"Do we still have eyes on the mousy one?"
"Yeah, he's off collecting rock samples, of all things. This group of pirates, I swear."
"Keep it that way. If one of them goes missing before we're ready, that'll do nothing but raise suspicion."
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Sandstone. Can't say I was surprised by the fact. There was little else it could have been. Limestone, maybe, but that was a crap shoot. The real surprise was the lack of quartz. Or anything I could recognize as a silicate. Which was odd. Silicates were some of the most resistant minerals against weathering, meaning they tended to survive long enough to be cemented into a sandstone. This also gave the sandstone itself plenty of longevity once exposed.
But that wasn't the only weird thing. I feel like I've been thinking that a lot lately. Though, in this case, I didn't know if it was because I couldn't see the whole picture, or if there was something wrong going on.
The sandstone beds could have one of two sources. They were either uplifted over time or cut through by the river, though that had several issues. But it was just as problematic as them being deposited by said river in the ancient past. Sure, faults could explain why what had once been deposited was now above the river, and it wasn't as if rivers shifted over time as well. But I wasn't seeing any signs that they had been deposited from the river, much less any faults that could have caused the necessary uplift and down drop. There could be signs on the other side of the river that would point to a hanging wall pair that would result in the present state of things, but again, I didn't see any evidence for it.
Even if that evidence could be found in the subsurface, I didn't have time to drill and find it. I could only make assumptions based on what I saw before me. Which left me with a very incomplete picture of what was going on here. An incomplete picture I did not like to be working off of. In part because that meant I had to fill in the gaps with my assumptions in an attempt to get the picture to make any amount of sense.
But because it meant I was going to overlook something important. Of course, coming up with a geologic history based on a few scant outcroppings was always going to be a fool's errand. But I doubted we would be staying for long. I was happy we didn't have to feed Luffy out of our ship's supply. Yeah, I felt bad for someone else having to foot that bill.
But they offered, and we warned them.
Still, I'd gotten the samples I wanted. I'd even brought a magnet with me. My samples were just as heavily magnetized as Crocus claimed they would be. I wasn't grabbing much, only a few pounds worth of samples for further testing.
I'd probably have to speak with Usopp to see if he could cook up something that could block out the magnetic field. Safely, may I add. I found it doubtful that it would affect the Log Pose, but that wasn't something I wanted to risk, thus my small sample size.
Right now, I am mostly buying time. I had no idea of what the Straw Hats party ethos entailed. However given how the crew consisted almost exclusively of teenagers, with myself being the only exception?
I would be safe in guessing that they would party, and party hard. Something that had never been my scene. I'd never been much of a party person, and for good reason. The noise was painful enough as it was, and being around drunk people had never been my idea of fun. Drinking had never been my idea of a good time either, to be honest. It tasted like piss and was even worse than piss for your health.
However, the sun was starting to go down now. And frankly, I didn't exactly trust this place. Maybe it was just me being paranoid, but there was just this feeling that I had. One I hadn't felt since that one time in a parking lot. The feeling that I was about to be stabbed for drug money.
But there wasn't anyone here. That I knew of, at any rate. Still, it was probably best to deposit my rocks back on the ship, before joining the festivities. It wasn't like there was much else I could do, and it wasn't like I was going to wander around this place after dark. I might not get stabbed in the twilight hours, but the gloves would have to come off once night fell. And there was no way in hell this place was as friendly to pirates as it first appeared.
Sure, my death would probably be avenged, but I'd rather not have it come to that in the first place.
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I took a deep breath, having deposited the samples to a safe place on the Merry. Everything looked like it was in order. In hindsight, I could just use the fact that somebody should be guarding the Going Merry as an excuse to stay away from the party, but.
I wasn't that smart, and I honestly wanted to see what chaos awaited me.
The sound as I opened the door was nearly enough to take me off my feet. If I wasn't holding onto the door for dear life, I would have been knocked on my ass. Music could barely be heard over the sound of reverie. Slipping in once I had found my footing only made the sound all the louder.
Zoro and Nami seemed to be having a drinking competition with multiple other people. And with the hopefully passed-out bodies around them, they seemed to be winning. Luffy had ballooned in size, and someone with a chief's hat was lying on the ground sobbing. Sanji, okay, I wasn't sure what the blonde cook was doing. But he seemed to be enjoying himself, so that was all that counted. And Ussop had his mug of beer, telling stories surrounded by multiple people. Each was a focal point in the chaos.
Everyone but Luffy seemed to be intoxicated in some form or another. Even if Sanji was a bit more unorthodox in what he was taking. No, wait, that was a beer in his hands too. I just couldn't tell from the fact the man was being swarmed. I was almost jealous.
Still, my feet shifted awkwardly. I'd never been much of a party person, much less one with the booze flowing freely and people fully indulging in their merriment. Still, the rumble in my stomach at least gave me a place to start.
Hopefully, that was the only cook Luffy put out of commission. And that they had more. However, by the time I sat down, a chant was already starting to build up.
"Contest! Contest! Contest!"
Even Luffy, who had a wide grin on his face, was in on it, beating his hands against the wood counter in rhythm with the chanting. Heat began to rise in my face at even the thought of being at the center of attention.
"CONTEST! CONTEST CONTEST!"
"Munch Munch!"
Was transforming cheating? Probably. But it meant Luffy might have a challenge.
Full spoilers.
He didn't.
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"Keep it quiet!"
"You keep quiet!"
The voices over me made me stir. They didn't sound familiar, but that didn't mean much. Hopefully, they would just go away and let me go to sleep. I was too full to do much else.
"If we take them hostage, then the swordsman might stop."
Correction. I was too full to do much else. Was. I bolted upright like a rocket, ready to throw hands, as poor as that particular instinct was, only to find myself tied up in rope.
"Great! You woke one of them up!"
"Relax, he's gagged. Just work on the other ones in the meantime."
So I was. This.
Did not have my consent.
At. All.
A guttural growl formed at the back of my throat as I let the change take hold. Even as I thrashed, the ropes began to loosen the changes to my body causing the binds to fall away as I shrunk down.
"He can shape-shift you idiot!"
"Oh."
Normally, at this point, I would be asking them nicely to surrender and consider their life choices very, very carefully. But I couldn't talk, and even if I could, now that I was awake, the noise outside was beginning to filter into my ears. Gunshots, and the clanging of steel. And now that I looked around the room, Zoro was missing. Nami too. And they wanted us as a means of leverage. Who swung first? The two had been drinking heavily, but Nami seemed like a happy drunk, and Zoro was Zoro. Getting a read on him was, difficult.
I snarled. My tiny body wasn't going to win any awards for being physically imposing, but they'd seen one body eat its body weight in food, and Munchlax wasn't intimidating itself.
"Oh come on, it's just a tiny dog! All bark and no bite!"
Fuck. This is what I was starting to hate about this place. Violence was a question, and just about everyone answered that question with an enthusiastic yes! Fine. If that's how they wanted things to be!
A one-foot-tall dog may have not had much of a bite. But a one-foot-tall magical dog? One that could specifically create rocks? Didn't need to bite. As the first man found out, catching several stones to the chest, knocking him clean out the door. The second watched his friend being forcibly evicted in utter shock. I didn't let the opportunity go to waste, snarling and leaping at the man biting into his clothes, and thrashing him around.
The man's panicked screams filled the room as I shook him back and forth across the floor. That was enough to slowly cause the others to stir. Well, Sanji and Usopp, anyway.
"Five more minutes," I heard the lair groan as I let the man go, sending him through the now-empty doorway and onto the street.
"Nathan, I assume you have a good reason for waking me up from such a wonderful dream," Sanji coldly frowned.
"They're trying to capture us, Zoro's off fighting somewhere," I started, the expression I got on Sanji's face told me that he didn't consider this to be his problem. He was probably still waking up. "And Nami's missing too."
"I'll save you, Nami-san!" Well, that got him moving. He was out the door before I could get in anything else. I mean, Nami should be fine. This was a pirate crew. Everyone should be able to handle themselves in a fight. In theory. Why did I have a feeling that I had just released a monster onto the town? Screw it, they were trying to kidnap us for some reason or another. Probably because of the whole Pirates thing.
Clever, if utterly scummy. Lure people in with friendship, lull them into a false sense of security, and capture them during their sleep. With nobody to hear from them ever again, the plan would work against the next group of people who wandered over this way.
"So, what do we do now?" Usopp was now also up, a bit more alert than I expected. Luffy still slumbered, and I was starting to suspect it would take a natural disaster to wake him. Joining the fight sounded like a good idea, but leaving Luffy didn't sound wise either. Somebody needed to check on the Going Merry, and run inventory. If they were going after us, then they would go after our ship for both money and supplies.
But on the other hand, this building was defensible if we needed to fall back.
"Support the others, I guess. You get up top and snipe, I," Do what, exactly? Run around? Cause chaos? I wasn't even sure what was going on out there. But it wasn't like I was going to hang back when we were all under threat from these people. Sure, Zoro was likely holding his own, but it wasn't like he could be everywhere at once. "Will support Sanji and Zoro up …"
Click!
"Freeze!"
A man round the corner, leveling a weapon as Usopp and I ducked for cover, Usopp letting out a scream of panic as he did so. I, on the other hand, was getting increasingly pissed off! Could I have some time to think for three seconds? I had rocks now!
Rock? I'd turned into a Rockruff, hadn't I? If this place was rock, that meant.
The wall the man was seeking cover behind erupted in a shower of shrapnel and debris. The man himself was thrown aside like a rag doll, smashing into the building on the other side of the street.
Oh god, was he, dead? A groan sounded from the house as I breathed out a sigh of relief. Good, he was still alive. He just had an indeterminate number of broken bones. That's. Fine.
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"Are you okay?" Usopp asked as I left my transformed state fell away. My body shivered.
"I will be," my breath rattled. "It's one thing to expect violence, but to do it yourself? I'm not used to that."
Sure, I'd been in a few fights but. And it wasn't like I was attacking innocent people here. They were pointing a gun at us, and likely trying to kill us. What I did was textbook self-defense. But I'd probably broken several bones. Many of them important ones at that.
"Hurting others doesn't make you a bad person," Usopp said, placing his hand on my shoulder. "Trust me, I've had to do so a few times myself. So long as you aren't taking pleasure from other's pain, then you're a good person.
His words made me pause. Usopp was a lair and lied with considerable regularity. It was just how he was. I didn't tend to mind, one way or another. Usually, because it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. If Usopp was telling a little white lie, then wasn't going to be a problem. And if he was being authentic, then that was good enough too. I normally had a good sense of when he was telling the truth and when he wasn't.
This time? I wasn't sure.
But did it matter? Lie or not, there was a meaning behind those words.
"Thank you," I breathed deeply, flashing him a nervous grin. "I needed to hear that."
"Of course! I'm the great Captain Usopp, after all!" I rolled my eyes at my crewmate's antics, still smiling.
"Let's join the others in kicking ass, then!" I said, changing back. Cranidos was far from my favorite fossil, and its line was flawed to hell and back. But its attack stat was truly titanic for a stage one mon. And frankly. I'd probably need that hitting power. And it wasn't as if transforming into something partially made of rock would be a bad idea.
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He supposed this was it. He did have a good run, he supposed. A shame it'd have to end so soon. But going out saving a friend? That was a way that most people didn't get the privilege to choose most of the time. All he supposed he could do now was embrace the explosion with some dignity.
An explosion happened behind him, the noise only severing to mask the sound of Mr. 5's body being sent flying, crashing into a building.
Mr. 9 opened his eyes a little. Mr. 5 was no longer before him. Instead, a small, blue, and gray animal was where Mr. 5 once stood, its foot pawing at the ground in a manner that reminded him of a bull preparing to charge.
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Maybe I'd been a bit too overzealous here. It did seem like they were just about to throw hands with our enemies. But he was also called Mr. 5, meaning he was part of the same organization that these four worked for. The enemy of my enemy may not be my friend, but they were the ones who posed a threat by this point.
"I suppose, pleasure before business, just this once," Mr. 5 pulled himself from the rubble. He looked hurt, but compared to everyone else Cranidos hit, he looked like an embodiment of good health. Which wasn't exactly great.
Which was, not good. Cranidos was a glass cannon on a good day. Sure it hit hard, but it got hit very hard in return. Nor was it fast enough to get the first hit off without critical outside support. The support I kinda lacked at the moment.
But, Cranidos was the hardest-hitting form I had by about a metric mile. And it'd take time to transform. And while this place was weird, I highly doubt that a group of trained killers would give me the time to transform without taking advantage of my vulnerability.
So, I was stuck like this. Hopefully, Usopp noticed the explosions, otherwise, this was a two-on-one that I didn't exactly like. Even if he had, though, it wasn't like that was a reason not to double-tap. I was just waiting for the right moment.
The second that Mr. 5's finger went up his nose, I charged, side-stepping as he flicked the explosive projectile at me, leading to it skimming past me. My headbutt slammed squarely into his chest as time seemed to slow for a moment. Mr. 5 coughed as I felt something wet hit my back. Next thing I knew, everything went white in pain.
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BOOM!
An explosion rocked the area, sending up a blast of dirt and rock, cutting off Ingrid's words.
"Usopp! What just happened?" Nami shouted, looking up from her conversation, already seeing the grimace on Usopp's face.
"Nathan just took a bad hit!" Usopp shouted down, twitching nervously. "He just went through a building!"
Nami grimaced. Nathan's transformations seemed somewhat strong, but something like that had to hurt. "What about his attacker?"
She watched as Usopp's eyes moved behind his goggles as if calculating the path of some projectile before the man winced.
"Got caught between Zoro and Sanji."
Nami both breathed a sigh of relief and at the same time, grew increasingly angry. Those two, fighting at a time like this! Nathan and Usopp were the only two protecting her investment right now! She might as well stop those two idiots herself.
"Nathan's moving!" Usopp suddenly shouted, but there was still a crease of worry on his face. "But he's back in his human form!"
That wasn't good. Nathan, when transformed, seemed to be durable. Nathan as a human, was not.
All the more reason to break up Sanji and Zoro's fight now, before Nathan got hurt.
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My head felt as if it was ringing. As if someone, somehow, slipped a bell inside my brain and set it to max. It echoed and bounced, as I tried to push myself up to my feet. I had arms now. Right. Ow. Everything just hurt.
Was that? An explosion? I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. It had to be.
Did this fucker? Just use self-destruct on me?
Pain rippled its way through my body as I tried to push myself up. Only to fail, rolling over onto my back. Everything hurt. It felt as if my body had been hit vigorously with a club. I lay there, breathing in and out, watching the stars twinkle above me. Shooting stars streaked through the void above, lighting up the night briefly with their presence. As well as a figure who seemed to be floating in the sky.
Wait? A figure in the sky? My brain reprocessed the information in front of me. There was someone up there, and those shooting stars were far too close to be genuine. Didn't these nutcases have partners? Mr. 9 had Ms. Wednesday, though I was operating on the assumption that this was the same group of people. If so?
Fuck me. Couldn't you people let me rest in my pain with some peace! My teeth ground together. Someone was shooting at them, most like Usopp. So they were going to do something.
The fight was not over. I needed to get back in it. I needed to transform. Something, anything, that could give me an edge. Rockruff for speed? No, I didn't need speed. I needed power. I needed strength. And my body gave me what I needed. My teeth elongated into a snapping maw. My arms became longer, thinner, but stronger. My hands became paws, fingers into claws. My vision because crisp in the night, the inky darkness suddenly becoming crystal clear, even in the faint moonlight.
It did little to fix the pain. The ache did not vanish. But it did recede. Snarling, I pushed myself to my feet, howling up at the sky. With my newfound night vision, I was able to see what was going on. A woman hung above in the sky, holding onto an umbrella as she fell from the sky. Suddenly, she seemed to move faster, accelerating downwards at startling speed. A few fiery stars hit home, but I doubted it would be enough to alter her trajectory.
Straight towards me. My hand clenched. If they wanted to play chicken, then so be it. Digging into the surrounding stone, I began to hurl both man-made rubble and natural stone into the air. She continued to barrel through the shower, completely uncaring for the stones or the explosions that impacted her.
"10,000 Kilo Press!" Pain flared through my left arm as she hit home, what amounted to 11 tons moving at terminal velocity slamming into me. I felt my body shudder, screaming against the strain as it desperately wanted to return to human form. But I held on, snarling as the pain grew and grew. Despite my left arm at or past its breaking point, my right arm pulled backward. All my pain. Put into one, single, attack.
Lycanroc. Used.
COUNTER!
Her eyes widened just before my fist buried itself into her stomach. For the briefest of moments, time seemed to slow down, only for its normal flow to resume seconds later. She was sent flying through the air, though I didn't know where. My hold broke completely, slipping back into my human body. Even the pain in my arm wasn't enough to keep me conscious.
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"You made me hit a woman!"
"I had nothing to do with this, you shitty cook!"
"You two knock it off!"
"Ow!"
She was alive. Between the punch and being caught between those two, she was certain her life was flashing before her eyes. All she needed to do was get to her umbrella and…
"And you stay down!"
Darkness.
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BOOM!
"I'm up!" Was the first thing I said. The second? A very colorful string of curses to let the world understand just how much pain I felt just from the simple act of sitting up. The third?
Noticed how the ocean seemed as if it were on fire. As if someone had just plopped down a raging wildfire right on the water without a care of how realistic it could be.
The fourth was that I was suddenly picked up and carried to the ship by …
I wasn't sure who. Her face seemed familiar. Maybe Luffy had done a recruitment drive? He seemed like the type. Yeah, I still wasn't entirely all there with the pain. But we'd won, right? I let out a groan as place on the deck, slowly propping myself up to get a better view of what was going on.
There were three more people on this ship, not counting the random duck that was now on deck. Two of them were familiar, too. One with blue hair, the other with a crown.
Wait a minute.
"What the hell?" I shouted, my brain finally catching up to what I saw before me. What were Ms. Wednesday and Mr. 9 doing on the ship!
"Nami, please explain what's going on to Nathan," Zoro crossed his arms.
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"Let me get this straight. You, Ms. Wednesday, real name one Nefertari Vivi, Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Alabasta, infiltrated a secret organization, one Baroque Works, that is causing chaos in your homeland, in an attempt to uncover the man responsible. You succeeded, with the identity of this figure being one Warlord of the Sea, a Pirate sponsored by the World Government, by the name of Crocodile. However, he now knows that you know, and fully intends to silence you by force in an attempt to keep this secret under lock and key. And since we all know that secret too, we're also all in the slash zone from this secret organization."
"That does sum it up," Ms. Wens, Vivi looked awkwardly at me. Gone was the piercing, contemptuous glare I had begun to associate with the young lady, replaced by something that looked a bit more, gentle. I wasn't sure I trusted her. Yet. One way or another though? One thing was certain.
"God, my life has become an anime," I groaned into my hands. That got me a few confused looks. "And that doesn't explain anything about what you're doing here!"
"Me?" Mr. 9 asked. "Princess Nefertari is my partner! Of course, I want to keep her safe too!"
That was, actually fair reasoning. I couldn't fault him for that.
"I also owe you a blood debt."
I'm sorry. What?
"I'm sorry. What?"
"You saved my life against Mr. 5! What man would I be if I did not return the favor?"
I was still trying to process that little bit of information, preparing myself to tell him to think nothing of it. Only yet another unfamiliar voice rang out from the upper deck.
"What type of man would you be, indeed."