Seek To Find: Adventure (1/?) [One Piece]
Fandom: One Piece
Pairing(s): None
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of its characters. One Piece belongs to Oda Eiichiro-sensei. This is a non-profit fanfiction written by a fan, for the enjoyment of other fans.
You'll find behind the cut a random AU One Piece fic that I typed up in the middle of the night (? early morning?) this morning. It was inspired by various sources - an attempt at art, a dream during my evening nap and one of xparrot's fics that I was reading on coil's recommendation. (Elaboration on more details at the end to avoid revealing exact details. =D)
Unedited and a temporary title.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was a dark and stormy night.
"I don't want to be in this story already!!"
"Come on Usopp, let's go! I can smell the adventure in the air! Right ahead!"
"Wait, wa-- Nooooooooo~"
Thunder rolled across the heavens - an outraged giant thumping on the table for his food.
Rain fell wildly on the earth - kamikaze pilots diving with the glee of knowledge of their contribution to victory.
Lightning lit up the skies - a crack of a whip forcing open the eyes of a semi-conscious man.
The old castle bravely withstood the elements - nature in all its destructive splendour, standing by its lonely self on the cliff overlooking the roaring sea with waves that surged high into the air and threw themselves into the cliff wall.
Inside the castle, the noise of the rain was muffled by thick stone walls. It was almost quiet, peaceful, even. Hardly a sign of the violence that raged outside, but for the trickles of water that must have entered from some small holes somewhere and the ocassional flashes of light that caused the long windows to draw even longer silhouettes.
Peaceful.
Yes.
Deserted?
It almost seemed so. But then there were those lights.
One was the flickering candlelight which could be seen in the dining room, casting a weak glow upon food-laden silverware that filled the whole of the enormous table, in the middle of which stood the three white candles. The table was long, as was the dining room. The candlelight didn't reach the walls; it barely reached the ends of the table. One might have missed the figure sitting at one end entirely if not for the dim red glow of the end of a cigarette. If one looked harder, one might even notice the thin stream of smoke that ocassionally trailed upwards from the figure's lips. He was the preparor of the wonderful dishes on the table - dishes that he would never be able to eat.
There was a second light, not much stronger, and hardly enough, by the preferences of its bearer. The flame that burned the wick, fueled by oil illuminated the area around them well, but if the bearer had its way, it would be so bright that they wouldn't need the lantern in the first place. Actually, if the bearer totally had his way, they wouldn't even be here.
The second light had been moving shakily through the castle. But that was then. Now its motion had halted, as its bearer stood stockstill, tanned skin turning ashen as he stared with widened eyes at the profile of the creature in the chair hardly ten metres away from himself. Light blond hair fell over a ghastly pale face, shading the top half of the face from view. His companion, however, paid the original occupant of the room no heed, eyes widening for a different reason altogether.
"FOOD!" was his joyful cry as he rushed forward to the huge dining table, practically sparkling.
His hand was already on the whole roasted chicken when he paused momentarily, twisting his head to the figure sitting at the end of the table.
The figure removed the cigarette from his mouth.
"You can have it if you want."
"YAAYY!" The boy at the table so expressed his gratitude, and proceeded to lift the chicken off the plate and to his mouth.
The bearer of the lantern began to take steps backwards.
Was that what he thought it was?
He thought he had glimpsed something when the creature spoke.
"Luffy, let's go..." The words came out in a squeaked whisper that could hardly be heard even by the speaker himself.
"MMMMM~ It's really good!!" The boy who the bearer called Luffy exclaimed after he had made quick work of the chicken and before the lobster managed to reach his mouth.
"You think so?!" The figure stood up suddenly, the feet of the chair rubbing across the floor. Any sign of tiredness that was present before was completely gone. A wide grin split his face as he enthusiastically offered, "Have more!"
"Luffy, let's go!" The bearer of the lantern finally managed to find his voice. With the creature's grin, he had confirmed what he had thought he caught with the earlier glimpse.
"Why?" Luffy asked in bewilderment. Swallowing his mouthful of meat in one strong swallow, he said, offering a drumstick to his friend, "Try this, Usopp, it's wonderful!"
Usopp shook his head hard, his knees knocked together even harder. "LUFFY, THAT IS A VAMPIRE!!"
Fangs. He had seen FANGS! Normal human didn't have fangs. No way. So that creature wasn't a normal human. Normal humans didn't live in old castles that were rumoured to be haunted and absolutely prohibited from entry due to the "dangers" within either. So he couldn't have been normal. He couldn't have been human. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!
Luffy stared at Usopp, then turned his head to stare at the figure across the table for a few moments before turning back to stare at Usopp.
He finally spoke.
"So?"
Tears flowed from Usopp's eyes like water hoses left open. "A vampire, Luffy! Vampires drink blood! They kill humans! He's going to kill us, probably making our blood richer or more nutritious before devouring us. We have to leave! NOW!"
"He doesn't seem like he's going to kill us," Luffy responded. His head tilted to the side thoughtfully for a moment, then he turned to look at the vampire.
"I don't intend to kill you," the vampire said, shrugging lightly as he reached into his pocket for another cigarette and lit it by the flame of a candle.
"See?" Luffy told Usopp happily.
"How can you believe him? He's lying! He's a liar!"
"You're the liar." Luffy gave a delighted laugh, apparently over being puzzled and now deciding that it was funny.
Usopp cried more.
"Here, have one," Luffy extended the drumstick to Usopp once more.
Usopp stared at the drumstick through tears-blurred vision, then looked up at the vampire. The vampire had turned around and moved away, and was now standing by the window, back facing the dining table and the boys.
Usopp took the drumstick, giving it a suspicious sniff. The tantalising aroma of roasted meat and unknown sauces entered his nostrils. He gave a tentative nibble, blinked in surprise, then proceeded to yank a whole chunk of meat with his teeth.
"Thwish is 'ood!" Usopp declared as he chewed.
Luffy, who had not stopped eating except for a millisecond to watch Usopp's reaction, beamed.
The vampire, who had been watching the boys out of the corner of his eye, turned his gaze upon the majestic storm outside, releasing a stream of smoke through his lips curved slightly in a smile.
"Waaaa~ I'm so full!" Luffy announced when the table was finally empty of food. It was the best midnight snack he has had! His brother was going to be so angry with himself for falling asleep while discussing with Usopp about the route to take to the cliff top, and missing out on such glorious food. He turned to look at the back of the vampire who was still staring out of the window. "Thank you for the food!"
The vampire turned and flashed Luffy a slight smile.
"Are you really not going to kill us?" Usopp cautiously asked the question he had completely forgotten about during the meal.
"I don't kill humans," the vampire said. Try not to.
"But you live on blood! We've heard of corspes of villagers found completely drained of their bloods, especially on nights like this, so it must have been you!" Usopp protested, then mentally smacked himself for the lack of self-restraint and started to tremble again. What if that had just angered the vampire into deciding that they would be his next meal when he originally hadn't planned to?
"I drink from humans who are already dead."
"You do?" Usopp asked in surprise. It was true that the casualty rate of those caught out at sea during storms was horribly high, and come to think of it, most of the corspes drained of blood were found on the shoreline, which was the reason why the beach was another location among the top of the villagers' Haunted Places To Avoid list.
"Can we come to eat here again? Your cooking skills are really awesome!" Luffy cut in, getting tired of watching the conversation.
The vampire looked extremely pleased. "You're welcomed to come anytime."
"Awesome!!"
"I don't think so."
Eyes turned towards the second entrance to the dining room by the other end of the table.
Luffy blinked.
Usopp gaped.
The vampire met the eyes of the newcomer steadily.
Perhaps now is a good time to continue the discussion of our observations regarding the lights in the castle.
There was a third light, which couldn't exactly be called a light. It was more of a reflection of light that caused the light. The glint of shine from lightning flashes across metal. Alternatively, if one could consider the whites of eyes, stark in the darkness, as a light, so visible as they were in the dark, that could be counted as the third light as well.
While the owner of those eyes was no longer in the dark, the eyes still remained in the shadow of the bandana tied above them, and the whites of the eyes were still clearly visible, like a light piercing through the darkness.
The pupils of the eyes shifted for a brief moment to the two boys at the dining table before returning to the vampire.
"You sure are getting a lot of visitors today, vampire." The eyes narrowed.
"These two boys are my guests. They're welcomed. You, bastard, are not." The vampire's visible eye took on a sharp look as he punctuated his sentence with a stream of smoke. Suddenly, the slowly-rising trail of smoke made him look deadly rather than laidback as it previously had.
"Che. Like vampires have human guests. Whatever you say." The newcomer's hands moved to the hilts of the three blades hanging on his waist.
"That's--" Usopp breathed out in a whisper as he suddenly recognised the newcomer.
"You wouldn't be existing to see the next sunrise anyway."
"...demon hunter, Roronoa Zoro!"
"Who's that?"
"We'll see about that."
Date written: 13 November 2005, early morning
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Post-fic ramble:
Back to the topic of inspiration. The beginning is probably an attempt at drawing SuaveVampire!Sanji after drawing a vampire!Sanji in my celebratory doodle for Halloween. I couldn't quite succeed with the "suave" bit and mostly forgot about it. And then, during my evening nap yesterday, I dreamt of One Piece, in which there was Vampire!Sanji, black suit and flowing cloak (black on the side facing out, a deep red on the side facing in) dancing with Nami who was in an elegant white dress. That made me start considering attempting the art again. And I was thinking of various random things while considering the art, then some words the fic of xparrot's that I had just read flashed past my mind. If you can't guess already, the fic was He Comes For Us All, and the words were "demon hunter". And I thought, hmm... I would write a fic with Zoro the hunter and Sanji the hunted, a vampire who's after the attentions of the lovely village maiden, Nami. And then... as it ocassionally happens and seems to be happening more often lately, my fic deviates from plan, starts typing itself out and became an adventure of Luffy and Usopp instead. ^^;
It seems like a first chapter, but it's meant to be a one-shot. Mainly because I doubt I can write a fight scene involving Zoro and Sanji well. For all that I exclaim they're "COOL!!", I seem to have the worst memory with the names of Zoro's moves and what they do, as Trio would know from the number of times I ask her about this move or that when playing the OP games. ^^;
Pairing(s): None
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of its characters. One Piece belongs to Oda Eiichiro-sensei. This is a non-profit fanfiction written by a fan, for the enjoyment of other fans.
You'll find behind the cut a random AU One Piece fic that I typed up in the middle of the night (? early morning?) this morning. It was inspired by various sources - an attempt at art, a dream during my evening nap and one of xparrot's fics that I was reading on coil's recommendation. (Elaboration on more details at the end to avoid revealing exact details. =D)
Unedited and a temporary title.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was a dark and stormy night.
"I don't want to be in this story already!!"
"Come on Usopp, let's go! I can smell the adventure in the air! Right ahead!"
"Wait, wa-- Nooooooooo~"
Thunder rolled across the heavens - an outraged giant thumping on the table for his food.
Rain fell wildly on the earth - kamikaze pilots diving with the glee of knowledge of their contribution to victory.
Lightning lit up the skies - a crack of a whip forcing open the eyes of a semi-conscious man.
The old castle bravely withstood the elements - nature in all its destructive splendour, standing by its lonely self on the cliff overlooking the roaring sea with waves that surged high into the air and threw themselves into the cliff wall.
Inside the castle, the noise of the rain was muffled by thick stone walls. It was almost quiet, peaceful, even. Hardly a sign of the violence that raged outside, but for the trickles of water that must have entered from some small holes somewhere and the ocassional flashes of light that caused the long windows to draw even longer silhouettes.
Peaceful.
Yes.
Deserted?
It almost seemed so. But then there were those lights.
One was the flickering candlelight which could be seen in the dining room, casting a weak glow upon food-laden silverware that filled the whole of the enormous table, in the middle of which stood the three white candles. The table was long, as was the dining room. The candlelight didn't reach the walls; it barely reached the ends of the table. One might have missed the figure sitting at one end entirely if not for the dim red glow of the end of a cigarette. If one looked harder, one might even notice the thin stream of smoke that ocassionally trailed upwards from the figure's lips. He was the preparor of the wonderful dishes on the table - dishes that he would never be able to eat.
There was a second light, not much stronger, and hardly enough, by the preferences of its bearer. The flame that burned the wick, fueled by oil illuminated the area around them well, but if the bearer had its way, it would be so bright that they wouldn't need the lantern in the first place. Actually, if the bearer totally had his way, they wouldn't even be here.
The second light had been moving shakily through the castle. But that was then. Now its motion had halted, as its bearer stood stockstill, tanned skin turning ashen as he stared with widened eyes at the profile of the creature in the chair hardly ten metres away from himself. Light blond hair fell over a ghastly pale face, shading the top half of the face from view. His companion, however, paid the original occupant of the room no heed, eyes widening for a different reason altogether.
"FOOD!" was his joyful cry as he rushed forward to the huge dining table, practically sparkling.
His hand was already on the whole roasted chicken when he paused momentarily, twisting his head to the figure sitting at the end of the table.
The figure removed the cigarette from his mouth.
"You can have it if you want."
"YAAYY!" The boy at the table so expressed his gratitude, and proceeded to lift the chicken off the plate and to his mouth.
The bearer of the lantern began to take steps backwards.
Was that what he thought it was?
He thought he had glimpsed something when the creature spoke.
"Luffy, let's go..." The words came out in a squeaked whisper that could hardly be heard even by the speaker himself.
"MMMMM~ It's really good!!" The boy who the bearer called Luffy exclaimed after he had made quick work of the chicken and before the lobster managed to reach his mouth.
"You think so?!" The figure stood up suddenly, the feet of the chair rubbing across the floor. Any sign of tiredness that was present before was completely gone. A wide grin split his face as he enthusiastically offered, "Have more!"
"Luffy, let's go!" The bearer of the lantern finally managed to find his voice. With the creature's grin, he had confirmed what he had thought he caught with the earlier glimpse.
"Why?" Luffy asked in bewilderment. Swallowing his mouthful of meat in one strong swallow, he said, offering a drumstick to his friend, "Try this, Usopp, it's wonderful!"
Usopp shook his head hard, his knees knocked together even harder. "LUFFY, THAT IS A VAMPIRE!!"
Fangs. He had seen FANGS! Normal human didn't have fangs. No way. So that creature wasn't a normal human. Normal humans didn't live in old castles that were rumoured to be haunted and absolutely prohibited from entry due to the "dangers" within either. So he couldn't have been normal. He couldn't have been human. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!
Luffy stared at Usopp, then turned his head to stare at the figure across the table for a few moments before turning back to stare at Usopp.
He finally spoke.
"So?"
Tears flowed from Usopp's eyes like water hoses left open. "A vampire, Luffy! Vampires drink blood! They kill humans! He's going to kill us, probably making our blood richer or more nutritious before devouring us. We have to leave! NOW!"
"He doesn't seem like he's going to kill us," Luffy responded. His head tilted to the side thoughtfully for a moment, then he turned to look at the vampire.
"I don't intend to kill you," the vampire said, shrugging lightly as he reached into his pocket for another cigarette and lit it by the flame of a candle.
"See?" Luffy told Usopp happily.
"How can you believe him? He's lying! He's a liar!"
"You're the liar." Luffy gave a delighted laugh, apparently over being puzzled and now deciding that it was funny.
Usopp cried more.
"Here, have one," Luffy extended the drumstick to Usopp once more.
Usopp stared at the drumstick through tears-blurred vision, then looked up at the vampire. The vampire had turned around and moved away, and was now standing by the window, back facing the dining table and the boys.
Usopp took the drumstick, giving it a suspicious sniff. The tantalising aroma of roasted meat and unknown sauces entered his nostrils. He gave a tentative nibble, blinked in surprise, then proceeded to yank a whole chunk of meat with his teeth.
"Thwish is 'ood!" Usopp declared as he chewed.
Luffy, who had not stopped eating except for a millisecond to watch Usopp's reaction, beamed.
The vampire, who had been watching the boys out of the corner of his eye, turned his gaze upon the majestic storm outside, releasing a stream of smoke through his lips curved slightly in a smile.
"Waaaa~ I'm so full!" Luffy announced when the table was finally empty of food. It was the best midnight snack he has had! His brother was going to be so angry with himself for falling asleep while discussing with Usopp about the route to take to the cliff top, and missing out on such glorious food. He turned to look at the back of the vampire who was still staring out of the window. "Thank you for the food!"
The vampire turned and flashed Luffy a slight smile.
"Are you really not going to kill us?" Usopp cautiously asked the question he had completely forgotten about during the meal.
"I don't kill humans," the vampire said. Try not to.
"But you live on blood! We've heard of corspes of villagers found completely drained of their bloods, especially on nights like this, so it must have been you!" Usopp protested, then mentally smacked himself for the lack of self-restraint and started to tremble again. What if that had just angered the vampire into deciding that they would be his next meal when he originally hadn't planned to?
"I drink from humans who are already dead."
"You do?" Usopp asked in surprise. It was true that the casualty rate of those caught out at sea during storms was horribly high, and come to think of it, most of the corspes drained of blood were found on the shoreline, which was the reason why the beach was another location among the top of the villagers' Haunted Places To Avoid list.
"Can we come to eat here again? Your cooking skills are really awesome!" Luffy cut in, getting tired of watching the conversation.
The vampire looked extremely pleased. "You're welcomed to come anytime."
"Awesome!!"
"I don't think so."
Eyes turned towards the second entrance to the dining room by the other end of the table.
Luffy blinked.
Usopp gaped.
The vampire met the eyes of the newcomer steadily.
Perhaps now is a good time to continue the discussion of our observations regarding the lights in the castle.
There was a third light, which couldn't exactly be called a light. It was more of a reflection of light that caused the light. The glint of shine from lightning flashes across metal. Alternatively, if one could consider the whites of eyes, stark in the darkness, as a light, so visible as they were in the dark, that could be counted as the third light as well.
While the owner of those eyes was no longer in the dark, the eyes still remained in the shadow of the bandana tied above them, and the whites of the eyes were still clearly visible, like a light piercing through the darkness.
The pupils of the eyes shifted for a brief moment to the two boys at the dining table before returning to the vampire.
"You sure are getting a lot of visitors today, vampire." The eyes narrowed.
"These two boys are my guests. They're welcomed. You, bastard, are not." The vampire's visible eye took on a sharp look as he punctuated his sentence with a stream of smoke. Suddenly, the slowly-rising trail of smoke made him look deadly rather than laidback as it previously had.
"Che. Like vampires have human guests. Whatever you say." The newcomer's hands moved to the hilts of the three blades hanging on his waist.
"That's--" Usopp breathed out in a whisper as he suddenly recognised the newcomer.
"You wouldn't be existing to see the next sunrise anyway."
"...demon hunter, Roronoa Zoro!"
"Who's that?"
"We'll see about that."
Date written: 13 November 2005, early morning
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Post-fic ramble:
Back to the topic of inspiration. The beginning is probably an attempt at drawing SuaveVampire!Sanji after drawing a vampire!Sanji in my celebratory doodle for Halloween. I couldn't quite succeed with the "suave" bit and mostly forgot about it. And then, during my evening nap yesterday, I dreamt of One Piece, in which there was Vampire!Sanji, black suit and flowing cloak (black on the side facing out, a deep red on the side facing in) dancing with Nami who was in an elegant white dress. That made me start considering attempting the art again. And I was thinking of various random things while considering the art, then some words the fic of xparrot's that I had just read flashed past my mind. If you can't guess already, the fic was He Comes For Us All, and the words were "demon hunter". And I thought, hmm... I would write a fic with Zoro the hunter and Sanji the hunted, a vampire who's after the attentions of the lovely village maiden, Nami. And then... as it ocassionally happens and seems to be happening more often lately, my fic deviates from plan, starts typing itself out and became an adventure of Luffy and Usopp instead. ^^;
It seems like a first chapter, but it's meant to be a one-shot. Mainly because I doubt I can write a fight scene involving Zoro and Sanji well. For all that I exclaim they're "COOL!!", I seem to have the worst memory with the names of Zoro's moves and what they do, as Trio would know from the number of times I ask her about this move or that when playing the OP games. ^^;