When you think of a pirate as a kid, you would think they have an eyepatch and parrot on their shoulder.
So guess my disappointment when I saw no parrot on shoulder but a lot of scars on the eye instead.
So put a parrot.
A big bright red parrot with...
"JOE JOE JOE JOE JOOEEEE!~" It seemed the bird was laughing at them.
"'As if you nincompoops could ever catch me!' ...Or so he says." Chopper translated with a frown.
"WHAT!? SO IT CAME HERE JUST TO LAUGH AT US!?" Usopp shot up from his spot and pulled out his slingshot, "THAT'S IT! I'M SHOOTING TO KILL!"
A distant scream was heard in the distance, but it grew louder as it came closer.
"COMERE YOU FUCKIN' BASTAAARRD!" A familiar yell sounded out as a red blur of feathers shot out of the canopy and tackled the Southbird off it's branch and into the ground.
Once everyone saw the blurred figure clearly, they noticed it was Faythe in her parrot form but much larger than her... well.. average big size. Her eyes were glowing with irritation as they glared down at the Southbird, under her grip. Her talons pinned the poor Southbird into the ground as it struggled feebly. Her normal groomed feather were twisted and some plucked out as if she had wrestled tirelessly with a bear.
A sudden clap of someone's hands brought Faythe back from reality as her peircing gaze landed on Zoro who gave her a serious look.
"Well that answers one question." Usopp sighed.
"And solves another problem." Nami sweat dropped at the large parrot who slowly transformed back to her human form. Her right foot was still in a form of a talon as it kept the bird bounded.
/;/~***~/;/
"DIAMOND-HEAD MISTER!"
"MASIRA!"
"SHOUJOU!"
As the group returned to Cricket's place, it was ravaged of it's peaceful atmosphere and was torn down in different places. It looked as if a fight had occured.
Sanji and Chopper helped fetch Shoujou out of the waters as his wounds looked pretty bad, "Damn it... Who the hell did this!? Help me out, Chopper." Sanji was the one to swim out and collect him while Chopper helped tug him back on land, "RIGHT!"
Usopp took one look at the Merry and started bawling, "LOOK! THE GOING MERRY! WHO COULD'VE DONE SUCH A HORRIBLE THING! GODDAMNIT!"
Faythe wandered over to Cricket's house and noticed something was painted on the wall. It was a roger of a pirate group. A very familiar one that made Faythe's feather rise in anger slowly. Her eyes widened in silent rage as a flash shot through her mind.
Stumbling forward with her legs chained together, she was shoved into a cage with multiple others as they all gasped in fright when the cage door slammed closed. The pirates outside chuckled darkly, hearing the whimpers and cries only fueled their egos as their twisted grins only grew.
Reaching forward with her clampy and sweaty hands, she grabbed the bars and looked out fearfully. Her eyes landing on a flag that hung on the wall menacingly, it's sick grin playing forever on it's skull, with a line crossing it out.
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A sudden shout brought her out of her mind and back into reality, "LUFFY!"
Faythe didn't move from her spot, but only listened as she stood in front of the jolly roger, her eyes unmoving.
"The gold statuette... It's been stolen!" Nami gasped out as she met eye contact with her Captain.
Everyone in the crew froze from the news, almost like a wave of silence swept through the group.
Cricket sat up weakly and waved his hand slowly to dismiss the idea, "Ahh... It's fine, just forget about that..." He then tried to change the subject, "What we need to worry about is-"
Usopp of course cut him off, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, FORGET ABOUT IT!? ISN'T THAT THE GOLD YOU FOUND AFTER DIVING FOR 10 YEARS STRIAGHT TO THE POINT OF EVEN RUINING YOUR HEALTH!?"
Cricket kept talking, not meeting any of the pirates gazes, "Shut your trap... I said it's fine... Besides, it's my problem, not yours... Now listen! If all crew members of the Saruyama Alliance work together, We can repair and reinforce a ship of that size in no time. We can definitely wrap it up by morning so no worries there. We'll definitely get you up into the sky..!"
"But..." Usopp wanted to say something but couldn't find the words to go against Cricket any longer.
"I told you already-" He was again interrupted when Zoro pointed towards the painted jolly roger near Faythe who stood silent. Luffy walked over silently and took one glance at Faythe and knew what he had to do.
"That's Bellamy's mark!" Nami shouted out the obvious to those who didn't know.
"Need help?" Zoro asked casually.
Luffy waved him off, "Nah, I'm fine with just Fae with me."
"NO, LUFFY, FAE! Don't start getting stupid thoughts now! There's only three hours left until we set sail!" Nami exclaimed worriedly.
Luffy turned his gaze to Robin, "If I follow the coastline, can I reach the town we were at yesterday?"
Robin nodded, "Yes, you should be able to."
Luffy nodded and turned towards Faythe and tapped on her clenched fist, "Calm down until you get your chance." He whispered lowly as he noticed a dribble of blood leaking from her palms.
Faythe's feathered arms seemed to flatten down and go back to normal. Her hunched shoulders relaxing. She looked up to meet Luffy's gaze and took a breather to cool herself, "Okay. Let's get going...!" She gave him a smile of determination.
Seeing her smile, he couldn't help but do the same thing and give her a determined smile as well, "Right!"
"W-where do you think you're going, kids!?" Cricket lurched forward slowly as his body was still wounded, "Don't do anything unnecessary! Do you have any idea who you'd be dealing w-!" He was cut off yet again when a sword was shoved in his way when he tried to stop the two.
Zoro looked down at the wounded man, as he offered his katana, "Use this if you wanna stop him."
With that he shut up and watched the two walk off with annoyed faces.
