Random Idea
Mar. 27th, 2006 09:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dethoratsTitle: Mana
Rating: G
Pairing: None, because I do occasionally get the urge to write gen-fic. Weird, I know.
Word Count: 2266
Call it providence, fate, good fortune, luck, or mere happenstance; whatever the name, the Straw Hat pirates encountered one of the Grand Line’s more freakish weather aspects just when they needed it most. Three weeks sailing near the border of the Calm Belt meant they hadn’t been troubled by marines or other pirates. It also meant they hadn’t really had a chance to restock their much abused and often empty pantry. The Calm Belt was the haunt of the truly magnificent Sea Kings. Fish and any other aquatic life were either smart enough to stay away or they were already digesting in the belly of one of the massive beasts. As such, and with a captain as ravenous and demanding of the flesh of other creatures as notorious Straw Hat Luffy, the boys assigned the task of fishing day after day to try and dent the growing hunger of the crew had had little luck.
Sanji was exempt from this task as he struggled almost hourly to arrange a menu that would not only provide the necessary nutrition for his crewmates but would also please the palates of his precious ladies. The ladies, too, were exempt. Nami had her hands full with navigating in an area as tricky as this border portion of the Grand Line. As for Robin…while the archaeologist would seem like an ideal fisherperson, what with her ability to sit quietly for hours at a time and to be very, as it were, handy, when it came to actually retrieving a catch, the boys found her presence at the rail to be somewhat discomforting. Besides, Sanji had conniptions whenever he thought his two beauties were working at a task readily taken by one of the boys. With growling bellies a reality, no one, not even Zoro after the second week, was of a mind to offend the person who had control of their slim remaining food resources.
So it was that the captain, the swordsman, the sharpshooter, and the doctor were all sitting in a row along the stern’s railing. Fishing rods dangled from their hands, some more active than others because Luffy had gotten it into his head that constantly jerking his line made his hook look more like a worm and so more attractive to any possible prey. They were quiet, Zoro actually snoring from time to time as he dozed. Usopp had been telling stories but as the days wore on and the heat bore down and they tightened their belts, even his supposedly limitless well of inspiration had begun to run dry. All was as well as it could be, given the circumstances, until Chopper had suddenly cried out and nearly toppled into the sea in surprise.
In quick succession he was snagged by a rubber limb and Usopp managed to grab Luffy’s shirt when the captain started to follow the reindeer in the direction of the water. Chopper, in his shock and fright, had forgotten to shrink to his usual form. His rather heavy weight had caught the captain off guard. And Usopp, for all that there was a certain amount of wiry strength to him, simply didn’t have the ability to lift both Luffy and a man-form doctor. Thankfully his sudden shrieking was enough to wake Zoro and the swordsman took care of the almost-problem with only one hand – his other, it should be noted, was engaged in covering his mouth as he yawned most broadly. When the three youngest crewmembers were safely deposited on the deck in a heap, the green-haired young man eyed them with some irritation. Being hungry and without booze or any real chance of working out his aggressions (damn that Love Cook anyway, but Zoro wouldn’t risk the further hollowing of his stomach, not even for a really good bout at this point), he had taken to sleeping even more than usual so as to forget about his problems. Being awakened with a new one was not something he felt like taking sitting down.
Chopper, once he had recovered from his fright and gotten his wind back from the blows of both Luffy and Usopp landing on his chest, lurched to his feet and stared back along the unmarked stretch of ocean. There wasn’t much to see, no islands or rocks or even a Sea King to break the monotony of waves and cloudless blue sky. Except, as the reindeer pointed excitedly and the other boys crowded around him to follow his pointing furry hand, there was something. A speck of black at the very edge of the horizon. It was a storm cloud, of this Zoro had no doubt, and he grumpily stood and handed his fishing pole over to Usopp with a wordless grunt. His stomping feet presaged his passage down the stairs to the main deck where Nami and Robin sat, the navigator worrying over some map or other and the other woman reading as serenely as she always was.
“What do you want?” Nami had snapped, her own somewhat waspish manner towards the swordsman having devolved to the point where pleasantries between them were nonexistent.
Zoro, having shockingly learned that telling off the navigator meant his dinner shrank regardless of who was at fault, managed not to call her a witch. Instead he pointed back towards his fishing companions. “Storm’s coming.” Once the words were free of his mouth, he turned back around and clomped back up the stairs, taking care to give the irritating woman a sharp elbow when she crowded past him on the steps.
Nami gripped the rail and stared at the swiftly approaching spot of darkness. While a storm would bring them fresh water, it could also send them helplessly off course. The last thing the ship needed was to be blown into the actual Calm Belt. Frowning in concentration, the navigator sucked on the tip of one finger before raising it up to test the wind. Behind her back, the three stooges promptly copied the gesture while Zoro merely shook his head and offered his own particular finger to Nami’s back. The wind was coming straight at them, but the force of it barely ruffled Chopper’s fur. Still, the storm clouds were closing fast and the navigator wasn’t sure what to make of it. Finally, knowing that this was exactly what the crew depended on her for, she turned. Smacking her imitators on the head, excluding Chopper because he was too cute, and muttering about adding another point or two of interest to the swordsman’s debt, she took a deep breath.
“Alright boys, get to work. This one’s closing fast and there’s something strange about it. Take down the sails for the time being and get the barrels ready. I’ll go tell Sanji-kun to come help.”
They scrambled to obey because Nami’s word was law when it came to the weather; even Zoro moved to begin working on the rigging with faster footsteps than earlier. Soon enough the sails were secured and the barrels were put out. The seven of them then stood at the stern and watched, waiting. The leading edge of the storm was now faintly visible as a line of silvery drops that churned a relatively calm sea into froth. Speculations abounded about whether it was actually rain or perhaps hail or some other form of precipitation, given how roughly it was falling into the waves. The truth though, as it so often was on the Grand Line, was far stranger than they had imagined.
Once again it was Chopper’s keen animal eyesight, this time swiftly backed by Usopp’s goggles, which spotted the reality. It wasn’t liquid or even a solidified form of liquid that was falling from the sky. Rather, the silver that they’d all seen was the flash of scales. In true Grand Line fashion, it was raining fish. Or more specifically, it was raining herring. Gaping mouths formed the first reaction to this bizarre phenomenon, followed quickly by an ominous rumbling noise that turned out not to have been thunder but rather Luffy’s stomach. As the clouds and fish drew nearer, red flashes of lightning became visible in the dark and quickly moving clouds. Nami, with eyes that promised death, turned to her nakama.
“If any of you, especially you,” she vowed as she glared at Usopp who shut his mouth promptly with an audible click of teeth, “make ANY bad puns or jokes about herring, red or otherwise, I will personally see to it that you learn exactly what kind of a red herring my left fist can be when I slug you with my right.”
Nami, it should be mentioned, had been on edge. Sailing along this tricky border region was hard under even the best of circumstances and the Straw Hat crew’s lack of supplies and good information about the area was hardly that. Their survival was largely dependent on her skills as a navigator and she didn’t want to let them down, if only because Zoro would never repay his immense debt if he were dead. She should be forgiven then for interrupting a once in a lifetime opportunity for poorly skilled wordplay. After all, time was of the essence. They needed those herring.
However, the ship wasn’t precisely built to withstand a bombardment of fish, and herring were known to reach over a foot and a half in length. And those were just East Blue herring. Nami had no idea if Grand Line herring were bigger or if these were a special kind of cloud herring or just what was coming. She barked orders that were quickly obeyed as the cloud grew ever closer. Her precious mikans were covered as best could be managed on short notice with a wooden scaffolding and bit of cloth stretched across. All other breakable materials were banished below deck or into the galley. Then, with the raining herring within distance of Luffy’s grasp, proven when one rubber limb shot out and came rocketing back with a squirming fish, the Straw Hats all dashed down the stairs into the galley.
Luffy immediately besieged Sanji with his herring and the chef, glad to have something to work with that wasn’t a mikan or a piece of hardtack or a potato, went to work with only a few grudging remarks. With captain and cook occupied at the stove, the remainder of the crew clustered around the few porthole windows to watch the collection of barrels. Loud and meaty thumps signified the arrival of the bizarre storm as herring thudded onto the stern deck. For a few unbelievable minutes, herring fell from the sky. Most hit the deck and managed to wiggle their way overboard, but plenty more fell into the barrels. It wasn’t water, but at this point food was still more needed anyway.
Usopp, once his initial wonder faded, promptly began telling a fascinated Chopper and a bemused Robin the story of how he once survived a storm of nothing less than purple-plumed emus. Those, he recounted, not only came down desperately and uselessly flapping their stubby wings, but also kicked and pecked at anyone who tried to catch them. Of course Usopp had managed to not only catch three, but tamed them and taught them to pull a cart. Luffy, still not moved from his spot at Sanji’s side as he watched his prize sizzling in a frying pan, wanted to know what emus tasted like and Usopp had replied that they tasted like chicken. Nami had given a rather indelicate snort in response to that and shoved her erstwhile fishermen outside, even a loudly protesting Luffy.
The storm clouds, with their bounty of herring were rapidly moving forward and out of sight. It had left behind a bounty on the decks of the ship, though, and Nami, not knowing exactly when they’d have the chance to further increase their stores, was anxious not to lose a single fish. There was a brief mad scramble as the boys ran about the slick deck after the flopping herring that had had the misfortune not to make it over the side. These were added to their unlucky brethren in the barrels and soon the whole vessel smelled strongly of fish. Sanji was making menus out loud and Usopp was soon involved in planning his newest invention, a herring smoker to end all herring smokers or something like that. Chopper and Luffy, the captain with the bones from the fish Sanji had already cooked hanging from the corner of his mouth, were eagerly listening. Zoro had gone to resume his nap but Nami followed and kicked him awake with orders to restore the sails. This time, knowing their larder was full, albeit full of nothing but herring, the swordsman obeyed with his usual amount of protest and promptly got into a fight with the cook. Robin, who had watched what had seemed to be mounting tension and dissension before the freakish storm with her typical silent aplomb, took it all in - from the broadly gesticulating sharpshooter to the sneaking fingers of the captain as he tried to get another fish out from under the navigator’s watchful eyes to the reindeer’s growing realization that a shipful of herring was unpleasant for human noses and downright repugnant to his own to the ongoing squabble between the cook and the swordsman - and laughed to herself.
She never did share the joke. After all not even she, a woman who could use as many fists as she felt like bringing into temporary existence, wanted to face the terror of Nami’s right hook.
Rating: G
Pairing: None, because I do occasionally get the urge to write gen-fic. Weird, I know.
Word Count: 2266
Call it providence, fate, good fortune, luck, or mere happenstance; whatever the name, the Straw Hat pirates encountered one of the Grand Line’s more freakish weather aspects just when they needed it most. Three weeks sailing near the border of the Calm Belt meant they hadn’t been troubled by marines or other pirates. It also meant they hadn’t really had a chance to restock their much abused and often empty pantry. The Calm Belt was the haunt of the truly magnificent Sea Kings. Fish and any other aquatic life were either smart enough to stay away or they were already digesting in the belly of one of the massive beasts. As such, and with a captain as ravenous and demanding of the flesh of other creatures as notorious Straw Hat Luffy, the boys assigned the task of fishing day after day to try and dent the growing hunger of the crew had had little luck.
Sanji was exempt from this task as he struggled almost hourly to arrange a menu that would not only provide the necessary nutrition for his crewmates but would also please the palates of his precious ladies. The ladies, too, were exempt. Nami had her hands full with navigating in an area as tricky as this border portion of the Grand Line. As for Robin…while the archaeologist would seem like an ideal fisherperson, what with her ability to sit quietly for hours at a time and to be very, as it were, handy, when it came to actually retrieving a catch, the boys found her presence at the rail to be somewhat discomforting. Besides, Sanji had conniptions whenever he thought his two beauties were working at a task readily taken by one of the boys. With growling bellies a reality, no one, not even Zoro after the second week, was of a mind to offend the person who had control of their slim remaining food resources.
So it was that the captain, the swordsman, the sharpshooter, and the doctor were all sitting in a row along the stern’s railing. Fishing rods dangled from their hands, some more active than others because Luffy had gotten it into his head that constantly jerking his line made his hook look more like a worm and so more attractive to any possible prey. They were quiet, Zoro actually snoring from time to time as he dozed. Usopp had been telling stories but as the days wore on and the heat bore down and they tightened their belts, even his supposedly limitless well of inspiration had begun to run dry. All was as well as it could be, given the circumstances, until Chopper had suddenly cried out and nearly toppled into the sea in surprise.
In quick succession he was snagged by a rubber limb and Usopp managed to grab Luffy’s shirt when the captain started to follow the reindeer in the direction of the water. Chopper, in his shock and fright, had forgotten to shrink to his usual form. His rather heavy weight had caught the captain off guard. And Usopp, for all that there was a certain amount of wiry strength to him, simply didn’t have the ability to lift both Luffy and a man-form doctor. Thankfully his sudden shrieking was enough to wake Zoro and the swordsman took care of the almost-problem with only one hand – his other, it should be noted, was engaged in covering his mouth as he yawned most broadly. When the three youngest crewmembers were safely deposited on the deck in a heap, the green-haired young man eyed them with some irritation. Being hungry and without booze or any real chance of working out his aggressions (damn that Love Cook anyway, but Zoro wouldn’t risk the further hollowing of his stomach, not even for a really good bout at this point), he had taken to sleeping even more than usual so as to forget about his problems. Being awakened with a new one was not something he felt like taking sitting down.
Chopper, once he had recovered from his fright and gotten his wind back from the blows of both Luffy and Usopp landing on his chest, lurched to his feet and stared back along the unmarked stretch of ocean. There wasn’t much to see, no islands or rocks or even a Sea King to break the monotony of waves and cloudless blue sky. Except, as the reindeer pointed excitedly and the other boys crowded around him to follow his pointing furry hand, there was something. A speck of black at the very edge of the horizon. It was a storm cloud, of this Zoro had no doubt, and he grumpily stood and handed his fishing pole over to Usopp with a wordless grunt. His stomping feet presaged his passage down the stairs to the main deck where Nami and Robin sat, the navigator worrying over some map or other and the other woman reading as serenely as she always was.
“What do you want?” Nami had snapped, her own somewhat waspish manner towards the swordsman having devolved to the point where pleasantries between them were nonexistent.
Zoro, having shockingly learned that telling off the navigator meant his dinner shrank regardless of who was at fault, managed not to call her a witch. Instead he pointed back towards his fishing companions. “Storm’s coming.” Once the words were free of his mouth, he turned back around and clomped back up the stairs, taking care to give the irritating woman a sharp elbow when she crowded past him on the steps.
Nami gripped the rail and stared at the swiftly approaching spot of darkness. While a storm would bring them fresh water, it could also send them helplessly off course. The last thing the ship needed was to be blown into the actual Calm Belt. Frowning in concentration, the navigator sucked on the tip of one finger before raising it up to test the wind. Behind her back, the three stooges promptly copied the gesture while Zoro merely shook his head and offered his own particular finger to Nami’s back. The wind was coming straight at them, but the force of it barely ruffled Chopper’s fur. Still, the storm clouds were closing fast and the navigator wasn’t sure what to make of it. Finally, knowing that this was exactly what the crew depended on her for, she turned. Smacking her imitators on the head, excluding Chopper because he was too cute, and muttering about adding another point or two of interest to the swordsman’s debt, she took a deep breath.
“Alright boys, get to work. This one’s closing fast and there’s something strange about it. Take down the sails for the time being and get the barrels ready. I’ll go tell Sanji-kun to come help.”
They scrambled to obey because Nami’s word was law when it came to the weather; even Zoro moved to begin working on the rigging with faster footsteps than earlier. Soon enough the sails were secured and the barrels were put out. The seven of them then stood at the stern and watched, waiting. The leading edge of the storm was now faintly visible as a line of silvery drops that churned a relatively calm sea into froth. Speculations abounded about whether it was actually rain or perhaps hail or some other form of precipitation, given how roughly it was falling into the waves. The truth though, as it so often was on the Grand Line, was far stranger than they had imagined.
Once again it was Chopper’s keen animal eyesight, this time swiftly backed by Usopp’s goggles, which spotted the reality. It wasn’t liquid or even a solidified form of liquid that was falling from the sky. Rather, the silver that they’d all seen was the flash of scales. In true Grand Line fashion, it was raining fish. Or more specifically, it was raining herring. Gaping mouths formed the first reaction to this bizarre phenomenon, followed quickly by an ominous rumbling noise that turned out not to have been thunder but rather Luffy’s stomach. As the clouds and fish drew nearer, red flashes of lightning became visible in the dark and quickly moving clouds. Nami, with eyes that promised death, turned to her nakama.
“If any of you, especially you,” she vowed as she glared at Usopp who shut his mouth promptly with an audible click of teeth, “make ANY bad puns or jokes about herring, red or otherwise, I will personally see to it that you learn exactly what kind of a red herring my left fist can be when I slug you with my right.”
Nami, it should be mentioned, had been on edge. Sailing along this tricky border region was hard under even the best of circumstances and the Straw Hat crew’s lack of supplies and good information about the area was hardly that. Their survival was largely dependent on her skills as a navigator and she didn’t want to let them down, if only because Zoro would never repay his immense debt if he were dead. She should be forgiven then for interrupting a once in a lifetime opportunity for poorly skilled wordplay. After all, time was of the essence. They needed those herring.
However, the ship wasn’t precisely built to withstand a bombardment of fish, and herring were known to reach over a foot and a half in length. And those were just East Blue herring. Nami had no idea if Grand Line herring were bigger or if these were a special kind of cloud herring or just what was coming. She barked orders that were quickly obeyed as the cloud grew ever closer. Her precious mikans were covered as best could be managed on short notice with a wooden scaffolding and bit of cloth stretched across. All other breakable materials were banished below deck or into the galley. Then, with the raining herring within distance of Luffy’s grasp, proven when one rubber limb shot out and came rocketing back with a squirming fish, the Straw Hats all dashed down the stairs into the galley.
Luffy immediately besieged Sanji with his herring and the chef, glad to have something to work with that wasn’t a mikan or a piece of hardtack or a potato, went to work with only a few grudging remarks. With captain and cook occupied at the stove, the remainder of the crew clustered around the few porthole windows to watch the collection of barrels. Loud and meaty thumps signified the arrival of the bizarre storm as herring thudded onto the stern deck. For a few unbelievable minutes, herring fell from the sky. Most hit the deck and managed to wiggle their way overboard, but plenty more fell into the barrels. It wasn’t water, but at this point food was still more needed anyway.
Usopp, once his initial wonder faded, promptly began telling a fascinated Chopper and a bemused Robin the story of how he once survived a storm of nothing less than purple-plumed emus. Those, he recounted, not only came down desperately and uselessly flapping their stubby wings, but also kicked and pecked at anyone who tried to catch them. Of course Usopp had managed to not only catch three, but tamed them and taught them to pull a cart. Luffy, still not moved from his spot at Sanji’s side as he watched his prize sizzling in a frying pan, wanted to know what emus tasted like and Usopp had replied that they tasted like chicken. Nami had given a rather indelicate snort in response to that and shoved her erstwhile fishermen outside, even a loudly protesting Luffy.
The storm clouds, with their bounty of herring were rapidly moving forward and out of sight. It had left behind a bounty on the decks of the ship, though, and Nami, not knowing exactly when they’d have the chance to further increase their stores, was anxious not to lose a single fish. There was a brief mad scramble as the boys ran about the slick deck after the flopping herring that had had the misfortune not to make it over the side. These were added to their unlucky brethren in the barrels and soon the whole vessel smelled strongly of fish. Sanji was making menus out loud and Usopp was soon involved in planning his newest invention, a herring smoker to end all herring smokers or something like that. Chopper and Luffy, the captain with the bones from the fish Sanji had already cooked hanging from the corner of his mouth, were eagerly listening. Zoro had gone to resume his nap but Nami followed and kicked him awake with orders to restore the sails. This time, knowing their larder was full, albeit full of nothing but herring, the swordsman obeyed with his usual amount of protest and promptly got into a fight with the cook. Robin, who had watched what had seemed to be mounting tension and dissension before the freakish storm with her typical silent aplomb, took it all in - from the broadly gesticulating sharpshooter to the sneaking fingers of the captain as he tried to get another fish out from under the navigator’s watchful eyes to the reindeer’s growing realization that a shipful of herring was unpleasant for human noses and downright repugnant to his own to the ongoing squabble between the cook and the swordsman - and laughed to herself.
She never did share the joke. After all not even she, a woman who could use as many fists as she felt like bringing into temporary existence, wanted to face the terror of Nami’s right hook.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-27 03:36 pm (UTC)...emus...*snort*
Great way to start the week.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-28 05:18 am (UTC)