Chapter 104: A Little Slice of Home

Hi, all. It's been a while, hasn't it? Ten weeks or so, right? I'm afraid I only have three chapters prepped for this pre-movie arc, but when you work hard and play harder at camp for an entire summer, you don't watch a lot of movies, much less rewatch any to rewrite them. Still, y'all deserve something after a break like that, so here is the Little East Blue Arc!

A little warning. This first part might be a bit steamy for some people. Read at your own risk...

Chapter 108:

A Little Slice of Home

"Uh, uh, uh," Grace grunted, sweat dripping from her forehead as she pushed herself, the room around her having steadily risen in temperature. Her pink hat, red jacket, and yellow shoes were thrown off to one side of the crow's nest, having been left there since the beginning of her exertion. Now, her purple tank top clung to her body, soaked in almost and hour's worth of sweat. Each noise she made was accented by the sound of her flesh striking over and over.

"That's it, Grace," Coby urged, meeting each of Grace's movements. His shirtless form shone with the sweat from the hot room, little drops of the stuff sliding down the crevices of muscles honed from months of training. A tan vest and light blue shirt of his was thrown next to Grace's discarded clothing, his swords, and her paints. "Come on! Harder! Can you feel it?"

"It hurts!" Grace exclaimed through her panting. "We've been at this for almost an hour! I'm ready to drop!"

"Do you have a paint for killing pain?"

"Pain-Killer Purple," Grace answered, a particularly hard hit making her flinch. "I don't, huh, think it would work for, huh, this with the amount of sweat. It'd probably get, huh, washed away."

"But you've gotten better since we started," Coby pointed out. "Remember the first time we did this? You didn't last ten minutes."

"And I'm still sore from that," Grace complained, shifting her legs. "Why did I agree to this?"

"We're almost done," the male insisted. "Just a little more... almost there..."

Grace groaned as she reached her end. Her shaking legs gave out beneath her, making her collapse. Coby caught her gently, making sure she didn't fall to the floor. Grace panted, her breaths coming in great heaves.

"I think that's enough for now," Coby commented, his own breathing a little heavy. "That was a good round. Relax for a while." Grace was still for a minute, trying to catch her breath and waiting for her body to stop trembling. Finding her footing, Grace shuffled to her clothing, her muscles clearly aching from the unfamiliar trails they'd just gone through. "You're getting more used to it."

"I wish you didn't have so much stamina," Grace moaned, rubbing her abdomen. "I can barely stand and my stomach hurts so much, I don't know if I'll be able to eat anything at dinner." Coby paled.

"Sanji can't know about this," he said with a tinge of worry. "If he knew what I was putting you through, he'd kick me from here to the East Blue and back." Grace giggled at the horrified look on the rosette's face as she dropped her hat on her head and tossed him his vest. She pat her navy-colored tights which rubbed against her legs uncomfortably.

"I think he already knows," the redhead muttered, making Coby gasp fearfully. "It's not that hard to tell when we've been disappearing before coming to lunch and dinner covered in sweat. Not to mention the argument he and Zoro got into when we kicked Zoro out of here the first time."

"I'm still a little angry about that," Zoro interjected from the other side of the crow's nest, two one-hundred-pound dumbbells in his hands. "I was in the middle of something."

"We're sorry about that, Zoro-sensei," Coby replied, "but I promised to teach Grace how to fight and this was the only place I could do that without Sanji getting in the way."

They were in the crow's nest/training room so Coby could make good on his promise to train Grace in hand-to-hand combat. Obviously. Supervising them were Zoro, Amy, and Chopper, each for their own reasons. Amy had refused to not be present for any training Grace went through with Coby, Chopper was there in case the painter pushed herself too far, and Zoro just wanted to buff up his ego and see how his student taught. This time, Coby had had her punching padded gloves and working on her reflexes as a cool down from her earlier workout of pushups, sit-ups, and squats.

"You're improving quickly," Coby stated as Grace wandered back over, "especially since this will only be a supplementary skill for you. Only two sessions a day and you can almost push me backwards already. That's impressive, but I guess the analogy about correct angles helped a bit."

"A lot, actually," Grace responded, picking up her jacket to try to hide the blush adorning her cheeks, noticing anew the way her shirt clung to her budding curves. "When you said finding the right opening was like finding the best view for a picture, everything just kind of clicked."

"Why are they like this?" Amy moaned, the back of her head resting against the wall from where she was sitting on the floor. She was wearing bright yellow as usual, but this time it was in the form of a short-sleeved shirt and a light jacket. Covering her legs were a pair of three-quarter-length jeans. A wide-brimmed sun hat rested next to her with her parasol as the blonde fanned herself with a lemon-patterned hand fan. "Every time they end with the flirting and I don't think they even know they're doing it."

"You've certainly mellowed out about it," Zoro chuckled, his body dressed for summer weather in a Hawaiian shirt (not that they knew what a 'Hawaii' was) and dark slacks. "I remember a time when you'd've stomped over there and threatened to castrate him."

"He's... grown on me," Amy admitted. "It's hard to not like him. Anyone on this crew, really. That doesn't mean that I won't murder him if he makes the first move."

"Ha!" Zoro laughed. "That'd be the day! Let's get out of here. I'm getting hungry and the Shit Cook should've prepared something by now."

"SANJI!" Luffy's voice echoed from outside the room. "MEAT!"

"I don't know what you all were talking about," Chopper jumped in, "but I'm hungry, too!" The trio walked over to the pair of teens before the group descended the mast to the deck.

The rest of the crew seemed to have heard their captain's demand, those who hadn't been on the deck finding their way there. Brook and Usopp were fishing off the port side and, though Usopp had already pulled in, Brooks line was still out. The skeleton moved to wrap it up, but a swift tug caused him and Usopp to both grab the pole and pull.

"It's a big one!" Usopp yelled, Chopper and Luffy jumping in to try to help pull it in.

"Here it comes!" Chopper cried, a shadow beneath the water breaking the surface and flying into the air. The original crewmembers were able to identify the fish as an elephant blue-fin tuna, Sanji and Gin prepping to catch the fish as it fell.

Unfortunately, it never fell.

Before the eyes of every crewmember, a great shadow passed over the Thousand Sunny, it's owner grabbing the elephant tuna in its jaws and flying away, swallowing it whole.

"Uh..." Gin blinked. "Excuse me, but what the Hell was that?" Gin had followed Zoro in fashion for the time being, sporting a loud, pink beach shirt with green palm trees and khaki beach shorts. His tonfa were secured to a sturdy belt around his waist and one of his headbands kept his hair out of his face and his powers in check.

"It stole our food!" Sanji yelled.

"So cool!" the Kiddie Trio and Merry gasped, their eyes sparking. Merry had taken the time to fill the "little girl" role Usopp had wanted, wearing a soft, red dress that hung down to her knees with short sleeves. She had on a pair of Jean shorts underneath and Nami had loaned her a pair of gold arm bands that sparkled in the sun from her wrists. Plain beach flats rested on her feet, easily removable should she so choose. Finally, tucked behind one of her horns was a red bow that matched her dress and contrasted well with her white hair.

"No!" Coby denied, whacking Luffy in the back of the head. "Not cool! That thing just ate our fish! Don't you care, Captain?" Said thing made a u-turn, flying back toward the ship. Now that the pirates were aware of it, they were able to tell that it was a giant Hercules beetle with a brown shell and a small mane of pink hair. Flanking its massive horn were two curved tusks on either side. A white marking stood out on either side of its neck, but the pirates could not tell what it was.

"It's coming in from the front!" Franky called from his post at the wheel.

"I'm gonna make it join our crew!" Luffy declared, rushing across the grass deck to join Franky at the wheel where the big bug was headed.

"Every time," Nami moaned from a lawn chair. "Every damn time."

"Fufufu," Robin chuckled beside her, not offering any consolidation as she continued to read her book.

An the front of the ship, Luffy jumped onto Sunny's mane, staring down the approaching insect. Said insect locked eyes with him and began to glow red, the glow condensing in its horn. The beetle roared, blasting fire from its horn.

"It shoots fire?!" Luffy gasped with awe, not acknowledging the cook that jumped over him to, somehow, kick the fire away with his own flaming leg. The bug's eyes widened, the beetle pulling up. Luffy's arm stretched upward, wrapping around the base of the insect's horn and pulling him to it. The pirate captain latched onto the beetle's hard shell, said beetle attempting to shake him off without success.

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed as the bug circled back toward the Thousand Sunny. "Join my crew, Bug!"

"Grauuooow!" the bug roared in denial, flying erratically in an attempt to dislodge its unwanted rider.

"Captain Luffy!" Coby cried, shifting into his Hybrid form.

"Don!" Gin called, reaching for his headband. The beetle rushed over the crew, Coby and Gin grabbing on as it passed. Usopp got carried along unwillingly, one of the insect's tusks snagging the back of his shirt. Merry jumped in with a big smile, grabbing the sniper's legs. The Logia's headband fell to the deck, the beetle and its five passengers shrinking into the distance.

"After them!" Nami ordered. "Toward that... island?" The navigator pointed to a small island in the distance with grey cliffs that rose out of the ocean. "When did we get close to an island?"

"Don't know," Zoro shrugged, unconcerned. "Is that our next stop?"

"It's not on the Log Pose," the captain's wife responded, "but we'll have to help them. Still..." Nami leaned over the edge of the ship to eye the waters. "Franky, activate Sunny's paddleboat feature. Judging by the currents, I'd say there are some dangerous reefs around that island."

"You got is, Sis!" Franky agreed, pulling the needed lever. "Let's go, Channel 0!"

"I hope they're alright," Grace fretted.

"Yohoho! I'm sure they will be!" Brook assured her.

"I guess I'll follow them," Amy sighed, opening her umbrella. Usopp had patched the holes that Coby's zombie had put in it on Thriller Bark before giving its propellers a tune up, so she wasn't worried about it failing on her. The blonde jumped, catching herself and floating after the quintet of rubber-man, dinosaur-person, cowardly sniper, and ship-girl that had ridden away on a giant, fire-using beetle.

...Why was that a statement she had to take seriously?

"YEEEAAAHHHWWWHHHOOOOOOO!" Luffy yelled, his feet securing him on the back of the giant beetle's shell. The other four held on for dear life, two because they couldn't swim, one because he was a coward, and the other because she didn't want to swim after them.

"AAAAAAAAAAA!" Usopp wailed, tears being snatched from his eyes by the wind as quickly as they formed. The wind pushed his legs back, allowing Merry to transfer herself from his leg to the front left leg of the beetle.

"Don!" Gin cried, clinging to the insect's back left leg. "Don Luffy! This is a bad idea!"

"I agree!" Coby voiced from the center right leg, having shrunk back into his human form.

"I don't!" Merry laughed, the air whipping her hair around her face. "This is super fun! Baahahaha!"

"Captain!" Coby screamed, the island growing closer by the second. "The beetle's gonna ram that cliff!"

"Look out, Usopp!" Luffy laughed, his rubbery arm hooking onto Usopp and pulling him back just before the giant insect did just as Coby predicted. The impact jarred the pirates, all of them losing their holds on the beetle and staring to fall. Luffy would have none of that, one hand grabbing the base of the beetle's horn, which was now lodged in the cliffside, and the other wrapping around each crewmember.

"Shishishi! Up we go!" Luffy swung, dropping his four subordinates and friends on the top of the cliff before slinging himself up.

"What the Hell was that?!" Usopp demanded, grabbing the captain by the collar of his shirt and shaking him while Coby, Gin, and Merry tried to get their feet under them. "You could have killed us!"

"But we didn't die so it's all good!" Luffy argued with a smile, the sniper releasing him with a huff.

"Get away from Boss!" a young voice demanded. The pirates turned to find a little girl with choppy, dark red hair with a small, over-the-shoulder braid under a Marine cap worn backwards. A much-too-large Marine coat was draped over a pale red shirt and tan pants. She glared at the pirates with big, brown eyes, gnashing her teeth at them from the entrance to a cave in the stone behind her.

Gin blinked. "Who's the squirt?"

"Boss is with me!" Marine Girl yelled, running forward. "And he'd rather die than become a pirate!" The girl jumped, latching onto the back of Luffy's head and biting down. Luffy screamed, the roles of him and the beetle now reversed for the girl and him.

"Help me!" Luffy cried, running every which way in an attempt to get the girl off him to no avail.

"Yoko!" a man yelled, a group of people exiting the cave.

"Stay back!" the girl, Yoko, growled through Luffy's hair. "These people are pirates!"

"Pirates?!" the group gasped, most of them bowing low to the ground. "Please have mercy on us!"

"...What?" Usopp asked.

"Hold on," an old man said, the only one if the crowd to not bow before the pirates. "If I'm not mistaken, you all are part of the Straw Hat Pirates, correct?"

"No way," one member of what the pirates assumed were villagers muttered. "He's right. That's Electric Devil Gin!"

"And that pink-haired guy is Tri-Horn Coby!" another man announced.

"And the guy with curly hair, he's Long-Nose Usopp!" The sniper let out a long sigh, Merry's consoling pats ineffective due to her quiet snickering.

"And next to him! That's Ghost Ship Going Merry! The ship that became a girl!"

"Ohh!" Merry gasped, clapping. "Ghost Ship. I like that!"

"Yoko!" the old man from before ordered. "Get off that man's head! The Straw Hat Pirates are welcome here in our town!" Two men rushed forward, dragging the still-growling Marine Girl from Luffy's head.

"Give Boss back!" Yoko yelled. "He's with me! He'll never be a pirate!"

Luffy blinked, a look of understanding flashing across his face. The teen stepped to the cliff and glanced down at the giant beetle still stuck in the rock below. Without a word, he threw his hands down and pulled the beetle free, placing him by the villagers. Marine Girl ripped herself from the villagers, running to the beetle.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Luffy apologized with a smile. "I didn't know he was spoken for. I hope I didn't hurt you to badly! Shishishi!"

"Graaaww!" Boss the Beetle roared back, a red glow around him pronouncing his crookedly-bent horn.

"Hurt Boss?" Yoko scoffed. "These are just scratches! He'll be all better after sleeping underground tonight!"

"That's so cool!" Luffy, Usopp, and Merry gasped.

"You think that's cool? Boss is gonna molt tomorrow! Then he'll be even bigger and stronger than he is now!"

"Wow!" While Luffy, Usopp, and Merry spent time talking to (read "being yelled at by") Yoko until she mounted Boss and the two flew off, Gin and Coby turned to the villagers.

"Did you say we're welcome in your village?" Coby asked. "Not to be rude or anything, but we are pirates. It's not often that we're welcomed so openly."

"Hahahaw!" the old man laughed. "You pirates are an exception around here! Please, follow me and I'll explain everything." Coby and Gin glanced at each other, shrugging, as the villagers led the way into the cave system. The pirates followed, entering the mountain just as Amy landed.

"What the?" she questioned. "Hey! Wait! What's going on?"

"These are some huge tunnels!" Coby awed, his eyes roving over the blue rock that made up the twisting tunnels inside the mountain.

"Indeed," Fabre, the old mayor, responded. "They don't have much use, but they're a labyrinth if you don't know your way around. Great for losing pirates that are chasing you."

"You make it sound like that happens a lot," Merry commented, walking hand-in-hand with Usopp while being cooed at by some of the villagers.

"Well, everyone here is in pretty good shape if that says anything!" Fabre laughed before turning to the captain. "Oh, tell me, are Pirate Hunter Zoro, Black Leg Sanji, and Cat Burglar Nami still with you?"

"Yeah!" Luffy smiled. "They're back on the ship!"

"Would you please call them?" the mayor asked. "Please? Have them meet us on the other side of the island, but tell them to beware of the reefs coming in. We'll explain outside of the caves."

"Oi! Amy!" the captain called, catching the blonde's attention from where she was conversing with the crew on the ship through her baby transponder snail. "Tell Nami, Sanji, and Zoro to meet us in the village on the other side of the island!"

"Why?" Nami asked through the snail.

"Don't know," Luffy shrugged, "but these guys seem cool and want to meet you!" There was no response from the snail for a few seconds before a quiet sigh.

"We'll be there in 15 minutes." Nami hung up, prompting Luffy to turn back to Fabre.

"Hey, Old Guy. Do you all have any meat?"

"Of course we do!" the old mayor laughed. "Anything for the most famous rookies of the East Blue!"

"You want me to cook your face?" Sanji questioned, one flaming leg staining against Kitetsu III. "I don't know any recipes for moss, but I'm sure I can come up with something!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Zoro scoffed. "You couldn't cook me even if you somehow beat me! Your head's got no worth other than being a dartboard!"

"Wanna say that again?"

"I'll say it as many times as I want!"

Nami sighed, feeling a headache coming on as Zoro and Sanji bickered in the background. They were within the Thousand Sunny's docks, swordsman and cook arguing outside of Dock 2 where the Ladybug was stationed. Nami, refusing to ride with them in a small vehicle, had chosen to take her waver instead.

Leaving the angry morons behind, Nami entered Dock 1, her waver floating in a small pool of water. The door to the dock opened, allowing the navigator to hop on her transportation and zoom off.

The trip was somewhat dangerous, the captain's wife being forced to slow down the closer she got to the island on account of the reefs around the island. Zoro and Sanji left the ship in the Ladybug sometime after her, but Nami felt no responsibility for them. Hopefully, Franky had bashed it into their skulls about the importance of keeping their ship undamaged.

The front of Kansorn Island was beautiful, a crescent-shaped beach growing upwards into a green island of mismatched buildings. The beach was an almost complete circle encasing a shimmering blue bay that lacked any of the dangers from the outside reefs. A small group of people were waiting on the sand, waving banners.

"Welcome to Kansorn Island, Nami!" the crowd roared. At the front of the crowd were four boys who were literally vibrating with excitement. The letters that spelled out Nami's name were stitched into their shirts, one for each, leaving the young woman with an uneasy feeling. She sped forward, grounding her waver as the crowd surrounded her. One man, a taller fellow with dark hair, pushed his way to the front and bowed.

"Welcome to Kansorn Island, the home-away-from-home for all those from the East Blue," the man began. "Your crewmates are on their way from the cave with the mayor and his group, so let me be the first to introduce you to what we like to call Little East Blue!"

"Little East Blue?" Nami parroted. She could vaguely hear Zoro and Sanji arguing in the distance.

"That's correct," the man nodded. "See, everyone on this island came from the East Blue or was born here to East Blue residents."

"Huh," Nami blinked, taking in the surroundings. A breeze blew by, bringing the smell of growing citrus with it. "The Grand Line never ceases to amaze me. Are those tangerines I smell?"

"Indeed they are!" the tall man confirmed. "Transplanted here over 20 years ago, those trees are from Cocoyashi Village which is known for its tangerines!"

"I know that," Nami pointed out. "I'm from there."

"Nami-sama! Nami-sama!" a quartet of voices called, the group of boys pushing their way to the front. One of them, a thinner boy with brown hair, stepped ahead of the rest. "We, the members of the Ore-Nami Fan Club, want to take you on a tour of the island!"

Nami opened her mouth to decline, but sudden shouting from farther out in the bay caused her to glance back at where the Ladybug was drawing closer, the two men arguing at the top of their lungs.

"Sure," she answered with a fake smile, turning away from the bay. "Lead the way." The four boys nodded eagerly, leading the orange-haired woman up the hill before the swordsman and cook had a chance the land. She followed them through the crowd, shaking any hands offered to her with some confusion. Luffy had said the people of this island wanted to meet her, Zoro, and Sanji, but she hadn't expected this level of hospitality. Or a fan club for that matter.

The group of four boys and Nami reached the entrance to a cave system off to the left of the village proper just as Luffy, Coby, Gin, Usopp, Merry, Amy, and the group leading them exited.

"Nami!" Luffy smiled, reaching forward and wrapping his wife in a hug. She smiled, hugging him back. The Ore-Nami group cried in the background, mumbling something about losing their idol as if Luffy had just stolen her from them. Nami turned to the boys.

"Thank you for leading me this far," she told them, "but I think I'll stay with my husband."

"Yes, Nami-sama," the boys cried sadly. She'd only been with them for five minutes! Leaving the boys at the entrance to the caves, the group strode into the village toward a large windmill with a stone monument next to it.

"Wow!" Luffy cheered. "You guys have a windmill! Just like my home village!"

"That's so cool!" Merry gasped, stars in her eyes.

"But of course!" Fabre laughed, indicating the stone monument beside the windmill. "This windmill is something of the pride of this island, the entire thing was brought here intact from Fiusha Village on Goa island." He paused. "This island has had the luck to be only inhabited by people from the East Blue, so we've taken to calling it Little East Blue!"

"That's highly unlikely!" Coby complained. "What are the odds that everyone who settled this island would be from there?"

"Coby," Gin sighed. "Where in the world are we?"

"The Grand... Line." He paused. "Point taken."

"Luffy, get back-!" Nami stopped, her husband now climbing up the side of the windmill. Usopp just managed to stop Merry from climbing up after him. "Oh, whatever. He'll be fine."

"Anyway," Fabre cut in. "We've got sections for just about every island in the East Blue, so feel free to go track down your island kinsmen."

"I suppose a walk down Memory Lane couldn't hurt," Usopp agreed.

"I'm not from the East Blue," Amy spoke up. "What will I do?"

"You can come with me," Gin offered, his face a little pink.

"Hmm," Amy pretended to think, making Gin squirm. "I guess that works."

"Do you mind if we explore the island?" Nami asked, making Fabre shout out a deep, hearty laugh.

"Anything for the most famous rookies of the East Blue! Knock yourselves out!"

End of Chapter 108

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-SwordOfTheGods