A Pirate's Life for Me

Fireworks Fly!

Our travels seemed endless since escaping the fog. Sanji and I had no complaints as the sailing gave us plenty of time to recover from our injuries. We spent a lot of time resting in the ships main cabin, often exchanging childhood stories. I quickly grew a newfound admiration for Sanji over the coming days. His strength lay beyond the physical and I grew to wonder if perhaps he wasn't the love cook simply because of his chivalry. During this he also came to know me a tad better. I told him of my parents and how my attainment of the devil fruit was much like Luffy's. I was a child back then, and quite troublesome. Stealing from pirates was obviously risky, but growing up in a poor village, I would resort to anything I could to help my family. Even when it led to some serious scoldings. I had little idea that day that my actions would change the course of my future forever. I had managed to haul all sorts of loot back to my home, including a pouch with nothing short of a deliciously bright blue fruit. Leaving my first haul, I chose to snack on it as I made my way back for seconds aboard the ship. It was abhorrently bitter, and made my tongue twist in disgust between my lips. When I finally returned to the dock, the ship was no where in sight. The pirates had fled- and in its place was a large vessel, primed and shining with a seagull flapping proudly across its sails. A Marine Ship.

Accepting there would be no more goods that day I made my way home. The damage was done. Marines had flooded my home and many lugged out handfuls of my spoils. My parents lay motionless in puddles of crimson, feet from the front door. Pirates. That's what they called them. They had found the treasure and they assumed they were nothing more than no good criminals storing inventory for their cast away crew. They were cold, and had no intentions of letting me live and grow to become another nuisance to the world. Another Pirate. How ironic.

The story was a painful one to recall, and was increasingly difficult to tell as words formed stones in my throat and would choke me of air. Sanji was nothing less of a gentleman and would constantly reassure me. It would stay between us, he promised. He wouldn't be the first to hear the story, but exposing myself so raw to the entire crew seemed too soon. It was relieving to know I could trust in the cooks confidence, but the distant sound of footsteps beyond the door of the cabin left me a little queasy.

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On this particular afternoon, rain pelted around the Merry and confined our crew between the rather small cabins aboard. We all gathered in the main room and found our own ways of passing time as the storm settled. I sat towards the farthest end of the table, peering over Sanji's shoulder as the cook silently cleaned the dishes. He was feeling much better as of late and had even returned to cooking our meals. No amount of decadent dishes could cure the boredom that plagued the crew. Beside me Nami idly passed time flipping through the same news paper I knew her to have read at least six times by now. Usopp sat upon some crates less than a foot away, tinkering with his gadgets, to where Chopper held the rudder straight through the waves directly before him in the center of the room. Robin as usual sat elegantly across the table, silently flipping through pages of her rosy toned book.

Luffy heaved a great sigh beside her before leaning his weight her way. She batted uninterested lashes towards him as he found his words. "What are you always reading?" The room grew a deadly silence. Everyone seemingly continued their mundane tasks but there was no denying it. All focus was on Luffy. It wasn't every day the airhead seemed interested in literature. He must be very bored. Even the mysterious Robin seemed to curl her lips in amusement as she closed its cover and slid it his way. "It's called the Rainbow Mist. It's about someone's adventure in a place where there is an unusual phenomena." Her words were soft like silk and even I found myself enticed. "Adventures?" Luffy yipped in joy, clearly needing his fix of excitement. Almost like the sky answering his call, the door slipped open.