Chapter Text
It was a good day for sailing. Calm waters, clear weather, nice winds. The conditions were there for the taking.
Not that any other conditions would’ve stopped Calypso. She had confidence she could brave whatever the Ocean decided to throw at her. Years of experience on the water gave her faith in her abilities, if not her own unique talent of sailing.
Which was why she wasn’t the least bit worried when she spotted a giant whirlpool right off the port side. Calypso whistled at the diameter. Something caught her attention and she shielded her eyes from the sun for a better look.
“No way.”
Yet when she pulled closer to the whirlpool, she found that there was in fact a small dinghy right on the edges, already swept in. There was a person on the boat, looking entirely too calm about being sucked into a whirlpool.
“Oi! You there!” she shouted, her voice carrying over the roar of the whirlpool. The boy in the dinghy perked up. “You need help?”
“Hey, that’s great!” And was it just her or were his arms getting closer— “Gum Gum!”
Hands attached to the ridiculously stretched out arms grabbed hold of her boat and then a body came flying at her. “Rocket!”
With a twang, he crashed into her, sending them flying backwards over one another. Calypso made sure she ended up on the bottom so as not to crush the boy. Though judging by his rubbery limbs, it wasn’t a huge concern.
Waving a hand through the air, she felt her boat follow her command, and soon enough, they were sailing away from the whirlpool. A light sea breeze blew through, tickling her face. She could almost hear the laughter if she strained her ears.
“Hey, thanks for the save!” A huge grin split his face, not at all in a rush to get up off her. “I’m Monkey D. Luffy, and I’m gonna be the King of the Pirates!”
She blinked at the introduction, his words echoing out over the sea, ringing with conviction and truth. Around them, waves lapped at her boat, bobbing them up and down something fierce before settling back into a calm. Briefly, another bright grin overlapped the boy’s in her mind’s eyes and she thought, oh, it’s you.
“Calypso, at your service. You gonna get off me?” she asked, sitting up so he could do just that.
“Oh, right.” He hopped to his feet and helped her up, showing off a strength that didn’t match with how scrawny he looked. “You feel funny!”
Calypso fought a smile, letting go of Luffy’s hand when he didn’t try to break the grip. “Yeah? How so?”
“Dunno!” Luffy smiled. “I’m hungry! Got any food?”
She chuckled, gesturing towards the stern. “There should be something back there. Knock yourself out.”
Luffy let out a whoop and raced off.
Doing one final check on the riggings, she headed back to her little cabin, feeling a bit peckish herself.
When she opened the door, she found a whole mess. The culprit sat on the table (on!) and was digging into an entire bowl of marinated chicken.
Luffy beamed at her between bites of her favorite chicken. “This is good! Are you a cook?”
“No, but I know enough.” Crossing over to the table, she yanked the rest of the chicken out of his grasp, ignoring his complaints. “The rest is for me. It took me a better part of yesterday to make this, and I’ll be damned if I don’t have some.”
“But Cal!!”
“Don’t make me throw you overboard!”
Later, after she cleaned up and Luffy kept trying to take her chicken with little success (he did manage to grab a big piece when she was occupied with a stain that somehow got on the ceiling), she headed back out to the deck with an overeager Luffy.
“We’ll be arriving at an island soon, did you want to get off there?” she asked, making minor adjustments to the sails to better catch the wind. She didn’t know about the boy’s plans, but this was a good opportunity to restock some of her food supply Luffy had managed to clean out.
“Land! Sounds like an adventure.” Luffy laughed, planting his hands on his hips. Facing the bow of the ship, he looked ready to take on whatever the world was going to throw at him, unafraid of the prospect of danger.
Calypso smiled. “Cool, just let me know when you want to leave, Captain.”
Luffy paused at the title usage, glancing back with wide, curious eyes. Calypso met his look head on, having already decided the second she heard this boy declare his name and dream to follow him.
A grin split his face and he laughed, sounding like sunshine and freedom. “Yeah, you’re my crew now!”
Calypso smiled, holding a fist out. “To the ends of the world and back.”
Luffy lit up and bumped her fist with his. “Yeah!!”
«»
The island had a small forest that offered a good amount of edible flora, though there wasn’t any fauna to be found.
“Whaat? No meat?” Luffy complained, trudging through the forest at a snail’s pace. Every so often, he’d find something that’d catch his eye and would literally drag Calypso over to see it for herself, no matter if she was in the midst of foraging or not. What a rambunctious kid.
“We can find meat on the next island. In the meantime, this can do for now,” she said, stowing away the few spices and berries she found. “I’m heading back to the boat so this can be kept cool. You wanna come with, or do you wanna explore?”
“I’ll go explore!” Luffy threw his hands into the air with obvious excitement. “See you later, Cal!”
And then he trampled through the forest with the self-preservation skills of a five-year-old. At least there weren’t any wild game for him to disturb.
Without a hovering Luffy around, it took half the time to get back to the boat. Dumping the assorted berries into separate containers, she screwed the lids on tight before putting them in the fridge. Hopefully that would deter Luffy just a bit before he ate them out of food again.
Absently, she checked the position of the Sun in the Sky. It was early morning when they first arrived, and now it was almost half past noon. The island itself wasn’t too large, so it was only a matter of Time before Luffy was done exploring.
Unless the ship she spotted docked on the other side proved to be trouble. Debating her plan of action, Calypso settled for waiting on the boat. Someone was going to come by sooner or later, and whether it was a friendly or a foe was up for debate.
“Hey, you! Are you the one after Lady Alvida’s head??”
Speak of the devil.
Glancing over, she found a trio of men, all wielding weapons and obviously hostile. Judging from the shared symbol she could see printed over their clothes, they were part of another pirate crew. Alvida, huh? The name wasn’t ringing any bells, so it was likely a crew contained in the East Blue.
This was perfect timing. She was starting to feel restless, and here was an opportunity to blow off some steam.
With that in mind, she leapt over the side of her boat and landed on the island. She grinned at the trio of fools.
“Sure am! Let’s say we get straight to fighting, shall we?”
«»
Koby was freaking out. He had just stood up to a pirate! But he couldn’t take it back, not now when he gathered the courage to stand up and fight for his dream.
That being said, he could still freak out over the possibility of dying, in the name of his dream withstanding.
“Good for you Koby!” Luffy grinned, looking completely relaxed even as Alvida’s iron mace swung down. Koby wondered how he could smile in the face of danger like this, wondered if he’d be able to have the same determination to pursue his own dream.
Before the mace could make contact, someone slammed into Alvida, knocking her over. When she tried to get up, another body flew into her, hitting her in the face and knocking her out. And as if to add insult to injury, a third body fell onto the pile.
Heads turned towards the culprit, who stood there with one hand on her hip. The woman had a shock of long turquoise hair tied back in a tight, thin braid. It almost reminded him of shallow, clear waters. She smirked. “Those looked like yours. I’m returning them.”
“Cal!” Luffy didn’t sound the least bit surprised, meaning he probably knew this woman. “You’re alright!”
“Of course I am, give me a little more credit, Captain.” The woman turned her attention to him and he stiffened under her gaze. He didn’t sense any hostility, but those sea green eyes felt very intense. “Who’s this?”
“That’s Koby! He’s gonna be a marine!” Luffy laughed, slapping a hand on his back that had him pitching forward. “Isn’t that great?”
The woman smiled and Koby relaxed a little. Luffy didn’t seem like someone who’d be friends with someone bad… maybe.
“Nice to meet you, Koby. I’m Calypso. Do you need a ride off this island?” she asked and Koby could cry tears of relief.
“I would be very grateful!” Koby bowed his head, smiling through his tears.
“Hey, you really think we’ll let you go??” one of the other pirates shouted, making Koby flinch and lift his head. Sure enough, the rest of Alvida’s crew looked to be gearing up for a fight.
“You’re going to stop us?” Calypso raised an eyebrow at them. “You and what Captain? Mine’s right here.”
“Shishishi! I got this, Cal!” Luffy stepped forward, reaching his arms out in front of him, except it just kept stretching and Koby nearly felt his eyes pop out of his skull at the sight of Luffy’s arms stretching far more than what the human body was capable of. “Gum Gum—!”
He managed to catch Calypso’s eye, who smirked down at him. “First time seeing a Devil Fruit in action? Can’t blame you.”
“Rocket!!”
Koby stared as Luffy bowled over Alvida’s entire crew in one go, stunned to silence.
“Man, that was fun! Are we ready to go?” Luffy turned towards them, hands on his hips and a grin on his face.
“Ready when you are. Coming along, Koby?” Calypso was already walking off even as she asked. Luffy rushed past him to catch up with her, filling her in on what had happened before she got here.
Koby glanced back at the fallen bodies behind him then shook his head, steeling himself with resolve. This was his chance to be part of the Navy.
“Thank you for the ride!”
Koby knew of Luffy’s dream, to be the King of the Pirates, which meant that should he become a marine, he’d be at odds with his friend. But just because marines and pirates were enemies didn’t mean that Koby couldn’t be friends with Luffy, still.
He hoped he could come to be as brave as Luffy.
«»
“I had a question.”
Calypso looked over to find Koby staring intently at Luffy, who had taken to sitting at the bow of the ship. The boy himself was seated on one of the boat’s side benches, legs crossed over another.
They were on their way to Yotsuba Island, which had the closest Navy base. She had a feeling about what Koby wanted to ask, but gestured for the boy to finish his thought.
“Earlier, you said something about a Devil Fruit,” Koby said, adjusting his glasses. “I’ve heard rumours of them, but what exactly are they?”
“Well, think of them as logic-defying powers given to you when you eat one.” Calypso held up three fingers. “There're three different kinds of categories these powers fall under, and depending on which type, you can either turn into an animal, your body transforms into a substance, or literally everything else.
She grinned, her hand falling back down to her side. “Of course, this all comes with a trade off of losing your ability to swim.”
“Seriously?” Koby gave Luffy a concerned look. “Isn’t that bad, then?”
“Well, that’s why you’ve got me on board.” Calypso glanced over at Luffy, making sure the boy fully knew this. “No matter what, I’ll always be there to catch you if you fall into the sea.”
Luffy grinned. “Shishishi, sounds good!”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of Devil Fruit did you eat, Luffy?” Koby asked, leaning forward. It was obvious the boy was curious, eyes shining with an eagerness to learn. “It looked a little like the transforming type.”
“I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, so now I’m a Gum-Gum man,” Luffy said cheerily, pulling his own face to an unnatural length. It snapped back in place with a twang, showing off the rubber consistency.
“I wouldn’t classify Luffy as a Logia, which is the transforming kind.” Calypso shrugged, absently fixing the position of the sail with a flick of her wrist. “It’s a little confusing, but if you can still grab hold of the person with your bare hands, it’s not a Logia.”
“So I guess it’s the everything else then.” Koby concluded, nodding to himself. A smile broke across his face. “Thanks, Calypso!”
She winked at the boy, adjusting the rigging. “Anytime.”
Eventually, they made it to Yotsuba Island. Even from a distance, the Navy base could be seen looming over the small town situated by the port. From this far away, Calypso could barely make out the cannons manning the outer walls. A peculiar sight, especially coming from a base that didn’t see much pirate activity.
“We’re finally here! We made it!!” Luffy cheered, hopping off the boat as soon as they got close to the dock. “Food!!”
“Ah, wait, Luffy!” Koby shouted after the boy, who’d gone running into town. He shot a panicked look back at her. “What should we do??”
“Go and catch up to him, I’m sure he knows where he’s going when it comes to food.” Calypso laughed as she got started on an anchor hitch. “I’ll find you guys after I’ve docked and checked out the market.”
Koby glanced between her and the quickly shrinking Luffy. “Okay then, we’ll see you later!”
With a hasty farewell wave, Koby scrambled off the boat. “Wait up, Luffy!!”
As soon as Koby was out of sight, she snapped her fingers. Around her, ropes began pulling themselves this way and that, furling the sail and securing the boat to the dock. The anchor splashed into the water and she stepped onto the docks with a whistle, leaving behind a properly anchored boat.
Now then! It was time for her to find out as much information as she could on this seemingly peaceful coastal town. Something told her there was much more to this place than meets the eye.
Finding the local market was easy enough. Catching a vendor’s eye, she slipped on a charming smile that never failed to lower people’s guards. “Excuse me, I heard some interesting rumours about this place and I was hoping you could either deny or confirm them for me.”
The man’s expression was hesitant, but at the sight of her wallet, it turned considering. “That depends on what these rumours are, miss.”
Her smile widened and she leaned in closer, lowering her voice to a whisper to ask, “Is it true that the Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro was captured here at this base?”