Anoki was draped over the railing of the Going Merry and was watching as the waves lapped at the side of the ship. Her eye was half lidded, showing her boredom. The crew was headed towards Little Garden, a friendly sounding island if Anoki was going to be honest with herself. It wouldn't make sense though, Anoki thought. Why would that woman try and give them an eternal log pose to Alabasta if this island was the only obstacle in their course? Anoki sighed deeply, her head lolling to the side and her single eye closing in deep thought.
"MY ANGEL!!!!!" Sanji screamed out as he twirled towards the tall woman. Anoki hummed and looked towards the cook, her chin now propped in the palm of her hand. Sanji squealed and did his noodle dance with a large blush dusting across his cheeks. "AH! I love it when you look at me like that my love! Let's get married," Sanji cheered as he handed Anoki a mug of black coffee. As soon as those words left his mouth, his head was launched forward with a choked gurgle leaving his throat. Zoro smacked the back of his head with one of his sheathed swords with a heavy glare in his eyes.
"Could you maybe not flirt with our first mate!? And as if she would marry the likes of you," Zoro hissed out. Sanji brought his leg up in a stance to attack and smashed his forehead against Zoro's. "HAH!? What did you say you moss head? I couldn't hear you over the sound of your jealousy,"
Anoki stood up from her slumped position and just walked away from the fighting duo. She made her way towards the deck and sat down with her legs crossed. Her hands gripped onto her knees and she closed her eye in concentration.
Meditation was a good thing from time to time. Focusing on your mental health is a big thing kiddies.
Nami and Vivi watched the tall woman from inside the cabin, both having small smiles on their lips.
"She's really great isn't she?" Vivi sighed out, a longing look in her eyes. Nami didn't answer, her mouth moving into a flat line. For some reason, Nami really didn't like the way the blue haired princess was looking and talking about HER first mate. It made her stomach twist up with an uncomfortable feeling and she wanted it to stop. Nami looked at the princess from the corner of her eye before looking out the window again. Ussop and Luffy sat next to Anoki who was smiling softly at the two boys next to her. Ussop was talking animatedly with Luffy and Anoki smiling and laughing along with what he was saying.
"Yeah," Nami answered after minutes of silence. "She really is."
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"Hey I see an island up ahead!" Nami called out to everyone. "Its that island that woman was talking about, Little Garden."
Anoki walked towards the railing of the Going Merry and leaned over. The island was anything but little. Trees towered over everyone and looked like a prehistoric paradise. The Going Merry traveled through a wide water channel at a slow pace. Everyone was looking over the side of the ship in awe and sparkling eyes at the sight of the beautiful island filled with all sorts of plants and animals. All of the sudden, a load growling sound pierced everyone's ears, calling their attention. Ussop and Nami screamed loudly and clung onto Anoki's arms in fright.
"A TIGER!!! WHY THE HELL IS IT SO BIG!?" They both screamed out, their eyes nearly popping out of their skulls at the sight of the ginormous beast. An even larger animal came out and attacked the tiger, both disappearing into the foliage. The sounds of growling, teeth gnashing, and claws clashing before silence. An empty silence that rang out around the ship before the lion came out of the forest and stared down the crew before disappearing once again.
Nami and Ussop whimpered in fright, causing Anoki to let out an amused huff. Anoki wrapped her arms around both of their shoulders and brought them closer to herself and sent both of them encouraging smiles.
"This is a good opportunity to stock up for our journey to Alabasta, but it's obviously a dangerous island so I would suggest that you two stay here just to be safe." Anoki explained to the two cowards. They both nodded along with her words and squeezed her arms tighter.
"Sanji! Prepare me a pirate lunchbox!" Luffy cheered, a smile stretched across his face. Sanji nodded and walked off towards the kitchen. "Can you prepare me one as well, along with a drink for Karoo?" Princess Vivi asked out towards the cook. Sanji turned towards her with heart in his eyes, "Of course princess!" and danced his way into the kitchen with new vigor in his step.
Anoki watched them before turning to look at the foliage of the forest once again. She hummed to herself before jumping over the railing and landing on the ground with no sound coming from her feet hitting the dirt. Nami and Ussop screamed at the sight of her casually walking away from the Going Merry, and both leaned over the railing to shout at her.
"Where are you going!? Are you leaving us!? The both of us will die without you, please don't leave!" Both Nami and Ussop wailed with tears streaming down their cheeks. Anoki turned and gave the both of them an encouraging smile.
"Don't worry, you guys should be safe and I won't die," and with that Anoki walked off into the forest.
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All of the large, threatening animals that came near Anoki were scared away by the heavy glare that she sent their way. Tropical parula's and finches were littered all over her arms and shoulders as she continued to make her way around the forest. A gray parrot sat happily on top of her head and Anoki couldn't stop the small smile spreading across her lips at the sound of the birds chirping to each other.
Anoki didn't know where she was or even how she really got there but she felt pretty content. She wished her crew-mates were there with her, but she also enjoyed the silence that her own company brought.
When she first left Luffy's island, she was around fourteen. She left for training while Luffy was thirteen. She came back four years later when she was eighteen. During those four years she only had herself to keep company. The abrupt change back into liveliness from being with Luffy wasn't difficult for her to handle, but she sometimes missed the tranquil times where it was just her and the birds gently rocking on the waves.
A loud explosion shook Anoki from her thoughts and caused her to whirl around and face the direction from where the loud sounds came from. She could see smoke raising up from where she was. She sucked in a deep breath and clenched her eye shut in frustration. All Anoki wanted was to have a normal day, but she knew that was going to be near impossible. The longer she stared at the billowing cloud of smoke, the more Anoki could feel her heart thumping in her chest at a rapid pace. She loves the crew so so much that it almost hurts, and the thought of any of them being hurt because of her selfish decision of needing alone time tears her up inside. She knew her actions were justified because everyone else practically did the same thing, but she couldn't stop the self deprecating thoughts swirling around in her mind. She shook her head back and forth to rid herself of these thoughts and started to run in the direction of the explosion.
"Hey!" Anoki skidded to a stop at the sound of her captain calling out to her. She whipped her head in the direction of his voice and saw Luffy casually leaning against the trunk of a tree. Anoki blinked at him and cocked her head to the side.
What was he doing here when she knew he went the complete opposite direction?
Anoki walked up to her captain to question him, but before any words could spill from her lips, her vision went black and fell unconscious.
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Anoki felt extremely agitated when she finally came to and realized she couldn't move her legs. Her eyebrows were twitching and fists curling and uncurling. Her shoulders were tight and were raised to show off the tension that she was feeling. She knew that Vivi, Zoro, and Nami were next to her but not actually conscious yet.
Anoki wanted to throw herself into the ocean so she could sink to the inky depths for falling for such a cheap trick. Luffy was acting weird when she encountered him at the tree. He wasn't his jubilant self, but she still approached the impostor.
Anoki let out a frustrated sigh and finally opened her eye, only to blanch at what she was seeing. A man with an awful hairstyle in the number three and a child snacking on crackers were staring at her with eager eyes. Well, the man with the three for hair looked absolutely ecstatic while the child looked completely indifferent. The man let out a cheerful and giddy giggle and approached Anoki with a happy grin spread across his face.
"Hello," Anoki greeted plainly, not bothering with the man but giving the child a small wave to which the child copied with a small smile. The man's eyebrow twitched in mild annoyance but continued to stare at Anoki with an expectant gaze. Anoki tore her gaze off the kid and looked the man in the eyes which caused a shudder to run down his body. Anoki watched blankly as his face started to flush and his limbs started to twitch just a little bit.
"Hello to you as well," Anoki said, figuring he was getting excited for his own greeting from the tall woman. A squeal left his lips and he looked like he was about to lose it. Anoki furrowed her eyebrows at him and clicked her tongue in mild annoyance.
"So are you going to introduce yourself, tell me how you're both working in Boroque Works and how my crew and I won't be leaving the island alive?" Anoki plainly said, her tone completely neutral and unworried about her situation. The man laughed and adjusted the goggles covering his eyes rather clumsily.
"I'll introduce myself once your friends there finally wake up. I'd much rather get to talk with you, Anoki Heishi formally known as the executioner with a 120 million bounty!" The man looked like he won a first place prize as he shouted out the amount of her bounty. Anoki quirked her eyebrow and looked at him expectantly.
"If you're going to talk, you might want to be quick about it. I'm guessing they will all wake up in roughly ten minutes," Anoki spoke, her eye looking around the terrain she found herself captive in. A disgusted look crossed her face when she turned around and saw it looked like she was standing on a cake, and that she and the others were like candles to decorate it. The man wiggled his eyebrows at her and Anoki didn't even try to cover up the scoff that escaped her mouth at the complete audacity of the man in front of her. The child sitting a few feet away from the man did the exact same thing which caused Anoki to throw an amused smile in her direction before focusing on the mess of a man in front of her again.
"So, Miss Heishi..."
"Just Anoki will do thanks," she interrupted, causing the man to choke on his spit before clearing his throat with an embarrassed hue on his cheeks.
"O-of course. So Anoki...tell me about how you got your first bounty," Anoki narrowed her eye into a sharp glare that caused the man to shiver. She knew what he was doing. He already knew the answer to that question. Anyone who knew of her or her first bounty, they knew how she got it.
"I believe you know the answer to that question Mr. 3," Anoki purred out with danger practically glistening in her one eye. The man gulped loudly and started to tremble. Anoki cocked an eyebrow at him but he continued to say nothing and just tremble in his spot.
A cocky smirk spread across Anoki's face, "Oh would you look at that, time's up Mr. 3, everyone is starting to wake up." Anoki took great satisfaction from the crestfallen expression on the man's face as he realized he wasted basically his only chance for a conversation with the tall woman. The three of the crew mates next to Anoki all groaned out and opened their eyes and blinked the sleep out of their eyes.
"Good morning."
"Good morning....wait a minute. ANOKI! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!? WHY CAN'T WE MOVE AND HOW THE HELL DID YOU END UP HERE!" Nami screamed out while clutching at her hair in a desperate attempt to calm herself down. Anoki stared at her from the corner of her eye before moving her gaze back on the man in front of them.
"Boroque Works," Anoki simply said which caused Nami and Vivi to start panicking and bantering back and forth between themselves and Zoro. Anoki sighed and struggled to move her feet again. Mr. 3 stared at her with an amused expression as he watched her struggle but Anoki kept a straight face. Behind Anoki's calm expression she was absolutely seething. Like a caged animal that was thrashing and growling, but she masked it perfectly. Not a single twitch in her expression showed to Mr. 3 how much she wanted to gut him in that moment.
Anoki focused on trying to free her right leg from its waxy captivity. She stilled for a moment before lifting her knee up with all the force she could muster in her leg, only to still in absolute pain but kept a straight face as everyone looked at her in horror. A sickening pop resounded out and everyone's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
The wax around her right ankle was cracked but Anoki was 100 percent sure she just broke her ankle. She huffed a breath through her nose and rolled her shoulders back then cracked her neck by tilting her head to the side.
"Fuck."
That was all Anoki had to say for herself. As if she didn't just break her ankle out of pure spite of the Boroque members in front of her.
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Nami and Vivi's eyes had widened in horror at the sight of Anoki bending down and ripping her foot out the rest of the way from the wax it was entrapped in. Her foot looked limp and they all, including the Boroque Works members cringed as they watched her take off her boot. Anoki chuckled to herself as she watched her foot before turning her attention to her three crew members next to her.
"I just broke my foot."
"YEAH ANOKI, WE ALL KNOW!" Nami shouted with shark teeth as she reached over and smacked Anoki over the head, causing the tall woman to let out a sheepish laugh as she rubbed the spot Nami hit. Everyone ignored the sound of Mr. 3 wailing at the sight of Anoki's cute action and focused on the sight of her swelling foot.
"Anoki please sit down..." Vivi meekly suggested to the first mate but was quickly put down.
"No. I made the selfish choice to keep listening to my anger at the situation so now I must suffer the consequences." Anoki explained out and turned her attention back to the people in front of her.
"So stubborn," Nami and Zoro breathed out casting knowing looks to each other and at the back of Anoki's head.
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Anoki watched with interest as a giant came bursting out from the forest and towards Mr. 3 and the child now known as Ms. Goldenweek. She didn't know that giants lived on this island or rather anything besides plants and animals. She watched with an impassive eye at the sight of the giant, who looked rather injured, swing his giant sword towards the two Boroque Works members only for the two of them to dodge the blow with ease.
"Mr. Dorry please!" Vivi cried out, a desperate look in her eyes. "You've been injured enough from the alcohol that exploded in your stomach!" The giant looked at the blue haired princess before looking back at the agents and trying to slash at them again.
"Young lady I cannot do that! These people put explosives into the alcohol that you and that boy with the straw hat offered me! It's a disgrace to be defeated by something so simple so I must fight them for my honor!" The giant known as Dorry shouted as he swung his giant sword towards the agents again but them of course dodging the blow once again. The man known as Mr. 3 chuckled with a knowing look in his eyes as he raised up his arms towards the giant.
"It's foolish of you to think you'll be able to defeat us, never mind me," he chuckled and sent out a wave of wax towards Dorry but the giant slashed the wax in half. Mr. 3 continued to try and overwhelm Dorry but it was proving to be a difficult task for both of them.
As time went on Dorry was becoming sluggish from the fast attacks coming from Mr. 3, but the wax man himself didn't seem to be slowing down at all. Anoki knew that the outcome for this little battle and their escape was looking grim so she turned her gaze into the surrounding trees. Anoki couldn't help but wonder where the rest of the crew was at considering it was only Nami, Vivi, Zoro, and her stuck in the wax configuration.
The ground shook as the giant named Dorry fell to the ground. He weakly tried to stand up again, but a wave of wax subdued his attempt. Mr. 3 was laughing at the sight of the giant slowly becoming consumed from his devil fruit. Tears were gathered in Vivi's eyes at the sight of the giant she and Luffy shared stories with become completely consumed by the wax. The more the wax surrounded Dorry, the more limited his movements became. Anoki blocked out his desperate cry as Mr. 3 explained how he killed the other giant for no reason because it was the agents who killed him. It was soon silent as the wax completely covered him and the giant became a giant wax figure.
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A sharp intake of breath from both of the girls caused Anoki to turn her head in their direction to see what was causing the reaction, only to choke on her breath at the sight she was seeing. Zoro had cut the back of his legs and Anoki couldn't really figure out the reason as to why he did such a thing.
Anoki sucked in a sharp breath as she watched blood drip down the back of his legs and form a small pool around his shoes.
"Zoro..." Anoki sighed out, a cinch in her brow. "Why in the absolute living hell did you just do that?" Zoro flinched slightly from the reprimand and focused his gaze onto the pooling blood beneath him.
"I thought I would be able to cut my legs off the escape the wax. The angle I tried to cut my legs didn't give me a clean or smooth slice so trying was kinda pointless." Zoro almost looked shy under the scrutinizing gaze of his first mate. Anoki was about to go off on him as to tell him why that was a stupid idea but a sneeze escaped Vivi and cut her off. All three of them turned to watch the blue haired princess as she rubbed her nose.
"Something is falling from the sky...is it snow?" Vivi questioned out as she held out her hand to catch the white flurries coming down. Nami furrowed her brow at the question and looked up herself.
"It's impossible for it to be snowing on this island right now. It's way too warm and the season for snow isn't correct. It should be summer on this island right now." Anoki looked at the smug face of Mr. 3 and squinted her eye at him. She looked behind herself and felt her eye widen at the sight before her. The wax structure they were stuck in had three large flames protruding from the top and the white flurries were the melted wax raining down on them.
"So Mr. 3," Anoki drawled out with an accusing glare in her eye. "What do you plan to achieve with having wax rain down on us? What's your goal?" Mr. 3 looked absolutely elated that Anoki was able to figure out his plan and lifted his arms up in clear joy.
"Well my dear, I plan on making all of you wax figures! Miss Goldenweek will paint you all, so when she is finished it will look like nothing even happened to you all! I will add you four to my ever growing collection of literal human wax figures!" Anoki did everything in her power to stop the cringe from coming to her face but the urge was simply too much for her to resist. Mr. 3 looked like he deflated at the sight of the tall woman's disgusted facial expression.
"B-but of course my dear you'll be kept separate from the others. Your beauty is simple too much to be kept with the others. You my darling will need your own room to be admired." Anoki ignored the disgusted shouts from her friends and continued to look at the wax man.
"That's kind of disgusting, don't you think? Why do you want to admire my painted over corpse?" Anoki crossed her arms and turned to the side in a move to try and comfort herself from the weird perversions that Mr. 3 was spewing out. The man looked as if the devil just came up from beneath the ground with the absolute look of horror he was shooting towards Anoki.
The wax that has been raining down on the group started to fall at a faster pace, starting to cover patches of their skin. Anoki furrowed her brows and tried to wiggle her feet free again, but stopped short when pain shot up from her broken ankle.
Nami and Vivi started to cough more violently. "I'm not sure if us turning to wax figurines or the wax entering our lungs will kill us first," Vivi hoarsely spoke. The blue haired princess cupped her hands around her mouth in a feeble attempt to stop the wax from entering into her nose and mouth, but the action was proving to be useless as she continued to cough. Zoro gave out a deep sigh then pulled out two of his still sheathed swords. Everyone watched with baited eyes to see what he would do, but all he did was raise his swords into the air in a dramatic pose.
"Zoro...hunny...what are you doing?" Anoki questioned out in a soft tone. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING NOW!?" Nami screeched out, her fist flying into the side of his head.
"If I'm going to be turned into a statue, the least I could do for myself was pose. I don't want to be stuck in some lame position if that does happen," he reasoned out, his gaze never wavering from in front of himself. Anoki couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her lips.
What a funny guy.
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Wax was starting to cover the most of them now, making all movements including breathing in rather difficult. Anoki decided to let her mind wander in the time being, knowing that they need their captain to escape from this situation.
"OI! ZORO! NAMI! VIVI! ANOKI! THERE YOU GUYS ARE! I'VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER FOR YOU GUYS!" Luffy shouted out as he sprinted from the trees with an angry woman trying to crush him by falling from the sky.
"Oh! It's the lemon woman from Whiskey Peak," Anoki murmured out. Vivi couldn't help the desperate noise that escaped her throat at the sight of the woman, all feelings of hope slowly dwindling out.
Before Anoki could try and give the princess some comforting words, Luffy ran up and punched Mr. 3, causing the man to skid across the ground and yell out in pain. Miss Goldenweek was quick to jump into action and draw a red circle with her paint around Luffy. The trapped group looked on in confusion as Luffy just stared at them with confusion painted across his face.
"Luffy stop joking around and kick their asses already! It's really starting to hurt trying to breath up here," Nami called out, desperation starting to leak out and panic was evident in her amber colored eyes. Anoki wanted to growl at her captain's next words.
"But I really don't feel like it."
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Anoki ignored the most of Luffy struggling against Miss Goldenweek's paints and was trying desperately to get her legs free. The wax trapping her legs was starting to crack more and more with each desperate movement, causing a flare of hope to ignite in her eye. It was when the other agent walked out from the trees with a screaming Ussop when Anoki was able to free her legs.
Her unbalanced form feel with what she can only hope was grace, and landed face first in the dirt in front of her. A groan escaped her lips and she flopped on her side to watch the astonished faces around her. She gradually stood to her feet and glared at everyone, captain included.
"Now shall we stop wasting all of our time?" Anoki questioned out, stepping forward and cracking her neck at the same time. The lemon clad woman scoffed in her direction and looked at Anoki with an accusatory look plastered on her face.
"Who the hell are you? Well never mind don't answer that question because I'm about to get rid of you anyways!" Miss Valentine rushed towards Anoki and started to drop herself on her.
"10,000 kilo press!"
As she was falling, Anoki held out her hand in a cupped position and was quick to swipe her hand around the woman's neck when she was in reach. A loud gurgling sound escaped Miss Valentine's lips as she desperately scratched at Anoki's harsh grip. So Anoki squeezed her neck even tighter in response.
"P-please," Miss Valentine pleaded, her glassy eyes trying desperately to reach Anoki's eye. Anoki clicked her tongue in response and reached towards her back and slowly pulled out one of her daggers that were strapped towards her lower back.
"You want me to let you go?" Anoki questioned out, her tone bitter-sweet. Miss Valentine nodded her head the best she could in her grasp, which caused Anoki to apply more pressure on her neck.
"Now now, use your words like a big girl. You can at least do that for me can't you?" Anoki questioned out, making the woman's cheeks flush red in sheer humiliation.
"Y-yes..." she rasped out, black spots becoming more prominent in her vision.
"Be more specific dear," Anoki chuckled out, clearly reveling in bringing in opponent down to Earth.
"Please...let me go," Miss Valentine managed to choke out. Her head was swimming and on the brink of unconsciousness. Anoki hummed thoughtfully at her request and loosened her grip, which Miss Valentine used to suck in a large gasp of breath, the color returning to her skin.
"Well if I let you go, you might try and attack my crew mates again. So in compensation I'll have to put you out of commission. So no hard feelings alright babe?" Before Miss Valentine could agree or disagree, Anoki stabbed her quickly in both of her thighs then tossed her to the side. Miss Valentine screamed in pain and curled herself into a ball and clutched at her wounded legs in absolute agony. By the time Anoki turned around, Zoro,Nami, and Vivi escaped the wax contraption with their shirts burned off, Ussop was clutching at Karoo, and Luffy was missing.
"Alright then," Anoki clapped her hands together. "Let's just wait for Luffy to come back before we decide to anything more."
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Hello, I hope everyone is doing well.