Birds of Feather

Chapter 16: Frustrations

Tuesday you entered the garage once Marco brought the two of you back to your house for the day. Sure enough there was your car - you're practically new car. Everything had either been machined, replaced, or refurbished, and you were certain the only miles on the new engine were however many Kid used to make sure everything was perfect before driving it from the shop to here.

"Wow." Marco whistles. "It looks brand new."

"Technically it practically is." You admit, walking by the small work bench you had in the garage and picking the keys up before walking around it. "Man, Usopp did a phenomenal job."

The 1978 phoenix design had been expertly recreated on the hood. Black lined the body, fading into blue, and then teal, and finally there was small golden area around where the bird's heart would be. The wings were hollow like the original design, lined thinly in metallic gold with teal for the flames. Against the blue of the car's body it really made the design pop.

The final touches were what you and Usopp had talked about the most. It was based off a design you'd seen of the mythological Phoenix in a book you'd read. One that, well, you weren't sure anyone else had access to anymore.

Three sets of golden rings chained from the main body of the bird's tail feathers. One wove its way down around the headlight assembly, the final orb painted behind the car's manufacturer's insignia. The other two chains slid off the hood and fluttered down the quarter panels of the car, ending just before the door handles.

"'What uh... what prompted these colors and this design?" Marco questions, walking around the car with you and admiring the work.

"It's a little unorthodox right? Usually the phoenix is depicted with reds and golds. A powerful entity of life and rebirth and immortality." You begin. "Timeless and mythological."

Running your fingers over the last few chain links of golden tail feathers on the car's door you pause for a moment before continuing.

"I read a book a long time ago, thanks to Ivan shoving books in my hands almost faster than I could read them, that had an illustration of the phoenix with colors like these." You smile softly, a mix of the memory and your little white lie. Ivankov had shoved books into your hands as fast as you could read them when you were younger, but even so, most of the books you had read were contained within your library. A place no one could enter unless you let them.

A place that would get you executed on the spot, changed world or not, if anyone ever learned about it. You hadn't even told Ivan about it, though you were pretty sure that he knew you had a devil fruit, even if you never used it or talked about it. Your surrogate guardian was dangerously observant.

"It was a book on Devil Fruits," you say a little abruptly, pulling yourself out of your own memories. "That's where I got the word tori too. The Tori Tori no Mi are a class of bird-related devil fruits, and besides, Tori-chan is just an absolutely adorable name for a car that's probably going to sound like a demon if I rev the engine a little roughly."

"Ah, I see. So you're a, uh, fan of that devil fruit?" His words are a little awkward, but his expression is relaxed. He gives you an easy smile when you look over at him.

"I mean, it is a really cool fruit, but I don't know that I'd say I was a fan." You clarify. "No matter what a devil fruit is or does, the effectiveness of any of them is based on a ton of different variables. The stamina of the user, their capacity to mesh with the fruit, the creativity required to utilize it, and the control to keep from burning themselves out."

You clear your throat a little, popping the trunk to see if Kid left you any surprises. "If I was a fan of any fruit, it'd be more like being a fan of the person who had it. You know, how well they could use it, and what they used it for." You explain, pulling out a jumper kit, an emergency kit and a blanket from the trunk before lifting up the floor to see how the spare tire and jack were situated.