MidwayLives
"What's your favorite scary movie...?"
(Hey there! Consider this just more or less a 'proof of concept' of a crossover idea I've been forming between two franchises I'm fond of: The Dresden Files and One Piece! In running with this idea, I liked the feeling of Harry being wanted by the WG for being something of an anomaly('magic???' 'he can swim but he MUST have devil fruit powers??') and ends up tagging along with the Straw Hats throughout most of their canonical adventures with a few breaks here and there to allow for some unique differences. In this case, instead of bumping into Ace while hunting for Luffy to kill him/turn him into the WG to become a warlord, Blackbeard comes across Harry! Having had a bad feeling about this guy since he and the Strawhats met him back in Jaya and BB figuring he'll capture 'The Wizard' that the WG's been whinging about, the two come to blows! If this takes off and I end up vibing with the end result, I may go the distance and turn this into a full story! Thank you and please, enjoy!)
It hadn't been long. What, only a couple of months or so? Since I was punted into this world by a smarmy bastard dressed to the nines with a strange ability. The asshole chalked it up to having eaten a Devil Fruit, something I still couldn't quite wrap my head around. Popeye eating spinach was one thing. That was a cartoon. Fun for the kids and all that. But eating an apple and being able to shoot flames out of your hands or get the consistency of rubber? Felt less like I'd been shifted to another world altogether and more like I'd been written into the funny pages. This guy claimed to have devoured the 'Window-Window Fruit' which allowed him to see across vast distances. If you were on the other side of a country from him, he could activate his powers and see what you were up to. He could step through the proverbial window and meet up with you. Sounded pretty useful if you were to ask me. Quick way to cut through all the hustle and life-threatening bustle of crossing over into the Nevernever. Only it came with a couple of drawbacks. The fruit didn't just stop at spanning countries or even entire islands, it went as far as allowing the user to see into other universes. Now that kind of information overload could drive a person a little wacko and if my hunches were right (and usually they were, for better or for worse) then it'd done just that.
The other big-name drawback being one that came with all Devil Fruits: you could never swim again. Even sitting in a bathtub could drain you. I could never, taking a nice warm shower was one of the things that I still looked forward to. Plus, the thought of being frozen, unable to do a damn thing to save myself if I were to just be a bit clumsy and fall into a body of water? Chills.
Anyhoo, this guy accidently opens a window into my world (oh yeah, other universes exist. Glad I got firsthand confirmation on that) and pulled me in. When I'd understandably asked why, I got the usual bad guy runaround along with a side order of vague philosophical mumbo jumbo. With some mocking sanctimony for dessert.
"Lalalalala, you shouldn't be so nasty, Mister Dresden! If it weren't for me, you would have died! I pulled you right before that bullet struck you! I even brought your boat with you! Wouldn't you say that's more than generous, hmmmmm? Lalalalala!!!"
That's another thing about this place. People love to laugh in all kinds of way. Makes me wonder if anyone thinks that I've got a unique laugh back home and they're just too polite or embarrassed for me to wanna admit it. Also, if you're thinking I'm glossing over the whole 'being shot' bit....then you'd be right! The time to really just sit back and reflect on that just hasn't come up. Because I'll be frank with you, this world SUCKS. Never have I missed the streets of Chicago more than after going from island to island with everyone having it's own set of problems that only seem to be solved by finding the biggest asshole and punching them right in the face. Pirates suck and while there's a few outliers, the government (sorry, WORLD government) sucks just as much nuts but they're at least not pillaging and massacring people? Mostly?? While I was on my own for a good while when I first landed here, I came across a strange kid.
Kid had a body like those old Stretch Armstrong dolls and had some kind of dream. He wanted to be 'King of the Pirates' which, hey, sure. Dream big or go home I say. Not really having much in the way of friends, I struck up a friendship with rubber man and all kinds of hijinks ensued. So much in fact that you'd probably have to splice in some filler here and there because it'd be just waaaay too much to digest if I just explained it to you all right here and now. While I was trying to hunt down the Laughing Man who trapped me here, I was also apparently helping Luffy and his crew reach their own goals. Helping pirates wasn't exactly what I'd seen myself doing at any point in my life and it was maybe more than a little morally ambiguous?? But we got to kick a tyrannical government in the teeth every now and again so I couldn't complain too much. Luffy had offered me a spot on his ship and even a place in his crew. 'C'mon Harry, I've never even HEARD of wizards until I met you! You've GOTTA join my crew!' 'Well, I'm flattered, really I am! But living the life of Long John Silver just ain't for me, bud.' 'Long John who...?' 'Nevermind.' rinse and repeat. I didn't have a damn clue where I'd be going without their help so as much of a pain as it was to run the Water Beetle-a ship given to me by my half-brother Thomas whose presence I was sorely missing. He'd fit in here no problem. Put him on the picture of a 1980s swashbuckling romance novel and it'd be 100% pitch perfect. Oh and he'd have to be shirtless of course, as you do-by myself, I did just that and it strode alongside Luffy's ship, the Sunny without a problem.
There were ups and downs, I gave my input when it was asked for and some times when it wasn't. I'd like to think that I'd formed enough camaraderie with the Straw Hats to give my opinion. Besides, no matter the universe, wasn't anywhere where I couldn't somehow talk my way in or out of trouble. Okay, USUALLY it was the former but that was besides the point. Conflict happened and we'd straighten whoever needed a good ass kicking and then move on.
Until we got to a place called Banaro Island...
Walking across the street with a handful of meat tucked under each arm, Luffy came to a stop next to me. For some reason the kid seemed to have a knack for noticing when something was up. Which, hey all the better because it wasn't too hard to confuse or befuddle the kid.. "Mrmmf? Warry? Sumtin wrong?" Luffy asked, a good chunk of that meat that he'd taken(probably without paying) already stuffed in his mouth. I blinked, shaken from my thoughts and shook my head. "Huh? No, everything's fine. Hey Luffy, why don't you go ahead and catch up with the others? I got something I need to do. Wizard business and all that."
Luffy nodded in such a manner that you'd think I'd jut bestowed some sagely wisdom upon him.
"You've gotta poop, right? Wizards do poop, yeah?"
I stared at him for a good long while.
"Harry?"
"Yeah. Yeah, wizards poop. We pee too."
"Whoa!!!" Luffy and a couple of his crewmates really got a kick out of the whole 'yer a wizard harry??' thing. Magic as I understood it just didn't really seem to exist here. Which also probably explained why I had wanted posters of me(with a hat for some damn reason). With how corrupt this universe's government seemed to be, I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to tie me to a slab and cut me open. See what makes me tick. Kind of like a fantasy Area 51 if you think about it. Wasn't too keen on all that. But it wasn't the marine grunts that got me all tensed up. Back on an island called Jaya, Luffy and I'd met a strange guy. Big-boned, hairier than a gorilla, and friendly enough? But something just didn't sit right with me and I think Luffy and Zoro caught it as well. If you'd asked me to put it to music, I'd struggle with it but the guy just didn't give off good vibes. Lo and behold that on the island where we happened to be going, here he was with what I could only assume to be his crewmates roaming around. I wasn't sure what and I wasn't going to let the Strawhats or the people of this island find out when it was too late to do anything about it.
I gripped my blasting rod and shifted off into the depth of the crowd. I could hear Luffy calling for me but I sounded him out. If everything went as well as I'd hoped it would, I'd wrap this up and get back to the Water Beetle and take off with them before things got too out of hand. Little did I know that'd just be too good to be true. The crowd started to part and I could hear mutterings from the locals. 'he's a monster!' 'just him?? they all are! why did they come to our island?!' 'let's get out of here before things get really bad! somebody call the marines!' Coming to a stop a few feet from the guy and his boys, I slammed the end of my staff against the ground and exerted my will. The man pulled out a flask of alcohol and laughed as he saw me.
"Zehahahahah! You're him! Harry 'The Wizard' Dresden! I remember you alright! We met a while back didn't we, huh? Fancy meeting you here!" The man said with a friendly smile on his face. To be honest, I didn't get any immediate feelings of hostility off him. It was almost as if he really was happy to see me again. If anything, that just made me tense up even more. "Yeah. Back on Jaya, we bumped into each other. Funny that you just so happened to be here. If I were a betting man I'd go as far as to say that you're following our ships." The ships being the Thousand Sunny and the Water Beetle of course. Then one of the guys to the main man chimed in. Big guy with heavy luchador vibes. Also looked like he could rip me in half. Though in my short time here that seemed to go for just about everyone I encountered. One of the few benefits of being a wizard meant that I preferred long range fighting even if the Winter Knight mantle made me more confident than usual. Still didn't wanna be on the other end of a punch from this guy. "Weeehahaha! Why don't you go ahead and tell him, Cap'n!"
"Yes, I suppose the Wizard has a right to know given the company he's been keeping." Another one spoke up. Given the scope around his eye and the rifle slung across his back, wasn't too difficult to picture what his role was. I breezily ran my hand over the holster carrying my revolver but otherwise didn't make any dramatic moves.
"Death comes for *hic* all of us...No harm in it..." The guy wheezing out those words sounded and looked worse than his ride. Both of them appeared as though they'd keel over any minute now.
"Zehahaha! Yeah, I guess you fellas are right! Don't think we ever got around to introductions, did we? I'm-"
"Marshall D. Teach. You also go by Blackbeard and let me just say that you've got the general scumbaggery down to a T! I mean it's absolutely pitch perfect!" Another voice chimed in and as everyone else went silent, the voice continued unperturbed. "Geez, tough crowd, amirite Harry? ....Harry?"
That voice belonged to my companion and the only other, well, I guess it'd be rude to not call him a 'person' but let's just go ahead and say 'entity' that got pulled into this craziness swith me. I named him Bob and he knows more about magic and supernatural whos and whatsits than anyone I've ever met. In just the span of a year or so (sheesh, have I really been here that long...? Feels like it's just been a couple of months.) he's gotten a pretty good grip on things here. Out of all the people I've met here, I've only acknowledged Bob's existence to just a handful. Whitebeard (one of this world's big head honchos and honestly a pretty great guy. He calls me son...along with a dozen other people but hey, the meanings still there 100%.) and his crew, Princess Vivi of Alabasta (nice girl, kinda reminds me of Murph with how much she's willing to get down and dirty and throw her weight around) Captain Smoker and Tashigi from the Marines (as far as I know neither of them squealed about Bob to his superiors. Figured that if he had, my bounty would have sky rocketed. That's another thing, never really had a bounty on my head before or a wanted poster. Visit new places, explore new experiences.) and the Strawhats (they mostly just found Bob entertaining, curious. I try to keep him away from the ladies and the cook. Just seems like a disaster waiting to happen.)
The information Bob holds. If it were to fall into the wrong hands, in a completely foreign universe? Where people can turn INTO electricity and freeze over entire spans of the ocean itself? Well, it wouldn't be pretty, let's just say that. Which is why I hoped Bob could feel my semi-murderous gaze piercing through the interior of my duster. If I could have shot laser beams out of my eyes, you bet I would have. The cat was out of the bag and I already had a feeling I wasn't going to be able to just disengage and go about my business.
Then it clicked to me. Like someone had flicked on my light switch...and not in that kind of way.
"Blackbeard...You're the guy Ace was looking for."
Blackbeard, a pirate named Blackbeard. How original. He ran one hand over his belly and chuckled so hard you think he'd fall over. "Zehahaha! That's right! I almost forgot you were around on Whitebeard's crew for a while, huh?? Well, yeah that's right! I went out on my own and I'm staking my life on the future! I'm gonna be king of the pirates!" He exclaimed and luchador guy lifted up his arms and hooted in joy. "...But, that voice I just heard now. Sounded like it came out of your jacket there. Whatcha hiding in there...?" Blackbeard inquired and I inhaled and exhaled. Nice and slow like.
"If I tell you, will you let me go?"
"WEEEHAHAHA! This guy's a real funny guy! You dense or something?? We came here to get Strawhat and you've got two choices! You can either help us or you can stand in our way! I don't care either way but them's the breaks!" Blackbeard pointed towards my duster and sneered, exposing some of his missing teeth. "That's right! ...And I'm gonna want you to hand over whatever you've got there. Or I can just take it from ya!" I squinted my eyes in my attempt at a, hopefully, intimidating Clint Eastwood type stare. Given that I was still surrounded by four guys who's powers or talents I had no clue about, I could safely conclude that it hadn't worked. So, that was their angle then. They'd been following the Sunny and the Water Beetle so they could try to off Luffy. The kid wasn't too bright and that was putting it about as nicely as I possibly could but standing by and letting him die? Even if he'd just been a random stranger, that was just way too callous to even consider and so I put it to a mental vote.
It lasted all of three seconds.
"Okay. I've made a decision."
"Yeah?"
I raised the blasting rod.
"No."
Energy cackled at the tip of the rod.
"FUEGO!"
*VWOOOSH*
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
A massive jet of fire smashed right into the whole lot of them, sending them flying back into and through the front entrance of a nearby building. People around us began to flee and scream and I, not wanting anyone to even consider sticking around held my staff aloft and shouted as loud as I could and with much poise. "THAT'S RIGHT! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU STAND AGAINST HARRY 'THE WIZARD' DRESDEN! LET ALL THEE WHO OPPOSE ME FEEL THE WRATH OF MY MAGIC! NOW, BEGONE, ALL OF YE!" I slammed the staff back down and used a little bit of my Will to crack the ground under it, ever so slightly. The townsfolk got the hint and ran for the hills. "I really shouldn't have said anything, huh Harry?"
"No. No, you really shouldn't have, Bob."
"...Uh, so what are we gonna do now, Harry?"
"...Still thinking that over. Consider it a work in progress, okay?"
If I ran now and tried to regroup with the Strawhats, I'd be leading Blackbeard right to Luffy and if this guy had some kind of ability that I couldn't handle? I'd at least do what I could to ware him down before he even got within spitting distance of Luffy. The people in this world could throw all the elemental and bizarre atacks that they wanted. I could still heft the biggest fireball this side of the Grand Line. Not to mention the Mantle of the Winter Knight bayed for blood. It WANTED me to tear Blackbeard and his bozos to shreds. To practically shower myself in their blood and viscera. But I had to try and reign it in with the whole 'still a 4v1' thing. As the smoke from my initial Fuego blast spread across the porch and to the accompanying buildings, Blackbeard stood back up, patting at the flames on his chest. "Hot! HOT HOT HOT HOT!!! Those rumors I'd heard weren't jokin! You've got somethin weird going on with you! My old commander Ace has the Flame-Flame Fruit and yet you're out here throwing fireballs! Zehahahaa!" I made a delibrate effort not to look Teach in the eyes. Last thing I wanted was to soulgaze this scumbag. "Yeah, and I heard you killed one of your pals in cold blood. Funny what we hear from other's lips."
Teach only sneered again. "Bad luck for him."
"WEEEEEEEEHAHAHAHA!"
"HARRY! LOOK OUT!"
My head immediately darted to the left as Luchador Man swung a massive beam of wood at me. Had probably been the support beam for the awning that he'd just ripped off like a kid pulling apart his oreos. I barely managed to duck under the initial strike, and I knew damn well I wasn't going to be fast enough to dodge the second. Thrusting the blasting rod out towards him, I casted my next spell. "FORZARE!" Luchador Man was thrown back, the beam falling from his grip and CRASHING to the ground with a very audible thud. If he'd managed to thwack me with that it's very likely it'd have broken a limb or two. The strength and speed of some of the people here was simply unfair. If it were a tabletop campaign I'd ask the DM to nerf the enemies.
*BANG*
"Agh!" I cried out as a hot pain drilled through my left shoulder. I glanced over and saw a crumpled up bullet had smashed against my duster. I'd warded it well enough that it hadn't punched right through but it'd definitely leave a bruise in the morning. The next two shots I barely managed to get my shield up in time. "Defendarius!" The shots slammed into the shield with enough force that it pushed me back across the ground, nearly costing me my footing. One would have torn through my throat, likely an attempt to both mortally wound me and prevent me from casting another spell. The second would have brained me and came out the back of my skull. Glancing over in the direction of the sniper, he seemed about as calm as you could be after having just attempted to blow a guy's brains out. "Your reflexes are impressive."
"Uh, thanks." I said back, rather awkwardly. "Dickhead." I tacked on there at the end. I waved my staff in the sniper's direction. "Dispertius!" A massive crack manifested and began to spread across the sniper's current standing like a seam being pulled apart on a shirt. As the sniper jumped back to avoid falling into the depths, Blackbeard brushed off the remaining embers and turned to face me. "Augur! Burgess! Stay out of this fight! Til you can get stronger, the Wizard's mine!" As both of Blackbeard's subordinates mumbled their apologies, I scoffed. "Sorry, I'm pretty sure a lady friend of mine at home would stomp my guts out if I told her I belonged to 'Blackbeard the Pirate.' FUEGO!" I shouted as another stream of raging hot flames smashed right into Blackbeard, causing him yet again to howl in pain! I wasn't going to knock it too badly, I mean, he'd apparently settled for a 1v1. I still had zero clue on what he could DO exactly but if he just wanted to keep eating hits like this? Then by all means-
"GET THIS OFFA ME!!!!" Blackbeard screeched and just like that, tendrils of black smoke seeped out of his body and smothered the flames from my spell. All that remained were light burn marks across his belly. "*pant pant* Don't matter what you throw at me, Dresden...*pant* Whether it's ice, fire, or even lightnin itself! I'll take a lickin and keep on ticking...That's the beauty of my Dark Dark Fruit..." I narrowed my eyes and, maybe feeling a little too much of myself, I shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, yeah, it ate some fire but I'm two for one on scoring hits. Doesn't seem like it's doing you a whole lot of good. Was this really worth killing a friend over?"
His crewmates chuckled, even the sickly-looking guy on his horse cackled. "More than you know." Blackbeard called back, sounding way too confident for my liking. "The disadvantages are more than worth it. Because it's not just attacks I can absorb. Black Vortex!" Holding his hand out towards me, I felt a strong pull across my entire body. I had to drop my blasting rod to keep Bob from being yoinked right out of my duster. "Harry!!"
"I'm not letting you go, Bob..." I muttered under my breath as I tried in vain to dig in my heels. But the force was just too much to resist. Before I knew it, I was standing right before Blackbeard. Bad stench and all. He grabbed me by the collar and I exerted my will and thrust my own hand out towards him. It'd be a lot messier without my blasting rod but it'd have to do. Electricity crackled at my fingertips as I shouted. "Fulminos!"
I'd expected Blackbeard to be looking a little bit crispier. What with having eaten a bolt of lightning to the face and all that entailed. But nothing of the sort happened. I felt myself breaking into a cold sweat. Why hadn't my spell worked? Come to think of it, my legs felt numb. Like they had before I'd gotten the position of Winter Knight. What...?
"...Zehahaha. You're a smart guy, Harry. You've pieced it together haven't ya? See, I didn't know at first what your whole thing was! Magic..? Sounded like garbage to me. But then a little birdie whispered in my ear and gave me a little insight and a little pick me up and now when I touch you..!" He grabbed me by the throat. "Your 'magic' is about as useful as money to a dead man!" Then he punched me right in the stomach. I'd tried my best to hold it back but I just couldn't. I spat up a wad of spittle as saliva stained my lips. I was thrown through the air and landed on the ground in a heap, my free hand hovering over my stomach without a second thought. It'd felt as though I'd been hit by a sledgehammer. I dug the bottom of my staff into the dirt and staggered up, panting like a bitch in heat, in sheer disbelief. What the hell had just happened? Magic as I knew it didn't exist in this universe let alone someone having a good idea of what it meant.
But, Teach had just done it. He'd disabled my magic....
Which raised it's own questions but more pressingly...
"What the hell do I do now...?"
~~~TO BE CONTINUED~~~
It hadn't been long. What, only a couple of months or so? Since I was punted into this world by a smarmy bastard dressed to the nines with a strange ability. The asshole chalked it up to having eaten a Devil Fruit, something I still couldn't quite wrap my head around. Popeye eating spinach was one thing. That was a cartoon. Fun for the kids and all that. But eating an apple and being able to shoot flames out of your hands or get the consistency of rubber? Felt less like I'd been shifted to another world altogether and more like I'd been written into the funny pages. This guy claimed to have devoured the 'Window-Window Fruit' which allowed him to see across vast distances. If you were on the other side of a country from him, he could activate his powers and see what you were up to. He could step through the proverbial window and meet up with you. Sounded pretty useful if you were to ask me. Quick way to cut through all the hustle and life-threatening bustle of crossing over into the Nevernever. Only it came with a couple of drawbacks. The fruit didn't just stop at spanning countries or even entire islands, it went as far as allowing the user to see into other universes. Now that kind of information overload could drive a person a little wacko and if my hunches were right (and usually they were, for better or for worse) then it'd done just that.
The other big-name drawback being one that came with all Devil Fruits: you could never swim again. Even sitting in a bathtub could drain you. I could never, taking a nice warm shower was one of the things that I still looked forward to. Plus, the thought of being frozen, unable to do a damn thing to save myself if I were to just be a bit clumsy and fall into a body of water? Chills.
Anyhoo, this guy accidently opens a window into my world (oh yeah, other universes exist. Glad I got firsthand confirmation on that) and pulled me in. When I'd understandably asked why, I got the usual bad guy runaround along with a side order of vague philosophical mumbo jumbo. With some mocking sanctimony for dessert.
"Lalalalala, you shouldn't be so nasty, Mister Dresden! If it weren't for me, you would have died! I pulled you right before that bullet struck you! I even brought your boat with you! Wouldn't you say that's more than generous, hmmmmm? Lalalalala!!!"
That's another thing about this place. People love to laugh in all kinds of way. Makes me wonder if anyone thinks that I've got a unique laugh back home and they're just too polite or embarrassed for me to wanna admit it. Also, if you're thinking I'm glossing over the whole 'being shot' bit....then you'd be right! The time to really just sit back and reflect on that just hasn't come up. Because I'll be frank with you, this world SUCKS. Never have I missed the streets of Chicago more than after going from island to island with everyone having it's own set of problems that only seem to be solved by finding the biggest asshole and punching them right in the face. Pirates suck and while there's a few outliers, the government (sorry, WORLD government) sucks just as much nuts but they're at least not pillaging and massacring people? Mostly?? While I was on my own for a good while when I first landed here, I came across a strange kid.
Kid had a body like those old Stretch Armstrong dolls and had some kind of dream. He wanted to be 'King of the Pirates' which, hey, sure. Dream big or go home I say. Not really having much in the way of friends, I struck up a friendship with rubber man and all kinds of hijinks ensued. So much in fact that you'd probably have to splice in some filler here and there because it'd be just waaaay too much to digest if I just explained it to you all right here and now. While I was trying to hunt down the Laughing Man who trapped me here, I was also apparently helping Luffy and his crew reach their own goals. Helping pirates wasn't exactly what I'd seen myself doing at any point in my life and it was maybe more than a little morally ambiguous?? But we got to kick a tyrannical government in the teeth every now and again so I couldn't complain too much. Luffy had offered me a spot on his ship and even a place in his crew. 'C'mon Harry, I've never even HEARD of wizards until I met you! You've GOTTA join my crew!' 'Well, I'm flattered, really I am! But living the life of Long John Silver just ain't for me, bud.' 'Long John who...?' 'Nevermind.' rinse and repeat. I didn't have a damn clue where I'd be going without their help so as much of a pain as it was to run the Water Beetle-a ship given to me by my half-brother Thomas whose presence I was sorely missing. He'd fit in here no problem. Put him on the picture of a 1980s swashbuckling romance novel and it'd be 100% pitch perfect. Oh and he'd have to be shirtless of course, as you do-by myself, I did just that and it strode alongside Luffy's ship, the Sunny without a problem.
There were ups and downs, I gave my input when it was asked for and some times when it wasn't. I'd like to think that I'd formed enough camaraderie with the Straw Hats to give my opinion. Besides, no matter the universe, wasn't anywhere where I couldn't somehow talk my way in or out of trouble. Okay, USUALLY it was the former but that was besides the point. Conflict happened and we'd straighten whoever needed a good ass kicking and then move on.
Until we got to a place called Banaro Island...
Walking across the street with a handful of meat tucked under each arm, Luffy came to a stop next to me. For some reason the kid seemed to have a knack for noticing when something was up. Which, hey all the better because it wasn't too hard to confuse or befuddle the kid.. "Mrmmf? Warry? Sumtin wrong?" Luffy asked, a good chunk of that meat that he'd taken(probably without paying) already stuffed in his mouth. I blinked, shaken from my thoughts and shook my head. "Huh? No, everything's fine. Hey Luffy, why don't you go ahead and catch up with the others? I got something I need to do. Wizard business and all that."
Luffy nodded in such a manner that you'd think I'd jut bestowed some sagely wisdom upon him.
"You've gotta poop, right? Wizards do poop, yeah?"
I stared at him for a good long while.
"Harry?"
"Yeah. Yeah, wizards poop. We pee too."
"Whoa!!!" Luffy and a couple of his crewmates really got a kick out of the whole 'yer a wizard harry??' thing. Magic as I understood it just didn't really seem to exist here. Which also probably explained why I had wanted posters of me(with a hat for some damn reason). With how corrupt this universe's government seemed to be, I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to tie me to a slab and cut me open. See what makes me tick. Kind of like a fantasy Area 51 if you think about it. Wasn't too keen on all that. But it wasn't the marine grunts that got me all tensed up. Back on an island called Jaya, Luffy and I'd met a strange guy. Big-boned, hairier than a gorilla, and friendly enough? But something just didn't sit right with me and I think Luffy and Zoro caught it as well. If you'd asked me to put it to music, I'd struggle with it but the guy just didn't give off good vibes. Lo and behold that on the island where we happened to be going, here he was with what I could only assume to be his crewmates roaming around. I wasn't sure what and I wasn't going to let the Strawhats or the people of this island find out when it was too late to do anything about it.
I gripped my blasting rod and shifted off into the depth of the crowd. I could hear Luffy calling for me but I sounded him out. If everything went as well as I'd hoped it would, I'd wrap this up and get back to the Water Beetle and take off with them before things got too out of hand. Little did I know that'd just be too good to be true. The crowd started to part and I could hear mutterings from the locals. 'he's a monster!' 'just him?? they all are! why did they come to our island?!' 'let's get out of here before things get really bad! somebody call the marines!' Coming to a stop a few feet from the guy and his boys, I slammed the end of my staff against the ground and exerted my will. The man pulled out a flask of alcohol and laughed as he saw me.
"Zehahahahah! You're him! Harry 'The Wizard' Dresden! I remember you alright! We met a while back didn't we, huh? Fancy meeting you here!" The man said with a friendly smile on his face. To be honest, I didn't get any immediate feelings of hostility off him. It was almost as if he really was happy to see me again. If anything, that just made me tense up even more. "Yeah. Back on Jaya, we bumped into each other. Funny that you just so happened to be here. If I were a betting man I'd go as far as to say that you're following our ships." The ships being the Thousand Sunny and the Water Beetle of course. Then one of the guys to the main man chimed in. Big guy with heavy luchador vibes. Also looked like he could rip me in half. Though in my short time here that seemed to go for just about everyone I encountered. One of the few benefits of being a wizard meant that I preferred long range fighting even if the Winter Knight mantle made me more confident than usual. Still didn't wanna be on the other end of a punch from this guy. "Weeehahaha! Why don't you go ahead and tell him, Cap'n!"
"Yes, I suppose the Wizard has a right to know given the company he's been keeping." Another one spoke up. Given the scope around his eye and the rifle slung across his back, wasn't too difficult to picture what his role was. I breezily ran my hand over the holster carrying my revolver but otherwise didn't make any dramatic moves.
"Death comes for *hic* all of us...No harm in it..." The guy wheezing out those words sounded and looked worse than his ride. Both of them appeared as though they'd keel over any minute now.
"Zehahaha! Yeah, I guess you fellas are right! Don't think we ever got around to introductions, did we? I'm-"
"Marshall D. Teach. You also go by Blackbeard and let me just say that you've got the general scumbaggery down to a T! I mean it's absolutely pitch perfect!" Another voice chimed in and as everyone else went silent, the voice continued unperturbed. "Geez, tough crowd, amirite Harry? ....Harry?"
That voice belonged to my companion and the only other, well, I guess it'd be rude to not call him a 'person' but let's just go ahead and say 'entity' that got pulled into this craziness swith me. I named him Bob and he knows more about magic and supernatural whos and whatsits than anyone I've ever met. In just the span of a year or so (sheesh, have I really been here that long...? Feels like it's just been a couple of months.) he's gotten a pretty good grip on things here. Out of all the people I've met here, I've only acknowledged Bob's existence to just a handful. Whitebeard (one of this world's big head honchos and honestly a pretty great guy. He calls me son...along with a dozen other people but hey, the meanings still there 100%.) and his crew, Princess Vivi of Alabasta (nice girl, kinda reminds me of Murph with how much she's willing to get down and dirty and throw her weight around) Captain Smoker and Tashigi from the Marines (as far as I know neither of them squealed about Bob to his superiors. Figured that if he had, my bounty would have sky rocketed. That's another thing, never really had a bounty on my head before or a wanted poster. Visit new places, explore new experiences.) and the Strawhats (they mostly just found Bob entertaining, curious. I try to keep him away from the ladies and the cook. Just seems like a disaster waiting to happen.)
The information Bob holds. If it were to fall into the wrong hands, in a completely foreign universe? Where people can turn INTO electricity and freeze over entire spans of the ocean itself? Well, it wouldn't be pretty, let's just say that. Which is why I hoped Bob could feel my semi-murderous gaze piercing through the interior of my duster. If I could have shot laser beams out of my eyes, you bet I would have. The cat was out of the bag and I already had a feeling I wasn't going to be able to just disengage and go about my business.
Then it clicked to me. Like someone had flicked on my light switch...and not in that kind of way.
"Blackbeard...You're the guy Ace was looking for."
Blackbeard, a pirate named Blackbeard. How original. He ran one hand over his belly and chuckled so hard you think he'd fall over. "Zehahaha! That's right! I almost forgot you were around on Whitebeard's crew for a while, huh?? Well, yeah that's right! I went out on my own and I'm staking my life on the future! I'm gonna be king of the pirates!" He exclaimed and luchador guy lifted up his arms and hooted in joy. "...But, that voice I just heard now. Sounded like it came out of your jacket there. Whatcha hiding in there...?" Blackbeard inquired and I inhaled and exhaled. Nice and slow like.
"If I tell you, will you let me go?"
"WEEEHAHAHA! This guy's a real funny guy! You dense or something?? We came here to get Strawhat and you've got two choices! You can either help us or you can stand in our way! I don't care either way but them's the breaks!" Blackbeard pointed towards my duster and sneered, exposing some of his missing teeth. "That's right! ...And I'm gonna want you to hand over whatever you've got there. Or I can just take it from ya!" I squinted my eyes in my attempt at a, hopefully, intimidating Clint Eastwood type stare. Given that I was still surrounded by four guys who's powers or talents I had no clue about, I could safely conclude that it hadn't worked. So, that was their angle then. They'd been following the Sunny and the Water Beetle so they could try to off Luffy. The kid wasn't too bright and that was putting it about as nicely as I possibly could but standing by and letting him die? Even if he'd just been a random stranger, that was just way too callous to even consider and so I put it to a mental vote.
It lasted all of three seconds.
"Okay. I've made a decision."
"Yeah?"
I raised the blasting rod.
"No."
Energy cackled at the tip of the rod.
"FUEGO!"
*VWOOOSH*
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
A massive jet of fire smashed right into the whole lot of them, sending them flying back into and through the front entrance of a nearby building. People around us began to flee and scream and I, not wanting anyone to even consider sticking around held my staff aloft and shouted as loud as I could and with much poise. "THAT'S RIGHT! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU STAND AGAINST HARRY 'THE WIZARD' DRESDEN! LET ALL THEE WHO OPPOSE ME FEEL THE WRATH OF MY MAGIC! NOW, BEGONE, ALL OF YE!" I slammed the staff back down and used a little bit of my Will to crack the ground under it, ever so slightly. The townsfolk got the hint and ran for the hills. "I really shouldn't have said anything, huh Harry?"
"No. No, you really shouldn't have, Bob."
"...Uh, so what are we gonna do now, Harry?"
"...Still thinking that over. Consider it a work in progress, okay?"
If I ran now and tried to regroup with the Strawhats, I'd be leading Blackbeard right to Luffy and if this guy had some kind of ability that I couldn't handle? I'd at least do what I could to ware him down before he even got within spitting distance of Luffy. The people in this world could throw all the elemental and bizarre atacks that they wanted. I could still heft the biggest fireball this side of the Grand Line. Not to mention the Mantle of the Winter Knight bayed for blood. It WANTED me to tear Blackbeard and his bozos to shreds. To practically shower myself in their blood and viscera. But I had to try and reign it in with the whole 'still a 4v1' thing. As the smoke from my initial Fuego blast spread across the porch and to the accompanying buildings, Blackbeard stood back up, patting at the flames on his chest. "Hot! HOT HOT HOT HOT!!! Those rumors I'd heard weren't jokin! You've got somethin weird going on with you! My old commander Ace has the Flame-Flame Fruit and yet you're out here throwing fireballs! Zehahahaa!" I made a delibrate effort not to look Teach in the eyes. Last thing I wanted was to soulgaze this scumbag. "Yeah, and I heard you killed one of your pals in cold blood. Funny what we hear from other's lips."
Teach only sneered again. "Bad luck for him."
"WEEEEEEEEHAHAHAHA!"
"HARRY! LOOK OUT!"
My head immediately darted to the left as Luchador Man swung a massive beam of wood at me. Had probably been the support beam for the awning that he'd just ripped off like a kid pulling apart his oreos. I barely managed to duck under the initial strike, and I knew damn well I wasn't going to be fast enough to dodge the second. Thrusting the blasting rod out towards him, I casted my next spell. "FORZARE!" Luchador Man was thrown back, the beam falling from his grip and CRASHING to the ground with a very audible thud. If he'd managed to thwack me with that it's very likely it'd have broken a limb or two. The strength and speed of some of the people here was simply unfair. If it were a tabletop campaign I'd ask the DM to nerf the enemies.
*BANG*
"Agh!" I cried out as a hot pain drilled through my left shoulder. I glanced over and saw a crumpled up bullet had smashed against my duster. I'd warded it well enough that it hadn't punched right through but it'd definitely leave a bruise in the morning. The next two shots I barely managed to get my shield up in time. "Defendarius!" The shots slammed into the shield with enough force that it pushed me back across the ground, nearly costing me my footing. One would have torn through my throat, likely an attempt to both mortally wound me and prevent me from casting another spell. The second would have brained me and came out the back of my skull. Glancing over in the direction of the sniper, he seemed about as calm as you could be after having just attempted to blow a guy's brains out. "Your reflexes are impressive."
"Uh, thanks." I said back, rather awkwardly. "Dickhead." I tacked on there at the end. I waved my staff in the sniper's direction. "Dispertius!" A massive crack manifested and began to spread across the sniper's current standing like a seam being pulled apart on a shirt. As the sniper jumped back to avoid falling into the depths, Blackbeard brushed off the remaining embers and turned to face me. "Augur! Burgess! Stay out of this fight! Til you can get stronger, the Wizard's mine!" As both of Blackbeard's subordinates mumbled their apologies, I scoffed. "Sorry, I'm pretty sure a lady friend of mine at home would stomp my guts out if I told her I belonged to 'Blackbeard the Pirate.' FUEGO!" I shouted as another stream of raging hot flames smashed right into Blackbeard, causing him yet again to howl in pain! I wasn't going to knock it too badly, I mean, he'd apparently settled for a 1v1. I still had zero clue on what he could DO exactly but if he just wanted to keep eating hits like this? Then by all means-
"GET THIS OFFA ME!!!!" Blackbeard screeched and just like that, tendrils of black smoke seeped out of his body and smothered the flames from my spell. All that remained were light burn marks across his belly. "*pant pant* Don't matter what you throw at me, Dresden...*pant* Whether it's ice, fire, or even lightnin itself! I'll take a lickin and keep on ticking...That's the beauty of my Dark Dark Fruit..." I narrowed my eyes and, maybe feeling a little too much of myself, I shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, yeah, it ate some fire but I'm two for one on scoring hits. Doesn't seem like it's doing you a whole lot of good. Was this really worth killing a friend over?"
His crewmates chuckled, even the sickly-looking guy on his horse cackled. "More than you know." Blackbeard called back, sounding way too confident for my liking. "The disadvantages are more than worth it. Because it's not just attacks I can absorb. Black Vortex!" Holding his hand out towards me, I felt a strong pull across my entire body. I had to drop my blasting rod to keep Bob from being yoinked right out of my duster. "Harry!!"
"I'm not letting you go, Bob..." I muttered under my breath as I tried in vain to dig in my heels. But the force was just too much to resist. Before I knew it, I was standing right before Blackbeard. Bad stench and all. He grabbed me by the collar and I exerted my will and thrust my own hand out towards him. It'd be a lot messier without my blasting rod but it'd have to do. Electricity crackled at my fingertips as I shouted. "Fulminos!"
I'd expected Blackbeard to be looking a little bit crispier. What with having eaten a bolt of lightning to the face and all that entailed. But nothing of the sort happened. I felt myself breaking into a cold sweat. Why hadn't my spell worked? Come to think of it, my legs felt numb. Like they had before I'd gotten the position of Winter Knight. What...?
"...Zehahaha. You're a smart guy, Harry. You've pieced it together haven't ya? See, I didn't know at first what your whole thing was! Magic..? Sounded like garbage to me. But then a little birdie whispered in my ear and gave me a little insight and a little pick me up and now when I touch you..!" He grabbed me by the throat. "Your 'magic' is about as useful as money to a dead man!" Then he punched me right in the stomach. I'd tried my best to hold it back but I just couldn't. I spat up a wad of spittle as saliva stained my lips. I was thrown through the air and landed on the ground in a heap, my free hand hovering over my stomach without a second thought. It'd felt as though I'd been hit by a sledgehammer. I dug the bottom of my staff into the dirt and staggered up, panting like a bitch in heat, in sheer disbelief. What the hell had just happened? Magic as I knew it didn't exist in this universe let alone someone having a good idea of what it meant.
But, Teach had just done it. He'd disabled my magic....
Which raised it's own questions but more pressingly...
"What the hell do I do now...?"
~~~TO BE CONTINUED~~~
