This fic needs to be put to rest. But that will only happen when I finish it. I refuse to leave it hanging! I'm beyond caring how many reviews this thing gets. It just needs to END.
Sanji's Cupcakes
Chapter 22 - "The End of Everything and Nothing. Or maybe just your face."
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Para-PARA!"
"Yeahhhhhhhhh-ren, Soran. Soran, soran, soran, soran. Hoi hoi, nyah nyah!"
Sarah immediately stopped the music as soon as the cat noises started. Lera, Ramoney, and James stopped as well, blinking. Lera took a deep breath, exhausted from her para-para-ing. "What'd you do that for?"
"You were hopping around and making 'nyah' noises. It was getting embarrassing." Sarah explained, raising an eyebrow.
"Hey, I'm bored! We still have an hour until we reach the next island, according to James!" protested Lera, going over to start the cd player again, her chucks skidding along the slippery deck of the ship as she did so.
They had just emerged from a slightly rough storm, but now most of the crew members had hurried outside again. Zoro was napping up in the Crow's Nest, while Sanji leaned against the railing on the second floor of the ship, smoking. Nami was still cooped up in the Lounge, and Sarah, until a few moments ago, had been intent on doodling something in her notebook. That's when the techno music got louder and after hearing the same song repeat continuously over the span of an hour, Sar-hah's self-control practically exploded.
"You can only para-para for so long! Haven't they already learned all the steps?"
James and Ramoney exchanged looks, shrugging, while Lera flicked the music player on again. "Almost. They're kinda slow. If you don't want to listen anymore, go have Sanji cook you something... or I can teach you the steps!"
Looking doubtfully at the hopeful look Lera had, Sarah sighed and joined the line on deck. "Let's get this overwith."
"WOO!"
"Yeahhhhhhhhh-ren, Soran. Soran, soran, soran, soran. Hoi hoi, nyah nyah!"
The Crow 2, Yo, Bish was approaching an island. A mysterious island, as it so happened, that was ruled by a mysteriously unnamed person. Joshu regarded the island with a frown, looking up from his irish punk CD collection. Marshy Kyle wobbled over to stand next to him and look out at the island.
"... what the hell is that?"
Captain Joshu Wa Gorgy shrugged noncommittally. "Hell if I know. Oi, Emily-ly, what island is that?"
Awakened with a grunt from Opium, the first mate stirred from her incense-induced delusional state. "Huh, what?"
"What island is that?" Joshu repeated, venom dripping from his voice as one of his eyes twitched with annoyance.
"Mehh..." Emily-ly tugged a spare map out of her bag of poisonous frogs. Wiping off the strangely glowing goo that came from the amphibians, she flicked open the paper. "Mysteriously Unnamed Island."
Marshy Kyle snickered, leaving to go give a heads up to Larissa and Mike that they were coming to an island soon. Gorgy merely shook his head.
"Someone please shoot me."
"Hahaha..." Emily-ly laughed dizzily, pointing a cookie at the captain, before tumbling back down into a slightly comatose state.
"Alright, fine, whatever." Gorgy coughed. "Let's head out to that thing. We've gonna fuck it up."
Larissa poked her head out from the Crow's Nest. "And... why are we going to fuck it up?"
"'Cause I said so." Joshu replied with a smirk, leaning against the railing.
Mike piped in with a cheery yell. "Because we're the Gangster Crew!"
"Yay, I love yaoi!" Nate joined in on the conversation as well, arms flailing.
Larissa raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you dead?"
"... oh yeah. J-K, guys."
And as tempting as it would be to just end the story here... alas, this author cannot. On with the chapter, let's end this thing.
So now, both of our heroes, good and somewhat misbehaving, were heading towards the same Mysterious Island! Oh, the tantalizing suspense.
Lera leaned out as far as she could from the railing to peer out at the approaching island. Her para-para class was slumped on the floor behind her, panting and worn out. In fact, Lera had pushed them so hard that James Andrew had collapsed and died. Ever efficient, Ramoney had proceeded to dance with his corpse briefly before tossing his body overboard.
Sorry, James Andrew. We will miss your cough/laugh.
But not really.
Out of them, Sarah seemed the least tired. Mayhap because Sanji had insisted on stopping the lessons every fifteen minutes so that Sar-hah would taste different samples of a cupcake mix her was experimenting with.
In any case, back to the matter at hand... Lera looked up at Luffy, who was now perched on his Ram's Head, gazing out excitedly at the new island.
"I think this island's called Mysteriously Unnamed Island."
Nami, just in time, had wandered out on deck. "How to you know? Technically, this island's not even supposed to exist."
"We just passed a sign that says so."
Simultaneously, all the crew members on deck turned their heads to see a buoy, equipped with a large sign that said, "Mysteriously Unnamed Island. Population: Who Cares?" Pleasant.
As the Going Merry got closer to the strange island, it became quite obvious why it boasted such a strange title. Along with dark clouds hovering endlessly over it, MUI itself, as we shall now call it, was black in color. Most of the terrain was flat, revealing a tall castle nestled in the center.
Sarah joined Lera at the railing. "Well, that's cool."
"Chyeah." Lera smirked, rocking back and forth on her heels.
"Hey!" Usopp sprang up to stand alongside the two girls, squinting out at MUI. "Isn't that the Gangster Crew's ship?"
Indeed, the familiar looking ship was docked nearby. The Crow 2 Yo, Bish itself was empty, except... not. A single person was guarding it, sitting on the railing and boredly swinging his or her legs.
"I'd recognize that ship anywhere!" proclaimed Usopp, pointing at it.
"Who cares?" Awakened by the ruckus, Zoro yawned from his position up in the Crow's Nest. Sliding easily down the mast, he stumped over to the growing group. "We're not here to attack them. We're here to get back everyone's devil fruit powers."
"Heck yes!" Ler-hah and Sar-hah shouted.
"So shut up, Penis-nose." Sarah couldn't help but add, sticking her tongue out at the sharpshooter.
Moments later, the Mugiwaras were coming to shore. Lera and Luffy, now fearless because of their lost ability to sink like a stone, leapt out into the dark waters first, dashing up the small beach to the ground level. It didn't take long for a hoard of bad guys to jump out at them and attack.
Because, y'know, obviously, there are automatic bad guys dispensers on this island.
Lera snorted, impatiently drawing her swords. "Didn't take long for the bastards to come out and fight. For the final island sort of scenario, it's already getting kinda predictable."
While the rest of the crew attempted to catch up to the pair, Luffy leapt into the swarm, arms and legs flailing as he tried to make up for his lost Gum-Gum powers by just beating shit out of everything.
"My god, Lera, couldn't you have waited?" Sarah shouted, hiding behind Sanji while the cook kicked everything graciously out of the way for her. The brunette observed the enemies closely, eyebrows rising as she realized what exactly what was attacking.
Zombie ninjas. Very ugly, half decomposed... zombie ninjas.
Figures.
Useless in the fight without her devil fruit powers, Sarah was practically helpless. She was stuck with Sanji for the moment, relying on him for protection. Luckily, Lera was still able to do some major ass-kicking. Zoro was quick to join the group as well, leaving Nami, Usopp, and Ramoney Baloney to guard the ship.
"So, uh..." Lera grunted, slashing through another group of zombie ninjas. "Is it just me, or are they multiplying?"
Sarah regarded the attacking enemies. "I think you're right."
"We're overpowered." Zoro stood back to back with Lera as they continued to fight off the hoard. "There's too many."
Luffy had somehow already made it to the castle, screaming about how he demanded that his devil fruit powers be returned.
And just when things were at their worst... the author pulled a deus ex machina on 'em.
"ATTACK! YOU GUYS GO ON AHEAD, YOU'RE LOSERS ANYWAY!"
"That voice sounds familiar..." Sanji said slowly, looking around.
Lera didn't even need to look. "... it's Joshu Wa Gorgy."
Indeed, the Gangster Crew had somehow decided to rush in and save the day. Punching, picking, biting, poking, and occasionally licking away at the zombie ninjas, they managed to open up a path up to the mysterious castle.
"Go!" Marshy Kyle wobbled past. "Hurry up!"
Lera, Sarah, Zoro, and Sanji needed no further urging. There was no time to stop and ask for questions or even have a cup of tea and perhaps a plate of crumpets. It was time for some major ass-kicking! Yelling wildly, arms and limbs flailing, the group of four gave chase after their Captain, leaving behind the Gangster Crew to the mercy of the strange, unexplained zombie ninjas.
But we're getting to that.
"... why couldn't I go along?" Ramoney Baloney whined, hopping from one foot to another as she looked out at the grim-faced Usopp and Nami. The three were left now to guard the Going Merry. Out on the island, the vicious battle continued, but the Mugiwaras paid no mind to that.
The navigator spoke first, her words level as she brought her Clima Tact down with a soft clunk of metal against wood. "Cut the crap, Ramoney. You can stop pretending."
A flicker of something passed through the bolog-na girl's eyes, but she kept up the exasperated smile. "What are you talking about, Nami? There isn't any crap around here to cut."
Usopp didn't seem to be in the loop on that. Spluttering with indignation, he looked from one girl's face to the other, confused. Was Nami implying that Ramoney had been up to something this entire time? That she was a traitor? The idea wasn't all that outrageous. She wasn't part of the crew. Simply a traveler, just like Lera and Sarah.
... but a traitor?
"Nami, what are you talking about?" Usopp asked, fingering his slingshot nervously in case he needed it. "What'd Ramoney-"
He didn't get a chance to finish. The orange-haired girl was quick to interrupt because she was getting angrier at the forced smile on Baloney's face. "Remember when Luffy, Sarah, and Lera wouldn't get up? Well, Ramoney disappeared then. Because she lost her own devil fruit powers!" She hissed.
Usopp fell silent and Ramoney finally dropped the act, seeing as her secret had been put out into the open so quickly. Her sweet smile slipped into a wide smirk. "Except unlike those three, I got my powers back. MUE controls everything here, just like he controls your trio's powers that he stole."
"... MUE?" Usopp, despite his horror and sudden extreme fear of finding out that the hyper, spazzy girl was now the enemy, couldn't help but ask.
Ramoney unhurriedly rolled up the sleeves of her shirt, then realized that she had no long sleeves and instead pulled up her parachute pants a few inches. "Mysteriously Unnamed Enemy."
A pattern emerges.
With a determined look about her, Nami stared Ramoney down with a dark expression. "We're not going to let you get away."
"I really don't think I need your permission, kthx. And who said I was trying to get away? I have succeeded where the others did not. I lured you here. Now all I need to do is eliminate you two without any worries."
Hoping to buy some time as Usopp looked about wildly for a way to get out of the situation, Nami bit her lip. "What others?"
She was answered with a soft, but still quite evil and maniacal laugh. "Ah, yes, I forgot that you didn't know! Well, we're all a part of the F.N.F. Short for Fierce Ninja Force. And our leader, finding out that people from other dimensions were infiltrating into our world, decided to do the noble thing... and kill them off. Can't have strangers lurking about in One Piece, now, can we?" At this point, her smirk widened to show her clenched teeth. "Lera and Sarah were to be the first, as they had somehow managed to acquire devil fruit powers on their journey here. As we speak, they are probably getting eliminated..."
Snickering at Nami's angry look, Ramoney continued. "We've been trying to get at them for ages. Ever since Totoro Island. Pa'n Cayke was supposed to stop you all from moving on and reaching the next island. His job was to actually capture the two girls and bring them here, but sadly, that damn Marines and Gangster Crew interfered with that plan. Not only that, but that blasted Tracey saved you as well!"
Ramoney chose this point to hiss and wave her fist angrily, but at the raised eyebrows from the two Straw Hats, she moved on.
"And then on Penguin Island, Garske was meant to stop you as well. There, the idiotic Andyroo distracted him so much that he failed there as well. Finally, I was placed into Ben-ho Ross's crew to bring you down, but the fools of anime travelers got in my way! Our last resort was to bring you to Natsuko, where we had planted Nomac to incapacitate the two girls, but that Otis... grrr..."
Nami and Usopp exchanged glances of alarm. So many times that they were in danger, and yet they were oblivious this whole time? "Th-that can't be right, Ramoney Baloney. Garske and Pa'n Cayke wouldn't betray us..."
"Well, they up and did, no, didn't they? Oh, and by the way..." Ramoney snapped her fingers. A strobe light started working out of nowhere, along with an upbeat techno song as the girl plucked off her balog-na, dramatically chucking it away. "The name's Techno-Beat Ramona! Oh snap, bish!"
"I think now's a good time to run away, Nami." Usopp whispered loudly, overwhelmed by the music and flashing lights.
"Oh, you're not going to run away..." Ramona smiled widely as the techno music increased wildly. "It's time to bring the beat-down."
"Bring it, then!"
Usopp squawked in protest, not wanting any part in this as Nami brandished her weapon.
"It's on." Ramona said. That was all that needed to be said. With a loud revving of her parachute pants, she flew up into the air, twisting her body until she landed on the mast. Sideways. Crouching on it, she grinned.
"Ch..." Nami turned to face the girl. "A devil-fruit user..."
"Sticky-sticky fruit." explained the FNF user with a laugh. Her body flashed briefly. "Now I can stick to anything, anywhere... I'm totally about to pwn you."
Unbeknownst to anyone, Usopp was sneaking away. Strangely enough... it wasn't to run out of the situation. He had a plan.
With a high-pitched giggle, Techno-beat Ramona suddenly launched from the mast, direction at Nami. Which looked really cool with the strobe-light. Grimly, the navigator lifted her Clima Tact to block the punch from the girl, but she had a surprise coming her way.
As the attack was blocked, the staff was wrenched out of Nami's hands because it was attached directly to the other girl's clenched fist. With a deft movement, Ramona lashed out with her newly acquired weapon.
Eyes now wide, Nami scurried off out of range of the weapon. At least the enemy didn't know how to actually use the Clima Tact, but she seemed to know how to weild it well enough as a simple staff.
"Usopp, where the hell did you go?" The orange-haired teen shrieked as she sprinted across the deck, Ramona on her tail.
"HAH! C APTAIN USOPP SAVES THE DAY!"
It all happened in a flash, but with the strobe light, it didn't really seem that way. Usopp leapt out of the shadows, a large piece of spare sail in his hands, stretched out. As soon as Nami had run past him, he jumped forward to tackle Ramona and wrap her firmly in the cloth. And unfortunately for Ramona, the tackle that brought her down was so violent that it knocked her out. Her devil-fruit powers now rampant in her unconscious state, the stickiness factor kept the sail plastered to her firmly as dry glue.
Nami looked down at the mass of sail and passed out girl. "... good job, Usopp."
"No problem, dear Nami! All in a days work for Captain Usopp!"
"... what should we do with her?"
The pair stared down at the girl as the techno music and strobe lights died out. They looked at each other briefly, then at an empty barrel.
Two and two make four. And passed out Ramona plus empty barrel makes: let's squish her into a barrel and toss her overboard.
So at least on the Going Merry, the day was saved. The duo watched as the barrel floated off, not realizing what kind of pandemonium was still being caused inside of the castle of MUI.
"... where'd Sanji and Zoro go?" Sarah looked around blankly, scratching her head.
Lera looked just as bewildered, hands on her hips. "Weren't they right behind us?"
The two were in the bowels of the dark castle. Somehow, the group of four had become a group of two, and Ler-hah and Sar-hah were lost. The corridors were long and colored bright pink, but at least there weren't any zombie ninjas walking around yet. They seemed to have all been herded outside to attack, and the Gangster Crew was busy taking care of that.
And now, the girls just realized that they had lost Zoro and Sanji. Pausing at an intersection between two hallways, they peered down each one.
"We can't go back to look for them. We just need to keep going. Which one, do you think?" Lera peered down the left hallway with a dubious expression, already quite disgusted with the pink walls. The corridor appeared to be empty, but there was a strange light at the far end of it. Sarah's hallway, on the other hand, was angled to the right and looked the same as the rest of the halls they had gone down.
"I dunno, that left looks pretty good." frowned Sarah, moving from the right hallways to Lera's side. The two of them stared down into the hallway, not looking too pleased.
Ler-hah sighed. "Y'know, for a whole... final island, big showdown thing, I'm feeling a bit disappointed."
"... oh, shut up."
With an impatient shrug, Sarah finally made up her mind and headed down the left hall. Lera hurriedly followed, hand resting on her sword hilts. They walked quickly, getting closer and closer to the strange light.
As they continued to walk, they could begin to hear music in the background. Sarah wrinkled her nose as she listened, still walking. "You hear that?"
"... it sounds familiar." Lera nodded, looking around to see if she could spot the source of the music.
"... wait! Is that... Believe?"
"Holy crap, I think it is!"
The girls broke into a run, heading swiftly to the light at the end of the hall. Indeed, it was the cheery tune of "Believe," One Piece's second opening theme. It took a few more moments of frantic sprinting, but Sarah and Lera finally made it to the end of the hall, bursting through the bubble of light.
They were in for a disappointment.
It was a wide hall, painted in ridiculous patterns of pink, purple, yellow, and blue. And "Believe" was still playing loudly. Except...
"Wait, hold on! This isn't Believe!" Sar-hah gasped, turning in place to look around.
"It's Dreamin' of You! The English para-para version!"
"NUUUUUUUU!"
That was when the strange effects of walking through the bubble of light started to take effect. At first, it was subtle. Lera and Sarah's heads began to bob gently to the music... then their hips swayed in time to the beat... then all hell broke loose as their arms and legs, moving by themselves, broke into a perfect para-para routine.
"What the hell is going on?" They cried simultaneously, looking horrified as the evil of the music made their dancing more difficult.
"My heart is dancing so good,
I keep on dreaming of you.
The dream is taking me higher, this is true."
The song continued through two more choruses as the girls grew more tired and irritated with the entire situation.
"Ok..." Lera panted, continuously stepping side to side, "This is getting a little ridiculous. It's obvious that the bad guy's are doing this, but seriously, why?"
"I don't know!" answered Sarah irritably, going into a spin. "I just wish they'd freakin' stop."
"My world's alive 'cause I'm dreaming of you,
Everything's shi-"
"GOMU-GOMU NO... BAZOOKA!"
Out of nowhere, Luffy came bursting out from the wall, having demolished it with his attack. The song grinded to a halt and the girls tiredly sank to the floor, taking in deep breaths.
"Thanks, Luffy." Lera wiped the sweat from her brow, chest heaving.
Luffy waved it off, smiling. "I was looking all over for you guys! I found our devil fruit powers, they're in the other room! I'm gonna go look for the big bad guy now, I'll see you later!"
With a wave, the rubber boy ran out from the atrociously colored room, leaving Sarah and Lera to scramble to their feet again and stumble through the hole Luffy made leading into the parallel room. The walls were black and there were no lights. The only source of light was coming from the two sphereshovering in the middle of the room.
One was occasionally letting out sparks, while the other appeared to be made of wind.
"... are those our... devil fruit powers?"
"Looks like it."
The two girls approached the orbs, eyeing them. Lera was the first to stretch out a hand, but Sarah smacked at it.
"What're you doing? Don't touch it!"
Lera stared at her friend. "What? I want my powers back, and I'm pretty sure that to do so, I need to touch it, Sarah."
Without waiting for an answer, the dual swordswoman reached out to plunge her hand completely into the swirling orb of wind. There was a brief flash, lighting up her face, before the orb appeared to compress, then absorb into her. Then came silence, and it became a little darker in the room as one of the two sources of light disappeared.
Blinking, Sarah poked her companion. "You ok?"
"I, uh... think so..." Lera looked herself over, then, taking a deep breath, she floated effortlessly into the air. "I got my powers back! Hurry up and stick your hand in, Sarah, we need to get going."
With a nudge from Lera, Sarah grabbed her own devil fruit orb with both hands. A similar reaction occurred, with a soft buzzing of electricity. The entire room went dark, even Sarah's sparking hands eventually fading.
Lera spoke first. "Um."
"... what now?"
There was a dull thud, then all of the lights that had been in the room flickered into life. Sarah and Lera only managed to exchange wide-eyed looks before two fierce winds blasted them away from each other. Lera tumbled through one doorway, Sarah through the other.
Quite ominously, the doors clanged shut behind them, leaving the girls to the mercy of whatever was in the rooms that they had been dragged into.
The infamous swordsman, Roronoa Zoro... was lost.
"I think I'm lost." Zoro muttered, scowling as he looked around the dark corridor. Everything had been perfectly fine while he and Sanji had been running beside Lera and Sarah, but the girls had taken a turn, and then another, and before he knew it, the entire group was gone, leaving Zoro on his own. And now he had undoubtedly gone astray. To say the least.
"Yesss, I do think you're lost, too."
Zoro grunted, body freezing as his eyes darted around in their sockets, trying to find the source of the voice. If only it wasn't so damn dark in the hall... But he managed to spot the enemy. Glowering at the pair of red glowing eyes, he drew his swords. "Reveal yourself."
"Don't recognize me?"
Pa'n Cayke dropped from ceiling, where he had been perched. Baring his sharp little teeth, the bat person spread his wings, walking forward. "I'm afraid I can't let you go on any farther to help your friends. Your battle's with me."
Eyeing the foolish young bat, Zoro only smirked, sliding his last two swords back into their sheaths. "Since you're unarmed, I guess I won't need those."
"Don't underestimate me, human!" Panny hissed, red eyes flashing.
Five minutes later, Zoro wiped his sword of bat blood. Pa'n Cayke lay in a pathetic little pile in the middle of the dark hall, defeated. It had only been a simple matter to smack the back of his sword against the bat's head and knock him out. Rolling his eyes at the waste of time, the swordsman moved on to the next hall, hoping that he'd somehow soon find one of his crew members.
"Sarah-swannnn! Lera-chwannn!" Sanji called, running along and looking through each branching off hallway as he looked for the two girls. How could they have possibly gotten separated? He had been keeping such a close eye on them, too!
Hell, even Marimo had managed to wander off somewhere. He was completely alone.
... or maybe not.
Skidding to a halt, the cook listened hard. Yes, there was no doubting it. Someone was following him, and not every subtle. Every step the mysterious stalker took sounded like something soft was being smacked against the floor.
"... the hell?" Lighting himself another cigarette, the blonde waited for the enemy to draw closer. The slapping sounds got louder... and louder... whoever it was, they were getting near...
It didn't take too long. "Hah, I've got you now!"
It would've been all too dramatic... if not for the fact that the enemy... was Garske, the talking penguin from Penguin Island.
Sanji looked nonplussed. "The hell?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow down at the penguin.
Garske flopped his stubby wings in triumph. "You will not go any farther; I will defeat you here, curly eyebrow!"
"... are you kidding me?"
"I am not! With my devil fruit powers, I will overcome you! Hah!" With a furious little waddle, the penguin straightened himself, then began to grow. And expand. And get bigger. His devil fruit power... allowed him to change sizes.
Sanji slowly raised his head higher and higher as the penguin grew to outrageous proportions. So now he was reduced to fighting giant birds? A little ridiculous, to say the least, but if he had to...
With a sigh, the cook raised a foot, preparing to knock the enemy out in one blow. "Furanshie-"
"GARSKE! THERE YOU ARE!"
With a great entrance of giggling, squealing, and leaping, Andyroo, king of Penguin Island, came flying out of nowhere to latch onto Garske's massive head. Nuzzling the soft skin, the red-head beamed, "I've been looking everywhere for you! Ever since you left Penguin Island, my life has been a empty hole of emptiness! Wahh!"
The huge penguin's eye twitched briefly and he was about to swat the king impatiently from his head, but Andyroo had something else in mind. Sliding down to the floor, he grabbed Garske's flipper and began dragging him off, looking like it took him no effort at all to drag off the animal that looked like it weighed a ton.
Sanji was left to watch as Garske was bodily tugged away, squawking and cursing angrily. The cook shrugged, turning on his heel. He had been things to do, like, finding two girls.
"Sarah-swannn! Lera-swannn!"
And it seemed that melodramatic fights that ended way too prematurely for their own good were all over the place.
"... that wasn't so hard."
"Oh yeah? Who'd you have to fight?"
"... Nomac. Y'know, he has this funky speed-speed fruit think. Took me forever to beat him." Lera ran a lazy hand through her hair, leaning back on the wall against which she was sitting.
Sarah looked up from where she was laying down "Nomac? I got freakin' Carl!"
The other girl blinked, staring down at her friend. "That guy from the beginning? Who you hit while we were stealing clothes?"
"That's the one." Sarah wrinkled her nose in distaste. "He had the Ryuu-Ryuu fruit."
"Meaning?"
"He had a freakin' flamethrower, and when he used his powers, he turned into a dragon. I only beat him 'cause there was water on the floor and I electrocuted him. How'd you get Nomac?"
"Eh. I kinda freaked out and threw my sword at him. It just managed to clip him, but he tripped, so I hit him until he stopped moving." Lera beamed, sighing contentedly. "Of course, my leg is totally screwed up, so I can't move."
"Yeah, well, my feet got totally burnt. I'm gonna have scarring. Where the hell is Sanji? I need someone to carry me back..."
The girls fell silent briefly. They were now resting back in the chamber where they had gotten their powers back, and they were alone.
"Sarah-swannn!"
Sarah looked up. "Sanji?"
"Yo, Lera? Where the hell are you?"
"And Zoro?" grinned Lera, looking around. The friends looked at each other before lifting their head.
"YOU GUYS! WE'RE OVER HERE!"
"HURRY UP!"
Another voice joined the mix. "HEY! GUESS WHO I BEAT?"
"Luffy?"
The three males came torpedoing into the room. Luffy through the wall, and Zoro and Sanji through an actual door.
"Sanji!"
"Sarah-swan!"
"Zoro!"
"Lera!"
"Luffy?"
"You guys!"
"Lera?"
"Sarah?"
"... potato?"
The five walked out of the castle. Sarah and Lera were riding piggy-back on their respectful guys, and Luffy was bouncing on ahead of them.
"Yo, Luffy." Sanji nodded towards the rubber boy. "So who was the leader, after all?"
"Dunno! He never told me his name!"
"... figures."
"Well, that sucked." Lera gloomed, propping her chin on Zoro's head. "I have a bad feeling about this little adventure of ours, though."
"What do you mean, Lera?" Sarah looked over at her companion from Sanji's back.
"... I'll tell you later."
As the group passed the triumphant Gangster Crew, they all waved to each other.
"Thanks for the help!"
"No problem. Take care of yourselves."
Marshy Kyle, looting the bodies, looked up to bid the Straw Hats farewell before turning to Joshu Wa Gorgy, who was cleaning his bright yellow swashbuckler boots.
"So where to now, Gorgy?"
"No idea. But wherever we're going, we're totally gonna go and bust caps."
"Hell yes!"
And they lived happily ever after.
"It's time to go." Lera sighed to the crew, leg now thoroughly bandaged and her swords cleaned. The Mugiwaras looked shocked.
"WHAT?"
Sarah was standing with them. "Yeah, what?"
"I mean it. It's time we go. This is too cliché for us to stay. Everyone hates OC's in One Piece fics, afterall."
"I suppose that's true. Then I guess... this is goodbye."
The pair walked to stand in the middle of the deck, grinning sheepishly. Lera laughed softly, slinging her bookbag over her shoulder. "We'll watch you guys back home."
"Yeah, I'm sure we've missed at least 100 episodes since we've been gone."
The Crew looked confused. "Episodes?"
"Eh hehe... nevermind."
"Anyway..."
Smiling brightly, Ler-hah and Sar-hah ran forward to hug their favorite characters. Sarah buried her face in Sanji's chest. "I'll miss you, Sanji! Try to keep that cupcake recipe handy if I ever come back!"
"I'll always keep it with me, Sarah-swan! I just wish you didn't have to go!" Sanji sniffled, tears leaking from his heart eye.
Even Lera mustered enough nerve to jump up and glomp Zoro, who looked slightly frightened by the action. "Take care, Zoro. Be sure to train so that when I come back, I'll totally kick your ass."
"I could say the same thing, Lera." smirked the Marimo, finally returning the hug.
Luffy, Nami, and Usopp all watched, near crying, too.
A blue light suddenly surrounded the four in the middle of the Going Merry. Instantly, Lera and Sarah began to float up gently. Lera blinked as the force pulled her gently away from the swordsman. "Woah, it's like Escaflowne!"
"I wouldn't know, Ler-hah, I only watched the episodes with Dilandau and his burn moment…" Sarah yelled, trying to keep a tight hold on Sanji, but eventually getting pulled away, too.
"BYE ZORO!"
"BYE SANJI! I LOVE YOUUUUUU!"
The light was too strong, though. The girls were tugged up harder, away from Zoro and Sanji. As Lera and Sarah floated up, they waved to everyone.
"BYE LUFFY! BYE NAMI! BYE USOPP!" They even yelled, which was surprising.
"WE LOVE YOU, SANJI AND ZORO!" The two girls finally yelled together, waving furiously.
Zoro and Sanji stepped back to join the rest of their crew. They all waved to the girls, until the blue light sped them up into the sky, and they disappeared.
The two girls blinked, looking around at their surroundings. It was hard to believe, but they were back on Earth, in Lera's room. The rain storm outside had passed, and the computer monitor was blank.
"Sarah… please tell me I'm not hallucinating and that we really are back home…"
"We're home, Lera…"
The two of them stood from where they had been sitting, which was the floor. The fact they were back in their usual clothes didn't pass through their minds. Lera glanced gloomily at her hips, where two plastic katanas hung, but said nothing. There was no need to say anything. One Piece land was gone. They were home.
Sarah went to poke the computer monitor. "Think we'll ever get back?"
Her friend, with a sigh, sat down on her bed, shrugging. "Who knows? I hope so…"
They lapsed back into silence, staring sadly at the computer screen. Already, they missed their newfound nakama. Sanji and Zoro most of all, of course.
It was then that a thought occurred to Sar-hah as she glanced at the clock. "Hey, One Piece is on!"
"YEAH!" Lera jumped up excitedly, grinning.
They ran off to the living room, turning the television on. As they sat back, grinning as their companions appeared on the screen, they started to sing softly.
"I'm on fire, and now I think I'm ready… to bust a move… check it out, I'm rocking steady, go!"
THE END!
I have no more to say. xD I'm just so glad I finished this. It's not even thoroughly proof-read. xD Oops. Excuse any totally blatant mistakes in this thing.
I promised Sarah that it'd be done by Otakon. And it is. So there.
Couldn't you tell that the chapter slowly deteriorated in effort and it's... well-written-ness? Yeah. I rushed it, I won't deny it. I just wanted to finish it. I cut so many damn corners for this, it's not even funny.
But in any case. Sanji's Cupcakes has come to an end. Thank you, anyone and everyone, who read this and reviewed, or even just read this. This fic went on way too long xD It's so badly written, and I'll be the first to say it. But I didn't want to leave it hanging. So there ya go.
Thank ya, everyone. I'll see you around, yo.