Here's the first instalment:
MIRROR PIECE
Chapter 1
“A New Pirate King”
MARINE BASE #4
FUCHSIA ISLAND
EAST BLUE
“Nice day, isn’t it?”
The man in uniform shrugged and snorted into his ale.
Makino grunted quietly to herself and continued polishing the glass. She lowered the cloth and admired her reflection; a beautiful, dark-haired woman in her forties stared back with contemptuous brown eyes.
Her companion hunched over the bar with a dismissive air, his unruly black hair falling into his eyes every time he took a sip. Try as she might, Makino could not help but glance at the small scar under his right eye. She quickly turned her gaze to the braided epaulettes on his jacket, which signified his rank as a Marine Vice-Admiral.
“So…” Makino made another stab at conversation. “Any word on your grandpa?”
“Gramps?” The VA lifted his head just long enough to glare at her before returning to his drink. Sensing thin ice, Makino grabbed a bottle of ale from her stock and switched it with the empty one standing sentinel at the man’s elbow.
As she tossed the bottle in the trash, the swinging doors parted like palace gates, admitting two men into the otherwise empty establishment. One was rather large and egg-shaped, although the sharply-defined muscles visible where his shirt was unbuttoned attested to more than simple fat. The other man was shorter and olive-skinned, with a day’s growth of facial hair. Both men wore bizarre little caps with… kitty cat ears on them. They strode right up to the bar without even glancing at the Marine officer.
“Buenos días, senorita,” the shorter man began. Makino inwardly recoiled at his thick accent, but kept a polite outward expression.
“Me and me amigo here have just returned from the bounty office,” he went on, “and we hoped to find a fine drinking establishment to quench our thirst. I am Carne, and this is my brother Butchy.” He patted the large fellow on the shoulder. “You may know us as the Nyaban Brothers… we bounty hunters, ¿si?”
Makino looked the darker man up and down. “Uh-huh. What can I do for you?”
He stared at her. “Well… we were hoping to purchase some ale. How much for a bottle, senorita?”
She stared stone-facedly back at him. “We’re sold out.”
“Ay-yi-yi! This is what all the taverns have told us! Dios mio…” He sighed and rubbed a hand across his forehead. “Please, senorita? We have come a long way—”
“She said she didn’t have any rum,” the Vice-Admiral growled.
Both men turned to stare at the previously silent Marine. Butchy spotted the unopened bottle and picked it up. “Hey, is this yours? We’ll give you triple what you paid for it! We just brought in a big bounty and we’ve—”
The bounty hunter’s words stuck in his throat when the Vice-Admiral stood up and faced them; fear and recognition fought for control of Butchy’s facial muscles.
“You… you’re…”
The officer’s features contorted with rage. “Give me back my sake!”
“Damn, what an extra-flashy day this is!”
As Marine Captain “Red Nose” Buggy strolled down the streets of Fuchsia Village, the only thing brighter than the sun shining on the windmills was the smile on his painted face. A blue ponytail hung down the back of his uniform shirt.
“You should have worn your jacket,” muttered the long-haired man trailing along behind him. “You know the Vice-Admiral hates it when you don’t wear the jacket.”
Buggy turned and grinned at Lieutenant Sarquiss. “Hey. I’m not going to let him spoil my day!” He wheeled around and kept walking. “Look, Makino’s tavern is just up ahead.”
Sarquiss’ walk slowed. “I think I’ll wait outside… that chick gives me the creeps.”
Now it was Buggy’s turn to admonish him: “What’s there to be afraid of?” Chuckling, he faced forward again just as something struck his leg.
A young child’s cries split the midday air. Captain Buggy looked down and saw a little girl, no older than seven, bawling over a waffle cone and a scoop of chocolate ice cream, both of which now lay sprawled in the dust.
“Oh…”
Sarquiss quickly backed away while Buggy attempted to quiet the sobbing child. “Hey! Hey, come on, kid! It’s all right, I’ll buy you another one!!” He dropped to his haunches and put on a goofy grin. “Hey kid! You want a balloon animal?”
The girl stopped crying and wiped her nose. “Really?”
Makino wrinkled her nose at the acrid smell, matching her overall expression of annoyance. The Vice-Admiral’s head was scarcely visible above his JUSTICE coat, so it looked as if justice personified now stood over the fallen bounty hunter.
“¡Oye!” Sweat rolled down Carne’s face as he backed away from the Marine. “That was uncalled-for, muchacho! Why’d you do that to Butchy?”
“He touched my sake,” was the only reply. The officer tilted his bottle of liquor and looked at it; a wicked grin appeared on his face. “You wanted this, right?”
Frozen in place, Carne did not even nod. The Vice-Admiral’s grin morphed into a scowl, and he flung the bottle at Butchy’s unconscious form. The bottle shattered, unleashing a rainstorm of sake and glass.
“¡Ay! You dirty hibride! Whatchoo do that for?” Makino noticed that Carne had slipped on a pair of gloves with razor-sharp blades attached to the fingertips. “I don’t care if you are a Marine,” he said, a dangerous glint in his eyes; “That was unfair.”
“Luffy,” Makino interjected in a bored tone, “please don’t make a big mess.”
The Marine made no attempt to move as Carne’s claws bit into his throat.
“There, all better now, right?” Captain Buggy grinned his widest grin as the little girl licked her triple-scoop fudge ripple pistachio ice cream cone. “And now for your balloon animal.” Buggy reached into his pocket and pulled out a purple rubber worm, which he stretched and stretched to his liking. His cheeks puffed out and turned red to match his nose as he blew air into the balloon, making it a translucent fuchsia sausage instead of a limp worm. In a flurry of concentrated motions, Buggy tied off the inflated balloon began twisting it into segments.
“Now, what kind of animal do you want? A Sea King? A bison?”
The little girl squeaked with childish enthusiasm. “A giraffe!”
“Okay…” Sarquiss looked on in amusement as Buggy valiantly struggled to comply with the child’s request. After wiping the sweat from his forehead, he presented his creation to the girl. “Here you go! One giraffe, courtesy of Captain Buggy!”
The little girl looked her gift over with something less than ecstatic gratitude. “It looks like a duck.”
Lieutenant Sarquiss snickered into his palm. “All of the captains balloon animals look like ducks.”
“Shut up,” Buggy snapped. He went from angry to kindly in under ten seconds when he turned back to see the little girl giggling at him. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s not that,” the girl said, “it’s your nose!”
All mirth drained from Captain Buggy’s face. “My… nose? What about my nose?”
“It’s so big and red! Is it real?”
Seconds ticked by in awestruck silence.
“You think my nose is funny-looking?”
“Er…” No longer so sure of herself, the little girl’s smile faded. “I guess…”
She nearly jumped when the captain burst out laughing. “WAHAHAHAHAHA! Of course my nose looks funny! That’s why they call me Buggy, the Big Red Nose!” Sarquiss smiled with relief as Buggy leaned close to her. “So you want to know if my nose is fake?” She was all smiles again, and her eyes shifted towards the nose in question. “Go ahead,” Buggy prodded. Overcoming her last vestiges of shyness, the little girl’s hand shot out, gave the nose a tweak, and zipped back to clutching the giraffe/duck.
Buggy chuckled as he gave the girl a good-natured chuck under the chin and stood up. “Nice giraffe,” Sarquiss muttered, wincing when Buggy elbowed him in the ribs.
The crash sounded like several angry bulls breaking into a furniture store as the Nyaban Brothers flew through the front wall of Makino’s tavern and crashing into a shop window on the opposite side of the street.
“LUFFY!” shrieked a shrill, female voice. “Look at my wall!”
Vice-Admiral “Rumble-Fist” Luffy stomped out of the tavern, breaking one of the doors in his wrath. “Don’t either of you bastards ever come back here again!”
Turning, he spotted Sarquiss and Buggy standing next to the little girl and stormed towards them like a pissed-off rhinoceros. “You two! Stop wasting your money on little kids! Get out of here, kid,” he yelled, stomping his foot at the child. The little girl ran away squealing in terror, keeping a death-grip on her ice cream cone until it cracked and bled fudge ripple pistachio down her arm.
“We’re, uh, sorry, Vice-Admiral,” Buggy hastily apologized. “We came to deliver an urgent message!”
“What’s so urgent that you interrupted my LUNCH?!?” He was right in the captain’s face now, snorting like a… well, like a bull.
The clown swallowed hard. “A communiqué from Fleet Admiral Teach himself, sir… they’ve crowned a new Pirate King.”
TUNE IN TOMORROW OR SOMEDAY FOR CHAPTER TWO!
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