Chapter 629: Magic Trick
Norrington hadn’t been sure what to expect of the crew of that goofy looking ship.
They turned out to be an assortment of odd characters. The more normal of the bunch were within his expectations; colorful, but not exceedingly so. Others were beyond anything that he could dream up.
The woman wearing only a stringy thing (that was ill suited even as underwear) over her chest was the one to step forward as their ships pulled alongside each other. Even the smuggler, Anamaria, and the witchdoctor, Tia, had better sense than to leave so much skin exposed.
Nothing good comes from a beautiful young woman tempting men out at sea. Unless, she’s...
No. Norrington discarded that thought before it could even finish forming. It was unforgivably rude.
She didn’t seem to be in any distress, that was all that was important.
"Hello!" the near half naked woman called out. "We were wondering if you were heading into the fog as well? We think there’s an island in there, judging by the currents."
Norrington knew about the island already, but he still found it odd that she claimed to know via the currents. That wasn’t something you could tell just by looking into the water.
"Aye, we are," Jack stepped up while Norrington was busy being perplexed. "Is that Miss Harpin’s companion I see? The one who kicked me in the groin?"
"You left me little choice; you were being very rude," a thankfully better dressed woman confirmed.
"I like her already," Anamaria hummed beneath her breath.
"Well, it seems like we have the same end goal, so what do you say we work together?" Jack offered straightforwardly.
"An alliance!" a young man in a straw hat exclaimed.
"Sure," Jack accepted readily.
Norrington didn’t interrupt, but he did wonder who the captain of the other ship was since they hadn’t spoken up yet. The green haired one with one too many swords on his waist was suitably serious to keep a group like this in check. He could see the large blue man also serving the role admirably, judging from his stoic air.
He didn’t fault them for keeping their leadership close to their chest though. Norrington himself saw the wisdom in it and elected to do the same.
The other crew started to groan in response to the quick exchange between Jack and the boy. That was a little alarming; he didn’t expect that much resistance to the idea of working together.
"Don’t mind them. If Luffy has agreed to work together, then we all have," the large blue man stated simply.
Hmm, he must be the captain, then.
"Would you mind terribly if I came aboard your ship?" Tia spoke up.
"Welcome aboard the Thousand Sunny!" The blond man was far too enthusiastic over that particular idea.
...
"I am Dalma Tia," Tia introduced herself after boarding the colorful vessel.
She guessed that these people were pirates. They had that air about them.
More importantly, though, was that their ship smelled of the seas below. Ever since she was trapped in her mortal shell, she had likewise been trapped on this tiny sea in the sky. Perhaps she could acquire a place among them temporarily and return to the larger world for the first time in centuries.
"I’m Monkey D. Luffy, and I’m going to be King of the Pira- MmmMMMm?!" Luffy declared, then was swiftly silenced by his crewmates, dog piling on top of him and covering his mouth.
"Most of the crew aboard the other ship are pirates or otherwise criminals as well. You needn’t worry," Tia assured them. "I myself care little for what allegiances those who sail the sea hold themselves to."
"I don’t hold allegiance to anything! I want to be free! The freest man in the world!" Luffy spoke after extending his neck outside of his fellows’ grappling hands.
Tia smiled. "That makes two of us."
Luffy tilted his head. "But you’re a woman?"
The scantily clad young lady slapped him upside the head. "He’s not being sexist, he just focused too much on the word man."
Before Tia could respond, the blond man swooped in close, but not quite so close that she considered cursing him. "Are there any refreshments that you have a preference for, mademoiselle? I also wrote up this menu if you would like to peruse?"
Tia accepted the ’menu’. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw that it was hand drawn in spite of how fancy it was. Recently hand drawn. Like a-few-minutes-ago recent.
"Did you prepare this just for me?" Tia asked idly. "What is ’coffee cake’?"
"An excellent choice! Cherry says my coffee cake is almost as good as her grandmother’s!" the blond said, before disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Tia assumed that he went to get her some ’coffee cake’.
It was nice having someone so submissive around that wasn’t also, rightfully, terrified of her. The alternative was usually obnoxiously arrogant, so it was a nice change of pace for her.
In fact, all of these people were ignorant of the danger that she represented. It was all so... nice.
So naturally, she couldn’t let that stand. Mortals were fickle creatures; it was best to rid them of any false notions they had about herself as soon as possible, lest they find out later and abandon her.
"Would you like to see some magic?" Tia’s smile took a sinister turn.
The reaction was instantaneous and unexpected.
"""You can do magic???""" Several pairs of glittering eyes shone at her in a semi circle around her.
People were usually wary of magic, and even more wary of shady practitioners of magic. The only one who had an actual negative reaction was the youngest boy, who was currently half hidden behind her distant descendant.
Speaking of her descendant, he was staring at her like she was a puzzle he couldn’t quite work out. She didn’t blame him; the whale shark fishman was missing quite a few pieces of that puzzle. That he felt any recognition at all towards her was already a miracle and a half.
"Very well. Do you happen to have any fish on board?" Tia asked.
The straw hat boy rushed off in the same direction as the cook did earlier. When he came back out holding a still flopping fish, the cook did as well with her ’coffee cake’.
"I’ll have it in a moment, thank you," Tia preempted the cook.
"Still fresh, that’s good. I can work more with that than dead," Tia said, though either would serve her purposes. Next she spoke, it was in a language that none of them knew; not surprising.
She could see the moment they felt the chills go down their spines and took a sick satisfaction in it. They knew what she was doing wasn’t something good, wasn’t something natural.
With the final words the flopping fish began to seize and twist, somehow conveying an agony far greater than even its slow suffocation.
*crack crack crack crack*
The legs of a crustacean ripped free from its ribs, scrabbling about to find purchase. When they did, they picked the fish up and set it upright. Its mouth dropped open far wider than its jaw should permit, revealing rows and rows and rows of serrated teeth.
Then it started chasing her audience as she cackled.