Chapter Text
Rose
"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet..." — William Shakespeare
“ALRIGHT!” cheered a dark-haired captain, his arms stretched so that his back curved with the pull of them. “LET’S GO!”
“Don’t get too excited,” scolded the orange-haired woman beside him. “We’re only here to replenish our supplies, and then we’re leaving.”
“ Shishishi, ” he laughed. “I’ve got a good feeling about this place! Look how tall the trees are!”
“Don’t—” the woman’s voice trailed off as she looked beside her to see a straw hat already disappearing down the shore towards the dense treeline. “—run off… ugh! That idiot! Are we supposed to follow him?” she asked with her arms crossed over her chest. A green-haired swordsman stood beside her, looking particularly unmotivated as their captain scampered off for a solo adventure.
“Nah,” he said. “How much trouble can he get into on such a small island?”
“Woooah,” Luffy breathed out, his feet skidding to a halt as he caught sight of an oddly shaped tree on his rampage through the forest. “Weird!”
The trunk curved like a person, the branches their arms that outstretched to the sky until they burst into hundreds of healthy green leaves that tumbled down like curtains over them and the surrounding flowers. As Luffy stepped closer, he observed that a bump on the side of the tree looked to be a face tilted towards the ground.
“What a funny tree,” he said as he prodded the bump. “You almost look like a girl!”
Luffy leaned back as a pair of eyes suddenly appeared to snap open from the bump on the tree, revealing two large green eyes focusing on him.
“Cool!” he loudly exclaimed, and reached out to touch the bump once more—
Thwak!
A branch smacked him across the face, sending the pirate stumbling backwards. “Hey!” he yelled as he bounced back. “What are you hitting me for?!”
“What are you touching me for?!” the tree shouted in response as it shook its leaves like a dog shedding its winter fur. “Do you always go around touching people without their permission?”
Before his eyes, the skin of the tree’s face changed from jagged bark to soft skin. Branches shrunk until they fell atop her head in long strands of white hair that dropped down her back in unruly tangles.
Rapidly, Luffy shook his head. “I wasn’t touching a lady! You were a tree!”
And yet, before him stood a pretty girl.
“I can be both,” she said with her hands on her hips.
Luffy overwhelmingly agreed. “Totally! Can you do that again? I wanna see you become a tree!”
“Why?” she asked with a furrow of her brow. “What do you want with my island?”
“I didn’t know it was your island,” he replied. “Me and my crew are here to find meat!”
Meat. His mouth was already watering at the thought.
“You’ll be disappointed,” said the girl-tree.
“What? Why?!”
“They don’t eat meat here. They’re vegetarians.”
“WHAT?!” He shouted, followed by another, “WHY?! What kind of dumb island is this?!”
Hands against her hips, she leaned into Luffy’s space with a face twisting with anger. “This island isn’t dumb. You’re dumb! There are no animals here to eat. There’s only plants.”
“But why?” he wailed.
“Because there just is,” she huffed. “Just go find another island already. You won’t find what you’re looking for here.”
“Maybe,” Luffy replied. Pinning his hat into place with a hand against the back of his head, he mimicked the girl and leaned into her space until she was forced to move backwards. “You should come join my crew!”
“What?” came her scoffed reply. “Why would I want to go anywhere with you?”
“Because I’m going to be King of the Pirates!”
On the outskirts of the forest, Nami’s ears perked up to the sound of shouting. “Do you hear that?” she asked the man beside her—
Or rather, the man that had been beside her.
Nami felt a vein on her forehead tick. “What the hell is wrong with those two?” With a grumble, she continued to move along the path towards the small village. They would be sorely mistaken if they thought she would be chasing them down, or procuring their supplies herself.
" Ooooooi! Come back!"
"Would you just leave me alone already?!" she shouted, flabbergasted by the ongoing pursuit as she led the way through the thick trees. They were so close to the edges of her small village, and she wouldn’t dare drag it any closer. "I don't want to join your stupid crew!"
"My crew isn't stupid!" came the indignant response. The hairs prickled on the back of her neck as she realized by the sound of his voice just how close the boy chased behind her. He was ridiculously fast. "My crew is awesome! We're going to sail the Grand Line and I'm gonna become King of the Pirates!"
How did it come to this? The day had been like any other, and she was ready for it to end that way as well, until he came barging into her life.
That King of the Pirates .
It had been too long since she had properly used her legs, but she still pushed them like a hellhound was on her heels— and there might as well have been. The strange boy that had awoken her from her slumber had followed her without hesitation when she ran away from him, and by the sounds of his excited shouting, he wasn’t about to give up the chase.
Fingers grazed the back of her shirt before a rubber arm wrapped around her waist—
With a panicked breath, her upper half dissolved into a flurry of colourful flowers. The flowers scattered behind her as her legs continued running forwards, unimpeded. She heard the boy sputtering through a mouthful of petals as her upper body reformed out of his grasp. "You'll have to do better than that," she tittered.
With a shocking enthusiasm, he shouted, “SO COOL!”
She couldn't help it—
Being humble just wasn’t in her nature .
She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes shining with mirth. “Right?!" The straw-hatted boy was still right behind her, his clothes now dotted with delicate petals. Rudely, she added on, "I wish I could say the same about your creepy arms!"
"Shishishi! I'm just a rubber man!" Unbothered, he laughed as he swiped his arms towards her again. His hands clapped through her stomach without resistance. It left orange petals the same shade as her shirt stuck in the gaps between his fingers, and he stared at them with a large smile. "Woah! Am I holding your stomach now?"
"Don't be stupid!" she said as she became whole once more—
And then she promptly tripped over an upended root, her attention too focused on the boy behind her rather than the trail ahead. He let her fall, and she hit the ground face-first to the sound of his laughter.
"Shishishi , you're pretty dumb!"
She righted herself and stood with a huff, and glared sharply at the boy and his straw hat. "I don't get your strategy, here."
"I don't have a strategy," he said, dumbly .
She rolled her eyes and blew long white strands from her face. "Yeah, that much was obvious. Why would you want someone like me in a pirate crew, anyway? You know that I’ll be useless surrounded by water, right?”
He laughed, his head thrown back. “I don’t care about that— you should join because you’re cool!”
He thought she was cool . And that was somehow enough to want her to be a part of his crew? This man was either the biggest idiot in the East Blue, or the best judge of character—
Because she was cool, and she thought it was particularly kind of him to notice.
“But—” she blinked. “You don’t even know my name.”
He blinked owlishly, mirroring her with his wide eyes. "What is it, then?"
"That's not the point," she responded with a scowl. "You don't know anything about me, besides the fact that I ate the Ueki Ueki no Mi."
"I didn't know that," he denied with a shake of his head. "I just thought you looked cool as a tree! And that thing you did with your stomach— can you do that everywhere? Are you made of flowers? Do you poop?"
“Yeah, I poop. I’m a person, sometimes I’m just something else, too. But still, thinking that I’m cool— which, yeah, I totally am,” she smugly remarked before continuing with a curious expression, “That can't possibly be enough of a reason to want me to join your crew?"
"Why not?"
"Well—" she paused, and gave it a moment’s thought. "I don't have a good answer to that, actually. Cool is cool."
The boy grinned, his wide smile taking up most of his face. "Then you agree! You should join my crew!"
Was it really so easy?
When he smiled, she thought it looked like sunshine— like a force of nature. It was just warm enough to crack her frozen heart.
"You're… pretty dumb," she said, but a smile of her own was spreading across her face. "But I guess that I could join your crew, on one condition."
"ALRIGHT!" he cheered, his hands tossed high into the air. "Now turn into a tree again!"
"Oi. I haven't told you what the condition is yet, dummy," she responded with a roll of her eyes. She crossed her arms across her chest and tried to look taller than she really was. "I want flowers."
"Flowers?" he repeated. His arms were still held into the air, his joy unimpeded by her lack of reception. "That's easy! I can get you lots of flowers, no problem!"
She blinked. She blinked again. "You really want me in your crew?"
"Sure!" was his fast reply, smile endlessly bright and his head nodding furiously. "It’ll be easy to get you flowers, if that’s your dream. I'm gonna sail the whole Grand Line, so I'm sure we'll find tonnes of flowers! You can have as many as you want!"
Somehow, it was that easy. He made it that easy.
"Deal," she quickly said, and stuck out a hand for her new captain to take before he could change his mind. "As long as I can have as many flowers as I want, I'll join your crew."
His hand wrapped around hers, his grip tight and his face brighter than anything she had ever seen. She began to think that not even sunshine compared to the strength of his smile. " Shishishi! Deal! Now will you be a tree again?"
"One more thing," she said, and laughed when his grin turned into a pout.
"You already said 'deal'! We shook on it, like men!" He shook her hand, still encased in his own, pointedly up and down.
"You're right," she promptly agreed. "But we still don’t know each other’s names, that’s all."
"Oh!" he shouted. "My name's Monkey D. Luffy, and I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"
"You mentioned that pirate part," she pointed out with an amused smile. "Funny how that came before the name. Introductions are important, you know.”
Luffy laughed, his eyes closed with the force of his smile. "Shishishi! I guess I forgot! So what’s your name, then?”
"They call me—"
"TERRA!"
With wide eyes and an innocent whistle, she poked her head over the railing to meet Nami's rage. "Yes, Nami dearest?"
The redhead was seething, her tightened fists raised and wagging at the girl above. "Why is there a tree in the bathroom!?"
"I have no idea what you mean," she innocently replied. "There's always been trees in the bathroom."
"I MEAN THE ONE IN THE SHOWER, IDIOT!"
"My babies need water!" she cried, and pointed towards the front of the ship where Luffy was napping against the masthead. "Take it up with Luffy if you've got a problem! He says I can have as many plants as I want!"
Nami mimed strangling her. "We're surrounded by water! The shower is for people, not plants!"
"I can't hear you over the sound of our captain's orders," she sang in response, and rolled back over to lie on the deck. "I'm busy photosynthesizing now, let's talk later!"
Thunderous steps pounded up the stairs, and Terra rolled to her feet with a yelp as Nami and her swinging fists came into view. "DO YOU THINK I'M AN IDIOT, HUH?! OI— GET BACK HERE, YOU WEED!"