One Piece Fan Fiction / Teen Titans Fan Fiction ❯ The Ultimate Cruise ❯ Slade the Marine?--The Enemy of my Enemy's Friend is my Friend ( Chapter 3 )

DISCLAIMER: I do not own One Piece, Teen Titans, or any characters or elements contained within. I believe these can be credited to the geniuses Eiichiro Oda [author and artist of OP], Marv Wolfman and George Perez [respective author and artist of The New Teen Titans comic of the eighties], and Glen Murakami and his talented crew [the staff of the Teen Titans animated series, the Titans version which this story is based off.] Thanks for developing these wonderful characters I have the pleasure of using in this story!

 

Any original characters, however, belong to Pivitor. Remember it!

 

 

The Ultimate Cruise:

One Piece meets Teen Titans

 

Chapter Three: Slade the Marine?—The Enemy of my Enemy's Friends is my Friend

 

“Captain!” One of the marines called. “We've found a man overboard!” A grand Marine vessel floated through the tumultuous oceans of the Grand Line, hot in pursuit of Pirates.

 

“Bring him up!” The captain commanded them, never moving from his seat beneath the shade of the sails.

 

“Aye aye sir!” The marine responded, throwing a life-raft attached to a long rope over the edge. Several more marines ran to his side, grabbing the rope as they attempted to rescue the man. All the marines were dressed the same—a spotless white uniform and hat, with a sword sheathed on one side and a gun holstered on the other. They finally got the victim inside of the preserver, and straining a bit, pulled the floater on board. They were rather surprised at his strange appearance; he looked like a robot! Of course, if they had been familiar with the horrid crime sprees of Jump City, they would recognize this man as Slade, arch-enemy of the Teen Titans!

 

“Sir, he's alive!” One of the Marines reported.

 

“Good job soldier.” The captain said, lifting his massive body from his seat and emerging into the sunlight. He wore a Marine captain uniform left open to reveal his chiseled muscles, but it was a bit ragged; this captain obviously took business into his own hands if necessary. A strange weapon was strapped across his back. It was long and blunt—like a police officer's nightstick—but with a sharp point and a curved handle. Red Japanese lettering lined his shirt under the weapon. A rack of cigars was wrapped around his arm, and another around his left side. Around his thick neck was wrapped a strange set of goggles, leading up to his large head and slicked back silver hair. Two fat cigars sat perched in his mouth, leaving a trail wherever he went.

 

Slade's eyes finally opened, and he coughed a bit of water up.

 

“Captain Smoker sir, he's awake!” Another Marine gasped. As Slade's vision returned to him, he noticed the soldiers surrounding him. As if nothing had happened at all, the villain leaped onto one hand and span around, knocking the Marines around him onto their back. Slade propelled himself into the air, somersaulting as he landed on the other side of the deck. A few more Marines stepped up, ready to defend themselves against this new threat.

 

“Stand back.” Smoker commanded, pushing his underlings aside. The captain slowly paced towards Slade, toying with the cigars in his mouth as Slade pondered the situation.

 

“I warn you,” Slade began, “If I'm not allowed to escape, you will all pay quite dearly.”

 

“I'm so scared I'm shaking.” Smoker scoffed. “Nobody can stand against me, especially not some unknown like you!”

 

“Fine then.” Slade sighed, itching forwards. “I need that stone, and nobody is going to get in my way!” Before Slade could even make a move, he felt himself being pulled into the air by his legs. Staring up as he was held upside down, he noticed he was being held by a trail of smoke coming from the captain's cigars!

 

“As I said: you're nothing compared to me.” Smoker repeated, pulling his weapon off his back as he inched closer to his capture. Slade just snickered.

 

“I don't know how you're doing what you're doing, but it's not enough to hold me.” Slade laughed, inching his feet closer together as he slipped through the ring of smoke. He rolled into a tumble as he hit the deck. In one swift motion the fiend pulled his staff from his belt and leaped to his feet, swinging mightily and connecting with Smoker's weapon. The massive captain's grip kept the weapon from flying away, and the force of his return attack sent Slade skidding across the deck. Smoker charged with another swing, perfectly countered by Slade as expected. The Titans' enemy swung so fast that it seemed random and crazed; yet, a definite pattern of preplanned pinpoint strikes could be seen. Despite Slade's genius, Smoker barely moved as he span his weapon, fending off his strikes with ease. Using a stronger than normal swing, Smoker knocked his enemy aside.

 

“Good try, but there's no way you're getting away with attacking my crew, you ungrateful bastard!” Smoker screamed, pointing his weapon so that the sharp point was aimed towards Slade. He thrusted it forward. Slade laughed as he recovered, pointing his staff right towards the attack. The two points of the weapons met, shattering Slade's staff and sending both weapons flying far away from their user.

 

“Let's see how long you can last without your weapon!” Slade proposed, using his insane speed to nearly disappear. He returned behind his enemy, throwing a kick straight into Smoker's neck. Strangely enough, it seemed to phase straight through the captain! Smoker span around, tossing a punch. Slade, finally a bit frightened, strafed past it and threw one hell of a punch into his enemy's gut. This time there was no denying it: Slade's arm had gone straight through Smoker's chest, which seemed to have dissolved into a veil of smoke.

 

“Scared yet?” Smoker asked. “You're better than I had expected, but I still doubt you can stand up to the might of the Devil's Fruit!” With that, Smoker's entire chest faded away into a mighty cloud of smoke, which began to surround Slade. The villain barely had time to drop a small explosive disk from his belt before the smoke engulfed him. Fortunately for him, the explosion knocked Smoker back and allowed Slade to propel himself high into the sails.

 

“This was an interesting twist.” Slade mused, waiting for a sign of life from his bird's-eye view. It came to him in an instant as Smoker burst into the air. His legs had completely disappeared, replaced by a long tail of smoke pushing him through a sky—like a genie.

 

“White Snake!” Smoker announced, tossing a punch. His arm melted away into smoke, propelling his hard fist right towards Slade. Eyes growing wide, the talented fighter leaped into the air, stepping off the captain's fist and using the momentum to launch himself into a somersault that would send the best of acrobats into a jealous fit. As he touched down back where they had started, Smoker's vapor induced speed already had him right behind the villain. With his last remaining seconds, Slade pulled a laser gun from his belt, firing a sparking red burst of energy straight into his opponent's chest. Unable to prepare for the attack, Smoker was hurled into his own cabin.

 

Slade finally thought he had won, firing off several more shots in rapid succession. However, Captain Smoker had finally decided to end this. As the shots grew near, his entire body turned to smoke, twisting and contorting through the laser trails until finally he surrounded Slade. The Titan's enemy was lifted into the air by a ball of smoke so tight that he could barely move. Some of the smoke shifted back into Smoker's body, but Slade was still effectively immobilized.

 

“Tashigi!” Smoker called. “Get a cell ready for this one!”

 

“Aye captain!” Called a slim young girl running down the stairs. Captain Smoker's assistant Tashigi was a sweet woman in a tight pink shirt, with the word Marine written down the back in black letters. She had tight black pants and a sword hanging from her hip. Pink glasses rested on the arch of her nose, and short black hair covered the rest of her head. Sometimes she seemed incompetent, but Tashigi was quite skilled, and Smoker trusted nobody more than her. As she skipped past, Slade was able to choke out some final words.

 

“Damn…what kind of place is this? First the rubber kid, now this smoke freak?” He coughed. Tashigi stopped dead in her tracks. Smoker's jaw dropped, the cigars nearly falling from his mouth. The smoke dissipated, becoming the captain's arms once again as Slade fell to the ground, clutching his throat as he desperately gasped for air.

 

“Rubber kid?” Smoker asked, dumbfounded. “Was he wearing a straw hat, by any chance?” Slade nodded weakly. “I can't believe it!” Slade looked up, intrigued. Somehow, this captain knew the rubber kid. The rubber kid was with the Titans, and with the Titans was his true prize: the Stone of Iso Toa. This could be useful.

 

“You know him?” Slade asked, the confidence finally returning to his voice.

 

“He's a pirate—Monkey D. Luffy—with a 30 million berry bounty on his head. I've been chasing him ever since he escaped from my home post of Roger Town. He's a really dumb kid, but he's also a user of the Devil's Fruit like me; therefore, he's not a guy to be messed with.”

 

“I noticed.” Slade returned. “Devil's Fruit?”

 

“You mean you honestly don't know what the Devil's Fruit are?” Smoker asked. Slade nodded no, and the captain launched himself into an explanation. “Devil's Fruit are odd fruit grown all over the world. Each one grants a unique ability to the user—such as straw-hat's rubber body and my smoke powers—but in return they lose the ability to swim.” Slade raised an eyebrow, his interest sparked by the potential of these amazing fauna. “Now, what's your connection to straw-hat?” Smoker returned.

 

“I believe I come from a world alternate to this one.” Slade began. “Some enemies of mine were trying to take something very precious from me. It was a stone, one that I had to go to great lengths to get and which held amazing power. An attack from one of my enemies activated that power, teleporting all of us onto a boat. Apparently we were brought to this `Luffy's' boat, where he took me by surprise. After that, I ended up here.”

 

Smoker laughed. “So straw-hat beat you, eh?”

 

“I said he took me by surprise.” Slade reiterated. Smoker rolled his eyes.

 

“Whatever.” The captain continued, his hand smoking as a threat. “Can you tell me where straw-hat was headed?”

 

“No,” Slade said, “But this can.” The villain pulled himself to his feet, removing a small remote from his belt. “I left a tracker on my stone. This device knows wherever it's at—and right now it's with Luffy.” An image of an island appeared, with a boat and ocean near it. “Are you familiar with that island?” He asked.

 

“I am!” Tashigi exclaimed, peeking at the tracker over her superior's shoulder. “That's Ianoa Island! It's real close by!” She traced her finger along a dotted line on the screen. “If that's straw-hat's trail, then we should be able to beat them there easily on this course!”

 

“That's the best news I've heard all day.” Smoker smiled. “Now get that cell ready, Tashigi.” Both the girl and Slade were taken by surprise.

 

“Come now.” Slade coaxed in his smooth voice. “Both of our enemies have joined forces. Shouldn't we be allies as well?” He saw the doubt in Smoker's eyes. “Understandable. But I guarantee that if I get that stone, I can beat all of our enemies without breaking a sweat.”

 

“Well now…” Smoker said, trailing into his thoughts. Turning, he extended his hand. “Partners, then?”

 

“It's a deal.” Slade said, shaking the captain's hand firmly.

 

“Tashigi!” Captain Smoker exclaimed. “Get those sails set! Full speed ahead to Ianoa Island!”

 

“Aye!” Tashigi returned. “Move it soldiers!” The Marines dashed around the ship, releasing all the sails to their full size. Strong gusts of wind hit home, propelling the massive vessel forward with speeds you wouldn't think possible. The breezes on the Grand Line sure were impressive at times.

 

`The fool.' Smoker thought. `I can beat that man and straw-hat any day. I'm only using him for convenience right now, but once straw-hat is captured, he's going right to jail. This stone he keeps talking about could be quite valuable, and I think it'll be of much more use with me.' The captain smiled at his own little devious thoughts.

 

A wide smile spread across Slade's face, although it was obscured by his mask. `The fool.' He thought as well. `He's strong in body, but not in mind. I need him because I am new to this world, but once I've retrieved the Iso Toa, he will be useless to me. With the knowledge of his fighting style, I already know how to beat him. And that will almost be as good as defeating the Teen Titans.'

 

Even sweet little Tashigi seemed to have her own ideas for this mission. `Straw-hat is here.' She thought. `That means Roronoa Zoro is bound to be there too! Finally, I can get payback! Those swords he so quickly uses to murder and plunder are priceless, and they deserve to be protected!' The girl's eyebrows narrowed into a fierce frown. `You'll finally pay for deceiving me, Zoro the pirate-hunter!'

 

 

 

“So let me get this straight.” Cyborg repeated. “The world here is separated into four oceans. Where these oceans meet is a place called the Grand Line. This Grand Line—where we are—is a series of islands placed by magnetic patterns.”

 

“Right!” Nami exclaimed, glad somebody understood her. “Those patterns throw off compasses and make it necessary to use these to navigate.” The girl held up her wrist, pointing to a compass-like bauble strapped to her wrist. “An indicator reads the magnetic signature of the island and uses it to point us to the next one. Once we reach the end…”

 

“…We reach the One Piece.” Luffy finished, his eyes shining. The One Piece would some day be his ultimate achievement. It was the final treasure, the supreme prize, and the one thing in the world that could help Luffy reach his goal: becoming King of the Pirates.

 

“Fascinating.” Robin echoed, pondering over the information Nami gave him. The world she described, a world of pirates and vast oceans, was nothing like the Earth they knew. “Then I guess your theory was right, Cyborg.”

 

Cyborg pressed a button on his wrist. A view screen shot up, showing nothing but static on its monitor. “Yeah, I first guessed it when I couldn't reach Aqualad on my vid-phone. It should work anyplace on Earth! The only time it didn't work was when the Master of Games brought us to his world. However, now that Nami told us about the Grand Line I'm sure of it: We're in an Alternate Dimension!”

 

“But if we cannot call Aqualad, who will feed my Silkie?!” Starfire wailed.

 

“Oh, I'm sure Silkie can take care of himself.” Raven sighed. “We'll just have to buy another couch after he eats this one too.”

 

Nami raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?” She asked.

 

“Silkie is my pet baby moth!” Starfire exclaimed, her eyes lighting up as she thought of her precious bundle of flesh and teeth. “We have so much fun together! We eat, and read, and then I feed it ag—”

 

“Fascinating.” Nami sighed, “But I was talking about the `alternate dimension' idea Robin mentioned.”

 

“Oh, that.” Robin sat up, brushing his cape aside. “There are many alternate worlds that take up the same place in space, yet vibrate at different wavelengths. There are thousands of alternate worlds—or dimensions—each a little different from the others.”

 

“The closer one world is to another, the more similar they are.” Cyborg interjected. “For example: One world that must be right next to ours sports a version of Robin—only a bit twisted and with a magic finger.” Robin grunted; he was still trying to forget their disastrous encounter with Larry. “I'm guessing this world and ours must be very far apart, because they're not anything alike.”

 

“That's confusing.” Luffy said, scratching the side of his head. “I don't get it at all.” He turned around and walked to a table, picking up a couple of chopsticks. After staring at them for a second, he stuffed them into his mouth and started waving them with his lips. “Look! I'm a walrus!” He exclaimed.

 

Nami smacked herself in her forehead. “Oi Luffy…when he doesn't understand something, he does something he does understand. Sadly, that isn't much.” Her head sunk low, despising her captain's interruption during an intelligent discussion.

 

“Look, he's doing the Walrus impression!” Usopp exclaimed as he stepped onto the deck from the back of the ship. Both Terra and Beast Boy followed him. “I love this one!” The sniper laughed, desperately fumbling across a table looking for his own set of chopsticks. Nami blushed even more, realizing that Chopper was really the only other person on this boat who wasn't insane in some way.

 

“Hey, that's pretty good!” Beast Boy laughed. “Now, watch this!” The changeling's little green body seemed to explode as it shifted into a walrus. It was a perfect transformation, if you ignored the creature's green skin. Luffy's eyes bulged as the chopsticks fell from his mouth.

 

“Incredible!” the captain exclaimed. “Let me feel!” Luffy leaped onto the shape shifter, who was slammed back against the railing. The force of Beast Boy's heavy form being slammed against the deck sent the entire ship reeling to one side. The green boy returned to normal, pushing the rubberman off of him and onto his back. Again Luffy gasped; however, he was not surprised by Beast Boy's actions. He had already forgotten what the entire thing was about.

 

“Look at that!” Luffy cried, mouth hanging ajar. Soaring far above the Merry Go was a giant pink and yellow bird. It must have been three times larger than the ship, with fluffy purple feathers grouped around its neck and wings. It was a beautiful sight, but the simple-minded captain had only one thought in his rubber head. “FOOD!” Luffy cried, throwing his arms backwards and letting them stretch across the ship.

 

“No you idiot!” Nami screamed. “We'll reach land in only an hour or two! You can wait until then!” Luffy wasted no time as his arms reached their limits and he threw them forward.

 

“Rubber…ROCKET!” The rubberman cried as his elastic arms and open hands latched onto the creature's fluffy tail. The bird squawked as it felt its tail being tugged; it nearly took a double take when it saw Luffy hanging from its own tail.

 

“I'm guessing he does this a lot?” Raven asked. Nami sighed, nodding weakly as she slipped backwards into her seat.

 

“One of you might want to stop him.” Zoro suggested from his position of sweet slumber in the shadows besides the stairs. “If we don't, he's just going to get carried off again.”

 

“Got'em!” Cyborg cried, leaping forward and grabbing the rubberman's legs. The cybernetic warrior waved his legs frantically, searching for footing. Failing, he too was lifted into the air as Luffy's elastic body began to retract. Just as he thought he was a goner, he felt another force pulling him down.

 

“No, I have got you.” Starfire smiled, squeezing her arms tighter around Cyborg's eyes. Green flames burned in her eyes, a sign that her full Tamarian strength was at work. She groaned loudly as she tried to pull them back towards the ship, but it was slowly starting to be left behind. “I cannot do it!” The alien girl cried.

 

“What's all the ruckus?” Sanji asked, kicking open the door of the kitchen. Tony Tony Chopper was at his feet. “Star-kun!” The cook gasped as he saw his crush about to be dragged away by his captain's stupidity. “Luffy you moron!” He exclaimed, balling his hands into a fist as his one visible eyebrow arched into a fierce frown.

 

Chopper didn't waste a moment taking action. He leaped onto the railing, jumping into the air. When he landed, his body had changed into the body of a normal reindeer—with a pink top hat on his head—dashing across the deck. He referred to this simply as his “speed mode.” Reaching the front of the ship, the reindeer leaped, again changing shapes. This time he switched to his “strength mode”, the final natural transformation provided to Chopper by the Devil's Fruit. This form was rather humanoid, although much larger and bulkier than the normal human; plus, he was still covered with brown fur and topped off by the battered pink hat. Wrapping one thick arm around Starfire's leg, he wrapped the other around the railing of the ship. Now they would be able to keep up with the bird, but Chopper couldn't hang on for much longer.

 

“Let go Luffy!” Nami begged one more time. Unfortunately, by this time the captain's hunger had totally dominated his mind. He leaned back his head, throwing it forward as his neck stretched out and wrapped around the bird's leg. Luffy started licking the tender meat. Another panicked caw came from the creature as it flapped even harder, trying with all its might to get the freak off. That effort failed, but it did succeed in pulling the Merry Go faster than it had ever gone before. Streams of water leaped from each side of the vessel as it burned salt-water, so to speak.

 

Terra grew frustrated not being able to help. So, she would just have to try something else. “Why don't you two do something to help already?” She cried, thwacking Beast Boy and Usopp across the back of their heads.

 

“I'm on it!” Beast Boy exclaimed, leaping into the air and transforming into a Pterodactyl. He flapped his mighty green wings as hard as he could, finally flying above the creature's head. The changeling then became a hippopotamus, dropping onto the bird's head with a thud. Not a flinch.

 

Usopp pulled his slingshot and a small bullet from his green sack. He set the bullet into the sling, pulling back as hard as he could. His hand shook as he moved it back and forth, making sure his aim was just perfect. “There it is!” Usopp exclaimed, knowing that now was the time to attack. “Explosive Shot!” The tiny ball of explosives soared forward, landing on the side of the creature's head with a stifled explosion. Again, the bird didn't flinch. The only way you could even tell it happened was a small patch of smoke floating in the air. The sniper sighed, lowering his weapon. `Looks like Beast Boy wins this one too' he thought.

 

The green hippo quickly shifted into a gorilla, who reached his hands far behind his head to strike the creature. Unfortunately, the bird was going far too fast, and Beast Boy was nearly blown off. He shifted instantaneously into a lemur, digging his tiny little claws into the fur on the back of its head. Suddenly, a brilliant idea popped into his head! Beast Boy threw himself forward, his small body increasing its size ten fold as it became a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Finally a decent enough size to deal with the bird, he wrapped his tail around its neck.

 

The creature made one final dive as it started spinning, desperately trying to get everybody off its back! Luffy's body was wound up just like when he fought Slade, but he didn't even notice. In Monkey D. Luffy's world, food was the only thing important right now. He finally took one last lick before opening his mouth wide and chomping down straight into the creature's leg. The pain was the stimulus the bird needed for its second wind. Slamming its leg backwards, Luffy's neck slipped and snapped back into place. The recoil caused Luffy to lose his grip, and he snapped back onto the ship, spinning all the while. Of course, he ran into Cyborg, sending the robot, Starfire, and Chopper flying into the deck. Chunks of wood were missing from beneath them.

 

“Wait, come back!” Luffy called. “You were tasty!”

 

“Look at the ship.” Sanji groaned. “This is going to take a lot of work to fix.”

 

“Then you should have done something to help!” Nami screamed, backhanding the cook. Zoro laughed at his rival's comeuppance. “That goes for you too, Mr. I'm-too-busy-sleeping-to-ever-help-out!” She cried, whirling her leg into the side of his head. As the two warriors lay on their sides, twitching, she brushed the dust off her legs and snuck a peek at her indicator. “I wonder how far off course this took us.”

 

“It doesn't look like it did at all.” Chopper said, smiling. He pointed forward, straight to the island several feet ahead. The bird had actually taken them straight to their destination!

 

“So what do we do now that we're here?” Terra asked. “We obviously can't catch a plane, like we had hoped.”

 

“I guess we'll have to get home the same way we came.” Robin said, fingering the Stone of Iso Toa between his gloved fingers. “Unfortunately, I have no idea how far this thing reacts—we need to find a safe place to test it out.”

 

“Well then,” Nami smiled, “I guess you guys can help us stock up on supplies first then.”

 

“No, first we're going to eat!” Luffy cried, jumping onto the dock and running into the city.

 

“Come back here you moron!” The eleven others screamed. The Straw Hats and Teen Titans jumped off the Merry Go, storming onto land like a fast moving dust cloud. Their leader seemed oblivious to it all, worried about nothing but his next meal. Unfortunately, they all needed to be a bit more alert. None of them had any clue how many sets of eyes were watching them on this island; eyes that wanted only to see their destruction.

Next Time: To Defend a Dream—The Boy Who Will Become Pirate King