Dragon Ball Gomu: Book 1

Familial Ties

"I've got it.." said Piccolo as he put his hands on the side of the Thousand Sunny's hull. "You?"

"Yeah." said Franky, on the other end of the ship. "Let's lift good ol' Sunny back to her proper place shall we?"

Together, Piccolo and Franky pushed the large pirate ship right side up again, so that it was floating properly in the water.

"Thanks for the assistance!" said Franky with a grin. "You sure you don't want to join us? The world's a big place!"

"Like I said before." said Piccolo. "I have other priorities."

 Back on the beach, Luffy glared foully at Piccolo. "WHY!? Why won't you join my crew!?"

"I've already said it before." said Piccolo. "I don't have time to be playing pirate. I need to get Berei off this island and back to her father."

"My father?" Berei said as she sat next to Brook holding his violin (Brook was teaching her how to play it.) "You keep saying that I need to go look for him.. but.. I should be waiting here for him right?"

Piccolo shook his head. "Listen.. Berei. I knew your father.. he might have been a heartless man once. But now.. well.. he might have left you on an island for a few days to toughen up as training.. maybe. But he would never leave you for years.. nor would he leave you so long.. there's something not right.. there's a more sinister reason we're on this island."

Robin frowned. "You said you don't remember how you got on this island.. or why you were out of control, could that have something to do with it?"

"Perhaps." said Piccolo. "in any case, I'm not staying to find out. I'll train Berei along the way, teach her to fight.. and perhaps get that tail removed before it's trouble.."

"My tail?" said Berei, looking confused now. "What about my tail?"

"EHHhhhh!?" Luffy tilted his head. "But it looks so cool! And I don't just want Big Zoro on my crew.. Berei would be cool to have too.."

"Mmhmm!" said Berei, nodding fervently. "If I have to leave! I wanna go with Uncle Luffy!"

"U-uncle?" Zoro muttered.

Piccolo shook his head. "And just WHY would you rather go with a group that doesn't even have the capacity to train you-?"

"Because it's fun!"

Piccolo's eye twitched. "Wh-wha... have you been drinking essence of Goku? Because it's fun!!?"

"You heard her!" Luffy exclaimed, laughing. "She says it's fun! Fun fun fun fun fun!"

Luffy and Berei both laughed and began dancing around, singing together. "Fun Fun fun fun fun!"

A bead of sweat dripped down Piccolo's forehead. "It's like looking at two Gokus... ughh.. only without the battle addiction.."

"Oh, Luffy's a battle addict.." Sanji said. "In more ways than one.. not as severe as his meat addiction though.."

"Yohohoho.." Brook chuckled calmly. "As much as I would love to have Berei-san around for a little longer, perhaps it's for the best. Luffy-san, let's leave Berei in Piccolo's care."

"Mmmmm.." Luffy puffed up his cheeks in an angry pout. "I don't wanna..."

Piccolo sighed. "What a pain.. what? What's that..?"

Piccolo looked up as he saw a strange spherical ship fly down into the sand.. accompanied by some other ships.

"Wh-what the!?" Sanji stammered. "what are those!?"