Sitting in front of the old man, Faythe stared in silence as everyone tried to process what the hell happened.
That is until the old man decided to speak up, "Long time no see... Long time no see..." He muttered with small confusion lacing his tone, "Are you well?"
Everyone looked to Faythe for a moment before she furrowed her brows in confusion, "Who?"
Luffy shrugged, "I don't know him..."
Chopper smiled, "Me neither."
The old man continued on casually, "Ah... No wonder I have never seen your faces before..."
Usopp gapped at the old man, "Yo! What kind of answer is that!? Who the heck are you—?"
At this the old man rubbed his bruised nose, trying to rub off the leaking blood, "My name is Tonjit. Firstly, I must thank you... For getting me down from the stilts."
"A stilt!?" Faythe perked up and snapped her head to looked at the very end of the fallen bamboo. Her eyes lit up at the sight of small wooden beams nailed at the top.
"Wow! It's true!!"
Luffy stretched his arms above his head, "But it was so tall that I couldn't see the top..!!"
Tonjit nodded with a smile, "Yes, and I was on top of it."
"Oh... Darn... So you're not the Genie of the Bamboo Stick, but just an old man on a very tall stilt." Luffy tilted his head, "Hey. Why were you on top of such a tall stilt?"
Tonjit began to wander off dramatically with his hands crossed behind his back, "The thing is, I have always been a fan of stilts, and I thought that... I would use the bamboo on this island to make the world's tallest stilt." He then opened his eyes after long thinking, "However, after I mounted the stilt, I got so scared of the height that I couldn't get down!!"
Luffy gawked at Tonjit, "Are you stupid, old man?"
Tonjit just kept going, "I got stuck there... For 10 long years..."
Luffy seemed even more shocked, "YOU ARE SUPER STUPID—!"
Faythe smirked, "I don't think your allowed to say that word, Luffy."
The Captain glanced at her confused, "What word?"
Faythe booped him on the nose, "Stuuuuppiiidd~!" She stuck her tongue out as she tugged his hat down playfully.
Luffy gasped and yanked his hat back up with an amused grin, "Get over here—!!" He chased her.
Usopp waved the idiots off before processing the years Tonjit had been stuck on his stilts, "TEN YEARS!!? YOU WERE ON TOP OF THOSE STILTS FOR TEN YEARS!!!?"
Tonjit crossed his arms over his chest with a nod, "Yes, and the baaaaamboo kept growing longer and longer... So I got more and more afraid!!!" He then looked up to the sky with an exhausted look, "Ah~~ The horror~~~!"
Usopp gasped at his sarcastic remark, "Is that your statement after 10 years—!?"
Faythe had stumbled over her own feet and went rolling across the grass. Funnily enough, Luffy started to make fun of her until he did the exact same thing she did and started rolling right afterwards.
As they collided, they're foreheads bonked against each other, sending them reeling back in pain.
"Godamit, Cap—!!" Faythe groaned out as she peeled a eye open to see Luffy pouting at the large bump forming on his own forehead.
"It's not my fault, you dragged me into your bad luck...!" Luffy whined, "Why do you have such a hard noggin', Fae?" He blinked at Faythe's frown.
"I don't have the hard noggin' here Cap. It's you and your stubborn ass." Faythe pulled at his cheeks and started pull as far as she could go.
Luffy on the other hand seemed unfazed by the stretching and continued to listen in on the conversation with Tonjit.
Faythe was distracted by the scenery, trying to see the terrain and other different animals that might looked even more elongated and deformed. She turned to look at Luffy for permission to go explore, but as she turned to meet his gaze, "Hey, Cap—." She found that he was already staring at her with a bright smile.
"Yeah?"
Faythe paused in her thinking as she stared back for a moment before releasing his cheeks with a snap of his rubber, "I'll be flying around, trying to see other things. All this dull talk about stilts is boring me..."
Luffy tilted his head at her reasoning before nodding in giving permission, "Sure, go ahead."
Faythe stumbled up happily, dusting off the grass and dust from her sleeves and shorts. She tightened her messy high ponytail with an excited grin, "I'll ask Usopp about the details later for my next book—!" She ran off with a wave of her hand. Her arms took form of wings before lifting off into a spiral of feathers.
It had been a about an hour for her to circle around the small island as she began to take in the scenery like a fresh breathe of air. As she was making her way back towards the group, she peered down to see Tonjit riding Sherry as they frolicked along happily. Both relinquishing in memories at being reunited again after so long.
A smile appeared on her bird beak as she glided down and began to fly side by side with the two. Listening contently to their joyous laughter filling the air.
Her eyes glanced to the side to see Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp watching as well with smiles on their faces.
Chopper noticed her and gave a frantic wave with a bright smile.
Noticing, Faythe snickered and held a wing up to show she noticed him.
"Sherry... Next time the tide subsides, let's cross the Land Bridge!" Tonjit leaned down and gently ran his fingers through her mane, "Be it a rainy day... Be it a snowy day... We will cross it together!!"
Faythe smiled softly at the two as she watched Sherry galloped faster and sprung into the air to show her happiness at his statement. Tonjit held the reigns tightly with a playful laugh, "Wow-wow... Don't jump too high, Sherry... You know I'm afraid of heights!!"
Faythe snickered at that but instantly felt a sharp nick to her face as a sudden gun shot rang through the air.
Along with the sounds of squealing horse dropping down into the tall grass.
"Eh?"
"WHA-!"
The group of pirates who were watching merrily sprung to they're feet as they just witnessed Sherry, Tonjit, and Faythe fall to the ground.
"THE HORSE!!"
"MISTER!!"
"FAE—!!"
Faythe transformed back into her parrot form as soon as she hit the ground out of shock of hearing the gun shot. Her body freezing up at the suddenness. She glanced over at Sherry and Tonjit with blearily eyes, "Wha..." She stumbled up to her feet and scrambled over hurriedly to the pair.
Tonjit was leaning over the squealing and squirming horse with a pale face full of concern and panic, "H... HEY, SHERRY...! WHAT HAPPENED!? ARE YOU OKAY—!?"
He was a only replied with the horses squeals of pain and discomfort as her hooves were frantically flailing around.
Faythe had hurried over and grabbed the old man by the shoulders and moved him farther away from the horse's dangerous hooves, "Stay back! Even if she loves you, she's in too much pain to know whose around her!" She gritted her teeth as the wound on her face was starting to sting and start to throb.
Usopp and Chopper had immediately made they're way over with panic setting in as they processed what had occurred.
"HEY..! ARE YOU THREE ALRIGHT—??"
"I HEARD A GUNSHOT!! DID SHERRY GET SHOT!?"
Luffy had turned towards the sound of the gunshot, his teeth gritting angrily as he clenched his fists til they turned white.
Chopper had immediately made his way to the squirming horse and began his work on taking the bullet out.
Usopp began his way over to Faythe and Tonjit seeing if they were alright.
His face paled at the wound underneath Faythe's eye, "FAE—! WERE YOU SHOT!?" He hurried over and cupped her face quickly as he began to move her head around to get a better look.
Luffy and Chopper whipped around to look in they're direction, eyes widening, "WHAT!?"
"Fae was shot!?" Luffy hollered out.
Faythe felt annoyed as Usopp wouldn't let go as her face was smushed together so that it looked like she was making fish lips, "Oosoop! Loot goo—!" She muttered out.
Usopp glared down at her with fearful eyes, "But what about the injury!! It could cause some problems to your eye!" He shrieked.
Faythe karate chopped the man in the side, resulting in the guy to let her go as he kneeled on the ground holding his side with painful groans and curses leaving him.
Faythe rubbed the back of her hand across the would to show it was a mere scratch, "I'm fine!! I dodged it last second—!" She called out to Chopper who was glancing between her and Sherry. Having an internal struggle on who to help first.
The reindeer nodded with a sigh of relief as he continued to work on the bullet removal.
"OOHOHOHOHOHO—!"
"Ah—!" Luffy perked up at the sound and turned his eyes from Faythe to the distant figures slowly making they're way closer with their obnoxious laughter.
"HUHUHUHUHUHUHUHU—!!"
"HEY, THAT HORSE IS MINE! I SHOT IT! DONT TOUCH IT!"
"YEAH!! THAT'S MY BOSS' HORSE!!!"
Luffy felt his patience running thin at the stupid statements, the new appearances date spout, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!!" He shouted.
"Who am I? HE ACTUALLY DOES NOT RECOGNIZE MY FACE!!!!?" One raised a bushy and untamed brow. A fairly abnormal looking fellow that wore a strange purple fur trench coat. He wore a barely hanging on orange overalls over a star patterned corset that looked like it wasn't even tied tight enough. His rosy colored nose was jutted out like a sore thumb with his long black hair gelled up into two separate parts unnaturally. And in his hands was a golden decorated musket.
"We should teach them some manners!!" One stated while putting her hands on her hips. Her features more normal except her fairly pointed nose and strange fashion choice. Her dull teal hair falling down over her shoulders that were paired with princely shoulder pads. Her attire was that of a pink mechanic jumpsuit with the top zipped down to her waste to display her star patterned bra underneath. Her hands were covered in a glove that reached up to her elbows that ended with giant fluffy balls of fur. A striped hat that was worn as a mask was tucked snug on her head with a giant fur ball at the end.
The last fairly built man was behind the two a could possibly pass as another gorilla built man from the Cricket group. His chest bare as the only clothes he wore was a bare of gloves in the shade of dark blue. His cargo pants and boots in another shade of blue as the same with his hat. The hat was the exact same at the woman's except it didn't have the fur ball, "HUH—HUHUHUHUHUHUHU—!!"
Usopp whipped around with gritted teeth as he looked at the strange group over his shoulder, "DAMN! ARE THEY THE SHOOTERS—!!?"
Chopper scrambled over hurriedly as he secured the injury, "The bone is not hurt either. So she'll be okay!"
Faythe scrunched her face disgustedly, "Ugly fellas aren't they?" She crossed her arms over her chest.
"NOT THE TIME—!" Usopp whipped her glare to her.
Luffy ignore his group for a moment to focus on the new people in front of him, "I DONT CARE ABOUT YOUR FACE—!! BUT I WILL KICK YOUR ASS AND SEND YOU FLYING!!!"
The middle one who is to be known at the boss of the other two slumped to the ground in shame.
The woman hurriedly tried to encourage him, "Noooo!! Boss, don't feel sad... He is probably just pretending to not know you..."
The 'Boss' let out a sob, "He doesn't know..."
The built gorilla dude just snickered at his boss' gloomy state, "Hahahahaha!"
"HAMBOG, STOP LAUGHING!"
Luffy felt a vein throb on his forehead at their casualty, "Hah!?"
The boss straightened up and began to say his grand speech, "I AM THE GREAT FOXY, AND I ALWAYS GET WHAT I WANT." A twisted grin sprouted across his face, "I DONT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT SUCH A WORTHLESS HORSE. I ONLY SHOT IT FOR FUN..."
"YOU BASTARD—!" Luffy had had enough. He sprinted forward and swung his foot back, "GOMU GOMU..."
"HOLD IT!! STRAW-HAT LUFFY—!" Foxy exclaimed with a smirk.
Luffy froze in his place startled, "Eh? How do you know my name!!?"
Foxy rose a fist annoyed, "OF COURSE I KNOW. WE DID OUR HOMEWORK—!"
The woman then began to list the members in the crew who had bounties, "'Monkey D. Luffy,' wanted for 100 million. 'Roronoa Zoro,' wanted for 60 million. 'Portgas Marie Faythe,' wanted for 50 million." She gave a slight smirk, "With only eight people, your group has a total bounty of 210 million. That is quite the feat."
"They probably don't know we have another crew mate..." Faythe narrowed her eyes, "And how the hell did they find out my last name?"
"THAT IS WHY WE, THE FOXY PIRATES, WILL CHALLENGE THE STRAW-HAT PIRATES..." Foxy then raised his hand up to show three gold coins in between his fingers, "TO AN OFFICIAL DAVY BACK FIGHT—!"
"WHAT DAFFY BARK FIGHT? WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO!?" Luffy not quite understanding the situation raised his fists annoyed and ready to throw hands, "IF YOU WANT TO FIGHT, ILL ACCEPT!"
Usopp slowly rose to his feet as he began to realize the situation, "Uh... Luffy wait a sec... That Davy Back Fight thing... And that weird ship we encountered near here...?" His face became firm with fear, "HEY!! LUFFY!! WE CANT PLAY THAT GAME!! WE'LL LOSE OUR FRIENDS!!!"
Faythe felt her face turn pale, "What?"
/:/~***~/:/
Word Count:(2337)