Chapter 104: Places to Be
Chapter 104: Places to Be
Nojiko stepped through Vivi’s Air Door, hoping stepping directly through to Neethrax’s Treasure Room wasn’t about to get her frozen in a block of ice or, if she was in full dragon form, possibly eaten in a fit of annoyed pique. Unfortunately, it was the only place within the mountain that had made a deep enough instant-impression on Vivi for the other girl to be able to move them to without careful study. For good or ill, the dragoness was at least awake, and in her slightly more human-like form, Nojiko quickly spotting her with a book in hand at an overlarge table. Neethrax’s eyes were locked onto the Air Door as Nojiko appeared, and a snort left her after a tense moment, as she saw who it was.
“I suppose that would my own fault, no? I did tell you to come to visit and I imagine the girl with the Door-Door fruit didn’t have a deep enough impression of anywhere else in my lair to open a ‘door’ too. Have her come through as well, small one. I can show her another room to memorize so she isn’t opening a door straight to my private rooms.”
Nojiko nodded and poked her head back through the Air Door, Vivi joining her a moment later. They’d anticipated that, assuming she didn’t try to kill them for daring in the first place, the dragoness might have such a request. Vivi immediately curtsied to the dragon and apologized for their intrusion when she came through. Neethrax waved it off negligently.
“If I were another dragon, I might be enraged, I suppose. As I am a seeker of knowledge, I am merely curious to discover how the Fruit bypasses the protections on this place. A topic for another day, however. Let me show you to The Garden. It should be memorable enough for you to easily portal too, and I will set an incoming alarm to detect your arrival.”
The pair agreed, obviously. No need to annoy the incredibly powerful dragon lady who was apparently scary enough to force a deal out of the World Government, instead of them outright killing her for the threat she represented. A few minutes of half-jogging to keep up with her later, as she took them deeper into the mountain, and they were both struck silent at their first view of ‘The Garden.’
It was a massive underground dome, easily large enough to have held Neethrax’s full dragon form several times over if it were empty. Yet, she certainly couldn’t fit in here now, as the entire area was filled to the brim with verdant greenery of all sorts. Giant ferns were the tamest thing, and sat beside equally giant plum trees, bushes with rainbow flowers, and even a set of ficus that appeared to be made entirely of crystal. If that weren’t fantastical enough, there was a streamoframen flowing through the room. Neethrax chuckled deeply at their agog expressions.
“Beautiful, is it not? I collect oddities of all sorts, including unique flora from around the world. The Ramen River and a few of the giant fruits are particularly rare, coming from the Boin Archipelago. An island which is, in reality, a massive living plant. One which uses the incredible fruit it grows as a lure for the animal life it eats to sustain itself. Few have ever escaped the false-island, but some past followers of mine managed to do so with the aid of my power, returning with many samples from the depths of the plant.”
Okay, that story wasn’t making them gape any less, Neethrax! Though the tone switch with her next words, to one that spoke of great sadness, certainly did the job.
“Others, like the Rainbow Roses of Elysium, are now extinct anywhere but my own garden. Wiped out by…certain events I am bound not to speak of.”
Meaning something related to the Void Century and the events that the World Government so desperately wanted covered up, no doubt. Vivi, ever the diplomat, spoke up to break the moment of sadness with a cheerful voice.
“The Garden is gorgeous! I certainly won’t have any issues memorizing a place in it, and perhaps you could help farther by telling me something of the rarer plants and where they came from? Such as this Elysium and its Rainbow Roses?”
Neethrax blinked, stared at Vivi for a long, considering moment, then grinned with a mouth that contained a terrifying number of sharp teeth, despite her current form.
“Well now, Princess, that seems a fine way to spend an hour or two. Longer even, if that historian of yours wishes to hear a few old stories. After all, I am only bound to not say how they were lost. I am perfectly free to tell tales of the amazing places that once were, before the fools destroyed it all in their hubris.”
There was a malicious glee in the dragoness’s eyes that made them shudder, even as she directed them to a bench and began to tell the tale of a long-lost paradise with forest glades of Rainbow flowers and golden fields of a wavy grain that created the most delicious breads you’d ever find. It wasn’t quite how either girl had expected to spend their morning, yet the dragoness had a way with words that drew them both in, painting a picture of a lost paradise that neither could regret hearing the tale of…
… … …
“Luffy! You’re back! Oh, and who is this you have with you? A girlfriend perhaps?”
Luffy smiled back as Makino beamed at him from behind the bar. Since he had been a somewhat frequent visitor to Alabasta, he’d decided it only made sense to take Vivi to the closest thing he had to ‘home’ himself. With Luffy never having declared loudly and proudly to Garp that he’d be ‘The King of the Pirates,’ he’d spent quite a bit more time around Foosha than the original Luffy would have. Even if he’d gone out of his way to meet Ace and Sabo, he’d never been relegated to the care of Dadan the way the original would have been.
Well, not never. Garp had dumped him on Dadan much later, after he’d eaten his Devil Fruit. But he’d spent a lot more time than he otherwise would have with Makino before that. The result was that Luffy considered Foosha his home, in so much that he considered anywhere but aboard the Discovery itself home. Makino, despite knowing she was likely mostly a plant by his father to keep an eye on him, really was a big sister figure. One he was quite certain genuinely cared for him, even if he might well have started out as an assignment for her. He was pleased to see that, despite his absence, she hadn’t been pulled out of the village by the Revolutionaries.
“Hey, Makino! It’s great to see you’re still here! I’d hoped you would be, so I could introduce Vivi here! Yes, she’s my girlfriend…well, one of them at least. It’s a little bit complicated…”
Makino, who had swept around the bar to hug him, pulled back to look up at him with a giggle.
“My, my, little Luffy has found himself a harem, has he? And here I didn’t think you for the type! Well, sit and tell your big sis all about it! Drinks are on the house, of course!”
Luffy sighed in relief that the older woman took his slightly-nervous admission with barely an eyeblink. Smiling, he pulled Vivi to sit at the bar with him as he began to tell Makino about his trip so far. Foosha hadn’t been one of their stops back at the East Blue, since it was Garp’s hometown and almost certainly had people watching it. On the other hand, that very fact meant that a quick stop now would only sow confusion. The village certainly wouldn’t actually be targeted. Not while Garp was the Fleet Admiral of the Marines.
As always, Makino was a great listener, gasping and laughing in all the right places as he told her about his crew and adventures so far. Vivi, despite the comparatively humble surroundings, seemed to fit right in with ease. A heady warmth settled into his chest as the day and date went on. Sometimes, it was good to just have a nice day among those that really mattered to you…
… … …
“Ugh! Hina annoyed.”
Puffing out smoke from her cigarette, Hina was doubly annoyed for just a moment at the way that petulant comment had made her sound like a bit of a bimbo. Thankfully, no one was around to hear it. Equally thankfully, no one but Kaya knew about the doctor’s findings regarding Hina’s verbal tick. According to the healer, while there were signs of that verbal tick having once been enforced by a Devil Fruit, the signs it was active had apparently faded. As best Kaya could figure, the verbal tick hadn’t been enforced for at least a couple of years. Well after the asshole that had placed it on her had died, yes. But by Kaya’s best guess it had started to fade once that man had died. To the point that it had outright failed without Hina noticing.
Which didn’t really help.
She’d had the ‘verbal tick’ for so long that it was now engrained habit. She had tested it, after Kaya had discovered the truth while examining her, and found that she really could use personal pronouns properly. Yet, to her own ear, they sounded wrong at this point, to a degree that she’d sheepishly decided not to put the effort into trying to fix the verbal tick. Maybe if she’d still been a Marine, whose authority needed to be respected, she’d have made the effort. As it was, she’d decided not to bother. Sanji and Perona both thought it was cute, anyway. Not that she had any intention of ever letting her lovers know their opinions were part of the reason she hadn’t really tried to fix it.
Still, none of that was why she was annoyed.
No, Hina was irritated that she seemed to have hit a roadblock in getting stronger. Oh, she was still getting stronger. Gaining access to Haki, something she hadn’t been able to do yet as a Marine, had been a major leap forward for her strength, and she’d managed to unlock both Armament and Observation with Luffy and Yamato’s help. Yet, seeing the way the others around her were branching out to grow in creative ways, she felt like that wasn’t enough. The problem was, she wasn’t sure exactly where to focus her efforts.
Aside from Captain Luffy and Yamato, she was by far the best unarmed fighter on the crew. Well, Kaya was a bit of an unknown there, as her own style was weird and tended to be frustrating on the rare occasions she could be convinced to spar. Still, without the esoteric spiritual abilities Kaya added to her own unarmed style, Hina thought she was probably better than the younger woman. Even with those abilities, Hina would give herself decent odds of winning a straight fight against her. After all, her Devil Fruit meshed just as well with her unarmed style as Kaya’s tricks. That was, in fact, why she fought unarmed in the first place, having built her style from the ground up to take advantage of the abilities the Ori Ori no Mi gave her.
The problem, of course, was that it meant she didn’t have anything, like a weapon or other tool, to focus on for upgrades or updates to her style. Nor has she been able to come up with clever new uses for her Devil Fruit just yet. Oh, she’d managed to improve her usage of it, getting creative with her constructs by using them more fluidly. Yet, she had yet to make any great breakthrough the way several of the crew seemed to be managing.
She didn’t like feeling like she might be at the limit of her ability to grow.
Puffing away at her cigarette, Hina let her mind drift. There had to be a way to push herself farther, right? What was she missing? What could she add? Slowly, the seeds of an idea began to grow, though she wasn’t at all sure it was possible. It certainly wasn’t the way the Ori Ori no Mi was intended to be used. But, then, she’d seen quite a few of the crew stretch their Devil Fruits in ways that didn’t seem to match their intended function. Perhaps, all she would need was a bit of a mental trick? Well, that and speaking to Pagaya for some insight, perhaps…
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A/N 1: I'm sure some of you noted that Neethrax likely has access to Pop Greens. Frankly, I'm not sure I'm going do use them at all, but even if I do...I'm not really convinced the Boin Archipelago is worth visiting as a whole. So she presents an alternative way to get them, if I decided to introduce them. Frankly, I've never been overly impressed by them.
A/N 2: Hina is a bit of a tricky one, as she's not shown really growing that much in power in canon. I think I've come up with something interesting for her to work on, though...
A/N 3: You probably know this bit by now, but I need to say it anyway ;-)! Once per release, I point out that I have a P-atreon Page with Early Access content. Chapters 105-108 of One Piece: Halfway Broken are already available there, adding roughly 15,000+ words which will remain in Early Access until next month. Similarly, there are at least a few Early Access chapters there for ALL of my stories, though NONE of them are ever permanently paywalled. All fanfiction content I make ends up here (or on Fanfiction.net and Questionable Questing) eventually, as new content for each story is released. Typically, there are 75,000+ words of additional early access content for patrons at any one time, all for just a dollar a month! As well as chances to vote in polls that influence which stories are updated, pairings, and other such things.