A lone fishing boat was sailing the breeze across the open sea, barely big enough to fit two ponies and a barrel of supplies without getting cramped. A young mare was the only occupant, leaning against the side and looking out at the waves.
A dark shadow passed beneath the surface of the water behind the mare, holding towards the boat at intimidating speed. For a second a mound of water rose from the ocean only a couple ponylengths to the side of the vessel. Then the monster’s head broke through the water, a huge feral sea serpent of a muddy brown, with teeth the size of a pony’s leg and sharp as swords. It let out a roar as it opened its maw and put on speed, intending to swallow the boat and its passenger whole.
“Hey old stinkfish.”
The mare turned around to look at the monster, grinning from under the brim of her bright yellow straw hat. Her left hoof pushed down on the top of her head to keep it in place while she threw back her right foreleg for the counterattack.
“Ready for round two?”
~~~~~
“Alright, ponies! Just hand over your valuables and nopony will get hurt.”
The ponies in the ballroom of the cruise liner cowered in fear from the pale blue minotaur who had barged through the door. Several ponies, all in different outfits that marked them as members of a pirate crew, went through the crowd to gather cash, gold rings and jewel necklaces.
Iron Will watched the scene in approval, arms crossed in front of him, a large iron mace leaning against his leg. A loud bang sounded, followed by a bullet grazing the minotaur’s arm. He looked to his left to see an earth pony in a white and blue shirt staring up at him, a rifle in his trembling hooves.
“A Marine?” Iron Will said contemplatively. He grabbed his iron mace with his right hand, slowly and effortlessly raising it into the air. The earth pony’s eyes widened in fear.
“IF YOU WANT TO DRAW BLOOD, YOU NEED THE GUTS TO BACK IT UP!”
The mace smashed into the Marine, sending him flying halfway across the room into a wall. Iron Will looked after him for a moment, then turned his head away with a snort. One of the pirates approached him while the others began to file out of the room, carrying heavy bags full of valuables.
“I think we got everything, Captain.”
“What are you waiting for, then? Get back to the ship.” Iron Will looked down at the small trickle of blood running down his arm. “And get me Fluttershy. I need her to fix this up.”
~~~~~
“What a coincidence that these pirates showed up. Today must be my lucky day.” A white unicorn peered around the corner she was hiding behind to watch the pirates file out of the ballroom, carrying large bags of loot. She turned her attention back to the lifeboat she had prepared with a smile. One of the bags was already lying in it, waiting for her.
She began to untie the ropes holding the boat with her hooves, while at the same time untying the bandana on her head with her magic, revealing her curled purple mane. “Now, I’d hate to make any prejudices, but those ponies seemed to be just as simple-minded as their captain looked. They didn’t even notice that I wasn’t part of their crew.”
“I thought something about you was fishy. You better get your flank away from that boat, sweetie.”
Rarity’s eyes widened. She slowly turned around to see that one of the pirates had snuck up on her. He was pointing a gun at her, grinning lewdly.
“Oh my, you’ve caught me.” She theatrically threw a foreleg up to her forehead, inching a little closer to the pirate in the process. “I… don’t suppose you would consider letting me go.” She slowly trotted past the stallion, brushing against him. “Maybe we could even run away together, and find a place to…” Her tail brushed up against the stallion’s muzzle, teasingly flicking his nose as she whispered in his ear. “Hide out.”
“I, uhm…” The stallion tried to find a rational thought, staring at the purple tail between his eyes. Before he could say anything else, something hit him over the head, knocking him out.
Rarity took the three parts of her polished wooden Bo Staff apart, throwing them into the boat. She grabbed the bag of loot sitting behind the unconscious pirate and carried it over to the one already lying inside the boat. Then she climbed into the boat herself and turned her attention back to untying the ropes, still ignoring the unconscious stallion. “As I said, today must really be my lucky day.”
~~~~~
“Hey, look at that.” One of the pirates that had been left on Iron Will’s ship bent over the railing, gesturing for his comrade to come over.
“What’s up? Did you find something interesting?”
“There’s a barrel floating in the sea.” The first pirate grabbed a grappling hook. “Probably fell from that liner. Come on, help me fish it out of the water!”
~~~~~
“Fluttershy!” Iron Will bellowed, stepping back onto his own ship while the rest of his crew prepared to set sail again. He impatiently stomped his hoof, arms crossed in front or him.
“I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m already here, oh my…” A yellow pegasus stumbled out of one door, trying not to drop any of the medical supplies in her hooves. “What can I do for… Oh my, you’re bleeding.” She stared at the minotaur’s arm with wide eyes for a moment.
“It’s just a scratch.” Iron Will grunted. “Still, Iron Will thought you should patch it up with some bandages. That’s what you’re here for, after all.
“Y-yes, of course.” Fluttershy waited for the minotaur to sit down before inspecting the wound. She sprayed some disinfectant on it and bandaged it, having to use almost all of the remaining fabric on the roll to get around the huge arm.
Fluttershy backed away quickly as soon as she was finished, giving the minotaur space to stand up again and inspect his arm. She looked down at the near-empty roll in her hoof. “I-I’ll have to get new supplies from the storage. The ones I have at hoof are almost exhausted.”
“Yes, yes, you know your way around.” Iron Will waved her off, already directing his attention elsewhere. “Just don’t try any funny business on Iron Will’s ship.”
“I-I’d never…” Fluttershy squeaked, scrambling away.
~~~~~
Fluttershy slowly trotted through the door into the storage, stopping in her tracks as soon as she noticed the three pirates already inside, standing around a large wooden barrel. “O-oh, I’m sorry. I just need some… medical supplies.” She quickly dashed over to a shelf on the left wall of the room.
“Well, if it isn’t little Fluttershy.” One of the ponies looked up from the barrel. “False alarm, guys, it’s only Fluttershy.” He took a few steps towards her. “You’re not going to tell anypony what we’re doing here, are you?”
Fluttershy backed away instinctively, trying to hide behind her mane. “Why? What… What are you doing?”
“Yahahaha! Wouldn’t you like to know!” The pirate threw his head back in laughter. “We found a barrel, probably full of sake. It was just floating in the water, so it’s not part of the loot, strictly speaking. And if it’s not part of the loot… Finders Keepers, I say.” He brought his head back down to stare Fluttershy in the eyes. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Oh, I won’t tell anypony.” Fluttershy tried to move back to the door, but the stallion was still in her way and she didn’t dare try to push past him. “I can get the medical supplies later, too, if you want. It’s not that important…”
“Yahahaha, that’s the spirit! Don’t try to be brave, that can’t end well for you.” He turned back around to his partners. “Come on, guys, open the barrel already. We’re gonna have a real party down here.”
The largest of the three ponies raised an axe, while the other two took a few steps back. He aimed and brought the axe back down towards the top of the barrel.
“DID SOMEPONY SAY PARTY!?!”
A pink earth pony exploded from the barrel, hitting the pirate with a front hoof and knocking him out.
“Ah, that was a good nap. I wonder where I ended up?” The pink pony stepped out of the barrel and looked around herself curiously, noticing the unconscious pirate lying on his back next to her. “Eh? What’s wrong with him?”
“You knocked him out, idiot!!!” The two remaining pirates yelled. They quickly drew their swords and pointed them at the pink pony, who was still looking around and blissfully ignoring them. “We won’t let you get away with that.”
Two blades flew upwards, embedding themselves into the ceiling. The two pirates looked at the sword-stumps left in their hands, then at the mare in front of them. They stared at her for a second before simultaneously turning around and dashing for the door.
“You should be more careful! You could hurt someone with those, and that would just be no fun!” the pink pony shouted after the two fleeing pirates. Then she turned her attention back to her surroundings. “Seems to be some sort of storage… Ooh, I wonder if there’s some food in here.”
She trotted over to a shelf at one side poking her head into one of the barrels in front of it. “Ooh, pickles. I wonder if they have cheese, too. Or maybe some hard candy.” She pulled her head back out, cheeks stuffed with pickles, and moved on in her search of edibles.
“Mmpf?” Next to the barrel was a yellow pegasus, trying to hide her head under her forelegs and shivering. “Ouw, hemmpf…” the pink pony stopped, blinked and swallowed the pickles in her mouth with one large gulp. “Oh hey. Who are you?”
The pegasus opened her eyes and lifted her head to stare at her with wide eyes, but didn’t answer. The pink pony tilted her head. “Hellooo… What’s your name?” She waited a few seconds, then offered her hoof to the pegasus. “I’m Pinkie Pie.”
The pegasus tried to back away even further, staring at the hoof. “I’m Fluttershy... Please don’t hurt me.”
“Fluttershy, huh? Nice to meet you. Why would I hurt you?” Pinkie absentmindedly looked into another barrel, fishing out a piece of cheese and stuffing it into her mouth whole.
“You… I-I mean… but you just… eep.” Fluttershy closed her eyes in panic, trying to hide under her hooves again.
Pinkie looked down at her for another second, then turned her attention back to the barrels. “You’re kind of a wimp. What’s somepony like you doing on a pirate ship?”
“Well, I…” Fluttershy looked down to the floor in shame. “I didn’t want to be here. Iron Will raided the village I lived in a week ago. He found out that I was a doctor and said that he needed one for his ship, so he captured me and made me work for him.”
“Hmm…” Pinkie Pie was looking into another barrel again. She felt inside with a hoof, before pulling something out and offering it to Fluttershy. “Pickle?” She waited for a moment as the pegasus stared at her hoof in confusion, then pulled her hoof back and flicked the pickle into her own mouth.
Pinkie Pie crossed her arms in front of her chest, and chewed with a serious expression. “So he foalnapped you and forced you to work for him, huh?” She swallowed. “That’s not very nice. I’ll have to talk to that guy and ask him to let you go.” She turned around and began to scan the room for an exit. “Any idea where I can find him?”
“W-What? Wait, you can’t just…” Fluttershy watched the pink pony trot towards the door.
“Oh, yeah…" Pinkie Pie stopped, one hoof on the door, and turned her head. “When I’ve talked to him, do you want to join my cr–“
The door exploded, sending Pinkie Pie flying across the room. She ended up on the other side of the room, leaning upside down against the wall, face on the floor.
“What’s going on in here?!” A blue minotaur stomped into the room, steam blowing from his nostrils.
Pinkie Pie got back to her hooves, shaking her head and making sure she still had her straw hat. “Woo, that was a doozy. Are you Iron Will?”
“Who wants to enquire about Iron Will’s name?” The minotaur noticed the shivering pegasus trying to hide in a corner. “Fluttershy, who is that pony?!”
The pony in question happily walked up to him, extending a hoof. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie. And I’m not enquiring about Iron Will’s name, I already know the name. I just don’t know who that name belongs to yet. Is it you? If you are Iron Will, I wanted to ask you to let Fluttershy go. I want her to be my doctor and she can’t join my crew if she’s still in your crew, and–“
“Are you making fun of Iron Will? Iron Will does not enjoy being made fun of!” The minotaur brought his mace down on the pink pony. Pinkie Pie jumped out of the way, landing right next to the panicking Fluttershy.
“You look angry. Did you skip breakfast? I always get grouchy when I didn’t have breakfast.” Pinkie Pie talked at the minotaur who was already turning around to face her. She reached to the side just as Iron Will raised his weapon for another attack and jumped towards him, slamming an open barrel over his head. “Have some Pickles!”
Without warning she grabbed Fluttershy, who was effectively frozen in fear by now, and leaped over Iron Will, who was still struggling to get the barrel off his head. She dashed through the door past several surprised pirates and down the hallway, still holding onto the rigid Fluttershy.
~~~~~
“Whew, that was a close one. Who was that guy?” Pinkie looked back at the yellow pegasus, who was staring at her with wide eyes, not moving in the slightest. “Eh? What’s wrong?”
“Y-you…” Fluttershy began to tremble, and frantically backed away from the pink earth pony. “You made him angry,” she squeaked. “You made Iron Will angry. That’s terrible, horrible, I-I… I have to get away from here before he comes.”
“Hey, wait!” Pinkie bounced after her. “Don’t just go and leave. You can join my crew. You’re a doctor, right? I don’t have a doctor in my crew, yet. Well, actually I don’t have anypony in my crew yet… But I will, soon. I’ll have the best crew ever and we’ll sail everywhere and you can be our doctor.”
Fluttershy stopped, but didn’t turn around to Pinkie. Her head and her ears drooped down. “You don’t want me in your crew… I’m not a pirate. I’m not strong, or brave, I’m just…”
“Hey… Hey, look at me.” Pinkie put a hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder and pulled to turn her around to face her. Tears were shimmering in Fluttershy’s eyes. “You’re sad, and we can’t have that, so stop it!” She took her straw hat off and held it in her front hooves, looking down at it with a smile. “I made a promise, you know? I promised to the pony who gave me this hat, that I would make as many ponies smile as I could. So, please, I don’t mind if you don’t want to join my crew… I just want you to turn that frown upside down, okay?”
Fluttershy didn’t respond. The pegasus was completely stiff again, staring with wide eyes at something behind Pinkie.
“You laugh at me, I’ll wrath at you!”
Pinkie Pie turned around curiously, just in time to see the large iron mace charging at her head from the side. Before she could react, the club connected and sent her head flying over the railing of the ship, her neck extending between head and body.
Her body waited patiently, tapping its hoof until the head snapped back. “Whooo, that was a doozy.” Pinkie shook her head, then looked up at the pale blue minotaur in front of him. “Oh, hey there. You’re that Iron Will guy, aren’t you?”
“A Devil Fruit user…” the minotaur looked down at her angrily. “So they really exist… Doesn’t matter, I’ll crush you like the bug you are.”
“That’s not very nice…” Pinkie hummed, brushing a little dust off the straw hat in her hooves before putting it back on her head. “I don’t mind, but…”
With a loud roar Iron Will brought his mace back down on her. Pinkie nimbly jumped to dodge the attack, throwing her right hoof back, extending it past the boundaries of the ship. The rest of her ended up in the air beside Iron Will, her head right next to the minotaur’s.
“…You scared my friend.”
Iron Will’s eyes widened as the hoof stopped and began to retract, accelerating on the way.
“Gummy Gummy Pistol!”
The hoof connected, slamming right into Iron Will’s chest, sending him flying off the ship and even further, until he was out of sight. Pinkie Pie looked after him, before turning her attention to the figures in front of her.
One of the pirates pointed his sword towards her, trembling slightly. “H-how dare you defeat our captain? We’ll kill you for that, you hear?!”
“More pirates? Well…” Several of the pirates flinched as Pinkie Pie threw her hoof back once more. It extended and snaked around the pony standing behind her.
“Run away run away run away…” Pinkie pulled Fluttershy towards her and turned around to gallop away, which caused the pegasus to swing a whole 360° around before she was carried away by the pink pony.
“You’re just running away like that?!?” the pirates yelled after them.
Pinkie Pie kept galloping, ignoring them as well as Fluttershy’s terrified squeaks. She grabbed a small sword from the floor with her mouth and jumped into one of the lifeboats. Then she turned around to the pirates and saluted, grinning around the sword in her mouth. “It’s been fun guys, but we have to go. Thanks for the food and all, I hope you won’t miss your friend too much, but I really need a doctor for my crew!”
With that she swung her head around to cut the ropes that held the boat on both sides and disappeared behind the railing with a joyful “Wheeee!”
~~~~~
On the upper deck, the door to Iron Will’s cabin opened up to reveal a colt with a white coat containing brown spots in a calico pattern, and a brown mane and tail. He rubbed his head as he heaved an exhausted sigh “Why do I always have'ta clean the cap’n’s room? All of his stuff’s so heavy an-” He noticed a pink limb stretching out past the boundaries of the ship, then traced it back to a pink pony who was rearing a hoof back for a punch directed towards-
The colt’s eyes were wide as dinner plates as he saw the pink pony go head-to-head against Iron Will and watched from behind the railings, clenching two bars with his forelegs “Blimey…” He whispered “Who is that mare?”
Finally, a One Piece story that has its own direction! I've been looking all over the place for one like this! You, my friend, deserve a slightly larger group of followers watching this story. (+1 Follower!)
Oh, and here, have a like too! (+1 Like!)
6954330
Yay, thank you~
I hope I will keep meeting your expectations. Or rather, not meeting them (plot twisting all day long~)
Can you throw in a kick in the butt as well? Because I really need to write more on this story.
On that note, i'm just going to leave these here.
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6954345 If that's what you need to continue this, then I'll give you the ass kicking of a lifetime!
6954468
Oh my, you have seen straight through my nefarious plot of casting one of the most popular characters in a background role.
6954464
Something about that art style for those pictures is just a little disturbing... Especially the second one.
6954484 Nvm, you are including Fluttershy in the crew... were you?
6954484 And yea, I have been following (and searching) One Piece since awhile, so it's no surprise for me to see through your skilled creativity.
6954493
I guess you won't know until we're through the Shells Town chapters.
Unless you want to beg me for spoilers.
6954501 Ugh, okay fine, I was a bit amused when you mentioned how she "grabbed" Fluttershy along with her. Which automatically made me think: 'What? As if Fluttershy's actually joining?'
Then now that you brought up the next episode I was like forget it.
BUT ARE YOU?! WE NEED HER IN THE CREW!
6954484 yeah, but considering what the Pinkie Pie we know and love can do,,,,,
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I think that she's exempt from the laws of physics anyway, so....
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Whee! Pinkie antics are very Pinkie. I liked Rarity and Pip's cameos, too. :3
6962963
Glad to hear you enjoy it so far. And don't worry, we haven't seen the last of either of them.
Love the dialog, you portray the pony characters very well while continuing to keep in general with the show.
Hmmm. You claim that you wan't to distance yourself from the One Piece original story line, and yet for the moment it really felt like a re-enactment, with the small exception of Flutershy replacing Coby.
And if I hadn't read the manga, I think that this chapter would've been hard to follow, it lacked a few information here and there.
I am also having big doubt, both Pinkie and Rarity were out of character, you wrote them as if they were Luffy and Namy rather then themselves.
I also think that pinkie shouldn't have the gum gum fruit, by herself in canon, she can do enough crazy things.
In fact, with magic, devil fruits are almost useless story-wise.
All in all you show good promises, your writting style is correct, you don't seems to make grammar mistake often and the concept of a kinda sorta fusion fic, kinda sorta re-enactment, kinda sorta your own story line can be great.
That's not for you to say Pinkie! Fluttershy at this point hasn't agreed to join yet. You can't decide that for her. That makes you as bad as Iron Will.
It would be more credible and not as outrageous if she told him that to him and that she was going to take her away because he foalnaped her!
Unless Pinkie actually can break the fifth wall in this story and therefore knows the story of One Piece and can decipher that Fluttershy is destined to join her crew.
~Leonzilla
7138422
Fluttershy appearing in this chapter isn't nearly as small a change as it might look, but point taken. It's true that some scenes will be a lot closer to the manga than others, if only because the story would become a confusing mess if I'd work completely without them as a guideline. Also, I'd like to know what information you feel is missing... If it's not something I deliberately left open for later chapters, I'd better try to fix it sooner than later.
As for Pinkie and Rarity seeming out of character... well, I don't think there was much time to show Rarity as a whole character yet; but the main reason is probably that with the setting I really can't characterize them exactly like they are in the show. Show Pinkie for example most likely wouldn't just randomly beat up other ponies, even if they attacked her first. I like to believe that this story's Pinkie is more mature, beneath the obligatory party pony layer. Your comment did give me a plan on how to write the chapter with Shanks, though, so thank you for that.
And thank you for commenting in general. I hope you continue to enjoy the story.
7138722
That's... a fair point actually. I think I did consider that once, shortly, before shrugging it off to get on with the story.
The thing is that Fluttershy can be rather timid (especially in this story, though I sense I'll probably fail to keep her in that character the whole time; if only so she gets some dialogue from time to time). She probably wouldn't dare to speak up against Iron Will or leave his ship even if she had the chance. And she probably did have some chances to sneak off the ship, she's not that important a crew member to him that he would try to hunt her down.