(A/N); Have this funny cover as apologies for the long delay! Busy life and writer's block makes for disaster!
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Naturally, with two new faces on the scene, especially one being PROMINENT AS ALL HELL, there was naturally a commotion, but not in the common sense of the word.
"S-so you're really being serious!" Shanks continued to gawk at Luffy, who was pouting at everyone and everything at that moment. "Of course I am! Why don't any of you believe me?!" He complained, as Ace, another skeptic, narrowed his eyes at him. "Because if what you are saying is true, then that means that you actually have grown up, and that's impossible!" He shook his head, as Luffy glared at him. "Oi!"
"Stop being such a sore loser. It's not like you had a chance either way." Zoro commented to a depressed Sanji, who scowled at him. "SHUT UP! I am facing a personal crisis right now!" He then continued to mope. "Both me and the captain in love with a gorgeous princess from some mystical far away land... it sounds like a tragedy just waiting to happen..." He sighed lowly, as I rose my brows curiously at him. "Uh... since when does Luffy's confession equate to me being with him?" I questioned, as I could practically feel everybody's smirk.
"I think she just very kindly rejected you, Strawhat!" Kid cackled, as Luffy's brain looked like it had windows crashed on me. Kid, being the ever so arrogant person that he was, went to slide on next to me, like a mister fly guy, as he wrapped an arm around me. "Which would make sense, since she's my girl!" He proclaimed falsely, as I went to roll my eyes. "I know your hair may LOOK like a flame, but that doesn't mean that you have to be sparkling off fires that aren't there!" I told him, as Sanji glared at him.
"As if! Why would (y/n)-swan choose a jackass like you?!" He growled, as I could practically feel Kid's killer glare at his words. "You better tone it down, screwed brows!" He warned, as I dissipated away from the redhead's arm, before reappearing next to Robin, who doesn't drive me crazy. "I know no matter what I say, you guys will continue to fight over me." I sighed, before turning my heel the other way. "So, I am going to walk away now; see you guys later." I waved my hand, before walking off.
"B-but (y/n)-swaann!" I heard Sanji complain, but I didn't bother to respond back to him; it'd be adding fuel to the flame. What I need to do now is clear my head, if just for a second.
After all, freakin' Shanks is here now, but for what reason? That in itself concerns me. Important guys like him aren't supposed to show up unless things are about to really go down, and I am not ready for things to really go down yet; it was already crazy enough.
I mean, as if Mary wasn't a threat enough on her own, she is now allied with Blackbeard of all people, which is a recipe of bad on top of bad! One has the power to stop and control people at will, and the other can take your powers away and practically instakill you. Anyone in my kind of position would be profusely crapping themselves at the thought.
I was able to get her by surprise that one time, but next time, I wouldn't be so lucky. She also has the ability to hear my heart, which is another neat thing for me! And with Marie's strength, she is even more of a monster! It's almost like it is hopeless to even defeat her; her devil fruit was just too strong!
'Can somebody please nerf her and the other jerkwad, please? I am a noob going against the damn grandmasters!' I sighed exasperatedly, trying desperately to think if it was even possible to kill her! What if her devil fruit allows her to be practically immortal? What if she is has three lives, and it'd take killing her three times to make sure she is dead for good? How would I even be able to attack her if she can control my damn blood? What if she just instakills me by giving me a heart attack?
'It's hopeless... there's no way I can defeat her!... D-does that mean I'd have to avoid her like the plague forever?...' I thought, really not liking that at all. Inevitably, we'd have to meet again, and I'd have to be prepared for anything when we do!
"Damn it all to hell... everybody has to have a weakness, no matter how strong their devil fruit powers might be! Whether it's a weak part of their body, a stamina thing, elemental; there has to be something!" I gritted my teeth, really mulling this over, and trying to think if that damn Mary even HAD any weaknesses. Is there even a devil fruit out there that really could go head to toe with hers? Damn it damn it...
Before I even knew it, I found myself stumbling onto a beautiful lake in the middle of the rainforest.
I.... am not sure what it was about this lake in particular that drew me in so much, but I couldn't help but take off my shoes, and submerge myself into the waters, kind of like a ritual.
A..... ritual....
'Honestly, I've been feeling way too much deja vu as of late... what I need to do is relax...' I sighed, just as I heard someone.
"Madame, are you really going to keep him waiting?" I heard a voice say, as I scrunched my face up in confusion. "Who waiting? Who are-" But when I turned my head, I saw that no one was there.
'Just great, I am losing my mind!' I thought weakly, before running my hand in the beautiful water. I must be so stressed out that I am now imagining some weirdo talking to me; just fantastic!
'Maybe I should go see Chopper about this... I am pretty sure this isn't supposed to happen, even with stress' I thought.
"Well, until the waters in this very lake is crystal clear, you can forget entirely about this stupid dream of yours! You are of age now, and you know what that means!"
I went to look around, to see if there really was someone there, and to my shock, I saw a short guy in what looked like some very fancy robes glaring at me!
"Who the hell are you? And what are you even talking about? The water here is pretty clear to me!" I glared at him, as he folded his arms, simply brushing me off!
"Get out of there, madame, right this instant!" He commanded me, as I simply gave him the Law treatment, and flipped him off.
"Who the hell are you to tell me anything? I think you got the wrong madame up in here! Brushstroke!" I commanded, going to make a sweeping motion with my hands, that deleted him out of existence!
W-wait a minute...
WHAATTTTTTT?!?!?
Deciding that what I saw was just some freakish illusion of some type, I went to head back to where the others were. Sure, they were chaotic, but I prefer their chaos over whatever the hell that was. It gave me the creeps, and I was looking to relax, not get even more worked up!
I guess I was gone for much longer than I thought, because everyone was acting... strangely... When they noticed me, they acted even stranger.
"(Y/n)-swaaann!~" Sanji swooned more affectionately than usual to me, as he practically sprung to me, going to pick me up in his arms, and twirl me around, which really caught me off guard. "I knew that you would pick me! Naturally, we're meant to be!" He cheesily told me, as my head started to hurt for the umph-time today. "Uh... what are you talking about?..."
"Now you let go of her right now!" I heard Katakuri demand the blond, before I was pulled away from his arms via some mochi hands. "Oi, she said she wanted to be with me, not with you!" Sanji argued, as my confusion just grew. "What are you guys talking about? I didn't-"
"(y/n), can you please explain yourself?" I heard Nami ask me, looking less than pleased. "How about all of you guys explain yourself? What is going on?!" I asked, genuinely wondering what the heck was going on, as Nami folded her arms. "Are you serious right now? You just flirted with every single one of our guys! I didn't think you were the type to do such a thing!" She frowned disapprovingly at me, as I took a step back mentally.
"Uh.... guys... I wasn't here until now..." I lowly murmured, as they didn't seem to buy what I was saying at all. "(y/n)-swaann, tell this sugar addict that you're in love with meee, not him!" Sanji begged as I groaned. "Nami, care to fill me in on what "I" did?" I asked as she continued to frown at me. "Most certainly! Maybe then you'll realize the gravity of what you had just done!"
........
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"(Y/n)? I thought you were going to be out on your walk?" The redheaded navigator questioned, as (y/n) went to flick her hand. "No, I decided to do something else instead!" She smiled, as Nami couldn't help but look at her skeptically. She couldn't put her finger on it, but (y/n) was acting... strangely.
"(Y/n)-swan!~ Are you feeling better now?" Sanji asked, ever so lovestruck by the (h/c) woman, who went to give him an award-winning smile. "Of course, prince charming! Thank you for asking!" She very uncharacteristically said, before going to do another shocking thing. She went to lean close to him, and give him a kiss on his cheek!
As if pressing the detonator to a bomb, Sanji went to explode via a nosebleed in utter glee, before collapsing happily on the floor. Nami was too caught up in what just happened to notice that (y/n) was already gone from the scene.
.....
"And then-" "Y-yeah, I get it! Apparently, there's some lookalike of me hanging around here somewhere!" I said abruptly, since this weird situation had to be addressed immediately. Any second more we spent talking about this could be used by my doppelganger to escape!
"W-wait, I am not done yet! You didn't even let me scold you!" Nami complained, as I then instantly spotted a.. very intriguing scene.
My doppelganger was currently making goo-goo eyes at Hawkins, of all people, who then turned to my doppelganger with an amused glint in his red eyes at spotting me. "I told you ahead of time that you weren't the real (y/n)." He informed her, as she pouted, before, with a hat, going to slip it over her entire body, as if the thing itself had the elasticity of rubber, before it revealed a midget of a girl, who pouted at the blond. "You would take the magic out of everything! I will surprise you one day, Magician Hawkins!" She cackled boldly, as I then smirked to Nami. "See? We have a doppelganger on our hands!" I told her, as she rolled her eyes. "Hey, this was completely unprecedented!" She pointed out, as I then frowned at the midget.
"The heck were you doing flirting up our guys while posing as me, huh?" I asked her, as she playfully thunked her head. "I was just doing that for fun!" She tried to tell me, but I know an obvious lie when I see one. "Yeah right..." I then turned to Hawkins. "Do you know why? Usually, your psychic self does." I asked him, as he nodded. "She was doing that as a diversion to take you back into custody; she was the one who sent you to the marines." He told me, as she continued to pout angrily at him, looking more like an upset child who got their toy taken away. Honestly, who the hell was she?
"She can do many great things with that hat of hers. She also appears to be a double agent/amateur magician." He factually told me, as she frowned at him. "Hey, I am not an amateur! My magic is as great as yours!" She whined, before she swiveled to me.
"I was doing you a favor! Your behind is better with the marines than here! You see, a coalition worth more than a trillion together, all casually hanging around here without a care in the world, is like inviting hunters to go scoop up a prize neatly tucked in a treasure chest for them!" She then covered her mouth with her cloak, as if to muffle her voice.
"I also heard word around the street that some traders especially had their eyes on you! If you want to remain a free woman, I'd recommend making like a tree, and getting out of here!" She trembled a bit, as if fearful of the thought, as Hawkins as per usual, didn't seem the least bit fazed. "Probability of that happening is 0.2%." He stated, as she looked on the verge of smacking him with her magical hat.
"I-I don't care what your stupid cards say!... *sniff*... I know what I heard, and it's definitely not good news for you!" She pointed to me, before going to chuck her hat to me, as if she were throwing a frisbee. To my shock, the hat grew quickly in size, before then going to engulf me whole. I guess this is what the rabbits felt like in these kinds of shenanigans.
"Anyways, I figured with your pixie dust, that you'd make your way back here! I guess you give me no choice but to execute my initial order!" She told me, as I couldn't see a dang thing in this hat, and weirdly enough, it felt more like I was in some void rather than an actual oversized hat.
"Hippity hoppity, your powers are now my propert- OW!"
The hat now seemed to be back on her head, as Hawkins twisted her arm a bit, which caused her to tear up.
"Sorry, but she is with us." He informed her, as she stuck her tongue out at him. "Hey, I tried to bail her out another way as an excuse, but now I have no choice!" She then turned to look at me.
"Do you honestly believe the young master is going to let you flee with his enemies? Of course not!"
I then went to sigh. Was this what it was all about? Then again, I shouldn't have expected him to be totally fine with me just hanging out with Law and company.
"And I have seen everything that had happened here!... I think?... And despite the impressive members of your coalition, we have our own little edge to make sure you join us!" She then went to fix the rim of her top hat with a smirk.
"After all, we have free reign of your homeland, (y/n)!"