Well this is my entry for the One Piece Big Bang...it was technically supposed to be out on the 10th but I got distracted...(I turned 21 on the 12th, and my finals ended on the 10th but shhhhhh)
My artist partner is the lovely Sunrise Flame (the links are in the AO3 version under the same title but my user name is Scream Honey)
Anyway please enjoy?
"Wow! You really saw a Medusa?!" a loud voice echoed throughout the large pirate ship and there were several smiles alighting faces at the loud exclamation.
"Haha! You bet, Luffy! Three of 'em in fact. Beautiful set of sisters they were, scary hair, but totally gorgeous!" a boisterous man in a chef's jacket was chatting next to a large clear glass tank placed in the middle of the deck.
Inside of the tank was the most incredible creature, a skinny boy from waist to head, but with a vibrantly red fish tail that was easily twice the length of his torso. The fin was a mix of oranges and reds that mixed together in feathery flourishes as he flipped the limb to keep himself floating. His ears were finned, much like the tail that was swirling around in the tank, and flowing slightly with his slightly long black hair. He had scaled claws where there should be fingers, and his dark eyes were enhanced with slitted pupils.
"Shishi! Awesome! You met Hancock!" the creature, Luffy, smiled and showed off his sharp saw-like teeth, something that would look terrifying on anyone other than the young creature.
"Han-who?" the chef questioned, his face scrunching in confusion as he looked at Luffy.
Luffy swam around the tank, laughing quietly as the gills on his neck flexed, changing from breathing in the open air to underwater. He flicked his tail, causing a wave of water to splash over the rim of the tank that soaked the chef all the way through his clothes.
The man sputtered and looked at the creature, Luffy, with an almost comical look of betrayal.
Luffy popped back up from under the water and giggled louder at the now wet man.
"That's cause you're silly, Thatch. Hancock saved me once from some hunters! She turned them to stone! It was awesome!"
The creature's sharp teeth made another appearance as he smiled at the man outside the tank.
"That's no reason to soak me! Damn kid, we tell you stories all the time but we hardly get anything out of you about you!"
Thatch was shaking out his arms and hair to try and dry them before he catches a cold or something else equally ridiculous that Izou would criticize him about. Damn tantalizing not-Okama.
"I'm not supposed to! It was one of the rules!" Luffy replied with a smile before he abruptly turned to send a wave of water at Namur walking by. Mostly just to watch the other mythological move it off the ship. It was always fun for Luffy to see the other side of his species work.
Thatch meanwhile was doing a double take, ignoring his poor drooping hair in favor of determining what exactly might have meant about "not being allowed".
"Wait-what rules?" Luffy, however, ignored Thatch's sort of hysteria in favor of splashing Namur again.
"Luffy!"
"Woah, Thatch. Calm down, yoi. Don't yell at the kid. It can't be that urgent." The blond first mate of the Moby Dick laughed as he strode over to his friend, and Luffy's tank.
Thatch turned toward the man so fast the other could hear the chef's neck crack. The blond winced at that slightly, knowing the red-head would likely feel that pain later.
"But-but! Marco! Luffy just said he had rules! That's why he won't tell us anything about himself!"
Thatch was mildly upset; he'd been trying to get Luffy to talk about himself since they picked the merman up almost two weeks ago. The fact that the hyperactive kid wasn't saying anything due to rules bothers him a lot.
"Oh? Really, yoi? That explains a bit then." Marco remarked calmly, not at all affected by what by what was an earth-shattering revelation to Thatch.
"And besides, yoi. Other than sating your curiosity, we don't get anything out of knowing Luffy's background. He's already taking us to the Fountain, yoi. Isn't that the important thing?"
Marco laughed at Thatch's looked of utter betrayal before the look was splashed away by another wave of water from Luffy's tail.
Said creature popped up over the water in his tank, propping his arms on the rim, he smiled down at Marco and Thatch with his razor teeth glinting in the high noon sunlight.
"Wow! You're so serious Marco!"
The blond man laughed in turn, his smile easily taking up the majority of his face.
Thatch looked at his brother with wide eyes before he switched back to look at Luffy with scrutiny.
"Of course, Luffy. We've been looking for the Fountain for years! You're the first mer-person we could convince to show us the way, yoi."
At this point Thatch threw up his arms and stomped off, mumbling under his breath about cryptic mythologicals and evil siblings.
"You could have just taken one of us though. You don't need merfolk cooperation to find the Fountain, not if you know enough."
Marco blinked at Luffy, surprised by the hyper kid's cynical view on pirates capturing mer-people. That was not something he would have thought possible for such a seemingly innocent creature.
"We couldn't have done that, yoi, especially not with Namur as part of our family. Also, it's always best not to get on the bad sides of mythologicals, yoi. They can make life pretty painful."
"Shishishi. That's totally true of harpies and furies too! They hold some serious grudges! Sabo is still angry about the hat incident! Shishishi!" Luffy laughed loudly, his tail slapping the water near the top of his tank.
It was Marco's turn to look at Luffy with confusion. As far as he knew mythologicals were very secular when it came to different species within the mythological community. So why was Luffy talking about others like he actually knew the other species?
Marco didn't ask any of that though, knowing Luffy would look at him confused and say something completely irrelevant.
"Who's Sabo?" the blond questioned instead, curious despite telling Thatch the opposite.
Luffy let out a strangled sort of gasp before he slapped his finned hands over his mouth and sunk down to the bottom of his tank, turning away from Marco and curling his tail around his head in a curl; refusing to say anything.
Marco just looked at the curled form of the merman with confusion, wondering what just happened.
But the man put it out of his mind easily enough. Luffy was pretty weird to begin with and compared to other things he's done, since he was brought on deck, this one doesn't even scratch the surface.
"Doesn't matter, yoi. I'll send Pops up for your story a day promise, alright?"
A wave from the almost blood red tail was enough for the first mate, who walked back to the door leading to the lower deck. Maybe Pops will get something new out of the young creature. He often did most days.
This is a line.
Sabo is a male harpy by birth, something that caused him to be kicked out of his flock when he was young. He was sort of rescued by a group of mythologicals that tend to "kidnap" other mythologicals.
He has never thought badly of the collective though, for "kidnapping" him, because otherwise he'd never have met his brothers. One of whom, Ace, he was on the way to visit.
Despite being a genetic anomaly amongst the all-female race of harpies, Sabo looked like a fairly typical mythological scourge of the sky.
His torso was that of a human male, toned and pale skin interrupted by pink-red scars covering his left side in random splotches, burn scars. His head was also human looking with longish shaggy blond hair and another burn scar over his left eye.
But that's where his human characteristics end. His teeth were sharp and similar to Luffy's but slightly longer and thinner, made to rip flesh off of the bones of his victims, which were mostly sailors. His arms from where the elbow should be, down to his "hands" was nothing but feathers and wings, the specific color of those feathers being a mix of dark and light blues.
Matching his wings, his lower half from his hips down were feathered thickly, ending just below his "knee" where the feathers become naked talons, large, sharp, and perfect for plucking up his prey.
Overall Sabo was a paradigm of a dangerous predator, especially his proclivity to staying above the clouds before swooping down and snatching his prey before anyone could notice.
Something that added to his dangerous make-up was his keen eyesight that could see a fish in clear detail from over three hundred meters high. Which were currently focused on something that just had to be a hallucination.
There was no way Sabo's younger brother, his only younger brother, was trapped in a glass tank on the deck of what was obviously a pirate ship.
Nope Sabo had to be seeing things. He just visited Luffy two weeks ago, shared a great catch of a male sailor. They talked about visiting Ace together soon and sharing a similar large meal.
Luffy had found himself a reef, near an island inhabited solely by mythologicals. That's where he was, he was making his home in the beautiful reefs off the Going Merry Island with its patchwork population. He certainly wasn't in a watery cage on the top deck of a bloody pirate ship.
Luffy was NOT captured by pirates.
So despite knowing that Luffy was safe in his new reef, Sabo flew a little closer to the large ship; feeling like he should confirm his thoughts, just in case, and not because he actually believed it was Luffy in that tank.
But upon flying closer, Sabo's heart sunk to his talons, his pulse slowed down and he blinked rapidly. He tried to make the connections but he was so dumbfounded he had actually stopped flapping and was in danger in dropping straight in to the ocean without his merman brother to save him.
He regained control of his wings with that sobering thought, hovering in the air as it fully registered in his mind.
That WAS Luffy in the tank.
His brother, his BABY brother, had been captured by pirates and was being held against his will.
Sabo was off before he could blink again, flying as fast as he could, knowing it was well over half a day's journey to where he was headed when he was flying leisurely. And this was not a leisure trip.
He didn't stop for anything, not even when he flew too low and a sailor glanced his shoulder with a bullet. Sabo didn't even stop to eat the human for a snack in vengeance. He just shrugged the wound off and kept flying at almost break neck speeds, images of a captured Luffy constantly flashing in his mind.
It was almost a never ending slew of pictures that threw themselves across his mindscape. Some true, others imagined, but the protective brother in Sabo didn't care, all he KNEW was that his ONLY younger brother was being held by pirates and that meant certain death for merfolk.
The blond harpy was physically knocked out of his negative thoughts when he rammed face first into a rock face; or, more accurately, into the side of Big Brother Ace's active volcano home.
'Well that will certainly get his attention.' Sabo thought as he shook his head, trying to dispel the rapidly firing thoughts and regain his flying balance.
He was proven correct seconds later when his brother floated carefully out of the mouth of his rather tall volcano home.
When dark eyes locked with blue, Sabo's cautious brother lit up with happiness, the feeling practically radiating from his every pore.
Sabo had to take a second to fully process the sight of his brother. It was always something he had to re-register with Ace being the last living Gorgona in existence.
He was always a very attractive being, one a gangly young Sabo once envied because Ace seemed to skip the awkward stage between child and adult. But the blond realized early on that Ace shouldn't be envied, he was the last of his kind and as such he didn't have anyone to guide him through the oncoming of the Gorgona traits. And while Sabo didn't have anyone either, he at least had the accounts of other harpies. Ace's parents didn't leave him a manual and before Ace they were the last two.
But either way, Ace was still as exotic and beautiful as he was the last time Sabo saw him, almost a moon ago now.
His face was just as human-looking as Sabo's was, though with some more obvious differences. Ace's eyes were slitted like Luffy's were, his ears were pointed and long, extending a bit past his skull and fading from tan to bright red at the tip. His teeth were sharp and pointed; a mix between Luffy's and Sabo's, but he also had flat teeth in the back, which he showed the blond once and explained they were there for chewing fire; a concept that Sabo still considers odd to this day.
But the most beautiful and wonderful thing about Ace is, and always will be, his lovely tail of fire.
He looked so similar to Luffy, as a merman, but his "tail" was formed entirely out of fire. Sure there were bones underneath all of that fire, but the only time those were ever visible was when he was close to death. From his hips down was a dangerous weapon that caused humans to hunt down Gorgonas and drive them to extinction.
He was positively good-looking to Sabo.
"Sabo!" Ace exclaimed happily as the Gorgona floated closer and wrapped his arms around the harpy's waist, so as to not disrupt the flapping wings, probably.
"What are you doing here? I didn't know you were coming for a visit! I would have collected a human for dinner if I knew!"
Ace's exuberance caused Sabo to briefly forget why he was there and just smile stupidly at his gorgeous brother.
"Did Luffy come with you?"
Sabo had never sobered so fast in his life. He floated like a love sick drunk around Ace, except when their baby brother was there or even mentioned. Their baby brother that was currently the captive of a human pirate ship.
Priorities, Sabo.
"That's actually why I'm here, Ace. This is so bad." Sabo couldn't keep his voice stable as he spoke to Ace, his worry for Luffy outweighing anything that might happen between him and Ace.
The Gorgona's face went from excited to serious just as swiftly as Sabo's did. Nothing to make them more serious than something being wrong with Luffy. They were so similar it was scary sometimes.
"What? What is it? Do we need to be in the volcano? The shack?" Ace spoke quickly, his ferocity making the questions come out faster than he was normally capable of speaking.
"We have no time for that, Ace. We need to go! We have to help him!" Sabo was so worried and concerned that he forgot that Ace had a habit of making everything in to the worst case it could possibly be.
So he shouldn't have been surprised that Ace clutched Sabo's shoulders like the blond was the one who did something to Luffy.
"What. Happened. Sabo?" the Gorgona's angry voice sent a shiver down his back causing goosebumps to appear on his skin.
"Luffy's been captured by pirates." Sabo released in a breath, unable to stop himself from being so blunt in light of Ace's attractive anger.
"He's what?" Ace's voice was breathless and disbelieving. Sabo had to fight to keep his mind from running away from him. Luffy. Luffy. Luffy.
"Captured! I saw it on my way here. I didn't think it was him at first, not with how over protective the crew on Going Merry is. But it was! He was in a huge glass cage in the very center of the deck! A ship that was flying a Jolly Roger! He was captured by pirates!"
Sabo was almost hysteric, something he never thought possible with his logical mind. But it was hard to remain calm when one's baby brother has been captured, and possibly tortured, by blood thirsty pirates.
For once though, Ace was remaining rather level-headed for how hot-headed he normally was. A light slap to the cheek was all it took to shake Sabo out of his uncharacteristic worry.
"Where? Can we get there?" Ace questioned quietly, shifting his body down to wrap his hands around Sabo's talons.
Ace couldn't fly long distances, hell he could hardly float for very long or he would risk hurting himself. Fire wasn't constantly recreating itself after all.
"If we fly at normal speeds it would probably be half a day's travel. If you give me a few minutes to rest my wings and propel us along every now and then we could cut it to half that. We'd get there around dusk probably."
Ace was nodding at him as his tail flickered between the normal red-orange and a darker crimson color. Unhappy Ace is unhappy.
Sabo said nothing more as he floated down to the outskirts of the volcanic island, tucking his wings in as he settled for a short break. He didn't want to delay rescuing Luffy any more than Ace did after all.
"Let me get you some water, Sabo." The Gorgona spoke quietly, floating off to the shack he kept just for these kinds of visits from Sabo and Luffy. Well, without the kidnapping aspect…
The inside was a nice roost for Sabo, one he greedily claimed as often as he could during the year. And close to the shack was a reef Luffy planted himself for his own visitations. The All-One (1) knew they couldn't survive in Ace's volcanic home, so they made due.
Said fire-y brother floated back with a large bowl filled to the brim with water. Ace held it out to Sabo, not wanting to splash any while also conscious of not getting it on his tail. Fire and water didn't mix for a very GOOD reason.
Sabo drank hastily, still worried about Luffy. When he finished the bowl he lightly picked for the feathers that broke or were otherwise tendered useless on the flight here. Extra weight, no matter how small would be bad.
He also took the time while Ace was putting away the bowl to check the wound he got from the glanced bullet and smiled when he just saw a faint pink line. Thank you, Chopper, and his medicinal blessings.
A few fluffs of his wings and a long stretch then had Sabo in the air once more, swinging down to snatch his brother up by his shoulders.
The elder had long since gotten used to Sabo's no warning pick-ups and was hardly phased by it. Ace simply wrapped his hands around the sharp talons before blasting his tail up a time or two to accelerate them every so often.
Unlike the flight to Ace's, which seemed to take forever, the trip back to the pirate boat seemed to have taken no time at all.
"How are we going to do this, Ace?"
"What do you mean how? We are going down there and rescuing Luffy!" Ace huffed out, looking up at Sabo with a glare. Sabo sighed in response. He loved Ace, he really did, but damn was he impulsive.
"We can't just fly in there with tails and talons swinging! We have to plan!" Sabo yelled back, fluttering his wings to hide the two behind a passing cloud.
"Sabo. Either you take us down there and help me fight those bloody pirates to rescue Luffy, or I'll make you drop me and do it myself." Ace growled, bearing his teeth at his blond brother. Sabo sighed again and flexed his wings, angling them down.
"Hold on tight, Ace, we're gonna have to dive."
Ace tightened his grip on Sabo's talons, grinning evilly at the thought of all the pirate ass he was going to kick.
Sabo just knew instinctively that this was not going to turn out well.
THIS MAY JUST BE ANOTHER LINE
Marco laughed quietly to himself as he tried to stop Luffy from yelling after Pops. The kid didn't want to stop at just one story today. But a promise was a promise so Pops refused to say any more and laughed loudly as he headed back below deck.
The old man was walking a bit slower than normal and Marco couldn't have been happier they got Luffy to agree to show them the way to the fountain when they did. Pops needed the fountain water soon, as no one was prepared to lose him just yet.
"Relax, Luffy. Pops'll be back to tell you another story tomorrow, yoi."
The merman pouted as he used his amazing tail to splash even more water on the already soaking deck.
Marco wasn't proud of it but he was completely fascinated by Luffy's tail. Not only was it an amazing muscle, but it was such a shade of red and orange that it seemed like a tail made of fire. But he was also fascinated with how un-humanlike Luffy actually was.
When Namur first explained the differences between Fishpeople and Merpeople Marco had classified them in his mind as monster-looking and human-looking. Luffy completely destroyed that misconception.
Not to mention the kid was interesting as sin. Not in a "hey sexy" kind of way, but more of an "I've never seen something like this before and it intrigues the hell out of me" kind of way. Either way, Marco liked the kid, and unlike Thatch, he was patient enough to wait the merman out of whatever might be hiding.
Luffy whined in Marco's direction, trying to splash him with more water, when Marco noticed that they needed to refill the tank again otherwise Luffy would be facing some dangerous circumstances.
The first mate sighed at the childishness of the mysterious Mythical, but smiled as he headed to the door Pops just went inside. His aim was to fetch more of his siblings to help cart buckets to fill the brat's tank.
However, right before Marco even touched the door handle there was a loud thud sound from behind him, and Luffy let out a surprised yell.
It took the blond barely a moment to pull his sword and shout the warning of intruders. He turned around just as fast as he yelled and paused at what he saw.
On the deck, right next to Luffy's tank, were two other Mythicals.
One looked to be a male harpy? Did those even exist? Weren't they all females…odd…and the other Mythical…the other Mythical was a…fire merman?
Marco hardly got a chance to try and figure out where these two came from, and what exactly they were, when a loud screech reached his ears.
Instinctively the first mate raised his hands to cover his ears from the sound and that was his first mistake.
The male harpy flew straight at him and kicked the side of his head with a huge talon. Marco lurched to the side and was barely able to keep his balance, and block the next kick that came at him.
Razor teeth chomped right in front of his face as he leaned back, opening his mouth to yell for assistance once more.
Rapid thuds were heard, and Marco knew he'd have some good back up soon so he retaliated against the harpy, swinging his sandaled foot around to catch the harpy in the torso, smirking as a pained squawk coming out of the Mythical's mouth.
However Marco didn't even have time to digest his short victory before a wall of flame was suddenly coming at him.
A leap back probably not only saved him from some nasty burns but also his life.
"What the ever loving hell?!"
That voice could only belong to Thatch and Marco couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh. He might be able to take on one Mythical by himself, but two was really pushing it.
"Is that a male harpy?"
And the chef brought Izou with him, doubly good.
There was another loud screech and the "fire merman" swung his tail around, his body being held up by his own arms as he did so.
Damn. This Mythical had one toned upper body.
"Δώστε μου πίσω τον αδελφό μου! (Give me back my brother!)"
(1) The All-One is this universe's version of God.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT KNOW GREEK! I SHAMELESSLY USED GOOGLE TRANSLATE! SO IF YOU NOTICE ANYTHING WRONG PLEASE HELP ME FIX IT SO I DON'T MISREPRESENT A LANGUAGE! THANK YOU!
Separated into 5 parts cause who knows why…