000 ⎯⎯⎯ the boy who stretches.
What's the point?
At this rate I'll never be able to beat him.
I kick the dust on the deck, watching it rise and the wind carry it away. I tuck my hair away, behind my ears, as I make my way into my father's cabin, chests stored there.
I pop open my favorite of the group. It's green with gold trimming and a beautiful design. Inside are a handful of fruits, my dad told me they were devil fruits.
I riffle through them, finding a bright pink one, shaped like a cube. I remember everything I know about the fruits. According to dad they give you powers, but they have consequences.
The consequences can't be that bad can they?
I take a bite of the fruit.
Gross.
I swallow it down and force myself to continue eating. Five minutes later the entire fruit is gone. I sit and wait for something to feel different.
Maybe dad was lying, maybe these are just regular fruits.
I sigh, leaving the cabin to the deck to find my dad there, looking out over the sea. He turns to me, one of his devilish grins playing at his lips, "ready for round two?"
I frown, "dad? Those fruits in your room-"
I watch as his face falls, his eyes narrowing at me, "Sora you didn't."
Crap.
He charges towards me and my heart sinks as he reaches out his hand to grab me. I squeeze my eyes shut and wait for his touch.
It never comes.
"Sora you-"
I open my eyes to now find myself a few feet away. My eyes widen as I hold my hand out in front of me, the particles of my skin glitching into different colors, appearing and reappearing, dislocating my wrist from my arm.
"Wh-What's happening?!"
I blink and find myself on the plank of the ship, the wood creaking beneath me. Tears flood my eyes as my heart races and I glitch further towards the sea. "Daddy!"
Just as the plank disappears from beneath my feet I feel someone grab my hand. I look up at my dad as he holds me, "take a deep breath and calm down."
I nod, sucking back my tears as I try and take deep breaths. In and out, in and out. My dad takes this opportunity to pull me back to the ship, sitting me on the ground. He sits beside me, setting a hand on my head.
"Sora, I told you-"
"I know," a tear rolls down my cheek.
"I'm guessing you ate kuhi kuhi fruit."
"What's that mean?"
Dad smiles, "well it means you actually might be able to best me one day."
* * *
Shit.
I'm awoken from my nap by a series of screams, then harshly cut off by something. I peer around the crate I'm behind, spotting two boys. One looks like a member of the crew and the other, he must be an intruder.
"Suck it up, shhh," he demands.
I creep to my toes, hard to do in boots, and slowly glitch over to the next crate. I do this time and time again as I near the stairs to the above deck. Just one more-
"Hello?"
Crap.
As I hear footsteps I move a few boxes back, glitching as far as I can from the sound till my back hits something hard. I slowly look up to see the boy in the strawhat from before.
Looking closer at it, the hat looks vaguely familiar.
"Who are you?"
He grins, "I'm the future king of the pirates! Monkey D. Luffy!"
I grin, this dude's got jokes.
I sit up a tad bit more and give him a sideways smirk, "you don't look like a pirate?"
"Why not?"
"The pirates I know are tall, dark, handsome and arrogant?" I vaguely describe the most pirate-y pirate I've ever met.
"Well it was nice to meet you, I've gotta go." Luffy starts up the stairs and the other boy scrambles to follow him.
I slowly stand, glitching myself to the top of the stairs.
Luffy stands there with an oar, swinging it around like a little kid. He turns with it, banging it into a bell that rings through the night.
So much for laying low.
"What the hell is going on up there?!" Alvida screams.
Slowly every pirate aboard starts to emerge from their sleeping quarters until we're fully surrounded. How do I get myself into these messes?
Oh right, I don't, I glare at Luffy.
Alvida looks from the boy to Luffy, "what's the meaning of this?"
"Alvida I can ex-"
"You dare betray me to a bounty hunter?"
"No that's not-"
"And you," she turns to me, "You can't be Roronoa Zoro and he's too scrawny."
I suck my teeth, taking insult to her comment, "I'm worse than Zoro-"
Luffy grins as he interrupts me, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy."
"Never heard of you."
"Well, remember the name. Cause I'm gonna be king of the pirates!"
I think my eyes might reach my brain from how hard I roll them. Are those the only words this guy knows? He's so stupid it almost makes me feel bad for him.
Almost.
The pirates choke out laughter at Alvida's command as she turns to Luffy, "you must be new around here boy because who is the most powerful pirate on the sea?"
"Captain Alvida!" her crew cheers.
This woman's delusional, she's small fries compared to real pirates.
Her smile drops as her eyes fall on the boy once again, "I'm sorry I didn't hear you Koby? Who's the most powerful pirate on the seas?"
I watch as the boy, Koby, trembles and shakes. He reminds me of myself just a few years ago. Scared out of his mind and crazy weak.
"Answer me you sniveling runt-"
"That's enough," I interrupt.
Everyone's eyes fall to me as they go quiet, just the way I like it. I pull the hairpin from my belt and begin to tie up my hair, "and you're not the greatest pirate on the sea."
I watch as the woman begins to seethe, a vein popping in her forehead. Still I push onward, "you're not even close, actually. You wanna know why this Zoro guy isn't looking for you, it's because your bounty couldn't even buy his lunch."
My goal to piss her off works splendidly.
She lets out a shout, swinging her club at me. I glitch over to Luffy and Koby everyone's stares of anger turning into ones of confusion. She swings again and I grab the two boys, pulling them to duck with me.
"Woohoo!" Luffy cheers, "I'm ready for a fight!"
I roll my eyes.
We split up and I glitch to the top of the stern, crew members at my feet. Almost like playing whack-a-mole I pop up between them one by one, letting them take each other out as they try to hit me.
I glitch between the last two burly men, flashing each of them a smile before dropping to the floor, allowing them to sucker punch one another.
I look up, some of the ship now destroyed and on fire, thanks to Luffy. How he did it, I have no clue, the boy's arms are twigs.
"Time to end this," he declares, winding his fist back.
My jaw ticks as it stretches way past the capacity of a normal human limb, reaching out far into the night sky. Seems like we have something in common.
"Gum Gum Pistol!" He slings his arm back, punting Alvida off of her ship and into the ocean. I have to give him props, that wasn't half bad.
I glitch over to the two boys, "anymore problems?"
The crewmates shake their heads and Luffy turns to us, "Let's go! We're gonna need a boat, and enough food for a few days."
I grin, "we? This is the second time you've made me laugh Loffy."
He smiles, "it's Luffy! You should come with us, um-" he pauses, probably trying to figure out why he can't remember my name. Maybe it's because I never told him.
I look between the two boy's. They're both twigs, shorter than me, and look like they need a babysitter. I am not signing up to be that babysitter. Though, I obviously can't stay here.
There's no harm in going with them until we reach land.