I don't own One Piece
This chapter should be pretty happy
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1 Year into training
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Perhaps the coolest place here was the weapon's maker. There were only two shops on the whole island that specialized in weapons, but each were completely different. One specialized in redoing old weapons that were completely covered in rust and thought to be useless. The other made specialty weapons.
I had collaborated with her a couple months ago on an idea that I had. With some input from her, we managed to design a new weapon for me. My daggers just weren't going to cut it, and that cursed gun I had found a new owner I wanted to give to.
I wanted a weapon that worked with my devil fruit.
Walking into the shop, I paused to wipe my feet on the mat at the entrance. Arisu had tied to get me to wear shoes at first. She finally gave up a month ago. I suspected it was because of the major failure. Apparently I've formed some kind of anxiety when wearing shoes. It feels like my feet are bound and I don't like feeling trapped. Needless to say, Arisu had felt bad for my freak out, and finally stopped trying to have me wear shoes.
"Izzy, you there?" I called as I walked further into the warm stuffy shop. The clanging I heard from the back stopped.
"One second!" A cheery high pitched voice chimed, shuffling could be heard as she walked around.
Glancing around me, I looked over the other weapons that hung on the walls. Each had been made by Izzy, and each had her signature carved into the handles. Her weapons were her art.
The flap to the back lifted, giving me view of the woman. She was quite a tall woman, standing over six feet easily, and she had a slim but muscular built to her. Her brunette hair was placed into a messy braid, pulling her hair out of her face. A large metal mask was flipped out of her face, allowing me to see her slender face and big smile along with the dirt smudges on her cheeks. Unlike me, the woman had a natural olive tone, where as I was lucky if my skin got any tan under the sun.
When her large violet eyes met mine, her smile widened. Quickly, she wiped her hands on her messy pants and pulled something from under the counter.
"I've been so excited for you to see it, Katsu!" She practically squealed, placing one then two silver objects on the counter.
"I doubt you're as excited as I am!" I grinned, trying not to just snatch the objects off the counter.
She rolled her eyes, picking up one of the silver objects. "Right. So it took some time to make sure they would be sturdy, and adding in the weight you wanted was difficult."
I nodded silently in agreement. "But I managed to not only give you the weight, function, and sturdiness. I even made them look like regular fans at first glance!" With a flick of her wrist, the silver fan opened.
A large smile formed on my face as I saw the design I had sketched on the fan. The design itself wasn't anything special, as it had to be simple for Izzy to copy it. It consisted of blue lines on the bottom waving around and crashing towards the middle, looking as part of the roaring ocean. Then in the center of the waves was a crimson circle, meant to be the sun. The backdrop of the image was silver.
Then, I realized I hadn't even seen the weapon part yet. Currently, it was just a fan.
"Now look," Izzy grinned, pushing up her thumb and pulling down with her fingers. The fan pulled downward as multiple blades pushed up on the rim of the fan. All until the rim was a solid serrated blade.
"Woah!" I practically gaped, my eyes turning into stars. "You made it perfect!"
Her posture lifted a bit more and I swore her nose grew pointed "I know." Then she pushed down with her thumb, retracting the blades. With a snap of her thumb and fingers, the fan snapped shut.
"Given that you're an active pirate, I didn't put my signature on it." She sighed, placing the fan next to it's counterpart. "In case you get caught, I don't want it leading back to me."
I nodded in understanding, "Yeah, that might be for the best. How much do I owe you?"
Then she smiled, "Arisu paid for it. She said it was a birthday present for you."
I blinked, frowning. My birthday wasn't until months. Well, my actual birthday. The birthday I've celebrated for the last few years was a couple of weeks ago, it was the day Taro found me on the marine ship.
But Arisu didn't know either of those days. She hadn't even expressed any interest in finding out when my birthday was.
Izzy softly pushed the fans towards me. She then turned on on its side to show me an engraving. "I also added your name. I figured since I wasn't signing it, I would put your name on it at least since you did help with the design."
I smiled as I looked at the neatly engraved swirled writing. "It looks nice." I looked back up and grinned, "Thanks!"
The tall woman giggled, "The pleasure was all mine! I haven't had someone want of the those before. Normally they want swords, knives, or guns." She sighed, shaking her head. "Honestly, it can get a little boring sometimes. Especially when clients don't have any imagination."
I chuckled, placing the fans on my belt. They sat perfectly and unsuspectingly. Looking at the clock on the wall my eyes bugged out. "I'm late! Arisu's gonna kill me!"
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My mouth felt dry and I found my heart beating quickly. The snail stared at me dully, as if it was wondering why I've been staring at it for so long. It probably was. I was being judged by a snail, how pathetic.
With a sigh, I put in the numbers and my toes curled into the carpet underneath me. My eyes clenched shut as I held my breath while it rang.
"Yo! Sato here!" My breath caught in my throat. His voice is deeper than when we were younger. Bit if I listened carefully, I could still make out the same boyish squeak.
"Hello?" The snail squinted its face up into confusion then settled into annoyance as I still hadn't said anything. "Makoto, if that's you trying to be funny, it's not. Calling randomly and keeping silent is not funny. It's annoying and frankly-"
"It's not Makoto!" I blurted, then felt my face heat up and my heart pound. The snail's face was frozen with its mouth open, unblinking. "It's Katsu- ah," I ruffled my hair at my mistake. "Mitsu."
The snail didn't move, well correction, the eyes widened a little. Oh god. I gotta say something.
"Why do you mean by Makoto calling to annoy you? He wouldn't do that. He's way too shy, he'd give himself away instantly and then apologize for troubling you." I didn't know what I was even saying anymore. Please speak. "And... and. Oh my god, say something damn it!"
"I..." The voice was weak, "I-We thought you just didn't want to speak to us. We knew you were okay, though your whole crew has dropped off the face of the earth."
A slow sigh left the snails lips, a small smile forming. "I'm glad to hear from you, Mitsu."
Then multiple voices sounded behind my brother. "Mitsu?!" Annoyance pulled at the snail's face.
"Mitsu called?!" I knew that voice, it hadn't changed.
The snail's face changed as a struggle was heard over the den den mushi.
"Damn it, Uncle!" Sato growled, "Stop it!"
"Respect your elders!" Shanks countered, "You don't get to hog Mitsu anymore! I wanna talk to her!"
"I haven't been hogging her! Stop that!" Sato shouted, then cried out as a loud hit sounded.
"Stand down and listen!" Shanks laughed loudly, then the snail looked at me with a big adoring smile. "Mitsu! Is that really you, my adorable niece?!"
I couldn't stop the smile that formed as my heart warmed. "Hey, Uncle Shanks. It's been a while, you missed me?"
Immediately tears welled in the snails eyes. "Mitsu! Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I'm the worst Uncle! You weren't supposed to be lost! I was supposed to take care of you! All three of you!"
"Ah, I missed you too, Uncle Shanks." I gave a small chuckle. "Even though I only just remembered you last year."
"Why didn't you call us earlier?!" He demanded suddenly, using that stern voice he rarely used with me when I was younger.
"Well, it was a lot to take in." I muttered an excuse. "And I've been really busy-"
"Where are you? We'll set sail right away!" He demanded again.
I winced. Arisu wasn't likely to like a pirate such as Shanks showing up. Though I would love to see my brothers and Uncle again. I'd have to convince her later.
"Artist Haven." I answered.
"We haven't been there before, but we'll find it!"
My eyes widened as I felt someone coming up behind me. Turning sharply, I made sure to coat my arm in Haki and brought it up. Grunting under the force of Arisu's hit, I was shoved back as she overwhelmed me.
"Mitsu! Are you okay?!" It wasn't just Shanks yelling anymore, Sato had joined in as well as other crew members.
"Damn it, Arisu! Can't you wait until I'm done talking?!" I demanded, my teeth turning sharp.
"You little shit!" SHe yelled back, "You invited a pirate like Shanks here?" I paled as she grew a smirk. "That's fine. You'll pay for it during our draining. Your Haki isn't strong enough anyway, it's the perfect excuse."
"She sounds like she's fine."
"Ah, Mitsu! We'll see you soon!"
"I'm gonna die." I muttered, which widened Arisu's smirk. She's scary.
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I've recently made a new discovery.
The devil fruit powers I have doesn't let me control wind. It's more like the air partials. Which is why I can form a solid mass, since I bunch all the air partials together.
That's what I call it at least. Maybe there's a better scientific term. I'll have to ask Chopper later.
I hadn't come the the realization until a certain incident. I had been messing around, hanging out with Kenji and his boyfriend, none of us doing much of anything. Arisu was gone for some art show she was hosting, which I had later found out she revealed one of my pictures. Anyway, I had finished that day's training.
Kenji was talking my ear off, probably his boyfriend's too though neither of us wanted to say anything in fear of hurting the man's feelings. While he was talking, and sculpting a life size sculpture of some person, I had been playing around with my devil fruit.
It started off as me just pushing the air molecules closer. Forming a solid mass, which I would use to lift Kenji's boyfriend, Haishi, on and off the ground. He didn't mind since i had more than enough control to do this without him falling.
Having grown bored I had decided to do try something new. Instead of pushing the molecules together, I pushed them apart. I was curious how far apart I could push them. Of course I didn't realize what was happening until both males began wheezing and struggling to breath.
So, good news. I learned something new I could do.
Bad news, I almost suffocated my friends.
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It took Shanks a month to sail here. Between being far away and trying to find the island, I found that to be reasonable. Sato had just contacted me through the den den mushi and informed me that they had docked.
Which lead me to my room, a guest room in Arisu's house that I had taken over, to dig through my closet. I had absolutely no idea on what to wear.
No way did I want to show my skin. Even though for the most part m wardrobe consisted of crop tops and shorts, since it made training much easier and I only had to worry about Arisu being disgusted with my scars. However I definitely did not want Shanks and my brothers to see my scars.
I'm coming to a very upsetting realization. Everything I currently own shows my stomach and all the scars to go with it. All of my other clothes that cover my scars are either dirty, though there is only one shirt, and the rest have been destroyed with training.
"What's your problem?" Arisu demanded, standing outside my open door with a huff. "You've been groaning all day."
"Shanks is here. I can't wear anything that shows my scars." I explained, picking up another crop top. "I can't find any of my t-shirts."
"They've all been destroyed during training. Even that last one, I was trying to fix it but there's no way." Arisu mused, "I thought you were over the scars. Don't you remember what I told you?"
"Yes, yes. Even with the scars I'm still beautiful. I should wear it with pride and show off that it doesn't effect me and I'm stronger than the people who put them there." I quote her speech she has repeated for over the last year. "But Shanks and my brothers haven't seen the scars. I don't want them to see it."
She sighed, walking into the room and through the sea of clothes. Then she looked back at me with a scowl. "I'm not training a wuss. Your brothers and Uncle won't care about the scars. And if they say anything then I'll personally beat their ass." Then she smiled. "I think they just want to see you, Katsu. You, with your scars and all. Remember, those scars don't define you. You're a beautiful, intelligent, badass artist pirate. No amount of scars will change that."
I frowned, my arms hugging myself around my waist. Perhaps she was correct. It would be easier to get it done with off the bat. With a sigh, I nodded.
"Good. Get dressed and I'll show you to the docks. As long as he doesn't cause trouble or anything I'll allow them to stay." Arisu smiled, "And you're not skipping on training!"
"I wouldn't dream of it." I smiled softly, "How was the art show by the way?"
She paused in the doorway. "Oh yeah. You're coming to the next one. Your art was a hit, and they want to see more."
"But the marines-"
"They don't pay attention to art shows." She scoffed, "Besides, I have to give a face to the person I personally trained. Especially when your picture brought everyone to tears." She smiled. "No way am I letting someone else take credit for training you. After you catch up with Shanks and your brothers, we have to get you some formal dresses." Then, she closed my door behind her as she left my room.
I didn't imagine I would be this nervous to finally see my brothers again. Yet, here I stood with clammy hands and my heart pounding in my chest.
My clothes weren't anything special. Just another crop top and a pair of shorts that went down to my knees. Unfortunately these were my only clean pair of shorts, and they were stained with paint. I really needed to do some laundry.
My attempts with paint weren't as successful as my normal art, but they weren't completely average either. I just made the decision to mainly stick with pencils and pens for my art for my crew. Though I doubt they really care about what media I chose.
As soon as I was at the docks, Arisu had left. Her instructions were clear. Don't let my Uncle cause trouble. Later tonight she would be back to actually meet them.
So, now I was alone staring at the large ship which was as loud as I remember. They haven't stepped foot on the docks yet, but they were already the loudest people here.
"Listen up!" I rose an eyebrow as I saw two tall figures standing at the front of the ship. Both with hair as red as mine. "We have special instructions here! Until we're given the clear, we can't just go around the island." A series of groans sounded through the ship. "Mitsu made it very clear, the person in charge of the island is keeping quiet of all of us..."
Now I let my own groan sound. Sato talks too much.
Finally excitement was replacing my nerves. It bubbles through me, making me antsy. Then it boiled over and I found myself lifting myself up onto the railing behind the two family members.
I glanced at the crew as I sat on the railing and crossed my legs. Plenty of new faces were present, but I instantly found three from the past. They had noticed me immediately, their eyes widening and their jaws slackening.
"...and-"
I let out another loud groan sound from my lips. "Good god, Sato! You're scolding them like you're the Captain!"
Both figures whirled around, not seeming too surprised with my presence. The stared at me for a good minute before someone moved.
In a matter of seconds I found myself wrapped in a tight, one arm embrace. His hug still felt the same, even though he only had one arm.
"Mitsu!" Shanks practically cried.
I smiled, slowly returning the hug. "Hey, Uncle Shanks." Then I frowned a little. "What happened to your arm? And where's Makoto?"
Sato stepped up, smiling, "Ah, we'll get to that. Makoto has another crew that he typically stays at for some time. But he'll be back with us tomorrow."
At the very least, it felt good to be with them again. My nerves were gone.
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End of Chapter 49!
Alright! So the drawings aren't the best and I definitely had to stare at a reference picture to draw Haishi, but hopefully this helps give a little reference. Honestly, I had pictured Kenji a little different, I think he's actually a little cute here...
A lot happened in this chapter, Katsu got a new weapon, I'm gonna see if i can find some image for a reference for it in the next chapter. She also figured out some new things on her devil fruit! I'm pretty excited for that to play out later on.
And she finally got reunited with her Uncle and brother! Makoto wasn't present for some reason...
Thoughts? Any predictions or ideas for upcoming chapters?
This is not edited.