YooHoo! (A One Piece Fan-Fiction)

Omake 2. Daddy's vow

YooHoo! 

- An arbitrary adventure of the nautical variety -

Omake 2. Daddy's vow

"When I was twenty-something, I asked my father, "When did you start feeling like a grownup?" His response: "Never."" 

-Shannon Celebi

Synopsis: The chat between Aiko and Rayleigh that was never published...

After my impromptu dabble at jumping between worlds and narrowly avoiding conflict on both sides- leopard print fetish freak and Law presumably going to be breathing down my neck when I returned, I found myself washed up far away from any potential massacre scene the Dark Doctor could inflict on my poor pitiful self. 

Coughing a wad of bitter sea water out of my mouth as the tide hurled me up onto shore, again might I add; I clambered unsteadily to my feet and began to wander inland.  

"Aiko?" I whip round to the location of the voice. 

"Father?" 

"What happened to you?" he says scrutinising my soaked clothes. I notice two others next to him, one wrapped severely in bandages and a giant fish man?! 

"L-Law chased me; I t-t-t-ripped, fell in the w-water, w-woke up in s-s-someone's bathtub u-until they ca-came in and then j-j-j-umped back..." I say idly, like it was the most common of things. I guess it is becoming second nature to me now- jumping between dimensions that is, not waking up in strange places; no, that's really starting to weird me out. 

"You woke up in someone's bathtub...?" the giant fish states. 

"I thought you needed salt water to jump- Rowena always said she did, so I presume you do too?" Rayleigh-Father (it still feels really weird calling him that...) says.

"...I-I k-know of s-s-someone who b-bathes in s-salt w-water..." Leopard print fetish man...  

The three stare at me blandly, deciding not to comment until my father clears his throat, "I never introduced you did I? Jinbe, Luffy, this is my daughter, Aiko." 

"..." Jinbe says nothing, but gives me a begrudging nod. 

Mugiwara however, in his heavily bandaged state and the motif of his straw hat hanging about the back of his neck, jumps up and points at my sea drenched form "Ah! You're that girl from Sabaody!" 

Didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to point at people? 

"H-H-Hello a-again..." I'm trying really hard not to think of all the times his poster has watched me changing in my dorm room... why is he still staring?! It's freaking me out! 

Dad clears his throat again, clasps my arm and starts to drag me away from there, "Think about my offer will you Mugiwara, and Jimbe make sure to keep an eye on him, Trafalgar will go on the war path is he tears his stiches." I shudder at the thought of an angry Law. "So we never got to have that chat eh, Aiko?"  

"L-Law-Uh! Mr T-Trafalgar dragged m-m-me away b-b-before w-we could a-and then I-I-I jumped a-and-" 

"It's okay I understand that this is going to a frequent happening. I'm used to it with your mother."  

"D-did she j-j-j-jump often then?" 

"The day we found her, we'd just left from Water 7" And I have no clue as to where that is y'know... "We'd had a ship built, the Oro Jackson... by a friend of ours you could say. Him doing so landed him in a bit of trouble-" he pinches his thumb and index finger together in a minimising motion and unease squirts through my veins. More like a lot of trouble, huh? "We'd embarked; Roger was prating around with a spy glass, and suddenly shouts that there's something bobbing about in the water. I took a look but saw nothing. Dismissed it as a sea king or something. Roger babbled on about it being a human, but nothing resurfaced so we let it be. Found out when she told us about the ability it was your mother who Roger had spotted."  

So mum left out the detail where she surfaced in the ocean before she jumped to an island then... maybe because she was in the water for too long, the same thing happened with me in the bath- I could use the same body of water to jump with. I'm guessing she didn't want me to know she messed up her first jump, or just wanted to tell me how she met dad... hmm... 

"Anyways, at the next island we docked at, which was uninhabited- can't for the life of me remember its name in my old age-" he scratches his head, "-Had us stumbling upon your mother. She literally threw herself out of the greenery and down the beach towards us. Roger always had a soft spot for women, heck he doted on Rouge- would have also doted on Ace if he'd been around to meet him and if his son was still... still alive... Mah, there's a saying that its bad luck to have a woman on-board a ship, but be damned if Roger cared, he invited Rowena on board- couldn't leave a pretty lookin' lady all alone on a dangerous island after all. The rest as they say is history." 

"I-I'm c-c-curious... H-h-how old is 'I-In my old a-a-age'?" 

"Ah... I'm nearing my golden years for sure..."  

"M-mum's in h-h-her mi-mid forties and y-your nearing s-s-sixty?!"  

"She did mention the age gap, no?" he slips a silver flask out of his cloak and takes a swig unabashedly.  

"Y-Yes! B-But I d-d-d-didn't think it w-was that ¬large!" he shrugs dismissively.  

"Oi! Aiko-Ya!" Oh great, that's all I need... My father watches from the corner of my eye as I quiver lightly.  

"H-Hello, L-La-Uh! Mr Trafalgar..." 

A large pile is shoved into my arms when he reaches us, which I recognise to be my bag and shoes. "There's no need for formalities Aiko-Ya, just call me Law or captain. Your stuff." He flashes me a dangerous smirk. 

"...T-Thank you!" I squeak.  

"It's no problem Aiko-Ya, you said you wanted them back, and I wanted them off my sub if you're going to be flipping back and too unpredictably. Can't have you blaming me for your negligence can we?" He smirks again and I shudder. 

"Oi-Oi" My father states, staring the pirate captain down, "It's not an ability to be laughed at, the day Rowena got lost overboard in a freak storm had me worried sick- you just wait until you've witnessed it first-hand then try laughing!" Law looks slightly ashamed, an uncharacteristic grimace on his face. 

"H-He 'kinda a-a-already has..." Dad shifts his gaze to mine questioningly, "I-I-I slipped o-off the subs r-r-railing a-and h-h-he couldn't g-get th-there to s-s-s-stop me q-quick enough..."  

"I was merely caught off guard Aiko-Ya. I'm also not going to be there to catch you when you fall every time." Sure whatever helps you sleep at night... 

"You and I need a little chat I think" Dad says, clapping an arm around Law's shoulders and pulling him away down the beach. Oh not a good sign, Law's sweating... Uh-oh, attack of the livid father! 

"I t-t-thought you wanted t-to catch u-up w-w-with me?!" I say desperately trying to separate the two, knowing that Law will extract his revenge later on because of my influence over my Daddy... 

"I can later; we've got all the time in the world sweetheart! Plus Mr Trafalgar and I need to have a man's talk if you're going to be trailing his journey when you jump." 

Run for your life Law! Run while you still can!

PLAYLIST FOR THIS OMAKE: 

"Again" - Yui (Acoustic version)