
seen from Peru
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from Norway
seen from Ukraine
seen from United States
seen from Moldova
seen from Canada
seen from Moldova
seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from Ukraine
seen from Ukraine
seen from United States
luffy & law!
Based on the image of them from bounty rush
Ive drawn luffy and Law 10 times each separately so I drew one of them together <3
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.)
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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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?”
Diamond In The Rough Trailer Part 3
Trailer Part 3 of 4
Smoker stands over Luffy and pokes into him with his jitte. Luffy makes another groaning sound as the weakness that had temporarily left him returned tenfold.
Usopp gets into a shaky stance. “I-I-I-I’ll take you on if you want, you smoke-filled freak.” He’s slowly inching away from the marine. “I didn’t do so bad against the bomb guy, you know. So, I’ll just wait over here in the corner, and you let me know when you’re ready, okay?”
“What’s wrong,” Luffy groaned. “I feel so helpless. It’s like when I fall into the sea.”
Nami glares at Smoker. “Alright, just what have you done to Luffy?”
“The tip of this staff is made from a substance called sea prism stone. A rare mineral. It supposedly exists in one certain sea in the distant corner of the world. Not much is known about it, but it’s believed to give off mystical energy on the same wavelength as the ocean itself. Basically, you can think of it as a sold form of the sea.”
“So, it affects Luffy the same as if he fell in the ocean,” Zoro asked.
(Zoro and the others know about sea prism stone. They’d experienced it back in the East Blue. Bear King’s crew had used it on Iris when she finally decided to stop pretending that she was too weak to fight back. Then again when Smoker attacked Luffy in Loguetown. Even Iris’s swords are made with sea prism stone.
So, why is Zoro entertaining this conversation instead of telling Smoker to shut up because they already know about it?
Because Iris told them that, when in doubt, always act like their adversaries are smarter than them. Or rather that they aren’t knowledgeable about things they already know.
The reason?
Because it’s better to have their opponents and potential enemies underestimate them. Better to have people think they’re not as strong or smart to better protect themselves. So, when they have the chance, they can outsmart and overpower them. Plus, they could learn things they wouldn’t have been able to find out if everyone knew how smart and strong they are.
So, yeah. Her advice?
Play dumb.
Always play dumb.)
“Prison cells at Navy headquarters are made of this same substance to prevent criminals who possess any Devil Fruit powers from successfully escaping,” Smoker adds.
(See? They didn’t know that before. Now they did. So, now they know what to expect if they ever get captured by marines.)
`````````````````````````````````````````````````
Miss All Sunday’s smile turns nasty. “Really?” She folds her arms over her chests. Her open palmed hands hovering close to her face. “Tres Fleurs!”
Three arms appear on Pell’s body. One prevents him from drawing his sword while the other two dislocate his wings. Pell lets out a pained groan as he crashes onto the roof, skidding past Miss All Sunday. He shifts back into his human form when he rolls to a stop.
Vivi lifts her head. “Pell….” She coughs.
Pell raises himself. “Princess Vivi! You’re alive!”
Miss All Sunday chuckled. “Oh, dear, did it look to you as if I’d killed the girl?”
Pell growls. “Damn you, what did you do?”
“You ought to lighten up a little. I was only teasing you.”
“Just as I thought,” Iris said, finally speaking. “You have a Devil Fruit. A handy one at that.” She smirked. “Get it? Handy?”
“Iris, now’s not really a good time for puns,” Vivi comments.
Iris cocks an eyebrow. “Vivi, little life lesson for you: any time is a good time for puns.”
“I don’t think this is….”
“Not with that attitude.”
Miss All Sunday chuckled. “Well, aren’t you amusing?”
“Only at the most inappropriate times. I like messing with people,” Iris quipped.
```````````````````````````````````````````````
When Vivi reaches the bottom of the stairs, she swings her slasher at Crocodile. It blasts his head into sand and destroys the headrest of the chair behind him. Luffy, Usopp, and Nami gasp as they watch everything intently. Vivi leaps onto the dining table as she readies for another attack. Plates and food and glasses are getting knocked around or off the table.
“Not gonna work,” Smoker rumbled.
Crocodile’s body turns into sand. Leaving his chair to swirl around the table. “Feel better?”
Vivi’s body tenses.
“As a native of this country, you must surely know that I have the power of the Suna-Suna no Mi[KH6] .” The Shichibukai reconstitutes his body behind her. His hook wraps around her wrist while his hand grabs the lower half of her face. His head reforms last close enough that he could talk into her ear. “Want to become a mummy?”
“He’s made of sand,” Usopp whimpers.
“You leave her alone! I’m warning you,” Luffy shouts. “Right now, or I’ll kick your ass!”
“Have a seat, Princess,” Crocodile rumbles, shoving the princess into an empty chair. “I trust you’ll be comfortable there.” His gaze turns to Iris. “And you must be another of the Strawhats, am I correct?”
“I am,” Iris said.
“What made you all willingly come here? What made you all put so much wasted effort into protecting the princess?”
Iris regards him coolly. “She’s cute.”
Crocodile blinks. “You are here because the princess is cute? Really? Why?”
Iris shrugs. “Why not? Men have gone to war at the drop of a hat for the stupidest of things. Women, money, power, knowledge….” She smirks. “Obtaining weapons of mass destruction.” She looks amused at the sharpness in Crocodile’s eyes. “Why should my being here because Vivi’s cute be any different?”
Vivi knows that Iris is just talking out of her ass because she’s just like that, but she does feel a small wave of concern when she notices the stiffness in Crocodile’s posture before he forces himself to relax. She also doesn’t miss how Miss All Sunday seems to be tense as well for the last thing Iris had listed off. It had her thinking. If Crocodile really isn’t after her country for power, then is it for this weapon that Iris had hinted about?
```````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Well,” Crocodile calls out, breaking Iris out of her thoughts. “Speak up, girl. You seemed quite chatty earlier.”
Time to put on a show.
Iris holds up her hands for everyone to see, then she starts applauding him with a slow clap. “Bravo! You certainly are a master planner,” she praises. Her tone is polite, but even.
Crocodile seems to consider this a sign of victory. “Why, thank you.”
“Too bad you seem to have a bad habit of being the most arrogant son of a bitch on the Grand Line,” she adds.
Crocodile’s smile became unsure. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You haven’t won yet,” Iris pointed out as she stops her applause. “Your operation is still underway. Until you win. Until you’re physically sitting on the throne and everyone who could possibly stop you is dead, you haven’t won jack squat.”
Crocodile sneers at her. “Maybe I’ve earned the right to gloat.”
“More like you’ve earned the right to a punch to the nuts.”
Luffy giggles. It’s always so funny when Iris gets mouthy like this. She says the funniest things. Plus, it’s funny to see the different colors people’s faces change when insulted and mocked.
“Don’t get me wrong, it’s actually quite an impressive plan,” Iris admits. She stands from her seat to move around it. She doesn’t move to help Vivi as she’s sure that Miss All Sunday would intervene. That or it would set off the trap Crocodile set for her.
The trap that she’s dancing dangerously around.
“Iris,” Vivi gasped.
“Although, I would’ve changed a few things,” Iris continued. “One: I would have made sure that Vivi never made it off Whiskey Peak. Yet, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine did. Miss All Sunday admitted to killing Igaram, but seemed to have missed us by a hair.”
Miss All Sunday’s eyes widened a fraction, but just barely to be noticeable. Why is Iris lying about her to Crocodile? Technically, Miss All Sunday did catch them. She could’ve killed most, if not all, of them with her Devil Fruit. Luffy might’ve been a bit harder with his rubber body, but she could’ve if she wanted.
But she didn’t.
“Then, there’s Mr. 3’s failures on Little Garden with his partner, Mr. 5, and Miss Valentine. Same with the Unluckies. Your Billions in Nanohana were particularly useless when we were there a few days ago.”
That has Crocodile tensing a little. His mind mulling over that information. According to a surviving Billion, he said that Fire Fist Ace had seen running around the city. That the Second Division Commander had killed all the Billions that had been in pursuit of him. The Billion that told him this had been away on a reconnaissance mission and had come back in time to hear the marines talking about Captain Smoker being in pursuit.
“So, that was you instead of Fire Fist Ace,” Crocodile questioned.
“No, it was him. His interference simply gave us the opportunity to escape further inland,” Iris replied. She wanders over to the floor to ceiling glass wall. Her eyes were taking in the vast blue and finding the bananawanis slowly drifting in the water down down downbelow in the darker parts of the water.
To normal eyes, no one would really see it from how far down it is, but for Iris’s eyes, it’s like looking at in in broad daylight.
Yeesh. They look ridiculously big.
“Additionally, we already knew that Mr. 3 had made it to Alabasta too,” Iris adds. “We’d found his ship shortly after we reached this kingdom.” She turns slightly to glance at the Shichibukai. “We knew we were on borrowed time, but I wasn’t too worried.”
“How’s that?”
“Because I knew there was a high probability that you would just outright kill Mr. 3 after he confirmed that we were still alive. Thus, you wouldn’t have him give you a full report of what happened on Little Garden.” She grins sharply now. “Including how many of us there are and what we’re all capable of doing.”
Crocodile’s eyes narrowed. “I know how many are in your crew.”
“I’ll let you think that if it makes you feel better, but you’re wrong.”
Luffy snorts.
Nami leans closer to Usopp. “What is she doing,” she whispers. “Shouldn’t she be trying to help Vivi?”
Usopp shrugs. “Dunno, but she’s always got a plan,” he whispers back. “We’ll have to trust that she knows what she’s doing.”
“Shishishi~!”
“You seem to be talking awfully big for someone who’s captain is locked in a cage,” Crocodile rumbled lowly.
Iris turns to face him fully. “You seem to be talking awfully big for someone who hasn’t secured the throne yet,” she shot back.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Vivi gasped. “The key!”
Luffy’s eyes went wide. “The key to this cell?” He charges the cage bars again. “Hey! Give it!”
Crocodile holds out from him. Taunting the princess with it. Vivi grits her teeth as she wiggles her wrists some more. As she struggled, Crocodile dropped the key. Iris lunges for it, trying to grab it, but Crocodile hooks her (literally) by the neck and yanks here away. Vivi manages to free herself from the ropes, then lunges for the key. Crocodile smirks as he taps a spot on the ground. The floor opens before the key touches it. It falls into the opening on the floor to the level below.
“NO,” Luffy screamed.
“What? A trapdoor,” Vivi gasped. She goes to leap down.
“Don’t,” Iris orders, making the princess pause. “It’s a trap. He wants you to go down.”
The key clatters on the floor below. From an opening on the side, a bananawani crawled into the room.
“It won’t be too long until the rebels and the royal forces begin their battle to the death. Even if you hurried to Alubarna from here, who knows if you’d make it in time,” Crocodile said. “To stop the rebellion, you need to leave at once, Miss Wednesday. Will you do that or try and save your friends instead?”
The metal of the gold hook pulls against Iris’s neck threateningly for both the First Mate and the princess.
“It’s your choice, but if you choose the latter, it doesn’t help that I accidentally dropped the key into the bananawanis’ den,” the Shichibukai finishes.
Vivi stares down at the room below and gasps. “Bananawanis!”
“What are those things,” Luffy asked. Then, he notices something big swimming close to the glass window. “Agh! Look out the window! There’s an alligator growing out of that banana!”
“In case you haven’t noticed, that’s not the only one,” Nami shrieks.
“It’s like we’re in an aquarium,” Usopp exclaimed. “I hope we’re not the fish food.”
“What weird bananas,” Luffy comments.
“You idiot! Look closer,” Usopp said. “They’ve got bananas growing out of them! They’re weird gators, not weird bananas.”
There are a dozens of bananawanis all swimming ominously around the underwater base. Iris feels a slight twinge of nervousness settle in her. Especially when she noticed how close she was to the edge. Her body tense as she feels herself being pressed against Crocodile, back to chest, then slowly moved closer to the opening below. That’s when she reacts. Her hands go to his hook and arm. Her feet dragging on the floor a little as she tries to push back against him, but he just lifts her up by the hooked neck so that her toes are barely touching the ground and moves her closer. A nervous breath escaping her as she tries to keep her cool, but her eyes are glued to the bananawani below.
Fuck….
It’s huge.
Even from down there, the creature is massive. Monstrously massive. It has the body of an alligator, but it’s big and bulky and bigger than a 737 commercial plane. The big ones that are used for international travel and have multiple levels. If it were to look directly up and open its massive maw, she could be swallowed whole if Crocodile decided to push her down.
Fucking hell, this feels both terrifying and ridiculously cliché. Like something out of those James Bond-esque spy thriller movies she’d watched before. Where the villain tries to kill the hero by feeding them and the damsel of the week over a large pool of water where a shark resides, hungry and waiting to sink its teeth into its next victim.
Except the shark is this monstrosity of an alligator and it hasn’t looked up yet. Instead, it’s found the key that Crocodile dropped and ate it.
Seriously?
Double fuck….
````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Rissy, look out!”
Iris notices Luffy pointing at something behind her. When she looks, it’s just in time to see a scaly tail swinging at her.
The bananawani had woken up. It swings its tail at her with all its might. It hits her hard enough to have her sailing across the room and crash hard into the stone wall near the doors that Crocodile remains standing by. When Iris drops from the wall to the floor, she lets out a pained groan. She lets out a weak cough as her crew screams for her to get up. To run after Vivi. To do something instead of staying on the ground like that.
“Despite that confident demeanor you’ve been putting out, you’re a rather inexperienced fighter, aren’t you,” Crocodile asked smugly. “Whatever training you’ve received doesn’t seem to have been enough.” His eyes narrow a little. “How long have been in this world, girl?”
Iris tensed at the question.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````
Suddenly, Usopp appears behind Mr. 4 with a giant hammer. “Usopp….”
“You snuggle little rat,” Miss Merry Christmas shouts. “You were hiding in one of the holes!”
“Pound!”
Usopp brings his hammer on Mr. 4’s head as hard as he could. He pulls away his hammer. Mr. 4 groans in pain very loudly before falling over backwards onto the sand. He’d been knocked out by Usopp’s attack.
“MR. 4!!”
Usopp poses dramatically with his giant hammer. “5T” standing for 5 tons is painted on the side of it.
“What?! It looks like he’s using a 5-ton hammer,” the mole-woman exclaimed. “How does a string bean like him have the strength to do that?!”
Usopp stands to his full height. He starts walking towards Miss Merry Christmas. Twirling the arm of the hammer as he went.
Chopper blinks in surprise. “That’s a big hammer.” How is he holding that with such ease?
“Who exactly is this long-nosed freak,” the mole-woman grumbled nervously.
Usopp stops a few feet from the mole-woman. “I am a traveler of the world’s oceans. A crusher of notorious monsters, beasts, and foes. A sinker of countless ships. A flattener of numberless towns. Trembling with fear, people everywhere call me the master of destruction,” he monologues. He smirks. “I suggest that you take the time to remember my name carefully. I am… Captain Usopp!” He poses dramatically.
“Wow! Awesome,” Chopper exclaimed excitedly.
“Yes, thank you very much. Ah, it’s nothing really. I’ll be signing autographs later,” Usopp said, playing up on the reindeer’s praise and exclamations.
Gin and Yonji had peeked out from their own holes out of the mole-woman’s line of sight to watch. They find each other’s gazes, exchanged impressed looks, nod, and then politely, and quietly, applaud. Making sure that their arms are held over their heads so that Usopp could see their applause from behind the mole-woman. That had been a pretty impressive monologue. Then, they held out signs to grade the sniper’s monologue.
Gin graded it an 8/10 while Yonji gave it a 9/10.
“What?! Why not a 10/10,” Usopp complained. “That monologue was brilliant!”
They didn’t reply. Just ducked their signs back into their holes before Miss Merry Christmas could see where they were hidden.
````````````````````````````````````````````````
Bon Clay twirls away from the brothers before settling in a pose up on the toes of one foot with his hands poised over his head. He does a few ballet moves before settling into a pose again. The swan heads of his costume honking as he moves further away from the three brothers. He does a few moves before stopping again.
“My Degenerate Swan Dance Recital,” Bon Clay announces. He attacks again.
Ichiji ducks a kick sent his way. Niji dodges a punch. Sanji throws out a spinning kick of his own that is dodged by the ballerina. Niji strikes with a fast punch, but it’s deflected in a way that has him stumbling away. Ichiji growls as he signals something to the other two and the three move as one. They all flip into a handstand to do a spinning kick at the same time to try to ensure that one of them would hit Bon Clay as they trapped him in the middle of their attacks. Bon Clay is able to dodge those attacks by doing a vertical spinning jump to dodge their attacks, then goes into a front flip at the climax of his jump to makes so that he would land safely outside of the trap the three brothers tried to set for him. He grins cheekily at them for that.
“Damn. This guy is harder than most guys we fight,” Niji admits. “It’s pissing me off.”
“Join the club,” Ichiji growled. He did not like losing.
“This dance isn’t getting us anywhere; it’s time to settle this once and for all,” Sanji said.
“Do you have a plan,” Niji asked.
“Yeah. Kick him harder.”
Ichiji’s shoulders drop in exasperation. “That is not a plan.”
``````````````````````````````````````````
Mr. 2 grins at them with Nami’s face. “Your brother is a perfect example of ‘he’s nothing but talk’. I bet you’re just as weak and pathetic as he is,” he cackles.
The two brothers exchanged looks, nodded solemnly, then returned their focus to Mr. 2. They move fast as they attacked him. Mr. 2 yelps as he dodges their attacks. The ballerina twirls around before swinging out a leg for a powerful kick. Ichiji grabs his leg, then spins him around before throwing him at Niji, who delivers a powerful kick of his own.
Mr. 2 barely manages to recover in time mid-air to deflect the kick with his own. Before he could counter, Niji is suddenly spinning on the ground with his legs thrown out. The spinning kicks landing, sending the ballerina into a nearby building.
“You hit me,” Mr. 2 gasped as he returns to the street. “I look like your friend, and you hit me!”
“Yeah, I did,” Niji drawled in a bored tone.
Mr. 2 gestures wildly at Sanji. “But he—he’s your brother, right?”
“Quadruplet. I’m the eldest, then Niji, Sanji, and finally Yonji, but he’s off fighting someone else,” Ichiji explained.
“Oh.” Then, the ballerina points at Sanji again. “Why aren’t you acting like him?!”
“Sanji’s always been the more girl crazy of the four of us,” Niji explained. He smirks. “Guess it worked in our favor since it tricked you into thinking that we’re all the same.”
(He struggles to keep the bitterness within himself at bay. The idea that all of them were just carbon copies and, thus, would all act exactly the same brought up old feelings that he’d spent the last bits of his childhood trying to forget, to leave in his past because it didn’t belong in his present or his future. Instead, it made him think of labs and training and praise that didn’t feel was meant for him, but what he’s been created to do. Of cruel laughter and crueler comments that he’d heard come from his own mouth, but never understood what those words meant. Of how hurt Sanji looked—clothes ripped, face darkening with bruises and stained with blood, hair messy—as he stared up at him, at Yonji, at Ichiji, at Reiju, at him, with tears in his eyes and confusion on his face as he struggles to understand why his siblings—why that man—would hurt him when they’re supposed to be his.)
Ichiji grins. “So, Niji?”
“Hm?”
“We gonna stick with kicks this fight?”
Niji shrugs nonchalantly. “Why not? Haven’t really stuck with our dad’s style in a while. Could be good practice,” he replied smoothly.
Ichiji nods slowly. “I can get behind that.” He cracks his knuckles. “Let’s get to work.”
````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Mr. 2 accepts the hand given to him. He’s pulled upright into a sitting position. Tears spill down his face even though mentally he told himself he wouldn’t cry. Then, it all goes black for him as Sanji delivers one more kick to his head to knock him out.
Ichiji and Niji cackle when Sanji gives them a double victory sign before leaning down to snag back Usopp’s goggles from Mr. 2’s head. The other two brothers force themselves to their feet to leave with their younger brother.
``````````````````````````````````````````````
Vivi sneers up at him. “Where is Luffy?”
“Who’s that,” Crocodile asked. He pretends to act thoughtful before “remembering”. “Oh! You mean Strawhat? That miserable young rookie?” He chuckles darkly. “My dear, he’s dead.” He laughs louder.
“Where’s his body,” Iris asked.
Crocodile stops laughing. “Huh? Didn’t I feed you to a Bananawani?”
“You didn’t take my other swords,” Iris countered. “Now, where is his body?”
“I buried your captain in the desert,” the Shichibukai drawled. “I’ll be sure to bury you and the rest of that nuisance crew of yours with him. In the exact same place, so you all can rot away together. Forgotten like this little nobodies you are.”
“Huh? How convenient,” Iris shot back. “I don’t believe you.”
He stops his gloating to frown at her. “What do you mean? I killed him.”
“Sorry, bud. No body, no proof. All you have is your word,” Iris shot back. Then, to add insult to injury, she smirks. “And you’ve already proven to us that you’re a liar. So, I don’t believe you for one damn second.”
“Then, I guess I’ll just have to kill you, and you can ask him in the afterlife,” Crocodile shot back.
“No, Iris is right! Luffy dead? Impossible,” Vivi exclaimed. “I don’t believe you either.”
Crocodile shrugged, unbothered. “Nonetheless, it’s true. Poor Strawhat, buried in the sands of Rainbase, dear Miss Wednesday.” He chuckles again. “If only he hadn’t gotten involved with you; he might’ve lived a long and happy life.”
“If only Miss All Sunday had bothered to voice her opinions more freely. If she had, then maybe she would’ve been able to tell you that the golden hook is such a gaudy look. It’s like you’re compensating for something,” Iris shot back.
Crocodile cocked an eyebrow at her, but says nothing. Iris just makes a rude gesture at him that has Chaka giving the first mate a concerned look.
“You’re a liar,” Vivi shrieks. “He couldn’t be killed by the likes of you.”
“You know, it’s only because of his sacrifice that you’re still alive to rave and rant at this moment,” Crocodile pointed out. “You owe him your deepest thanks. That way, maybe he’ll at least be able to—”
“And you should give a cactus the deepest of throats,” Iris shot back loudly.
“Tell me where he is,” Vivi shouts. “Did you come here just to torture me!?”
Crocodile grins darkly. “Be able to rest in peace.”
“The only peace someone needs is whoever you threatened into telling you that outfit was a good idea,” Iris shot back. “Like, seriously? A fur coat in a fucking desert country? I’m getting heatstroke from just looking at your dumbass.” She looks at Vivi. “Vivi.”
The princess looks at her. A pained look on her face as she thinks of how Iris is now without her captain.
“Luffy’s not dead,” Iris says simply. Her voice is low so that only Vivi would hear.
“But….”
“Trust me,” Iris hissed lowly. “He’s not.” She smirked. “He’ll show up soon enough. Just keep letting him inflate his already oversized ego. He’s not going to win. He loses today. I promise.” She grins sharply. “It’ll all work out.”
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
King Kobra slowly lifts his head. “Vivi… I’m sorry…. I failed you and the nation. I didn’t use the chance you risked your life for….”
“Oh, Father,” Vivi says softly.
Crocodile moves to stand in front of the king. “Come on, is this the best you can do after years apart?” He turns his attention to Vivi. “Anyway, Miss Wednesday….”
Vivi bristles at the name. “Don’t call me that!” She lunges again, but Iris’s hold is firm and prevents her from stepping closer.
Crocodile exhales a thick plume of smoke from his mouth as he turns to Vivi. “Let me tell you a little something…. I have no intention of keeping you or your father alive. When a kingdom dies out, it only seems natural its royal family should die out as well. Don’t you agree?”
“I do,” Iris agreed, earning a shocked gasp from Vivi. “However, I think the royal family should die if the kingdom dies off naturally. As in, if this civil war had been a naturally occurring event instead of being manufactured by outside forces like you and your organization.” She pulls Vivi closer to her. “As such, it only makes sense that if outside forces are going to manufacture war in a kingdom, then it only makes sense that outside forces come in to manufacture peace.”
“Peace? How,” Crocodile asked, rather amused by her answer.
“Well…. Beating your ass six ways to Sunday, then dropping you off on the church steps Sunday morning might be a good start,” Iris replied. “And maybe getting the two armies to stop and outing your infiltrators being the next step.”
“I doubt you’ll be able to do that considering your captain couldn’t,” Crocodile drawled. He lets out another exhale of smoke. “Now, firstly, before I take the throne, there’s something I need to ask the current king.” He slowly walks towards the crucified king. “If you have a moment, that is.”
“What? Does he have a hot date,” Iris finds herself quipping.
“Iris,” Vivi hissed.
“Sorry, sorry. It just slipped out. It’s like a reflex at this point. It hurts more to stop it than it does to say it,” Iris apologizes.
`````````````````````````````````````````
“Luffy. Pell,” she sobs. “There isn’t much time left until the square is blown up. Everyone is already down there. My voice can’t…. It can’t be heard, no matter how hard I yell. At this rate, the country will fall apart.”
“Don’t worry, Vivi,” Luffy says in a calm voice. He doesn’t comfort her or tell her to stop crying. He waits until the princess lifts her head to meet his gaze. He smiles. “As long as we’re here, your voice will always be heard.”
Vivi smiles in relief, then she gasps. “Iris is still trapped on the square. So is my father.”
“I’ll deal with Crocodile,” Luffy assured her. “You focus on saving everyone else.”
Vivi nods. “I know where the bomb is. Iris already figured it out.”
Luffy’s smile sharpens. “Of course, she did. She’s my First Mate. She knows everything.”
Pell is pretty sure that Luffy is hinting at something by the way he’d said that, but he doesn’t have the time to investigate that. Though, he can’t help but wonder if this boy’s First Mate might possibly either be very smart or possibly clairvoyant with how the pirate figured out where the bomb is.
`````````````````````````````````````````````
Crocodile is still laughing. Iris is starting to worry that he might’ve been hit on the head too many times and lost it. Luffy takes off his straw hat and throws it to the side to avoid it getting damaged. Iris really needs to remember to talk to Nami about getting some kind of string or strap for it so the hat could hang around Luffy’s neck if he moves around too much to wear it. Iris grabs the hilts of her swords as she prepares to fight.
“Come on, you think you can defeat me,” Crocodile asked.
“Sure do,” Luffy replied without hesitation. “Now that I’ve figured out how to stop you from turning into sand.”
“I’ll admit I’m impressed you figured it out,” the Shichibukai praised. “Especially since you were about to die. But I hope you realize something like that isn’t nearly enough to make this an even fight. Not even having your First Mate fight alongside you will either. I am one of the Shichibukai. I was selected for a reason after all.”
“So, what if you’re one of the dumb Shichibukai,” Luffy countered. “I guess that makes me the Hachi-bukai.”
The entire courtyard is quiet over Luffy’s comment.
Except for the snort of laughter from Iris because she always thinks Luffy’s funny[KH29].
`````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Are you ready, Vivi,” Chopper asked. He’d shifted into his Heavy Point when he reached the apex of Zoro’s throw. He holds Vivi in his hand with his arm drawn back to throw her into the clock tower.
“Just throw me with all your strength, Tony,” Vivi shouts.
Chopper throws as hard as he can. Vivi speeds through the air towards the clock tower. Towards the two Baroque Works agents.
5 seconds.
“It’s no use, ribbit ribbit,” Miss Father’s Day sneered.
“Dodging,” Mr. 7 finished.
They lift their guns to follow Vivi. “Aim and fire!” They fire their guns at Chopper but get confused as he wasn’t a deer anymore. “Who’s that?”
Chopper shifts into his Brain Point to dodge the bullets.
4 seconds.
Chopper screams as he realizes that he had to fall all the way back down to the ground.
“Where’d Miss Wednesday go?!”
“Oh! What now?”
“Peacock!”
The two agents look up in time to see Miss Wednesday falling towards them with her weapons spinning.
“Up there!”
3 seconds.
“GOOOOOOO,” the Strawhats scream.
Before the two agents could fire at Vivi, the princess strikes.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````
Pell closes his eyes as he thinks of fond memories. When the princess was young and the country wasn’t being slowly tormented by a mad man. He thinks of when Vivi had set off an explosion trying to create fireworks to celebrate him joining the army. He’d been so angry at her for disobeying him when he’d told her countless times to stay out of the ammunition room, but the explosion had caused him to feel something else.
Fear.
He’d been so scared. So scared that something had happened to her. So scared to go into that ammunition room and finding her charred, ruined remains from an accidental explosion. He remembers slapping her. Not hard to cause serious harm, but enough that it stung the cheek and knocked her over. He remembered yelling at her before kneeling before her and dropping the line that voiced everything he’d been feeling.
(What if you’d been killed?)
He’d remembered taking Vivi out that same evening to fly through the air. So that they could watch the sunset and see the city from the sky. Remembers making her promise not to tell her father as he was sure that the king wouldn’t be happy that his daughter is disappearing like that. Remembers hearing her laughter as they soared through the sky together. The wind blowing through her blue hair.
(Hey, Pell?)
(Yes?)
(You train for battle every day. Why?)
(Because I’m a guard. It’s my duty to protect this country. I have to stay strong.)
(So, who will you be fighting?)
(Who? I don’t know. But I don’t fight. I protect.)
(They’re different?)
(They serve different purposes.)
(Hmmm. I don’t understand.)
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Crocodile grunts as he slowly picks himself back up. He can’t believe this is happening. The scorpion’s blood should have already been working by now. How is Strawhat still standing? Where is his strength coming from? He turns his head to see Luffy glaring right back at him.
The Shichibukai can’t help but think about the last couple weeks. From Whiskey Peak to now. He remembers hearing about Mr. 5’s team being defeated. He’d thought it was a mistake since he’d never heard of Monkey D. Luffy before. A fluke. That maybe Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine had simply been sloppy and were taken down due to their own mistakes instead of this boy’s strength.
Then, he thinks of when Mr. 3 arrived at the Officer Agents meeting in Rainbase and revealed that the Strawhats were, in fact, still alive. After he’d been told by someone impersonating Mr. 3 that the Strawhats and Princess Vivi were dead in Little Garden. Then shortly after, Miss All Sunday informs him of the Strawhats arrival at Rainbase.
Crocodile growls. Had he been underestimating these Strawhat Pirates? Did he actually underestimate this no name rookie before him? He grabs the base of his prosthetic. He twists one ring to pop off the remaining broken part of the hook that is still attached to him. Then, he twists another ring to reveal a knife.
No, he didn’t underestimate Strawhat. Strawhat is just a fluke. A miscalculation. A goddamn monkey wrench that some unknown entity threw in his way for no reason other than to just piss him off.
```````````````````````````````````````````
Vivi collapses onto the couch and runs her hands over her face while groaning. “You’re gonna really do this.”
“Yup.”
“And you can’t be talked out of it?”
“Nope.”
“I hate you. I hate you so much, Iris.”
“That’s okay, Vivi. I love me enough for the both of us.”
```````````````````````````````````````````````
“Hey, guys! I got a dog!”
Everyone—sans a still sleeping Luffy—looks up from what they were doing to see Iris return with a weird dog-gun/gun-dog thing happily following her.
Yonji, Usopp, and Chopper scream in panic. They jump up on the bed with Yonji holding the sniper and doctor. Gin just sighed heavily from the sofa he’s sat on and goes back to his book. He’s not surprised really. This feels like something that would happen.
“Why did you take Mr. 4’s dog,” Usopp shrieked.
Iris blinks. She looks at the dog, who looks up at her, then back to her crew. “He baby.”
“He not baby,” Usopp shot back.
Iris picks up the dog-gun and holds it up in front of her. “But look how cute he is!”
“He’s not cute! That’s a freak of nature,” Yonji shouts.
“Your face is a freak of nature,” Iris shot back with a huffy pout as she glared at him. She holds the dog-gun protectively to her chest. “Lassoo is a good boy.”
“No, he’s not! He tried to kill us,” Usopp shout back. “He’s a bad dog!”
“Hey!” She points at Usopp. “There’s no such thing as a bad dog! Just bad owners!”
Yonji blinks. “I guess that makes sense….”
Iris nuzzles her head against Lassoo who pants happily. The gun-dog perfectly content to let Iris carry him around if she wants. “He’s a good boy~! Such a good boy~,” she coos in a baby voice. “Good baby boys shouldn’t go to prison.”
`````````````````````````````````````````
Zoro is seated on the sand outside of the city in some ruins. He has a boulder balanced on each arm as he focused. His mind replays the fight between himself and Mr. 1. His victory, his mistakes, and what improvements he needs to make. He needs to get stronger. He won, but only by a hair.
“You know if Chopper finds out that you’re training instead of resting, he’s going to flip the fuck out,” Johnny’s voice called out.
Zoro didn’t need to look at him to know he’s grinning. “What do you want?”
“Heard you took off when you woke up this morning. Took us a while to find you,” Yosaku said.
“I went straight out to the ruins,” Zoro said. His arms holding steady.
Johnny snorts. “Don’t lie. We’d been running all over the city because everyone kept telling us which way you actually went before we finally found you,” he shot back.
Zoro feels his face go warm in embarrassment. “There something you want?”
“Nah. Just wanted to bug you,” Yosaku said.
“Should you two be off doing couple-y things? Yosaku, when’s the last time you took Johnny on a date,” the green swordsman shot back.
Johnny laughs. “Oof, he got you there, Yosaku. When was the last time you took me on a date?”
Yosaku is now flushed in embarrassment. “I take you on lots of dates!”
“Secret picnics behind the tangerine trees are only good for so long,” Zoro quipped, blandly.
Yosaku lets out an offended sound while Johnny laughs.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````
Gin sighed as he settles next to the swordsman and reindeer. “Should we stop them?”
“Under normal circumstances, I would say yes. However, they’re peeping on Nami,” Zoro replied. “That’s already going to end up with them regretting it once she figures out how to charge them an exorbitant amount of money. But there’s also Reiju who is the older sister to those four idiots.” He gestures to the four brothers. “And then there’s Iris. Pretty sure she’ll make them regret it to the point that they never think about peeking into a women’s bath ever again.”
“How do you think she’ll do it? Trauma or guilt,” Gin asked jokingly.
“Knowing Iris? Probably both in some way,” Zoro replied. He grabs a bucket and fills it with water. “Close your eyes, Chopper. I’m going to rinse you off. Then, we’ll do another round of shampoo. The soap came back three shades darker than you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. We’re going to have to do multiple rounds of shampooing to get you all cleaned up.”
“I think I’m with Rissy on this, Zoro.”
“About what?”
“About not liking the desert.”
Zoro snorts while Gin snickers from his place. “It’s definitely not for everyone.”
“I’m still glad I got to come here. I got to talk to the Royal Physician and he was really impressed by my skills as a doctor.”
Zoro feels a swell of pride in him. “As he should. You’re the best doctor around.” He grins in amusement as the reindeer dances happily in his seat. “Now, hold still. I’m gonna pour water on your head. Make sure you close your eyes tight and keep your mouth closed so shampoo doesn’t get into either. Okay?”
Chopper nods and does as requested. “Ready!”
Zoro pours water on Chopper. The bucket held in one hand while his other directed water where it needed it more as it went down the back of the reindeer’s head to the floor.
Then, there’s screaming and he pauses long enough to hear so he knows what his part should be.
`````````````````````````````````````````````
Vivi shifts anxiously from her spot on the couch. “Hey, you guys….”
Everyone stops what they’re doing to give the princess their full attention.
“I, uh…. I don’t….” She looks at her hands. “I don’t know what to do. If you were me, what would you do?”
“Vivi, we can give you twelve hours to make a decision. We’ll travel down the Sandora after teaching Ballerina Boy why he shouldn’t steal from us and by noon tomorrow, we’ll draw near the eastern harbor,” Nami offered. “I doubt we’ll be able to drop anchor, though.”
“Probably for the best if the Navy does end up trying to blockade the country to get us,” Reiju pointed out.
“Anyway, if you do decide to join us, that’s going to be the only chance for you to come aboard. 12 o’clock, on the dot,” Nami finished. She’s smiling at Vivi. “It’s your choice. You could stay a princess or become a pirate.”
“Of course, if you really can’t decide, you could have us decide for you,” Iris suggested. “We’d put it to a vote about whether we leave you in Alabasta or have you join the crew officially. With the majority vote winning. Then, if you becoming a pirate wins, we can say that we’re kidnapping you, and possibly Karoo, and forcing you to join our crew as payment for saving your kingdom or something like that.”
Nami hits Iris on the head. “We’re not kidnapping Vivi! It has to be her choice!”
“Yeah! Her choice,” Usopp agreed.
“Bad Iris,” Chopper scolds.
Iris just sits in a crouch in a corner all depressed like. She has a big bump on her head and is rubbing the ground in front of her with one finger. “It was just a suggestion,” she says in a glum voice. “You didn’t have to hit me. I was just trying to help.”
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris smiles. “Find everything you need?”
The stranger smiles. “Yes. Your bed is quite comfortable.”
“It better be. I spent a good amount of my personal allowance on it. You should always spend the most money on what you put between yourself and the ground. At least, that’s what my eldest brother always told me,” the rainbow girl giggled.
“Will we be leaving soon? The news from Mr. 2 had been most concerning.”
“We’re loading up now. Then, we’re leaving. There’ll be a brief passing by the eastern shore to check for someone who might also be coming with us, but after that we’ll be making haste to leave Alabasta entirely.”
“I understand. Do you require assistance?”
Iris shakes her head. “Might be best to keep yourself hidden for now. Once we’re clear, you’re welcome to make yourself known to the others.”
“Are you sure they’ll be fine with my being here?”
“Well, like I said, you can be part of the crew or stay long enough to reach a decent sized port to disappear in. And as for the crew? They’ll freak out at first, but they’ll get over it within the hour. So long as you don’t do anything to harm the crew or ship, you’ll have free reign of the ship.”
“I understand. Thank you again for this.”
“Of course. Fuck the government.”
Before the stranger could comment or react, Iris turns away to check on the crew and help prepare for departure.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Miss All Sunday’s eyes go to Luffy. “Monkey D. Luffy. It hasn’t been so long that you’ve forgotten what you did to me, has it?”
Sanji makes an offended noise and gets in Luffy’s face. “Luffy!” He grabs Luffy by the front of his robe. “What’d you do to that beautiful woman, you lousy bastard?! Tell me! Confess!”
“All stowaways must leave the ship immediately,” Usopp says into the megaphone when he peeked out from behind the main mast.
“Wait a minute! Stop lying,” Luffy complained, pouting at Miss All Sunday. “You know I didn’t do anything to you!”
“Wrong,” the woman countered. “And what you did to me was unbearable.” She lounges in the chair she’d set up. Mentally, she notes that this chair is actually pretty comfortable. She crosses one leg over another. “Go ahead. Admit it.” She glances at Iris. “You as well, Miss First Mate, since I only found the ship because of you.”
Nami gasped and glared at Iris. “Iris!”
Iris looks at Nami, then winks at her while clicking her tongue.
“THAT’S NOT HELPING YOUR CASE, IRIS!”
Chopper’s new hiding spot is a spot he climbed up to on the main mast to stare down at the mystery woman. “Who’s that woman and what’s she talking about?”
“We’d like to ask at this time that all mystery chicks vacate the ship or we’ll be forced to call the marines! Thank you for voyaging on the Going Merry.”
“Okay, but what exactly did he do,” Reiju asked.
“He saved her,” Iris replied. Everyone’s eyes went to her. “King Kobra told me. Apparently, she’d finally reached the end of her use, so Crocodile tried to kill her. Luffy carried both her and the king out when the temple was falling apart.”
“That he did,” the older woman confirmed. She points at the First Mate. “Don’t forget, though, you had a hand in my survival as well.”
“What did you do, Iris,” Gin asked, dreading the answer.
“I convinced the king to keep quiet about her, and then I healed her wound from Crocodile,” Iris listed off.
“How did you convince King Kobra to keep quiet about her,” Ichiji asked.
“I used the contract we made with Vivi and Igaram,” Iris replied. “I don’t think any of you actually read it. I had put a clause to allow Alabasta to pay us the 1 billion Berri reward either through a payment plan, alternative forms of payment, or a mix of both. Seems we might be doing both.”
“What do you mean,” Niji pressed.
“I told the king that I’d knock off 79 million Berris, which is Miss All Sunday’s bounty, off the billion Berri debt,” Iris replied. “Obviously, he accepted.”
“You bought the king’s silence through debt forgiveness,” Johnny shrieked.
Diamond In The Rough Trailer Part 2
Trailer Part 2 of 4.
“Hey, Iris?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I ask you about something else?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Why does Luffy call you Rissy? Isn’t your name Iris?”
“Yes, my name is Iris. Luffy just likes calling me Rissy.” She looks at him after she puts the last of her equipment away. “Rissy is a nickname. Like how I sometimes call Luffy ‘Lufe’. He’s my friend, so I don’t mind him calling me that.”
Chopper blinks slowly. “Is… is it okay if I call you Rissy?”
“Would you prefer to call me that instead of my normal name?”
Chopper nods once. “Yeah. I like it.”
Iris smiles. “Then, you can call me Rissy too.” She reaches out and lightly taps his little blue nose. “Boop.”
Chopper wrinkles his nose at her touch. “What’d you do that for?”
Iris smiles. The expression something soft, something that Chopper isn’t sure what to name, but he can tell that it’s good. “No reason. Just wanted to.” She picks up her equipment to take it to her room. “Enjoy the party, Chopper. It is for you, after all.” She leaves Chopper on the deck with more questions, and something called affection bubbling in his chest.
``````````````````````````````````````````
Sanji slowly wakes up and realizes that he’d landed. His head is perfectly cushioned on Nami’s thighs as if she were letting him nap there. “Oh, Nami-swan~! I’ve died and gone to heaven….”
Nami kicks him into the air. “Get off me!”
“You’re cute when you’re angry!”
Ichiji releases Reiju. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Reiju replied. “You?”
“Yeah.”
Reiju looks around. “Niji? Yonji? Are you two okay?”
“Yeah,” Yonji groans. “That is definitely a sucky landing.”
“You’re telling me,” Niji grouched, getting to his feet. “And we lost two of our crew too.”
“Hey, where’s Luffy,” Gin called out.
Zoro lifts up Luffy by his scruff. “I got ‘im!”
Luffy holds up a hand. “Yo!”
As the crew gathers their wits, a voice calls out. “You there.” The pirates look towards the shore to see three animals. There’s a red furry hippo with a septum piercing, a strange looking goat, and a old bird with a staff on the hippo’s back.
“What do you want here,” the parrot asked in a gruff voice. He sounded as old as he looked.
Sanji hits the sandy shore with an “oomph”.
Usopp blinks. “W… what? That bird talks?”
“It’s a parrot. Parrots speak,” Zoro says plainly. Not really impressed. Chopper can talk too, but that’s because of a Devil Fruit.
“Not on its own like that,” Nami exclaimed.
“Unbelievable,” Vivi murmured.
“Human tongue is no problem for me,” the old parrot said. “But I have to admit that only I and Raventi can talk like this.”
Luffy gets to shore and runs up to the bird with an excited grin. “Wow! This island is so cool!”
The parrot gives Luffy a wary look. “Who are you?”
“Hey, have you seen Chopper,” Luffy asked.
Sanji lands face down in the sand. Niji wonders if his younger brother is finally dead considering how hard Nami likes to hit everyone.
(And he didn’t even get to confess his true feelings to Iris too. What a shame.)
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
The other half of the Strawhats are still trapped by Luffy’s fat body. They’re pushing against their captain to get him out of the exit so that they can catch up with the others and help.
“Push harder! We gotta get out,” Sanji growled.
“Shut up and push yourself,” Zoro shot back.
“How about you both shut up and push harder,” Ichiji snapped.
“This is ridiculous,” Yonji complained.
“We know! You’ve said that like five times already,” Niji snapped.
“Ugh! If only he could stop eating,” Sanji complained.
“But I’m still hungry,” Luffy whined.
“You’re always hungry,” Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji shout.
“Get real,” Sanji and Zoro snarl.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Yonji gasped. “I found a shoe!” He pulls his arm out of the mud. He’s holding one of Zoro’s boots.
“Now we just need to find the rest,” Ichiji chuckled. His hand grabs something and pulls it out. “Oh! Here’s one of mine!”
Zoro comes over and helps find the shoes. He’d find his other boot and one of Yonji’s shoes. Yonji would find Ichiji’s remaining shoe. Ichiji would find Yonji’s last shoe.
The green swordsman grimaced at the state of their shoes. “This is going to be a pain in the ass to clean,” he grumbled.
“We’ll just clean it at the lake when we get back to the Going Merry. Same with our clothes and your swords,” Ichiji said. He slips on a shoe, then makes a grossed-out face at the feel of the wet mud in it. “Let’s just walk back barefoot.”
“Agreed.”
```````````````````````````````````````````````````
“So, what is Alabasta then,” Chopper asks curiously. He’s heard that name mentioned several times, but hadn’t gotten around to asking about it because he was more focused on taking care of Iris.
“It’s the country where Vivi’s father rules,” Nami replies.
“Yeah, except there’s this guy named Crocodile who’s trying to take over the country right now,” Usopp adds.
Iris kneels by Chopper. “Back at Whiskey Peak where we learned all this, our crew has been hired by the late Captain Igaram to escort Vivi back to Alabasta to her father. We’re to act as her bodyguards until she’s safe from danger.”
“Crocodile’s a Shichibukai as well,” Gin adds.
“What’s that,” Chopper asked.
Iris smiles. “Shichibukai are government-sanctioned pirates. In exchange for allying with the World Government, the bounties of these pirates are voided and a lot of their usual activity as a pirate is ignored by both the World Government and the Navy. The Government and Navy will call on them for aid on issues that require a greater show of force than usual. Or to deal with pirates much stronger than the standard ones out there. There are seven of them in total. And one of them, Crocodile as we mentioned earlier, is causing problems in Vivi’s country and is also going to try to kill her and her father.”
“The government actually supports pirates,” Chopper asked.
“Yeah, it’s pretty weird, huh,” Usopp confirmed.
“It’s to maintain a balance of power since there are pirates that are strong enough to potentially wipe out the Navy and the World Government if they felt so inclined to do so,” Iris pointed out. “Specifically, the Yonkos out in the second half of the Grand Line called the New World. There are four of them, by the way.”
“Four pirates could wipe out the Navy and World Government,” the reindeer shrieked.
“Not only that, but these Shichibukai are incredibly powerful,” Ichiji adds. “We met one back in the East Blue. A powerful swords master called Dracule Mihawk. He’s given the epithet ‘Hawk-eye’ because of his piercing gaze that seems to see right into your soul.”
“He can see into your soul,” Chopper squeaks out. He’s terrified of meeting him now.
“Well, it sure felt like it when he made eye contact with me,” Iris quipped. “Though, he smelled like a winery and old stone. Even when he was a couple hundred yards away from me.”
“I’m really looking forward to meeting this Crocodile guy,” Luffy says excitedly.
Vivi grimaces. “Crocodile is considered a hero back home,” she adds. “He helps get rid of pirates who attack Alabasta. However, his good deeds only appear good on the surface. He is an evil man. In truth, he’s manipulated the citizens of Alabasta to bring about a civil war so he can take over the country. No one has realized what Crocodile’s doing yet—not the people, not even my father.”
Luffy punches his fist into his hand. “Right! Well, this should be fun. All we have to do is beat up that Crocodile guy.” He says that so matter-of-factly.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sanji watches as they all fall onto the deck with food and rods. “Pathetic. I can’t take my eyes off anyone,” he growled. He glares at Yonji. “And you should know better, Yonji!”
Yonji smiles weakly. “I couldn’t help myself, Sanji. Your cooking is like the ultimate temptation. Your cooking is better than sex, I swear!”
“I can vouch for that,” Iris calls out.
“How would you know? You’re a virgin,” Zoro suddenly blurts out.
Iris let’s out an offended gasp. “How could you just reveal that, Zoro!?”
“You LITERALLY said that it was going to suck if you died a virgin, even more so if you never got to have your first kiss,” Zoro countered, glaring at her. “And this was while the two of us were tied to posts next to each other.”
“Dude! I thought we were going to die! We’re supposed to be post buddies! What happens at the post, stays at the post,” Iris argued.
“You never specified that!”
“Wait wait wait! Iris, you’re a virgin,” Usopp asked.
“YOU’VE NEVER HAD A FIRST KISS,” Nami shrieks.
“What are they all talking about,” Chopper asked.
Luffy shrugs from his spot. “Dunno. They’re all being weird now.”
“You all are the worst,” Iris shouts, standing.
“Poor, sweet Iris. Unfamiliar with the touch of a lover,” Niji teased as she walks off.
“I will set you on fire in your sleep,” Iris shot back.
Vivi blinks. “This… might be the weirdest conversation I’ve ever heard.”
“Get used to it,” Nami said. “Now, come on. We have a virgin to tease.”
“Fuck you, Nami!”
“You couldn’t please me! But for a fee, I can help you get some experience~!”
“I’m calling bullshit! I could believe that you’ve got kissing experience, but I sincerely doubt that you’ve lost your virginity to anyone!”
Nami winks at her with her tongue stuck out. “And that’s where you’re wrong~! I had a hot summer affair when I was 16.”
“Oh my god, you caused the collapse of a marriage? How could you! That poor woman,” Iris exclaimed.
Nami blinks. “What?! No! I didn’t break-up a marriage! I meant that I met up with a girl and hooked up with her for a few weeks after working a successful job together. Besides, if I’m going to be the cause of an affair in a marriage, I’m hooking up with the wife. Not the loser husband she’s stuck with!”
Usopp chuckles. “Heh heh heh. My, my, isn’t this a surprise? Our First Mate has no experience in romance?” He laughs victoriously. “It’s alright, Iris! I can regale you about my many, many lovers all over the world!”
“Usopp, we literally witnessed your first kiss the day you joined us,” Iris shot back.
Usopp wilts, but then points at her with a scowl. “At least I got to have my first kiss.”
Iris jolts at the realization. She lets out a defeated shriek and drops to her hands and knees. Usopp’s ahead of her in the romance department. How the fuck!? This is bullshit!
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Our destination will be Yuba. An oasis that the Rebel Army should be located. However, we’re going to stop in Nanohana, a port city first. We’ll need to get supplies as we’ll be walking to Yuba once we get as far upriver as we can on the Going Merry,” Vivi explains.
Iris nods once. “Alright.” She points at the princess. “Make us a list of everything we’re going to need for our trek to Yuba, so that we can collect what we can move quickly as possible. Meet with Nami and Ichiji so they can figure out our budget. Since this is your home island, you’re going to have to be our guide. Please make sure to include obtaining a map of the island. We don’t need to get lost while we’re out there. It’s bad enough that Zoro can get lost in a paper bag.”
“Hey!”
“We don’t need the rest of us to get lost too.”
Vivi nods. “Right. I’ll get right on it.”
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris stares at her “x” for a moment longer before letting Reiju carefully cover it. “Never got a tattoo before. Kinda hurt more than I thought….” She watches it disappear under white wrappings.
“Well, it depends on where you’re getting it tattooed,” Ichiji explained as Niji wraps his arm for him. “Some places, getting tattooed is almost painless. Other places, it will hurt. A lot.”
Iris hums. “Is that the same with fighting? I know that some places are more sensitive or vulnerable, like if I were to kick a man in the balls or if I twist someone nipples or pull hair.” She wraps Reiju’s arm in return.
Usopp gives Iris a wary look as Gin wraps his arm. “Please don’t do any of that to me….”
“Don’t give me a reason too.”
````````````````````````````````````````````````
Vivi holds out the list to Sanji. “I’ve made a list of everything we need. And get clothes first, like Iris suggested. Normal clothes so we won’t stand out.”
“And perfume too,” Nami adds.
“No! No perfume,” Iris snapped. “That stuff hurts my nose.”
Nami blinks, then gasps. “Is that why all my perfume went missing? Did you do something to it?!” She grabs Iris and shakes her a little. “Did you throw it all away?”
“No! I just… put them away,” Iris exclaimed. “I wouldn’t damage or throw away your stuff without consent.”
“Then, where’d you hide it,” Nami snarled. “I’ve been looking everywhere!”
“I’m sorry! It’s just—you douse yourself in so much of it, it’s like you’re trying to bathe in it!”
“Our ship is mostly men, several of whom do not shower regularly! Of course, I’m gonna make sure I have as much perfume on as much as possible so I don’t smell it!”
“But it gives you away,” Iris argued. “If you wear too much, then someone could find you simply because of how much perfume you wear!”
“That doesn’t mean you should hide it!”
“I’m sorry!”
“Well, we’re going to go now,” Ichiji said. “We’ll get everything we need and a few extra things as well. Any special requests?”
“Food and water,” Zoro said.
“Tabasco,” Usopp replied.
“Remember the food.”
“And Tabasco!”
“Who cares about you,” Sanji shot back.
“Tabasco!”
Zoro glares. “Shut up about that!”
``````````````````````````````````````````````````
Zoro hums. He notices something in his peripheral which makes him stop in his tracks. His eyes locking onto a man who definitely isn’t from Alabasta if his clothes were any indication. Iris stops by him. She glances at Zoro curiously. The swordsman glances at her, then signals where to look. She follows his direction to the man that caught his attention.
Even with his back to them, Iris recognized him immediately.
That orange hat and giant back tattoo make it nearly impossible to miss him.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Yeah. That’d about do it,” the pirate states happily. He uses a toothpick to clean his teeth of some food that got stuck in there. “Tell me, sir.” He pulls out a piece of paper to place on the bar for the owner to see. “Have you by any chance seen this guy? He’s a pirate that wears a straw hat.”
“You’ve got some nerve eating in the middle of a public place like this,” a new voice growled out.
Iris tenses a bit. She knows the voice. Knows the new scent that rolled in. Hell, she recognized the smell of the cigar smoke. Shit. Did Smoker notice her? Wait, Smoker is here to deal with Ace at this moment, right? She slowly turns her head slightly to see Smoker glaring at Ace.
“Even for a division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. Well, Portgas D. Ace?”
Rude. He didn’t even notice her.
This is totally ruining his chances of asking her on a date.
That and messing with her bit of calling him a stalker.
So rude!
The owner and patrons all look nervous as they eye Ace. None of them had realized that the man they’d been fussing over is a pirate. Not only that, but part of one of the strongest crews out there. What was a member of the Whitebeards doing this far from the New World? Is it just Ace who’s here or is crew already here? Or are they still on the way?
“I’m curious,” Smoker spoke loudly over the murmuring. “What’s a big shot pirate doing in this country?
Ace slowly turns in his seat leaning back against the bar. “I’m looking for someone,” he says with a smug smirk. “My little brother.” He scans the crowd for the first time since finishing. His gaze lands on Iris. He blinks in surprise at the sight of her.
Iris blinks back in equal surprise. Did… did he recognize her? How? Only Luffy has a bounty poster. Not to mention, Luffy doesn’t make calls to Ace. Nor has he even mentioned his brother to her or the crew. Why the fuck is Portgas D. Ace looking at her like that?
“Who are you staring at,” Smoker growled. His gaze follows Ace’s before landing on her. He bristles. “I know you. You’re with Strawhat!”
Iris sips loudly through her straw. This drink is delicious. “Hiya, Smokey! Fancy meeting you here,” she cooed. “Here to ask me out on a date?”
Smoker glares her down. “The only think I’m doing is slapping these cuffs on you.” He holds up shackles that are most likely made of sea prism stone.
“Ooohhh, kinky~. My safe word is pineapples.”
Someone chokes on their drink behind her. Ace snorts.
“That’s not what I was implying,” Smoker snapped at her.
“Aw, don’t be shy, sugar bear. We all like to get freaky. However, a little advice? At least take a girl on a couple dates first to ease her into getting into your bed,” she continued. “Unless this is more of a one-night stand situation. Just remember: no girl likes to feel pressured into sex. It’s totally a mood killer and really unattractive if a guy has to get pushy to fuck.”
“I will strangle you.”
“Oh, goody~! That’ll make me clench tight for you!” She sighs longingly. “I’m already getting so wet over the things you want to do to me.”
Smoker looked like he was having an aneurism. “I hate you. I hate you so fucking much.”
“I’m down with hate fucking too. I like playing rough.”
Smoker screams. “ENOUGH! I’m arresting both you and Fire Fist,” he snarled.
“Ooh~! Threesome? Sweet!”
Ace is turning purple with how he’s trying to keep his composure. He really, really wants to laugh, but he doesn’t want to burst out laughing because he wants to see how far this will go. It would definitely make for a good story to tell his crew when he eventually gets back to them.
“Shut up! You’re going to tell me where your captain is! I came to Alabasta to hunt down your captain and crew!” His face has been turning three shades of red before going purple, which has Iris quickly taking pictures of (for posterity).
Iris makes a face as she lowers her camera in disappointment. “So, you’re not here for a night of passion?”
“No!”
“So, you’re stalking us.”
“I’m not stalking you!”
Iris gestures to him. “You totally are! You were an effective deterrent in Loguetown that kept most pirates in the East Blue from leaving for the Grand Line. After one incident with Luffy, you pack your bags and run right after us? You came to the Grand Line to follow us? Rather than just warn the marines stationed on the Grand Line? That’s an obsession which led you to stalking.”
“I’m not stalking you!”
Iris sighs sadly. “That’s so disappointing. Stalking is suuupeeerrrrunattractive. I can’t be with you. What if—while we’re fucking—I find your weird, creepy shrine you made about me and my captain. That’s so icky!”
“You are the bane of my existence.”
“How? I’ve only been in this world for like a couple months,” Iris quipped. “And this is like the second time I’ve met you.” She gives him a concerned look. “Are you okay? You know smoking’s bad for you, even if your devil fruit makes you turn into smoke too. Have you been drinking enough water today? It’s really hot in this country since it’s a desert island and you’re wearing a thick jacket with gloves. Heatstroke’s no joke, man. That shit kills.”
“WILL YOU SHUT UP,” Smoker shouts. He goes to say something else, but is suddenly flung across the restaurant.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Rissy!”
Iris’s packing is interrupted by the sound of Luffy stomping down the stairs into the women’s quarters. He’s got a wide grin on his face as he charges across the room to leap onto her bed. His sandals fell off to land in a heap near the foot of her bed. His bouncing disturbs the items on the bed that she’d been planning to pack.
“Luffy, be careful,” Iris scolds, grabbing her camera that nearly falls off the bed. “My camera almost fell.”
“Oops. Sorry, Rissy.”
Iris rolls her eyes as she places her camera on her bed and goes back to sorting her things. She wants to grab one more item, but wants to pack it alone because it would make for one hell of a surprise if the idea that came to her comes true. She can’t believe that out of all her personal things that were brought here, this stupid little thing made it here. Honestly, considering how goofy this crew could be, this idea will probably end up being some weird ace in the hole for her.
(She hopes.)
“So, what’d you need, Captain,” Iris asked, pausing her packing to stare at her captain questioningly.
“Do you think you can help Ace, Rissy?”
Iris blinks. “With what?”
“With that guy he’s chasing,” Luffy said. He picks at her blanket. “When he talked about that guy and what he’d done, he… he looked so upset. It reminded me of when we lost Sabo. Even though, his nakama survived the attack like he said, but still…. Ace never likes it when he fails to protect what’s his.”
Iris moves to sit by Luffy’s head. Her hand finding his hair. “You’re worried about him.”
“Nu-huh. Ace is strong. I’m never worried.” Though, his face said otherwise. He is. He just didn’t want to voice it or make it seem like he thought Ace couldn’t handle it.
“I think the same thing of my brothers back in my world, but I still worry,” Iris said. Her voice is soft. “Even right now, I’m worried. I don’t know if they know I’m gone yet. Or, if they do, how upset they must be that I’m missing. After everything they’d gone through to keep me safe, the one time they let me leave on my own and I disappear. What must they think? How do they feel? What do they think happened to me? Will they ever see me again? Will they be able to accept if I’m gone forever? Or will they drown in their grief?”
The frown on Luffy’s face deepens. “Older brothers worry about their youngers a lot, don’t they….”
Iris smiles knowingly. “Almost as much as mothers do.”
“I don’t remember my mother,” he confessed.
“I don’t remember mine either.”
Luffy turns his head to look at her. “Will you help?”
Iris sighs as she leans her back against the wall. “I can’t give him the details I know from my secret. But if I can back up what I know with information I’ve already cultivated or with theories that I can come up with from what I have, then I’ll help. But I can’t tell him where to go, who is with Blackbeard, and what to do. Though, I will try to urge Ace to get into contact with his crew. Get them to help him.”
“Rissy….”
“Yeah?”
“I know I said, ‘no spoilers’, but….” He gives Iris a worried look. “D-does he win?”
“I can’t tell you that, Luffy. I’m sorry.” She smiles. “But I can tell you that Ace is strong. He gives as good as he gets. Blackbeard is gonna get a run for his money.”
````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris rolls her eyes, then goes back to packing her bag. Making sure to pull out the item she’d found and slipping it into her bag before someone else arrives. She sighs when she finishes. Her hands sliding the zipper shut.
“Things are gonna pick up from here,” she says to herself. Her eyes look at her swords. “Better be ready for anything.” She grabs the belts and secures her swords to her waist. Adjusting it so that it won’t slip or agitate her skin through the trek across the desert. She’ll have Zoro look it over for her to make sure she did this right.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris groans. Her hands gripped her hair before being dragged over her face in slight frustration. “Fuck this desert. Oh, my fucking god! Why does it have to be so goddamn hot? I can’t fucking think,” she growls. “I should’ve nut punched Luffy for offering me up to his brother on a silver platter.”
There’s chuckling behind her. “Wow. I didn’t think you could ever be mad at him.”
Iris turns slightly to see both Ace and Zoro standing in the room behind her. The two had gone looking for her together. One to tell her that they reached the shore and the other to ask Iris if she was ready to share her information. “It’s this heat. It’s stifling,” she grumbled, turning away. Guess she’ll have to wing it. She grabs the dossier she’d been putting together on the Blackbeard Pirates and a few other files to shove into her bag. “We ready to leave yet?”
“Almost. Sanji’s packing the food. Nami’s double checking our route. Johnny and Yosaku are double checking our gear,” Zoro reports.
“Great.” She glares at Ace. “And you? What do you want, you walking furnace?”
“Just checking to see if you’re ready with that information,” is his cool reply. That insufferable smirk still on his face. “Also, sorry about Luffy.” His smirk drops. “If helping me is too much of an ask—”
“It’s not,” Iris assured him. “Just… trying to sort everything. There’s some stuff I have to share, but there’s more I’d like to discuss about Blackbeard that I think would help.” She glares at him again. “But only if you plan to be smart with my information and not a reckless, possibly suicidal hothead.”
Ace grimaces. “I’m not an idiot.”
“I said you were a hothead, not an idiot,” she shot back. “There’s a difference.” She chuckled as she finished the last of her packing. “It seems that your devil fruit found someone appropriate of it.” She throws her bag on, then yanks up the hood of her travel robe. “Let’s get moving.”
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Vivi gasped. “Kung Fu Dugongs!”
The dugongs on the shore let out a mix of grunting, barking, and chirping at the Going Merry. One dugong comes closer to the shoreline, which has the others go quiet. The dugong starts barking at them
Chopper hops up by Iris, then translates. “‘If you wanna come ashore, you’ll have to beat me first, but I doubt that’ll happen, you buncha cowards’!” The reindeer looks up at Iris, Nami, and Ace. “He says.”
Usopp props one foot on the ship railing with a laugh. “Nobody calls me a coward and gets away with it.” He leaps off the ship towards the dugong. “Here comes the pain!”
“Usopp! No wait,” Vivi cries after him.
What happened next was too quick to follow. Just that as soon as Usopp set foot on the shore, the dugong whooped his ass good. The animal leaves Usopp beat up on the ground to bark victoriously. His pack lets out victorious noises over the win. She snaps a picture of Usopp’s loss.
“So…. By a show of hands, who else saw that happening,” Iris asked. She holds up her own hand. “Because I did.”
The others were quick to reply.
“Yup.”
“Totally.”
“Poor Usopp.”
Laughter. “Do it again!”
“It happened so fast.”
“Figured.”
“Seemed like something like that would happen.”
“If I had a Berri….”
“I feel like I shouldn’t add to the fire since I’m not part of the crew, but, yeah, I saw that coming too.”
“At least, he proved he’s not a coward?”
“I don’t even need to be a fortune teller to know this would happen.”
“Just not his day, huh?”
“Ouch.”
“Kung Fu Dugongs are really strong,” Vivi exclaimed.
Before anyone could react, Luffy’s already moving. By the time the crew realized it, Luffy had already won. The dugong is on the ground with a big bump on his head. Luffy standing over him and lets out a yell in victory. The moment was captured by Iris’s camera.
“See! They’re not too tough,” the rubber boy declared.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Nami! Where have you gone,” Sanji laments. “I even love you when you abandon me in the desert!”
Iris isn’t sure that she should be happy or annoyed at how Sanji seemed to focus on the fact that Nami and Vivi are gone. It’s definitely giving her weird feelings. On one hand, she’s glad to not have the attention on her. She’s never had someone look at her like she’s hung the moon like Sanji does whenever his attention is focused on women. On the other hand, she also feels like she’s not measuring up to some unknown standard in her head. It makes her think that there’s something about her that’s missing.
Is she not pretty enough like Nami? Do her lightning scars make her seem ugly or revolting in the blonde’s eyes? Or is it because she doesn’t dress feminine enough? Nami dresses like she’s going out with friends (and maybe she is considering the whole crew are her friends). Her style is always switching between cute and sexy depending on her mood. Vivi dresses very femininely because she’s a princess and that’s how she always dresses. Reiju is Sanji’s sister and he’s (thankfully) never shown an interest in her like that.
Iris dresses on the more practical side. Plus, she has all her baggy hoodies and T-shirts because that’s what she’s always felt comfortable in. Sometimes, she’ll let herself dress a little more stylishly, but it’s always practical outfits since she’s part of a pirate crew out on the open sea and constantly expecting trouble.
She is wearing that dancer girl outfit that Sanji got for all the ladies (yes, including his sister, but he said it was because he didn’t want her to feel left out in case, she wanted one too). Though, she had covered herself up with a spare cloak as soon as she finished dressing to hide the scars on her back easier. She’d been so quick to do so that Sanji hadn’t seen what she looked like in it. Did she upset him by making him think she wasn’t happy that he’d gotten her clothes, even if it was a dancer’s outfit?
Iris blinks suddenly. Why is she thinking about this? She’s got more important things to think about than why Sanji’s not treating her the same as Nami or spending more time thinking about why this is bothering her. She needs to focus on protecting Vivi. Needs to focus more on how to take down Crocodile.
Needs to focus on making sure that the crew can still escape the country after this is all over.
Luffy grins as he realizes that he had found a cactus. It’s a large plant bearing red fruit on the prickly arms. He carefully extracts the fruit and takes a big bite out of one. Pleased with the taste and juiciness, he jogs over to Iris who is walking silently and lost in her own thoughts.
“Hey, you gotta try this,” he says in her ear when he leans closer.
“Sure, Lufe.” Without thinking, Iris holds out a hand for her captain to give her one. She eats it without thinking. She’s impressed with it too. Sanji must’ve found it while they were still in Nanohana.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Ah… I see…. You’re still mad about being in the desert,” Johnny sighed.
Iris bristles. “OF COURSE, I’M STILL MAD ABOUT BEING IN THE DESERT! I DON’T LIKE BEING IN THE DESERT! I DON’T LIKE SAND! IT’S COARSE AND ROUGH AND IRRITATING AND IT GETS EVERYWHERE!” She stomps around angrily before screaming at the sky. “I HAVE SAND IN PLACES THAT SHOULDN’T HAVE SAND! I SWEAR TO GOD IT’S SO FAR UP MY GODDAMN VAGINA, IT’S TRYING TO TAKE MY FUCKING VIRGINITY! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
(Anakin Skywalker was right. Sand fucking sucks!)
Her friends were a mixed bag of reactions. Several tried to respect her indignity by stifling their chuckles. However, Luffy has no problem shrieking loudly with laughter. Others were unsure of how to react. While the rest just looked shocked over her explosive reaction.
“What’s virginity,” Chopper suddenly asks.
“Ask again when you’re older,” is Usopp’s immediate reply.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Zoro stops walking as he watches the three, then he pulls out his canteen to offer to Chopper. “Hey. You want some water?”
“No, thank you. I’ll be just fine,” Chopper said. “Rissy’s fanning has helped with the heat a little. I can wait until our next break to get some water.”
“Don’t push yourself too much, Chopper,” Iris urges gently. “You’re a reindeer. You’re not meant for a desert environment. Your thick fur is going to make you more susceptible to dehydration. So, we’re going to be understanding if you need a little more water than the rest of us, okay?”
“Okay. I’ll be careful. But I really am fine for now,” Chopper assured her.
Iris nods. “Okay. Tell me or Zoro if that changes.”
“I will. Thank you for looking out for me.”
Iris smiles, then flicks the brim of his hat so it covers his eyes. “You’re one of us. It’s what we do.” She looks at Zoro. “If you’re thirsty, then drink.”
“That goes for you too,” Zoro shot back. He holds out the canteen to her. “Drink. You haven’t for a while. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”
Iris rolls her eyes and accepts the canteen. She takes two gulps before handing it back to Zoro. He does the same before securing the cap and sets it back over his shoulder. She grins. He notices.
“What,” the swordsman growled. He knows that grin. It’s the one she gives before she says something that’ll annoy him.
“You know some people would say that we shared an indirect kiss,” she teased.
Zoro bristles as his face goes red. “Will you knock it off with that bullshit?! Ugh! Sometimes I think you’re worse than that damn ero-cook!”
Sanji is too busy fighting off Luffy and Usopp to hear the comment Zoro made about him.
Iris laughs weakly. “It’s just too easy to tease you, Green Bean.”
Chopper snorts. “Green Bean!”
Zoro points warningly at the reindeer. “Don’t you start!”
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Ace’s eyes widened in shock, then fear. “Hey! Wait, calm down, Iris! Please don’t cry! I don’t need your crew trying to kill me because they think I did something to you!”
Iris blinks. “Huh?”
“Huh? Don’t ‘huh’ me! Why are you crying?!”
Iris felt confused. She touches her face carefully. Her fingers finding a wetness on her cheeks. “Oh….” She pulls her hand away to study the wetness on her fingers. “I’m crying….” She frowns. “I…. I didn’t realize I was…. I’m sorry….” Her voice trails off.
Ace frowns. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Iris shakes her head to snap her out of her funk, then quickly wipes the tears away. “Nothing! It’s nothing…. Just got lost in my head for a bit and didn’t realize this was happening. I’m sorry for scaring you.”
Ace felt those familiar big brother instincts come to surface. The ones that had developed during his years as Luffy’s brother. The ones that knew that she wasn’t telling the truth. “Bullshit. Something’s up and it’s bothering you,” he pointed out. “If you won’t tell me, then I can go get Luffy for you instead.” He goes to leave, but Iris is quick to stop him.
“No! It’s fine really! I don’t want him or the others to worry,” she exclaimed.
Ace stares at her hard. “Then, at least tell me.”
Iris’s face contorts painfully before she sighs in defeat. “You just….” She released him to gently place her hands on her head where he’d patted her head. “You did the same thing my siblings would do back in my world,” she finally confessed. “It made me realized that… that I really miss them.” Her jaw clenches. “And that I’m probably never going to see them ever again. And I hate it.”
Ace’s heart clenches painfully in his chest over her confession. He already knows what it’s like to lose a brother the way he had with Sabo. But the way that Iris lost her siblings? He thinks the way that she lost her family might actually be worst. When he lost Sabo, it’s because the boy died. He’d died and they knew how. Someone had witnessed his death to confirm it.
That was it.
The end.
No second guessing.
Iris, though? Her siblings are all the way back in her world. She has no idea how much time as passed since her disappearance. It could have been five minutes, or it could have been five years already. If Iris really does end up spending the rest of her life in this world instead of her own, then her family is never going to know what happened to her. They won’t have someone confirm her death. There won’t be a body to bury. Any investigation done will all end up as a dead end. Her siblings will spend the rest of their lives never knowing what had happened to their sister.
God, what if that happened to Luffy? Ace thinks that he would actually destroy the world if his brother just disappeared the way that Iris had. He’d tear this whole world apart because no world should exist if his brother—the best person to ever exist—was no longer around. He’d destroy everything and wouldn’t regret it.
Ace stares at Iris for a long time as he mulls through his thoughts. He’d decided it long ago when he was a kid, but now he’s even more determined to do so. Just as he looks after Luffy, he’ll look after Iris too. Even if her blood family isn’t around anymore, he and Luffy and the Strawhats and even the Whitebeard Pirates can be her new family.
“I’m sorry you were taken from them,” Ace finds himself whispering to her.
Iris meets his gaze for the first time in a while. “I’m sorry your family was hurt.”
Yeah.
He’ll look after her now.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
The next day, the crew were still making their way through the desert. Iris had felt that this had to be the longest trek through the desert in recorded history. She’s positive that she’s exaggerating, but she feels this firmly in her soul.
She fucking hates the desert.
The sun had felt unbearably hotter than previous days. She just knows it. Ugh. She wishes that she could just fast travel to Yuba like in video games or teleport or something that would make this horrible walk end.
Iris is ripped from her thoughts when Luffy suddenly starts yelling. He starts running around too. Yelling incoherently for someone or something, but the crew isn’t sure.
“What’s he doing,” Vivi asked.
“He’s freaking out again,” Nami asked confused.
“How‘s he running on air,” Sanji asked.
(Tbh, Iris felt that last question is the real question, but she’s too busy trying to not die of heatstroke to say anything.)
Usopp sighs. “He must’ve eaten another cactus. He’s gone crazy,” he laments.
Nami huffs. “Jeez. Why can’t he stay out of trouble for more than five minutes?” She turns to the crew. “Chopper!”
Zoro grimaces. “I don’t think he’ll be much help.” He glances back to see Chopper laying on his back on the makeshift sled. Looking absolutely miserable and half-dead.
Nami winces. “Yeah, he’s in pretty bad shape.” She looks at Iris. “Well, up to you, Iris.”
Usopp glances at Iris. “You’re still normal, right?”
Iris slowly turns her head to send the sniper a withering glare. She opens her mouth to say something snarky to him, but ends up collapsing from the aforementioned heatstroke she’d been desperately trying to avoid.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris approaches the Poneglyph. Her eyes wide as she takes it in. She hesitantly places her hand on it. The cold solidness of the stone meets her warm skin. The carved lettering of the stone’s dead language is run over by her fingers as she slowly glides her hand over the smooth stone. She can’t believe that she gets to see, let alone touch one, in person.
(Is this how Robin felt when she found her first Poneglyph? The feel of cold rock under her fingertips. The words of those who came before carved into this ancient stone and survived almost a thousand years without any degradation like other ancient ruins experience through the long passage of time. The ability to read a dead language and understand the knowledge that has been left behind. A glimpse into a past that has been purposefully wiped from the history books and made near impossible to study without fear of discover and death if captured.)
And now here Iris stands before one. She wishes that she could read the Poneglyphs too like Robin. She wishes she could understand the carved symbols on this stone face. Maybe it’d allow her to share the burden that has been weighing down on Robin’s shoulders. Maybe Robin would be more likely to trust the crew to save her from Cipher Pol sooner if she put herself out there like that.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Toto.”
The old man looks up to see Iris standing at the edge of the wider rim of the hole he’d been in. He looked surprised. He hadn’t heard her approaching. “Your captain has fallen asleep in the hole he dug.”
Iris joins him by Luffy’s hole and spies her captain below. “That he did,” she hummed. A fond smile on her face. “I’ll take him to the inn. Hope he didn’t cause too much trouble for you.”
“No, he’s been fine. He’s good at digging, but didn’t seem to good at not throwing it into my hole.”
Iris chuckles. “He means well.” She climbs down into the hole. She kneels by Luffy and gently shakes his shoulder. “Luffy.”
“Mmmm….”
“Luffy, I need you to wake up for a moment.”
“Mmmm… don’ wanna….”
Iris giggled. “I just need you to help me get you out of this hole. After that, I’ll carry you on my back and you can go to sleep then.”
Luffy cracks an eye open and see his first mate. “Rissy….”
“Yes, Luffy. It’s me.”
He sleepily opens up his arms. “Cuddles.”
Iris giggles again. “Not right now. We need to go to bed. We can cuddle then.” She helps him up and has him climb out of the hole with her. When out, she lets him settle on her back as she holds his legs. His arms wrap loosely around her neck as his face presses into her hair. She looks at Toto. “We’ll be heading to bed now. Walk with us? Or do you plan to keep digging?”
“I’ll be digging some more before going to bed,” Toto admits. He ushers her away. “Go rest. You all will have a long trek to Katorea to make, starting tomorrow. You all need to be at your most well-rested if you’re to protect Princess Vivi.”
Iris nods. She walks a few steps before stopping to glance back at Toto. “Toto.”
“Hmm?”
“We will stop this,” she promised. “We know who’s responsible for the drought that’s lasted three years. We’re going to stop him. Just hold out for a few more days and the rain will come back. I promise.”
Toto stares at her. He nods once. “I’ll hold you to it.” Then, he turns away to keep digging.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“They want us to not help them if they get captured,” she repeated. “Am I hearing that right?”
“Iris seems to think that they can handle whatever happens when that happens.”
“But if Crocodile gets Vivi….”
“I don’t think he’ll kill her immediately. We’ve observed Crocodile when he did his rounds on the floor. He’s arrogant and smug. He’ll spend the time bragging and monologuing like some cliché villain in those novels you like reading,” Gin countered.
Reiju’s jaw clenches. She knows Gin’s right. Despite all the secrecy Crocodile had gone with Baroque Works, he’s actually pretty easy to read as a person when people know what to look for. The man relishes being on top. All the secrecy he’d been working under probably has him nearly frothing at the mouth for the chance to brag about it to someone.
Who better to brag to than the princess of the very kingdom he’s set to destroy.
Reiju nods. “Alright. We’ll get to it.”
“Do we still have that spare suit for me? I think it’s time I got a chance to enjoy this casino before we rob it blind,” Gin requests.
Yonji looked ecstatic. “I have just the thing for you!”
Diamond In The Rough Trailer Part 1
So, turns out my trailer is too long for Tumblr to let me make it all one post. So, I'm breaking it into four parts. Also, I don't know how to center the breaks I have in between scenes. So, just ignore it.
This is Part 1 of 4 of the Trailer.
Iris doesn’t even bother with a quip. She’s too busy staring at the whale. She knows that this is Laboon. Had been excited at the thought of meeting him. However, at this moment, she’s terrified. He’s huge. The manga—and even anime when it aired—tried to do their best to display the enormity of Laboon. Yet, just like everything else, it seemed that both media mediums did very little to truly encapsulate that. Because somehow Laboon just looks bigger. Just a large black mass that towered over her that made her think of the skyscrapers in the cities from her world. Deep scars grooved into the whale’s head from what Iris knew to be Laboon’s many attempts at destroying the Red Line by ramming itself into it. Hell, his eye looks to be the size of… of… fuck she doesn’t even know what size she can think of to compare it too. She wants to say maybe a hot air balloon or a zeppelin, but she’s never seen one in freaking person before. Even the big, black ball that is its iris and pupil are freaking huge.
Is this what people in all those Godzilla and other giant monster movies felt like?
(A small voice in the back of her mind speaks for the very first time since getting her devil fruit. It asks:
Is she capable of getting that big too?
She’ll table that for now. Right now, she needs to be sinking into a pit of despair and fear over how fucking big this goddamn whale. Holy shit!)
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Iris.”
A hand gently taps her face. Making her frown slightly and groan.
“Iris! Hey!”
The hand stops tapping to grab her shoulder and give her little shakes.
Iris slowly opens her eyes to see Johnny kneeling over her. “Am I dead?”
“No, don’t think so. Why?”
“There’s a blue sky.”
“Yup.
“But we were swallowed by the whale?”
“Yup.”
“Were we drugged? Was the whale fake?”
“Nope. No drugs. Whale’s real.”
“Fuck.”
Johnny snorts. “Mood.”
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris gasps. “I have a secret nemesis!?”
Crocus blinks. “You sound way too excited about that.”
“I’m just learning that my future self is going to be the fucking baddest bitch around,” Iris exclaimed. “Yes, I’m going to be excited about this.”
Crocus rolls his eyes. “Good to know that you’re just as crazy at the start as you are in the future…. Or well the past.”
“For you at least,” she countered.
````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Nami frowns. “I know our heading. I just checked it a while ago,” she snapped. She goes outside, then pulls up the Log Pose to check her heading.
Iris covers her ears. “3…. 2…. 1…”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”
Everyone stops what they’re doing to look at Nami.
“What’s wrong now,” Niji grouched as he’s wiping the snow Usopp threw in his face.
“Sounds mad,” Luffy quipped from where he hid behind the blue brother.
“Don’t be afraid! I’ll save you,” Sanji shouts.
````````````````````````````````````````````````````
She hears someone heading for the balcony. She climbs onto the stone roof over the balcony entrance, lying flat on her stomach on the roof to make it easier for her to hide. The door opens and a voice follows.
“There’s no one here. I thought you said that you saw the First Mate come out here,” a first voice spoke
“I did! I swear I did,” a second hissed.
“Well, she’s not here,” came a third.
“Yeah! I fucking noticed,” the second hissed. “Where the fuck did she go?”
“We need to find her. She’s the only one still awake. Mr. 8 said that she wouldn’t drink any alcohol and she faked drinking the water that he drugged after she walked off to talk to her crew.”
“There’s only so many places she can go. Her crew is unconscious and her ship is being watched. She can’t get away.”
Iris frowns. Looks like things are about to get started. When she hears them leave, she quickly gets up. She feels a presence above her. She pulls out one of her guns and aims it at the presence above her. On the roof of the building’s third level is Zoro. A sharp grin on his face as he stares down at Iris.
“Looks like you’re starting to be more aware of your surroundings. Good,” the swordsman said. He sits on the roof. “Why’re you out here?”
“Hiding from our hosts,” is her reply. She holsters her weapon, then climbs up to sit next to him.
“I take it you knew something was going to happen,” Zoro said. “Is that why you were warning us to not get too carried away with the partying?”
It’s Iris’s turn to grin sharply. “Where’s the fun in telling you when you’re about to find out?”
As if to prove her point, Igarappoi and the other agents file out of the building to gather before it. Many of them were now wielding weapons.
Zoro’s grinning with interest now. “I see,” he whispers.
Iris leans against his arm. “Keep ‘em busy for me? I’ll go wake some of the crew and we’ll go stealing all their valuables before we leave.”
“Sure.”
Iris smiles, then kisses his cheek. “Have fun, Zoro~.” She quickly leaves before Zoro makes his presence known. She quickly slips back inside the building while Zoro finally deals with the mercenaries. Already she could hear the fighting start.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Besides, while the money is mine, the contract will benefit all of us,” Nami said.
Iris rolls her eyes. “You’re not getting all the money,” she corrected. “You’ll get a nice hefty commission, I assure you. But the money made from this contract will be going to the crew’s collective wealth that we use to keep us all alive.” She smirked. “Don’t act like you’re not going to get access to any of it anyway.”
Nami snorts. “Fine. But my commission is 50%.”
“10%,” Iris countered. There’s a teasing tone in her voice.
Nami gasped. “45%!”
“15.”
“40!”
“20.”
“35!”
“25.”
“30!”
“35.”
“25!”
“Alright, you don’t need to twist my arm,” Iris said, dramatically. “25% commission for any contracts you’ve landed, negotiated, and finalized for the crew.” She holds her hand out to shake.
Nami grins smugly and accepts Iris’s hand with a sharp shake. “Glad you see it my way.” Then, she pauses for a moment before letting out a shocked gasp. “Wait! No!”
“Sorry, Nami. You agreed to the deal. Even shook on it,” Iris teased. “25% commission rate. It’s pretty good considering.”
Nami cries dramatically. “I fell for it!!”
Zoro snickers. “Serves you right.”
Nami whirls on him. “Shut up, you!” She points in the direction the princess ran off in. “Go get the damn princess or I’m increasing your debt a thousand-fold!”
That has Zoro choking on his laughter. “Fine! Fine,” he grumbled. He takes off after the princess to save her.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````
The two Baroque Works agents charge at the princess. The two go to attack Vivi, but a Molotov cocktail flies through the air, and crashes onto the ground in front of them. It explodes in a bright burst of fire as the glass breaks and splashes burning alcohol on the street in front of them. The two agents looked up in the direction the Molotov came from.
Iris stands on the roof of a building. Her head and face still covered like before since she’s facing the agents. A stolen sword in one hand, a couple stolen guns attached to a belt around her waist, and another Molotov cocktail in her hand. The rag was already lit and waiting to be thrown.
“Thought you two could use a celebratory drink with all those self-congratulating pats on your backs for a job you haven’t even finished yet,” Iris jeered. Then, she throws the other Molotov behind them.
The cocktail exploded in a splash of fire behind the agents. Effectively trapping them in a makeshift ring of fire that goes out a few seconds later.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris is quiet again before remembering something. “Igaram…”
“Yes?”
“You said that Baroque Works is known for things like sabotage and infiltration, correct?”
“Yes…”
“Would it be difficult to believe that there might be more Baroque Works agents hiding in your country?”
“Crocodile is there, so no, I don’t think it’s difficult to believe that,” Igaram answered.
“Do you think that there are agents in both the Royal Army and Rebel Army?”
Vivi gasped. “Why do you think that?”
“If Crocodile is planning to take over your country, then he’s going to do everything he can to make sure that the odds are always in his favor. Always,” Iris replied. “It’s what I would do if I were him. I’d have numerous backup plans to make sure that, in the end, I come out on top. I’m assuming that he’s a calculating son of a bitch if I’m judging him correctly with his position as Mr. 0.”
“He is,” Igaram confirms. “I’d only met him a couple of times, but I could tell right away that he’s always thinking, always scheming.”
“Oh, well then we should hope that he and Iris never team up,” Zoro said, pointing at Iris. “She’s always scheming too.”
“Aw, you say the nicest things, Green Bean.”
“I will slice you into pieces.”
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Nami makes another face as she hesitates, then pulls out her paper. She opens it to the page the article is on. “What do we do? Do we tell her?”
Iris’s eyes scanned the article. Her jaw clenching. “No,” she answered with a sigh. “We can’t. She’s worried enough as is. We shouldn’t cause her more stress than she already is.”
Nami looked unsure. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” She sighs. “Look, as your First Mate, I’m ordering you to keep quiet. I will tell Vivi if it becomes pertinent, but for now, it isn’t.”
Nami stares at Iris in disbelief. “You’re really keeping quiet about this?”
“Yes. And I will take full responsibility for it and accept her ire when thrown my way about it.”
``````````````````````````````````````````````
A bird they couldn’t see lets out a loud shriek that echoes through the jungle. Iris winces in discomfort and covers her ears. Her shoulders hunched up from the sound. Zoro gives a disapproving look until he remembers how sensitive her hearing is, then sighs before placing his hands over her’s to help muffle the noise.
Sanji watches Nami cover her own ears and gets a cheesy grin on his face. “You’re so adorable.”
Usopp turns to the cook with a cute expression on his face. “Thank you~!”
“That’s not funny! I was talking to Nami,” Sanji snapped. He turns his gaze to Iris to coo at her but sees Zoro covering her ears. “What are you doing, mosshead?!”
“Her Devil Fruit gives her really sensitive hearing,” Zoro explains stoically. “My hands are thicker than her’s, so it’ll help block the noise out.”
“His hands do make for great earmuffs,” Iris adds. “Very warm. Very nice. Very solid. 10 out of 10 would recommend.”
Zoro rolls his eyes.
“What was that screeching,” Nami asked. Her eyes scanning the trees until she noticed something in the sky.
It was heading straight for Sanji.
Sanji smiles at her. “It’s alright, love. It’s only a bird,” he assured her. “Perfectly harmless. Just like this jungle. Nothing to worry about.”
Everyone watches as the bird gets closer and closer.
And bigger and bigger.
Iris pulls away from Zoro. “GET DOWN!”
Sanji’s body moves on its own. The cook dropping to the deck just as the bird swoops down to the ship. It’s talons grasping the air. The tips just graze the back of Sanji’s jacket. The bird lets out a frustrated screech while flying off.
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris blinks. “Uh…. Captain…. That’s not a Sea King….”
“Oh? Then, what is it?”
“A DINOSAUR,” Vivi shrieks.
“Yeah that,” Iris confirmed.
Luffy gasps in delight. “AWESOME!!”
Vivi gasps. “No way! This is unreal,” she exclaimed.
Luffy’s confused now. “Huh?”
“Somehow, this island has been frozen in time. Stuck in the age of the dinosaurs,” the princess explained.
“Ooohhhhh, a real ‘Journey to the Land That Time Forgot’ kinda ordeal, huh,” Iris quipped.
“Travel in the Grand Line is so difficult, so no species ever migrated between the islands, and their unique ecosystems were preserved,” Vivi continued.
“You mean you guys could’ve been living the Flintstones lifestyle if they had,” Iris quipped.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“They’re becoming fast friends,” Vivi noted.
Iris leans closer to the princess. “That’s the power of Luffy. He makes friends anywhere and with anyone. It’s kinda fascinating to watch because just imagine who he could make his friend.”
“Who do you think?”
“I’m thinking the world’s most powerful pirates and marines if he really tries.”
“That… that sounds impossible.”
“So’s being made of rubber, yet Luffy exists.”
`````````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris puts her hand over Usopp’s mouth and shoves him away. “ENOUGH!!” She points at Usopp. “If you want to know what’s going on, take a deep breath and calm the fuck down, Usopp!”
Usopp gawks at her, then does as ordered. After a few seconds of him working through breathing exercises, he nods.
“Baroque Works agents are on the island.”
Usopp gasps. “What!?”
“The barrels of alcohol you gave Broggy had been laced with explosives during their earlier duel. The explosives went off in Dorry’s stomach after he drank it,” Iris explained.
Usopp’s face drops. “What?! But I didn’t—”
Iris stops Usopp again with a hand over his mouth. “We know,” she said. “It was Baroque Works. We believe that there are at least two officer agents with their partners here.”
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Of course, this is a good time for my quips, Zoro. It’s how you break the tension and give yourself the opportunity to viciously mock your enemies,” she shot back.
Zoro rolls his eyes at her. “No wonder everyone thinks you’re crazy.”
The two watched as the wax grows in size and forms some kind of shape.
“So, what’s our next move,” Zoro asked.
“Don’t die.”
“Simple. I can do that.”
Iris snorts. “Yeah, I’m sure you can.” She closes her eyes as she focuses on her hearing. Trying to see what’s nearby. Her ears perk up slightly when she catches the sound of something big lurking nearby.
An idea comes to her.
And Zoro seems to notice. “What?”
“I… have an idea….”
“It’s a stupid idea, isn’t it?”
Iris pouts at him. “Well, maybe to you it is.”
He raises an eyebrow at her. “And to you?”
“It’s either going to be the coolest thing I’ve ever done….”
“Or?”
“Or it’s going to be the stupidest way I’ve ever died.”
Zoro sighs. “I take it that it’s going to be the only thing you can do?”
“At least, until Luffy is free.”
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Luffy, Usopp, and Karoo burst from the jungle screaming furiously. Trees are plowed over from their rampage. They leap just as they emerge. They fly through the clearing to the other end. Missing everyone as they went, screaming still.
“When I get back, I’m gonna kick your asses,” Luffy screams as he passes the Baroque Works agents. He has Iris’s swords and bag strapped to his back.
The three hit the jungle on the other side of the clearing with a loud crash.
Mr. 3 blinks. “Huh?”
Everyone is staring at them in confusion and disbelief.
````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Freeze.”
Miss Golden Week freezes in place. Her body is unable to move, even though she’s trying too. Everyone hears the new voice and whips around to see someone standing behind her. Fear builds up into her as someone moves to stand in front of her.
It’s Iris, the Strawhat First Mate. She stares down at Miss Golden Week. “Hey there, sweetie.” She winks.
Miss Golden Week stares apprehensively at her. “Uh… hi.”
“I have a question that I wanna ask you,” Iris said.
“What is it?”
“Do you know what one hand clapping sounds like?”
Miss Golden Week frowns. “No? I don’t think so.”
Iris smiles. “It sounds like this.” Then, she slaps Miss Golden Week so hard that she knocks the girl out. There’s a chorus of “ooohhh’s” behind her. She also grabs Miss Golden Week’s pallet and paint brush. She throws it away from the girl to make sure she can’t use it easily. Then, she ties her hands behind her back with some vines she’d grabbed on her way back.
“That’s cold,” Mr. 5 comments.
“She’ll be fine,” Iris countered, waving him off. “I only knocked her out. She’ll have a pretty nasty bruise, but if you ice it down, it’ll reduce the swelling.”
````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Fucking bitch,” Mr. 5 snarled, lunging again.
Iris dodges the strike. “Rude! Didn’t your boss teach any of you manners? It’s not polite to talk to a lady like that.”
“The Boss won’t have to worry about my manners if I kill you,” Mr. 5 said. He kicks his foot out. Except instead of going for Iris, he kicks the ground close to her and makes it explode.
The two are consumed by dust and smoke. Concealed, Mr. 5 strikes. And he doesn’t miss this time. He grabs Iris with one hand. He doesn’t set off an explosion, preferring to hold onto her. With his other hand, he throws explosive punches at her over and over again. Iris doesn’t even get a chance to scream because she’s under constant barrage of explosions and punches. She can faintly hear Usopp and Luffy screaming for her before her hearing goes out. She knows they can’t help her with how she could also hear Mr. 3 and Miss Valentine’s laughter too and from what it sounded like before she couldn’t hear anymore, it seems that the two were keeping the others away.
When Mr. 5 stops, he still has her by the wrist. In fact, he’s the whole reason she’s not collapsed onto the ground. He lifts his arm higher to raise her up for one final blow. Iris manages to focus on her healing ability long enough to just repair her hearing so she can keep track of what’s going on.
“You really thought you could win against us,” Mr. 5 drawled.
“Maybe,” Iris rasped out weakly.
She hears the chaos behind him. The bomb man is so focused on her that he doesn’t see Usopp pour oil on a rope that Karoo takes to wrap around the wax cake, statues, and head to the spinning pumpkin. He’s just noticing Luffy grabbing Mr. 3 to light it on fire when he hears that the rope is covered in oil.
She grins. “But winning….” She forces her eyes open to see the bewildered look on the bomb man’s face and her grin sharpens into something dangerous. “Winning was never my goal. Only distraction.” She feels her head getting light. “But…. If we’re going to call out winners and losers, well….” The edges of her vision blackened. “I win… bitch….”
Mr. 5’s face goes from bewilderment to shock to dawning realization in less than three seconds and she relishes each expression before she passes out.
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Apparently, it wasn’t nothing because the two animals attacked. The vulture opened fired on the four with a flap of its wings while the otter lunges forward toward Niji who was the closest.
“What the hell is that,” Sanji snarled.
“I don’t know, but they’re very rude,” Yonji replied. His voice is high pitched like he’s trying to sound like a girl.
There’s a massive scuffle. Lots of gunfire, shouting, swearing, and slashing. The interior of the house gets wrecked in the process. The Den-Den Mushi doesn’t react at all to the chaos erupting around it. Before long, the four brothers are able to defeat the otter and vulture.
“Hey…. What’s going on?! Answer me, Mr. 3!”
Sanji quickly rushes over to snag the receiver. “Hey…! Well… nothing…. It’s just… that damn Strawhat was still alive. It’s okay, though. I finished him off real good. No need to worry.”
The deadpanned look his brothers give him say that if they don’t believe him, they doubt that Crocodile will.
“What do you mean he was still alive? I believe that just a moment ago you said that your mission was completed successfully…. Isn’t that correct?”
“Yes, that is what I said….” He dares to glance at Ichiji who is gesturing him to keep talking. “I mean, I absolutely thought that it was completed then. But that Strawhat guy, he’s really a lot tougher than you’d expect….”
“So let me see if I understand…. The report you gave me was a complete lie?”
Niji puts his head in his hands again.
“Well, yeah, when you put it like that way, I guess the report wasn’t the truth. But now, I’ve gotten rid of that Strawhat for sure, so there’s no need for you to send anyone else after him or the others….”
Mentally, the four brothers are hoping that the weird animals don’t get up and start attacking again.
“Very well…. Take the pose and head straight to Alabasta from there immediately. Do you understand me?”
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Hey! Couldn’t you guys have gotten any more meat on board,” Luffy asked in a petulant tone. His eyes watching the remaining piles of meat get further and further away. He really wanted to eat all of it.
Zoro scoffed. “Yeah, right.”
“We can’t possibly preserve any more than this,” Sanji explained. “It would just spoil before we could eat it.”
“Are you actively trying to sink the ship,” Nami asked in annoyance. Her glare focused on Luffy who didn’t look bothered by her ire.
Iris chuckled. She pulls Luffy to her to have him sit by her. She plays with his cheeks while he giggles. “Don’t pick on him, Nami. He’s too cute.” She turns his head around 180 degrees so he’s looking at Nami with that weird smile and wide-eyed look he always gives. “Look at him! He’s just a baby!” She pinches his cheeks for added effect.
Luffy laughs. “Not a baby! A pirate!” He swats at her hands before rushing off to stand by the ship figurehead.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
The giant goldfish opens its mouth wide. Its gaping maw being the only path the Going Merry can take.
Iris whistles lowly to herself. “I didn’t have ‘being eaten by giant sea creatures twice’ on my 2025 bingo card,” she says to herself in English. She ignores the pointed and confused looks on the crew’s faces as if they didn’t know what she said. Some picked up maybe half of what she’d said, but still didn’t understand what she meant.
“Don’t be a moron, Luffy! This isn’t going to be anything like what happened with Laboon,” Nami shrieks.
Luffy shrugs as he takes his place in his special seat. “Yeah, I know,” he agreed. He munches on a rice cracker. “Now, calm down…. Here….” He tosses the remaining rice cracker in his other hand to her. “I’ll let you have the last rice cracker.
“I don’t want a cracker!” She catches it either way. “If we don’t turn the ship around right now, that thing is gonna eat us.”
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Stop stressing over that, Vivi,” Iris rasped out. “We’re going straight to your country. In another week or so, Crocodile will be defeated, and this will feel more like a bad dream.”
“I think you are the last person who should be telling me what to feel,” Vivi snapped at the other girl. She glares at Iris. “You had no right to keep this from me.”
Iris frowns. “What good would you knowing do? Like I’ve said before, we’re already on our way to Alabasta. We’re in a ship that moves by the power of the wind. We can’t make this ship go any faster than it already is. This would’ve just stressed you out more than you already are.”
“Then why did you have this revealed now,” Vivi snaps.
“Because I wanted the others to focus on this,” Iris shot back. “I don’t want to be the reason for any further delays. Our job is to get you to your father safely, so you can save your kingdom. You can’t worry about shit that is beyond your control.”
“You still shouldn’t have hidden this from me,” Vivi shot back. She’s angry. She’s scared. She’s not thinking clearly. She shot up from her seat. “Just because you don’t have any way to see what’s going on in your world—to check on your family—doesn’t mean you can hide from what what’s going on in mine!” She holds out the paper. “This conflict in Alabasta has escalated. More blood will be shed all throughout the kingdom. My-my country is at war!”
“And what can you do about it,” Iris argued back. Her chest is heaving from the exertion. “You’re here! On a fucking pirate ship. At least a week’s sailing away from there. What can you do? What can you do?!” She points at the paper. “What can you possibly do about that right now? Crocodile thinks you’re dead. Baroque Works thinks you’re dead, which is the best alternative since that means it’ll be smooth sailing the rest of the way to your country.” She grabs Vivi’s wrist and uses what strength she has to yank her closer. “You can’t control what’s happening there. You may know the truth on how it all led to this war, but you can’t stop it. Not now and not here. What good is it for you to know when you’ll be just worrying and stressing like this? I made a decision to best protect your mental health. You needed to focus on mapping our route to your father or whoever the fuck it is that we need to see about getting a ceasefire between the two armies so that an explanation can be provided.”
“You don’t understand! If I don’t put a stop to this, the Alabasta Kingdom will be destroyed,” Vivi argued. She’s practically in a state of hysterics. She’s not really listening to what Iris is saying. All her mind can think of is how worried she is for her father. Her people. How angry she is at Crocodile for putting her, her father, and her people through all this pain and suffering. “Crocodile will seize control!”
“Vivi, you’re not listening,” Iris hissed. She grabs the princess by the shoulders and shakes her a little. “You will stop this war! You are going to stop Crocodile! Your people will be saved! I promise!” She shakes the princess as she yells at her. “But you can’t focus on what you can’t control. I know you don’t want there to be any further bloodshed, but you can’t control what other people do. You only have control over yourself and your actions. You’re going to stop him!” She feels really dizzy. “I… I prom—”
Iris faints from the exertion. Gasping, Vivi is quick to catch the smaller girl before she could fall out of bed and hit her head. The princess carefully lays Iris back in her bed, setting the blanket back over her. A conflicted look on her face. As her anger subsides a little, some of Iris’s words reach her. She knows that the first mate is simply trying to get the crew to focus on making sure that Vivi reaches Alabasta safely. Knows that Iris is trying to protect Vivi the only way she could, but this isn’t Iris’s country. So many people are about to die because of this change in military power.
Vivi is getting pretty tired of feeling helpless.
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Sanji silently takes a seat next to Iris. A concerned look on his face as he takes in the Iris’s sickly look. Her face is flushed red, but the rest of her is pale. Her skin is clammy with sweat. Stray hairs stuck to her skin. He checks the cloth Nami had on Iris’s forehead. Feeling that it’s a little on the warm side, he removes it so that he can soak it in the bowl of cold water by the bedside. He squeezes the excess water out before carefully dabbing Iris’s skin. He sees some stray hair stuck to her forehead where the cloth used to be. He runs his fingers over her skin to gently move the strands away.
Iris groans softly as she feels someone touching her forehead. She manages to get her eyes open. Her vision is blurry. She struggles to focus on it. A hand rests on her head. A voice speaks gently to her. She manages to turn her head enough to see the figure next to her. She can’t make out who it is, but she can make out the color of their hair.
Blonde.
She knows who it is.
“L… Layla,” she rasped out. Her voice is barely above a whisper.
The hand stops.
She takes a deep breath. “Layla,” she repeats a little louder. “Layla.” Her eyes fluttered closed. “Sh… should stay… away… Layla. ‘M sick.”
She hears a voice, but everything sounds muffled.
“I know… you said to not to… but I couldn’t help it,” she continued. “It was so nice… just dancing…. In the rain…. Sorry…. I’ll… be careful… next time…” She feels herself drifting away again.
`````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris sighs softly as she wakes up for the first time in…. How long has she been out? She thinks she heard fighting, but hadn’t bothered to open her eyes or inquire about it. She sits up with what little strength she managed to build up. Her eyes blinking blearily as she wipes the sleep from her eyes. When she looks around, it takes everything she has to not break down crying.
The entire crew, sans Sanji and Gin, had grabbed blankets, pillows, and futons, then piled into the women’s quarters. On her bed on the other side of the room, she could make out Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji sprawled on it. Reiju is wrapped tightly in her hammock. Nami and Vivi were sleeping sitting up. Vivi draped over the side of the bed while Nami is propped up by both the bed and Vivi. The others were all sprawled out on the floor. Zoro is sleeping against Karoo. Luffy laying nearby with Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku piled together.
Even with her mind swirling in fever, she realizes that she’s taken Nami’s place in the Drum Kingdom arc. So, it would seem that she’s the one who came down with the same sickness that Nami should’ve had. She can’t help but feel relieved as it means that the crew is still going to get Chopper.
Very carefully, Iris leans down to grab Nami’s blanket that slid off her while she slept. The First Mate pulls it up so that she could carefully tuck both Nami and Vivi under it. She wished she had the strength to have them lay down on the futons they sat on, but she feared that she’d pass out on them or, worse yet (to her) wake them up when she knows that they need their sleep.
Once satisfied, Iris carefully lays back down. Her eyes scan the room one last time before whispering, “thank you for taking care of me.” Then, she closes her eyes to go back to sleep.
It wouldn’t take her long to do so.
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Sanji chuckled softly before going quiet. “I hate it.”
Gin gives kind curious look. “Hm?”
“I hate how helpless I feel whenever someone I care about gets sick,” the cook expanded. “My mom has a weak immune system due to stuff that happened to her while she was pregnant with me and my brothers. Once or twice a year, she’d get sick. Like really sick.”
“How long?”
“Two weeks to over a month.” The cook shifts closer to Gin to share more warmth. “It sucked. Because before then she’d get so sick, she’d be bedridden for months and nearly died once or twice. It was scary.”
“I don’t think our First Mate will die.”
“We don’t know that,” is Sanji’s petulant response. He sighs and pinches his brow. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
The two sit in silence for a long while. The snowing stopped during dinner, thankfully. And they’d cleared out the snow in the crow’s nest beforehand. Gin idly wishes that the space heaters that Iris had mentioned existed in this world too. He found himself growing increasingly envious of Iris whenever she talked about her world. But he would also feel more pity for her as those conversations remind him about how she’s basically starting her life from scratch all over since she has nothing, but whatever items made it to this world with her.
“I don’t think she’s going to die,” Sanji finally says. “She’s one of the strongest people I know. I knew that even before she arrived at the Baratie.”
Right. Gin’s heard mention of Iris’s time travel stuff. It’s a curiosity that he’s both interested and concerned. Since Iris doesn’t know when in time she arrives, they have no idea who out in the world already knows about her. During the talks, it’s confirmed that both Mihawk and Buggy know about her. That Arlong and his crew knew about her. Same with Sanji, his siblings, and mother. She knows that she appears at multiple points in the past and at multiple places. When and where for all of them remains unknown.
Gin just hopes that it doesn’t put her or them in any serious danger.
“I figured,” Gin agreed.
“I just hate when people get sick.”
“Me too.”
Sanji glances at the clear sky. “Almost a full moon….”
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
“Iris! What are you doing,” Nami shouts. “You’re sick! You’re supposed to be resting!” She’s at the First Mate’s side.
“I… I heard… a gunshot,” Iris pants. “And… could smell… blood…. Is… is someone hurt?”
“Vivi got shot, but she’s okay,” Nami answers quickly. “It’s just a graze.” She glances at the princess. “Right?” She tries to sound reassuring, but she’s worried about Vivi too.
Only then does Vivi lift her head. Just enough that she could look at Iris and smile. “Just a graze. It doesn’t even hurt.”
Iris manages to stumble across the deck before stopping by Vivi. Her gaze landing on the wound before looking her over. Her hand lightly touching Vivi’s cheek as she checked her face for any additional injuries. “You… sure?”
“I am.”
Iris pulls Vivi into a hug as a wave of relief filled her. Her eyes getting glassy as she clutches the princess to her as if worried that she’d disappeared if she didn’t hold her. A few of the crew that could see her face could see the haunted look on her face. “Are you sure,” she whispered softly.
“I promise, Iris. Please go back to bed. You need to keep resting until you’re better.”
Iris slowly releases her. “But… it’s nice… out….”
“That’s the fever talking,” Nami said, appearing at Iris’s side. She and Karoo manage to get Iris to her feet, then carefully lead her back to the storage room to go back into the women’s quarters. Gin closing the door after them once inside.
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris sighs. “What I’m trying to say is…. If it takes 3 or more days for me to fully recover—or at least recover enough before our destination—then you all may need to leave me behind on this island.”
The crew starts trying to argue, but Iris holds up a hand to silence them. Her gaze doesn’t leave Luffy. Despite her exhaustion, she remains firm in her gaze.
“We won’t need to do that,” Luffy says simply.
Iris smiles sadly. “That might not be something you can decide. When it comes to people’s health, whether civilian, marine, or pirate, a doctor’s word is law. They have the utmost authority over us. Depending on what my condition is when they finally see me, they will tell you that I can’t go to sea with you all until I fully recover.”
“Then, we’ll just wait for you do get better so you can come with us,” Luffy argued.
Iris shakes her head. “You can’t. We’re on an important mission, remember?” Her eyes glanced past him to Vivi.
The princess feels her throat tighten as she realizes that Iris is sacrificing herself for her. “Iris…”
“You need to get our friend home, Luffy,” Iris continues, returning her gaze to her captain. “Their home is in danger. We’re tasked with helping. And we all know things have gotten worse in the last couple days for their home. You can’t afford to stay here waiting on me.”
“But Rissy….”
Iris smiles. “I’ll be fine. If I must stay behind, then once I’m better, I’ll head there on my own. That or I can wait here for you all to come pick me up. We can ask the people of this village to help us get an Eternal Pose of the island if that’s the case.”
Luffy pouts. “But I don’t wanna leave you,” he whines. His cheeks puffed out childishly
Iris clasps her hands on his cheeks and squeezes to deflate them. She catches a whiff of the herbal tea Dalton had given them in his exhale. She pulls his head forward until her forehead rests against his. “You’re the captain, Luffy,” she says softly. “You have to think of the crew and of what’s best. Our friend needs to get home as quickly as possible. We already had delayed enough already with the last island and this one. We can’t afford to waste any more time. Not even to wait for me to get better. Do you understand?”
``````````````````````````````````````````````````
Yosaku is leaning against the railing near Gin, but with a good distance away because he does not want to attract that man’s ire. Even accidentally. He’s holding Zoro’s shirt and haramaki. He makes the mistake of sniffing the latter and nearly throws up. Holy shit! When is the last time Zoro did his fucking laundry?! He pushes away from the railing to go back inside. He knows it’s freezing cold, but he’s going to clean the shit out of this haramaki and shirt in the crew bathroom as best as he can. Otherwise, he’s going to have to talk to the crew about an intervention with Zoro to make him give it up so it can be burned.
Because if it still smells like…. What was it that Iris once called him? Road-something? Oh, yes!
Roadkill!
If this still smells like roadkill after Yosaku’s done, then it’s been possessed by an evil curse and needs to be destroyed.
“Ugh,” Zoro groaned, rubbing his arms. “I feel more like a popsicle than a human at the moment.”
“THEN PUT YOUR FUCKING CLOTHES ON!!”
Zoro ignores Gin. “Looks like I have a lot more training to do.”
“YOU BEING COLD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU NEEDING MORE TRAINING!!”
“But if I really concentrate, I shouldn’t be bothered by even the coldest temperatures.”
“YOU WON’T BE BOTHERED BY THE COLDEST OF TEMPERATURES BECAUSE YOU WILL DIE OF HYPOTHERMIA, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!”
Zoro turns back to see Gin glaring at him, but doesn’t talk to him. Instead, he focuses on Vivi’s duck who has shuffled closer to the railing to watch the swordsman while shaking under his blanket. “Hey, Karoo! Want to come in with me? It’s a great way to get your little bird body in shape!”
Karoo grumbles at the swordsman and shakes his head almost violently in the negative.
“KAROO HAS THE RIGHT SENSE OF NOT GETTING IN WATER THAT IS BELOW FREEZING TEMPERATURES,” Gin snarled. He drops the swordsman’s jack and drapes his arm over his eyes as he groans loudly. “Iris, I’m so sorry that you had to deal with him alone for so long. I promise to not be a problem like Zoro.” When he looks back down at the water, Zoro is gone. He and Karoo shriek at the sight of a missing Zoro.
The two stare at the water. Their eyes flicking around searching for disturbances that would indicate where he had gone. They see none.
“Oh my god,” Gin mumbled. “Did he really freeze up? Is he drowning!?”
Karoo lets out a panicked screech, then dives off the ship into the freezing water.
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“25,631….”
Gin can’t believe this is happening.
“25,632….”
This has to be a fever dream, right?
“25,633….”
People like him don’t actually exist.
“25,634….”
Zoro is doing fucking one-handed handstand pushups. Is that what it’s called? In the middle of fucking nowhere. Half-naked in wet clothes. When he should be walking with Gin to find the nearest town to get him out of the cold before he gets hypothermia and dies.
“Zoro,” Gin finally spoke. “This isn’t good for your health.”
`````````````````````````````````````````
“It’s freezing!”
They quickly run back inside the castle where it’s mostly out of the wind. However, Luffy stops for a moment.
“Hold up a sec.”
“Yeah?”
Luffy yelps as he didn’t notice Sanji sneaking up on him. He settles in front of him. “That weird reindeer guy. Wasn’t he speaking earlier?”
“Now that you mention it, I remember him walking on two legs too,” Sanji adds.
It seems that they are just now noticing how odd Chopper is despite seeing him walk and talk and even transform today before now.
Man….
Talk about slow rolling.
Chopper pauses at the entrance of a hallway as he listens to them talk about him.
“HE’S A MONSTER!”
Chopper feels his fragile little heart twinge painfully a bit. Just as he thought. They called him a monster. Even when they didn’t know he was still around to hear it. He doesn’t think what Iris said about the crew being accepting of him is going to be true. He walks further into the hall.
“Okay, let’s get this straight. He walks upright and talks,” Luffy lists out.
“But not human,” Sanji adds.
“Has fur….”
“He’s little….”
“….and becomes big.”
“Clearly a monster!”
Chopper stops walking. Tears well up in his eyes. With a quiet sniffle, he slowly wipes away they tears before they spill, then continues down the hall with his head down. He doesn’t want to hear anything else.
But he ends up missing the next part of the conversation.
“What a cool guy! I bet he’s really interesting,” Luffy crows in delight. “Hey, wait. I know! He should join us!”
`````````````````````````````````````````````````
Chopper puts his hooves together so that the tips were touching, and he could see through the gap it made. “Scope!” He stares at Chessmarimo through his hooves. He stares and stares and stares. Studying the fusion man before him.
Luffy gulps. “A…. A beam! He’s gonna shoot a beam!”
“No, he won’t, you idiot,” Sanji shouts.
Luffy pouts at him. “Hey, you! Shut your trap!” He points at Chopper. “I’m telling you it’s gotta be a beam!”
“How do you know that!? Huh, Mister Smart Guy?!”
“I just do!”
“Fine! What kind of beam?!”
“A ginormous kind of beam!”
“That sounds so dumb!”
“Your face is dumb!”
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Iris takes a breath. Her gaze goes up to the staircase, but immediately looks away when the glare from the white snow becomes too much. She notices Sanji watching her carefully and sighs. “What?”
“Is something wrong with your eyes,” he asked.
“It’s the snow…. My eyes are really sensitive due to the eye color and when I got my Devil Fruit, it enhanced the sensitivity even more,” she explained. “It’s why I wear sunglasses all the time, even indoors. Speaking of, do you know where my sunglasses are?”
Sanji is quiet as he thinks the question over. “Not really,” he admits. “I think it was left on the ship? I don’t think I’ve seen you wear them the entire time you’ve been sick.”
Iris sighs. “Guess that makes sense.” She rubs her eyes in discomfort.
“Can you still see?”
“Not really. It hurts too much to open them.”
“The old hag has sunglasses. Maybe we can ask her to lend you hers until we’re ready to leave?”
“I’d rather not get her attention just yet. I’m kinda not supposed to be out of bed right now.”
Sanji blinks as if he’d remembered that too. “Oh, yeah! You’re right! What are you doing out of bed? We all told you to stay in it!”
“Was worried about you guys…. Luffy said there was a fight going on and I wanted to make sure that you all were okay. I know you hurt your back in the avalanche and Luffy’s got frostbite. I didn’t want those to get worse if I can make it better.”
Sanji has to bury his face in the snow to keep himself from gushing at how cute Iris’s worried face is.
🎭 Some stories can't fit in one picture. ✨ See the next chapter.
Bestial Brawl