Sekai, the Word for World
Abby Ebon
Note: For Kots, a One Piece and Star Trek crossover. Bones, Kirk, Luffy, and Chopper meet.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O
"So, what do you expect we'll find here, Bones?" Captain James T. Kirk looked about the world of World, well Sekai, but the word from Japanese tongue amounted to the same meaning. It was a world covered mostly by water; the land ringed north and south with islands scattered throughout, along the equator ran the undertow that parted the seas east and west.
Its moon was a sort of sickly yellow green, older than the Earth's moon, its city there abandoned. There had been signs though that had Bones begging to go down dirt side to the planet World, signs of experiments on people, that resulted in wings, fish aspects, and gigantism as well as some kind of source fruit to deliver enhancements to adults.
Bones alone knew what he was looking for, but despite the odd sea patterns and land masses there seemed not to be any danger on World. Jim wasn't about to trust the life of his only real friend on the Enterprise to any old world, never mind one so oddly named. So he'd okayed the transponder trip – Bones and Jim on a promising island.
"Damn it, Jim, didn't you read the report that Spock gave you just before you signed us up for this?" Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise looked scathingly to the heavens, where beyond the blue sky scattered with clouds was the ship they called home.
"Well, no, that's what I have you for." Jim gave Bones his best and warmest smile. Bones narrowed his eyes dangerously, imaging using the good old fashioned needles on his Captain's sensitive skin instead of hypospray. Jim's eyes widened with playful innocence.
"What am I, Jim? A doctor, that's what, and I requested permission to study what's down here in my report – which you signed off on but didn't read why? - This, Jim, is a first world, a seeded world, perhaps the first world, hence it's name Sekai, all the world's seeded that way are named a lot like Earth, something sensible and dull like dirt, plainly agreeable with most people." Jim's lips quirked at his doctor's mutterings, and he shrugged secretly enjoying the sea air and sunshine and company.
"When was it…seeded?" Jim asked, because it was likely expected from Bones that Jim hadn't bothered with that much – but he had – this world had been seeded about, give or take – five thousand years or so ago. They'd been called that because most of those worlds had planted trees from Earth, and had Earth originating animals with them on their world. People on Earth had at first not believed that so long ago people could seed worlds but it had happened of that there was no disputing the facts. Someone had done it, human or not.
It was when Bones didn't answer that Jim looked back and found his doctor frowning toward the where the shore's sand met sea. He was staring, but when Jim looked he didn't see whatever Bones did. Bones took off at a fast jog, leaving Jim staring after him with a puzzled shake of his head.
"What, Bones…?" Jim followed at a walk, he'd get there when he did, and there was no sense in running after Bones in this heat – and it was a island, it wasn't like Bones was going to swim away.
Bones knelt in the distance, and though the sun was in Jim's eyes he finally saw a reason to worry the island wasn't as uninhabited as promised, two figures lay on the sand, he joined Bones at a quick trot.
"Shipwrecked?" Jim asked, but again Bones didn't answer him – not that Jim blamed him once he saw what Bones was looking at he stared too, one of the figures was small like a child, furred, with hooves with horns and a hat and clothed. It had a human rounded head, but had little ears. Its hat had something like a 'x' on it, Jim was reminded of old romantic history of the high seas and pirate treasure.
"What is it?" Jim asked, hushed and awed.
Its eyes opened, blinked, twitched, and it watched them watching it with slowly widening eyes. It caught sight of the other on the shore beside it – a black haired boy, scarred and wearing a red shirt and jean shorts and sandals instead of shoes, and a straw hat.
"Luffy!" It spoke, crying out as if it really was the child it looked like. It turned away it's body toward the boy, but kept a eye on them as it got unsteadily on it's hooves – feet – using only two in a walk that proved it was bipedal. Bones watched in awe.
"Did you hear that?" His voice was hushed, and eyes wide and Jim couldn't have gotten him to look away unless to save his life.
"Luffy, what's the matter with you, wake up Luffy! Wake up! We aren't alone here and these guys are dressed really weird! They are really creepy! They keep staring at me!" Despite the rough treatment the boy – Luffy, likely a name – remained unresponsive.
"It spoke- speaks! Doesn't it look like a deer?" Jim muttered, but the ears on the deer's head twitched and it's blue nose quivered and it knelt nearer to the prone boy and nudged at him with it's front hoof, first one – then both, and then it started to shake the other in earnest – and speak, Jim was for once glad of his communication officer Lieutenant Uhura's instance on her modified and improving UT's being standard on away missions of the Enterprise. Without them Jim wouldn't have heard old Japanese and understood what the child-like deer was saying.
"Thank god for Universal Translators, huh? Here goes nothing." Bones shook his head and seeing that the deer-child was shaking the other boy, who looked human enough, so much as to be jarring his head with shaking reached out with open hands toward the other, who shrieked.
What Bones and Jim saw next would have been murder if 'Luffy' had been anyone else, though it was awful and eerie enough to see. In a effort to get away the deer-child gripped Luffy's head and pulled it away from Bones – who was sure he was about to see someone's neck get broken or twisted off – instead the head went with the deer, it's neck stretching and stretching until the deer child couldn't pull it any further and gravity yanked it back to the body- and the deer child with it. He landed with a cry on the boy, who woke gasping and choking on water, which he spit out onto the sand near where Bones and Jim knelt staring at him with sickened amazement.
"Who are you?" Luffy asked of them, and feeling the deer child clinging to his chest, looked next there for answers when they didn't come quick enough.
"Tony Tony Chopper! Who are they?" Luffy patted the little deer to get his attention but with teary wide eyes he only shook his head helplessly.
"I don't know, Captain! Ask them! They were staring and staring all this time –since I woke up! – they are so strange!" Chopper shuddered and shivered but did not quite dare to look away from Jim or Bones, like a prey animal watching a hunter, he was wary, but loyal to not leave the boy he called Captain.
"Huh, hey, hello? I'm Captain Monkey D. Luffy of the Straw Hats, and I'm going to be King of the Pirates, so, who are you two?" Bones mouth opened and closed a few times, and Jim knew exactly how he felt, there wasn't any kind of answer that wouldn't lead to more questions – or questions that wouldn't lead to asking more than might be wise. So it was left to Jim to say something, anything that might make sense to these two – the Universal Translator he had would make sense of it, if there was any sense to be had on Sekai.
"Captain Jim Kirk, of the Enterprise – and this is my doctor, Bones. We were exploring." Luffy nodded at that, as if it made perfect sense to him – and maybe it did. Chopper's eyes narrowed suspiciously, and he sniffed unimpressed with Jim's introduction of them.
"He-he-he! Is that so? Chopper's our doctor too, two doctors, two captains. Must be fate! What are you guys exploring here? Is anything good to eat? Meat?" Luffy asked hopefully, at the request of meat Bones looked to Chopper who was in looks partly deer, but of obvious human-level intelligence.
Or above it from what might be passed as intelligence on this world. If Chopper was at all worried about his Captain's love for meat and appetite and his own deer origins, well, Bones wasn't going to tell Bambi there or Luffy what kind of meat had been his favorite hunting growing up.
"We haven't found any, no." It was true, as far as Jim knew.
"Aww. Come on, Chopper! Use your nose – find food!" Luffy had gotten up but thought nothing of reaching beyond where his arm should stretch and picking Chopper up and pointed toward the jungle growth of the island.
"Walk Point!" Before their eyes Chopper's small body blurred and grew and became even more deer like, with his blue nose and antlers Jim was reminded of a rhyme from Christmas. Of Rudolph the red nosed – reindeer! Chopper had to be that, somehow, a cross between the two.
Jim looked to Bones and mouthed one word, 'how', and Bones thought of all the scientific studies recorded on Sekai's moon city, the fruits, all they could do – the good, and the bad, like making a deal with the devil.
Instead of wasting time answering Jim, Bones opened up his communicator and spoke into it rather than his Captain. His words were a hasty order that Jim didn't bother to question or protest.
"Spock, get us off World, now." Bones would be damned if he was going to open Pandora's jar here and risk Jim eating anything that could kill him or turn him into something like Luffy or Chopper. Bones was no miracle worker, he knew his limits and the risks just weren't worth it.
"Yes, Doctor." Spock's calming monotone for once soothed and reassured Bones as the doctor was sure the Vulcan meant it to do to humans.
Bones hated transporters but he was for once glad to see Spock and with Uhura, Scotty and Pavel Chekov and Sulu standing by to greet them.
"How was it?" Sulu asked, looking at them one from the other.
Bones couldn't help but imagine them all at the end result of the devil's fruit. He shuddered and didn't answer as he went back to his Sickbay.
"That bad, huh?" Scotty looked to Pavel who nodded, and Bones knew that between the two the navigation to this system would likely get 'lost' from ship's records. There were some worlds that weren't ready for the Federation –and Sekai was the World that the Federation wasn't ready for.
Not yet – maybe not ever.
O.o.O.o.O.o.O