After Johnny and Yosaku had finished telling the tale of Nami's disappearance, which of course I already knew, there was a pregnant pause. Then finally, I said, "You two are the biggest idiots ever."
"We're sorry, Yuril-aneki!" Johnny sniffed.
"Hentai." said Lucy distastefully.
"Says the one who takes her clothes off in full view of everyone on the ship," I muttered, looking at her side-eyed.
The two pirate hunting brothers (were they actually brothers or just friends? I'd never been too sure) had been hauled out of the ocean thanks to my new-found powers, and had just wasted five minutes of our time kneeling in front of us, telling a story of stupidity and pervertedness. Neither Lucy nor I quite liked the fact that they'd wanted to see Nami changing, even though she hadn't actually been changing in the first place, but I let it slide because we had more pressing matters on our hands; for instance, the fact that we had a missing ship and that Don Krieg's ship had just been SPLIT IN FREAKIN' TWO AND IT WAS FOUR FREAKIN' TIMES THE SIZE OF THE GOING MERRY! Though it was a bit strange Lucy knew what a pervert was... maybe because she was a girl and Ace had warned her about perverts?
But I digress.
We were all growling in anger, except for me since I knew why Nami had betrayed us. (Though it still hurts a little.) Usopp was tic-pulsing and his nose was twitching, and Zoro had actually punched the wall in exasperation, which had to be hurt.
"Damn!" the swordsman exploded. "She took advantage of us!"
"Kaya-chan gave us that ship..." Usopp hissed.
"Relax, Usopp-kun, Zoro-kun," I sighed. "We'll get it back. It is the ship of the Straw Hat pirates, after all."
Lucy jumped up onto the railing and peered out to sea, shielding her eyes from the sun. "Hey, wait! I can still see it! It's the Going Merry!" She turned to the Dumb Duo. "Where's your ship?"
Johnny and Yosaku regarded her, frowning. "We still have it but..."
She folded her hands under her chest, which accidentally cupped her boobs up and made me blush a little. "Zoro, Usopp, Yuril, leave right away! Get Nami and our ship back!"
Zoro waved his hands dismissively, much calmer now. "Never mind," he quipped. "Let it go. There's no need to chase that woman."
"Plus I'm not officially a member of your crew, Lucy-chan," I pointed out smugly. "You can't tell me what to do... yet."
"Darn..." Lucy pouted. Then she glared at her first mate. "I can't be without Nami as our navigator!" she whined.
Usopp hummed in disapproval while I grinned. "Actually, it's true," I agreed. "She's the best person for the job. She's really quite an amazing cartographer, and on top of that her knowledge of the sea and the weather is astounding. Nami can even predict storms on the Grand Line, where they pop up almost at random."
"Really?!" the captain gasped. "Cool..."
Zoro, Lucy, and I had a minute-long glare off. Lucy and I won.
"Oh, fine!" The swordsman relented, rubbing his forehead. "What a pain-in-the-ass captain..."
I nodded sagely. "Tell me about it."
"Oi!" Said captain protested.
"Well, Usopp, let's go."
Johnny raised an eyebrow. "What about Yuril-aneki?"
"I'm staying right here and Zoro knows it," I informed him.
"If you say so."
Johnny and Yosaku ran off and came back a little later with their small, slightly beat up boat. It had an unremarkable canvas sail with nothing on it and creaked a bit as it rode the undulating waves. I wasn't sure about its seaworthiness, but I wouldn't be on it, so it didn't matter to me very much. Plus, I knew they'd be fine.
"Get on with 'em, Yuril!" Lucy ordered.
I shook my head stubbornly. "Nuh-uh."
"Captain's orders!"
"You ain't my captain, Sherlock."
"What's Sherlock? Is it a type of meat?"
I almost burst into laughter. "No, idiot! It's a detective from—" I froze. I still hadn't told them I'd come from a different world. For all they knew, I was just an average girl from an island here. I wasn't sure how they'd react if they knew I was from another world, and although I told myself I didn't want to travel with them, I also didn't want them to hate me or to ban me from their ship or something. "From my island," I decided.
"Hey everyone, the ship's ready!" Johnny called, dropping the anchor.
"Lucy, what about you?" Zoro asked.
She blinked. "What about me?"
"Are you coming?"
"Oh. No, I'm gonna beat up Don Krieg. I haven't repaid Chef Zeff yet, so I can't go."
"Oh, okay. Just... be careful, okay? Things here aren't normal."
I snorted. "Telling Lucy-chan to be careful is like telling a zebra not to have stripes, and you better get used to things being not normal 'round here, Zoro-kun."
The swordsman frowned deeply at this, but shrugged and boarded the small fishing boat.
Lucy glared at me. "I'll be careful!"
I rolled my eyes.
Over from the pile of timber and driftwood that used to be Don Krieg's mother ship, voices drifted across the ocean on a salty breeze. "W-What's going on? The ship's been split in two!"
"Looks like Krieg and his men are recovering," I noticed.
"Look!" A guy with a ponytail shouted. "Over there!"
Everybody turned. A single, chilling raft was floating to the Baratie, with one occupant sitting cross-legged on it. Four candles burning with green flames flickered and winked at the corners of the raft, and a large cross rose up behind the man aboard it.
"Don Krieg!" someone panicked. "It's that man ! The guy who destroyed our ship!"
I swallowed nervously. That... that's...
"That man is..." Zoro gasped, his body starting to shake—but whether in fear or anticipation, I wasn't sure. He swallowed as the tension in the atmosphere grew heavier and heavier. "That man is Hawk Eyes Mihawk!"
Krieg and another man I didn't recognize stepped into view. The newcomer was shrouded in a black cloak, so I couldn't quite see him or her, but the person seemed to radiate evil, like when I first met Aes so long ago. But this evil felt different. It felt... I don't know, darker .
"Who's that?" Lucy asked me.
I frowned. "I don't know..."
But even as I said that, I knew. It had to be a god or a demon. There was no doubt about it. The cloaked person hadn't been in the anime or the manga, and Aes had said I'd be meeting his kin... or something like that.
"That scum..." Krieg growled.
A smooth masculine voice rolled out of the cloak, carrying an English accent. "Ah, I see my target is here," it said. "Very good, Mr. Krieg. As soon as I defeat him, you shall have both your knowledge... and insurmountable riches."
His target?
That didn't mean me, right? I hoped not, but it certainly seemed that way, since there was no other reason for him to be here, really...
"He's come this far to kill us!" A pirate yelled.
"We're doomed!" another added.
Lucy frowned at Zoro. "Who's Mihawk?"
The swordsman clenched his fists. "The man I've been looking for... the strongest swordsman in the world."
"Hawk Eyes Mihawk..." Lucy tilted her head so her straw hat and hair shadowed her face, making her expression invisible and unreadable.
Mihawk looked tall, though I couldn't really tell since he was so far away. He wore a black and red shirt that was open to reveal his toned chest, and a necklace that dangled another smaller cross on the end was hanging off his, well, neck. He had a Spanish conquistador-style mustache and a beard that ran along the contours of his face. He also had a very pirate-like hat with a feather on it.
My first thought was, Creepy!
My second thought was, Is he like some kinda Yankee Doodle rip off?
Blame my ADHD.
Nearer to the entrance of the Baratie, Patty gasped. "That's the guy who instantly sank Don Krieg's fleet of 50 ships, which should've been able to withstand the might of the Grand Line?"
"And he just destroyed another of Krieg's ships!..." Carne added in horrified shock.
"But he looks no different from any normal person..." one of the chefs said. "And he doesn't seem to be armed with anything special."
"He carries his weapon on his back," I told him.
Zeff raised an eye brow. "That's right... Yuril, was it?"
I nodded in confirmation.
Carne looked from me to Chef Zeff. "No way! You don't mean...? He destroyed the ship with a sword that huge?"
I could understand the chef's disbelief. The sword was at least twice the size of Mihawk.
"He's the great swordsman, Mihawk," Zeff said, folding his arms across his chest. "A swordsman above all the world's swordsmen."
Mihawk raised his head, and his deadly yellow eyes pierced at me, visible even from so far away.
A bead of sweat ran down Zoro's cheek, and he swallowed again.
"Why did you attack us!?" a sandy haired pirate demanded, upset.
Mihawk regarded him coolly. "To kill time," was his simple answer.
Whoa. That cold glance... the simple fact that he'd go after someone with Krieg's strength... and the fact that he was the greatest swordsman in the One Piece universe. My eyes sparked, and I was pretty sure little sparkles were floating around me. The other Straw Hats stared at me in confusion.
"CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?!" I shouted. Everybody fell over anime-style.
There was a pause. A very awkward pause. Then...
"No," said Mihawk.
I pouted. "Meanie..."
"You act like a little girl sometimes," Zoro sniggered.
"Oi! I'm a grown up woman, not a little girl!"
The guy from before stood up and aimed two pistols at Mihawk. "You destroyed our fleet just to kill time?! Bullshit!" He fired the pistols, but Mihawk simply moved his black sword and... nothing happened.
"What?!" the sandy haired pirate gasped. "I missed...?"
"It deviated." Zoro amended, suddenly standing right behind the pirate, who turned in surprise. "He redirected it with the tip of his sword."
Mihawk sheathed the sword.
"That's ridiculous!" the guy snapped.
"When did Zoro get over there?" I wondered.
The pirate glared at Zoro as he stepped forward, one hand on Wado Ichimonji. "Hey!" he exploded. "Who the hell are you?"
A fat man with a head like an onion popped up. "Swords... three of 'em! Could it be...?"
"I've never seen such graceful skill." Zoro called.
Mihawk shrugged. "A sword with power alone is not powerful at all."
"So this ship was cut apart by that sword, eh?"
"Of course."
Zoro grinned. "It's clear now. You're definitely the strongest. I've been sailing these seas to meet you."
Mihawk tilted his head down. "What's your mission?"
Our swordsman wrapped his green bandana around his green hair. "To be the best!"
Mihawk smirked. "Fool."
As Lucy's first mate unsheathed his swords, he said, "What's the matter? You've got time to spare, don't you? Whaddya say we duel?"
The pirates around him gasped. "This guy is Zoro! Roronoa Zoro, the "Three Swords!"
"What!?"
Krieg raised an eyebrow. "Bounty hunter, eh?"
The man next to him shrugged—or at least, I thought he did. It was hard to tell beneath that cloak of his. "He's none of my concern," he said. "I'm just here for the Artwaltz girl."
My blood ran cold. I was right, unfortunately. The cloaked guy was here for me!
"Oi!" Usopp said, turning to Lucy. "Things are getting worse, Lucy-chan! The Going Merry is about to be too far away for us to see! Oi, Lucy!" But our captain ignored him, facing Zoro and Mihawk instead.
The greatest swordsman regarded Zoro. "A duel? Such a pitiful weakling." In a move almost too fast for my eyes to register, he jumped from his raft to Don Krieg's broken ship. "If you really were a fine swordsman, you should've been able to judge the difference in our strengths before you even drew your sword. Challenging me... Are you simply that brave? Or are you that stupid?"
"Both!" I yelled. Zoro glared at me.
"This is for my own ambition, and because of a promise to a fallen friend!"
Patty stared at the Marimo. "The greatest swordsman, Hawk Eyes Mihawk, versus the renowned Three-Swords-Style Roronoa Zoro... This will surely be a crazy fight!"
"No one can win against Aniki!" Yosaku bragged.
Johnny nodded and pounded his fists together. "Yeah! Aniki's the best!"
As the tension skyrocketed, Mihawk reached for the golden cross on his neck, pulled it off, and produced a knife from it. No, not a knife... more like a toy sword that you would give to a doll soldier or something! It was freakin' TINY!
Zoro stared. "Oi! What's the meaning of this?!"
The Yankee Doodle rip-off just pointed it at him. "I'm unlike those idiots who use their all to hunt rabbits," he quipped, his piercing eyes feeling like they were staring right through us. "Though you're famous enough to be called a swordsman, this is the weakest of the four oceans, the East Blue. Unfortunately, I am not carrying anything smaller than this at the moment."
I shook my head. "And yet, even though this is the weakest sea, the former Pirate King was born here. Talk about irony, eh?"
He peered at me. "...I suppose that is true."
"Quit mocking me!" the Straw Hats's first mate exploded, clenching Wado Ichimonji between his teeth and drawing the other two swords. He dashed forward, readying himself to attack. "Just don't regret it when you die!"
I looked on in interest. Roronoa Zoro was the man who was gonna be the world's strongest swordsman, and I had a chance to see him fight in real life! Who knew if I would ever be able to see this again? After all, that cloaked dude could kill me, or if I beat him, I might even leave Lucy's crew to sail by themselves...
"You're nothing but a brat who has yet to experience the real world," Hawk Eyes taunted, pulling his arm back.
"ONI GIRI!"
CLANG.
"W... What?!" Marimo gasped.
Everybody stared in awed shock. Zoro's eyes widened in surprise and maybe a little fear, and his hands shook. Somehow, Mihawk had blocked all three swords with just his little toy knife! I held back a yelp. This dude was seriously powerful!
"Whoa!" Lucy backed up a little.
Johnny couldn't believe his eyes. "Aniki's demon technique was... BROKEN?"
"But that has always worked 100% of the time!" Yosaku protested. "What in the world happened?"
I studied the position of Zoro's three swords, then had a light bulb moment. "Ah!" I said. "I see. At one point in his attack, all three swords cross at the same point, and it is possible to block the attack if you intercept it at this point. That's what Mihawk did."
Usopp gulped. "You mean he's that powerful?!"
"THE WORLD SHOULDN'T BE THIS FAR OFF!" Zoro bellowed. He pulled back and threw attacks at Mihawk like an insane guy, his swords flashing through the air so fast they looked like a blur. Repetitive sounds of metal on metal rose up into the air, proving that his opponent had blocked each and every one of them. Zoro increased the strength of the blows, but he just couldn't get past the other man's defense.
"Amazing..." I murmured.
Lucy clenched her fist.
"Hate to interrupt..." a voice drawled behind me, making me jump and turn. It was the unknown person in the black cloak! "But do you mind if you and I have a little duel, Yuril-san?"
I narrowed my eyes. "What are you? What is your purpose? And why are you after me?"
It looked like he shrugged again, but like I said before, that stupid cloak made it impossible to tell. "I'm an interested third party. A demon, I suppose. I can't reveal why I'm here, as that's classified information... but I can say that you're the only one with the power to stand in our way, because only a demigod can kill a demon."
Lucy, who sometime during the conversation had turned to look at us, pouted and tilted her head in confusion. "What's a demi... whatever you said?"
"Demigod," I amended. "It's a person who's half-human."
"Half-human?" Usopp asked. I hadn't noticed it before, but he was looking at us now, too. "If you're only half-human, then what's your other half?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but a pained shout cut me off. Zoro had fallen to the ground, still tightly gripping his three swords. A short, ugly gash had opened up across his shoulder. Johnny and Yosaku were shouting something about how this "couldn't be happening," and how he "had to fight seriously."
"ZORO!" Usopp shrieked.
"So what do you say, daughter of Aes?" the hidden figure continued. "Duel or no duel? I can kill you either way, but if you duel me, it'll be so much more fun."
Our attention was turned back to him.
"Uh, so what are you again?" Usopp queried.
I gritted my teeth.
Well, now was as good a time as any to tell them my secret. "...God. I'm half-human and half-god."
A shocked silence filled the area, so quiet that the only thing you could hear was the waves crashing against the Baratie and surrounding ships. Even Zoro and Mihawk had stopped fighting in surprise, though the latter simply raised an eyebrow, his expression otherwise staying the same.
"Half-god?..." A Krieg Pirate echoed. "Does something like that even exist?"
I rolled my eyes. "Seeing as how I'm standing in front of you and I have powers over the sea, I'd say 'yes.'"
Lucy tilted her head to the other side. "But... didn't you say you'd eaten a Devil Fruit?"
I hung my head. "Yeah. Sorry. I had to lie because I didn't want you to think I'm a freak..."
"So you're a demigod." Johnny grinned, which surprised me. "WHOA! Yuril-aneki is amazing!"
Amazing? That wasn't the reaction I expected. But hey, he didn't hate me. Maybe the others wouldn't, either. But then again, the Bounty Hunting Duo were big-time idiots...
"Cool!" Luce cheered, her face lighting up. "We've got an angel-demigod who can control the ocean! THIS IS SO COOL!"
I sweatdropped. "Idiot. I already said that I'm not an angel."
"Just deal with it," Usopp sighed, shaking his head.
"Well, what do you think?" I prodded.
"Eh?"
"About me being a demigod. Aren't you freaked out?"
He blinked and shook his head. "No. I mean, you're still the same Yuril we've traveled with for the past two weeks..."
Wow. Of all people, I'd have thought he'd be the first to call me a freak. Then again, after Thriller Bark, he basically lives with a walking, talking skeleton and takes it for granted.
Zoro simply shrugged, then glared at Mihawk and went back to playing with sharp objects. I took this to mean that demigod or not, he didn't care about me either way.
"Well, what's your verdict?" the cloaked man said. "Will you fight me? Or will you let me kill you without any fun?"
I turned and smirked. My friends had given me confidence, even if they hadn't meant to. I raised my fists and said, "Very well, demon. Let's duel."
***
Let me just say that doing battle with a demon is not as fun as it sounds. For one thing, they're immortal and they can't die. For another thing, each one has different powers over human nature (they DID used to be gods, after all) and are dangerously powerful. And getting hit so hard that you fly back into the wall HURTS LIKE FRIGGIN' HELL!
WHAM! The man's first attack sent me flying into the side of the Baratie, which caused Chef Zeff to tic-pulse.
"Oi, you eggplant!" he barked. "Watch what you hit!"
"How am I supposed to control which way I get smacked to?" I snapped, picking myself up out of the rubble of the wall. "Stupid old man!" I dusted off my leather jacket and narrowed my eyes. It looked like the demon was smirking under his cloak.
"Oh, that's it," I muttered. "Nobody laughs at me!"
I'd had enough of being laughed at on the streets. No way was I gonna kowtow to anyone now that I had super awesome powers! I gritted my teeth and straight my hands out. "Mimic!" I snarled. I concentrated on the sea around me, something I'd been practicing doing for the past week. Twin streams of water rose out of the ocean and formed into hands, making the pirates watching on the sidelines gasp.
"What the hell is that ?" someone yelped.
"Is he a Devil Fruit user?" another mused.
"No way," the first retorted. "They said he's a demigod, not a Devil Fruit user. But I thought the last of the legacies had been exterminated twenty years ago..."
I blinked, almost losing control of the water hands.
The cloaked man ignored them and regarded me carefully. "Ah, so it's as I thought," he said, sounding smug. "That bastard Aes has given life to more scum. Well, then I'll personally make sure you never see the light of day again!"
"Oi, bastard!" Krieg complained. "I thought we agreed to only severely injure her! No killing!"
"Shut up, stupid-pirate."
I folded my hands into fists, and the ocean-hands did the same. I threw a punch at the air, and the left hand of the ocean barreled straight to the cloaked demon, whose eyes widened. He made an impossibly large leap into the air and cleared the punch, causing the hand to explode on contact with the Baratie's side and seep back into the sea.
The demon landed lightly on his feet and muttered, "Not bad. Especially for someone who only discovered her heritage two weeks ago and only accepted it today..."
"How do you know so much about me?" I asked.
"We've been watching you ever since you came into this world," he said simply. I froze and looked at my crewmates, but they appeared not to have heard the last part. "Now, enough. It's time to reveal myself. My name is Yugli, and I will be the one to defeat you, spawn of the sea." He tore off the cloak to reveal a toned body covered only in ripped jeans and a football cap.
The only things I could think to say were, "Demons like the Steelers?" and "Who names their kid ugly?"
"Shut up!" Yugli exploded. His face, which normally might have been handsome, was now twisted into an, well, ugly sneer, and he looked downright disgusting. He was also so tanned it was hard to tell if he was black or white. "It's YUG... LI! Got it? There's a pause! But you can just call me Yug."
I sweatdropped. "Who the hell is coming up with these names? First Aes, then Testarossa, then Yugli…?"
(At the same time Yuril said that, Yggdra the self-styled omniscient and omnipotent idiot who was actually neither of those things sneezed.)
The demon folded his hands into fists, too, but before he could charge me I quickly swiped with my hand. The ocean hand smashed into him. Yug must've forgotten about it, because he was thrown to the side and came up sputtering sea water.
"Bastard," he mumbled. "Too unpredictable, just like your bastard father." He reached for his side, and I only just noticed a lightsaber-like sword grip hanging there. He pressed a button on it, and sure enough, a beam of light erupted from its innards, and it was red.
"What is that?!" Usopp shrieked.
"COOL!" Lucy gasped. Then Johnny and Yosaku shouted something about Mihawk saying Zoro was a weakling, and she turned, stretched her arms, and brought them back, saying, "No, idiots!" But she too was growling, and I could tell that it was taking all the strength she had to hold herself back.
I snickered at the demon. "What are you, Darth Ugly?"
Everybody looked at me confused, except for Yug, who just tic-pulsed and shouted, "THAT'S IT! PREPARE TO DIE AT THE HANDS OF THE DEMON OF LIGHT!"
Then two pained shouts of "NO! ANIKI!" ripped our attention away from Yugli and I, and I glanced to the side. My eyes widened. Zoro was kneeling on the ground, back turned from Mihawk and two of his swords broken. But even as I watched, he wouldn't accept defeat and turned back, holding his hands out at his sides.
"What are you doing?" the Spanish pirate asked.
"Scars on the back are a swordsman's shame," stated Zoro. And with that, Mihawk smirked and pointed his black blade.
"Well said," he congratulated, and attacked. An ugly red wound opened up on Zoro's chest, spilling blood everywhere, and my eyes widened. My stomach tossed and turned at the gruesome sight and I almost threw up, but a solid punch to my back distracted me from the moment and sent me flying forward.
"GYAH!" I yelled in agony, coughing blood as I spiraled through the air.
"ZORO! YURIL! Damn... damn... DAMN IT!" Lucy's voice shouted, but I was in so much pain from that one punch that I couldn't even see anything. There was the sound of rubber snapping.
"Lu... cy..." I coughed. And with that, my body hit the ocean and I sank into the watery depths.