It has been a few days since their skirmish with the marines. And so everyone was doing their own thing.
Zoro was sleeping, Nami was keeping the course steady, Luffy decided to fish, Buggy was trying to make a new type of Buggy Bomb, and Aden was...well...
*BOOOM!!*
"What the hell was that!?" shouted everyone besides Aden. The sudden noise from the front of the ship scaring everyone.
Aden was currently stood on the prow of the ship, practicing a new technique he thought of.
As everyone approached him, they noticed a few things. First his hair was standing up in an impressive approximation of an afro. And second, they saw occasional sparks come from him.
Noticing their approach Aden turned to them.
"Hey guys. What's up?" he said nonchalantly.
"Don't you 'What's up?' us! What the hell was that noise!? It's like a lightning hit us or something!" Buggy shouted angrily.
"...Funny you should mention that.." replied Aden.
"No you didn't." said Luffy in disbelief.
"Sure did...Kinda." said Aden, part proud and part embarrased.
"Did what? What did he do, Luffy?" asked a confused Zoro.
"Errrr...I'll let bro explain." said Luffy nervously.
" Basically. Ever since getting my powers i wanted to push them to the absolute limit. Pretty early on i figured out i could manipulate the finer parts of air, to cause different reactions. I can create fire explosions, and i can form simple ice constructs. But all of these extra things cost a lot of energy and focus. And i tried to create lightning for a while now. But i never succeeded." Aden gave his simplified explanation.
"Until now right?" asked Luffy growing excited by the prospect.
"Until now." Aden confirmed with a smirk. "Well, mostly. Still needs work." he added.
"Hang on, what!?" Zoro interrupted "Are you saying you can create lightning!?" he asked in disbelief, which was shared among the others.
"Yup" said Aden popping the P.
"How in the hell can you even do that!?" came a disbelieving shout from Buggy.
" I'll show you. Stand back." spoke Aden as he turned back towards the water.
As he took a stance with arms stretched in front of him, palms facing up, he delivered his explanation.
"Okay, i begin by creating areas of air around my hands, high pressure in one hand, low in the other." he explained as air visibly shimmered around his hands.
"Then, i heat up the high pressure air, and cool down the low pressure." his right hand began to form a fog-like cloud, and his left let off a cold vapour, as small ice crystals formed.
"When i do that, i can proceed to the next step. Putting the two together." he continued, putting his hands above one another, with palms facing towards each other, his left being the top hand, fingers pointed right, and his right hand being the opposite.
"From here i begin to move the two areas of air through one another. The particles of ice, steam and hot and cold air moving at rapid speed, begin to produce electric charge"
the cloud between his hands began to spark with building static charge.
"I keep this up for a bit, until a charge builds up high enough, and then i release it forward."
Aden finished by pushing his hands forward, with point and middle finger on each hand extended, pointing ahead.
(Sidenote. No idea if that is scientifically sound. I just made something up. Please continue.)
*ZAP-BOOOM*
What followed was a lightning strike of wild proportion. While the majority of the charge flew in a more-or-less intended direction, there was still some...kickback. Aden's hair got even spikier, and he caughed a bit of smoke.
"Kinda like that..*ehem* Still working on it."
Looking at the others, he noticed their slack jaws and sweaty foreheads.
"Did he just...?" Zoro
"Yep." Luffy
"From his bare hands..?" Buggy
"Yup." Zoro.
"Did you seriously just create a lightning cloud in your hands!" shouted a scared navigator.
"...I thought that was obvious." Aden replied, dusting himself off.
" ...Okay. That's it! I'm done being surprised by these things." said Nami with finality.
"Took you long enough." said Luffy with a grin.
"What even are you people!?" screamed a frustrated clown.
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A few hours after the lightning incident, the crew approached an island with a nice looking village on it.
"Looks nice. Hopefully we will be able to get a better ship here. Sailing on a navy ship is all kinds of weird." Luffy spoke excitedly.
"True enough." agreed the others.
"Stop right there, scum!" came a voice from the bushes, as a stranger slowly walked out.
"This is my territory. I am Captain Usopp. Leader of the Usopp Pirates. My crew is eighty thousand men strong!" the nowcomer said, followed by a bunch of flags being raised from the bushes.
"So if you wanna survive, you best leave!"
"Seriously? He can't thing we're that stupid, right?" asked Buggy to Aden.
"Whaat!? Eighty thousand!?" shouted Luffy.
"...Nevermind..."
"Heh. Try more like four people. Only six of those flags are moving, meaning three others. Right, mighty Captain Usopp?" said Zoro.
"I..I don't know what you're talking about. Leave." said Usopp, clearly getting nervous.
Taking a deep breath, Aden released a huge gust of wind towards the bushes. The leaves and small twigs flew off, revealing three kids holding the flags.
"Wanna count again, Great Usopp?" Aden mocked the boy.
Suddenly a lot more scared, Usopp was frozen in place.
"Hang on..You look familiar... Oh yeah, you're Yasopp's kid!" Luffy spoke with sudden realization, breaking the tension.
"What? You know my father?" Usopp asked.
"You're right. It is him." added Aden, nke seeing the resemblance. "Yeah we know him. He's a friend."
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After a bit of talk, the group plus Usopp moved to a tavern.
"So, you need a ship?" asked Usopp.
"Yeah. The one we came here on is not suitable, and the other one is too small." replied Aden.
"I have a friend. She might be able to help you. I can talk to her." said Usopp with thoughtfuly.
"That would be great. We don't have the money though." said Nami.
"That shouldn't be a problem."
"Okay. Let's go!" cheered Luffy, prompting everyone to get up and go visit the friend Usopp mentioned.
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"Hey, Little Thief." Can i talk to you alone for a sec?" Aden said to Nami as they were a bit further from others.
"Erm..Sure. What about?" Nami replied confused.
Guiding her to an alley between shops, the air suddenly got colder.
"Cards on the table, Little Thief. What's your game, huh?" Aden asked seriously.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Don't play with me, Nami. You've been looking for a chance to split since you joined us. And do not lie to me! I can tell." said Aden with growing anger.
"What are you on about?! What is wrong with you?" Nami responded nervously.
"So you are not working for Arlong? You have his tattoo just for fun, is that it?!"
He did not really know until recently. His memory of the plot was mostly gone, but he spotted the tattoo on accident when he used his wind to blow away the bushes. It also caused Nami's sleeve to fly up for a second, revealing the tattoo to him. Seeing the tattoo triggered a memory flash. Not much, just an image of a shark fish-man, his name and the fact he was the bad guy in the story.
"How did you...?" Nami began to panic. Seeing what Aden was capable of, she was scared of what he might do to her now.
"Not important. What is important is this. Are you working for him willingly, or not?"
Seeing the serious look on Aden's face, Nami knew she had to tell him the truth. Somehow she sensed his true intention. He meant well. He wants to help her.
As Nami was having an internal debate, Aden was having different thoughts.
"Well. She certainly is a bit different than i recall. I'm pretty sure she would run off the moment i mentioned the shark, if this was the story. As for my old crush on her... I don't know. Best give it time and see. Anyway where was i?"
Coming out of his musing, Aden noticed a shift in Nami's expression. He truly wanted her to admit the truth. Not to use it against her, but to help her. Seeing her struggle, he gave in.
"Hey. I can see that it's not easy for you, so how about this... You promise not to betray us and you tell everyone the truth. And i promise you, i will kill Arlong when we get there."
Looking up in shock at what she heard, she wanted to scream at him, that he can't kill Arlong. But remembering his raw power and occasional bouts of casual cruelty, she stopped herself.
"If anyone can kill Arlong, it's him. He's stronger than i imagined. The lightning is a testament to that." Nami thought to herself.
"Do you swear you will kill him? Can you promise me i will be free of him?" Nami asked with a shaky voice, with tears in the corners of her eyes. She herself did not know what pushed her to trust him, but here we are.
"You have my word, Little Thief. I swear to you, he will die by my hand." Aden promised without an ounce of doubt.
"Okay. Okay." said Nami finally "I will choose to trust you, even if you are a pirate. Don't make me regret it, blowhard!" she added with a slight lift in her mood.
"Wouldn't dream of if, hoarder." Aden joked back.
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(Well here we go again. Hope you enjoy. I welcome feedback, and all constructive criticism. Thanks for reading.)