The Shopkeeper's Daughter: Act 2

[desertbloomed]

Characters: Lots!
Where: The hospital; the shopkeeper's shop; just outside the Chocobo Farm; in the wilderness; on the plateau.
When: September 12-13
Summary: It's time for The Shopkeeper's Daughter to get properly underway. Here we have act 2!
Warnings: Possibly some violence...

Overture
It’s market day in Aqures Ixen. People stream out of their homes and into the common areas, carrying all kinds of items, for bartering is just as popular on these days as buying things outright. Market days always bring with them a special kind of energy. Anything is possible on these days. One never knows what treasures one might find for sale. Except, of course, for Baltoro’s Blooms.

Comments

[thegreatninja]

Yuffie walked over, staring in disbelief at the miniature Luffy. One hand came to rest on Luffy's head as she smiled down at him. "Your so small!"

She was happy that the thing was gone and that he helped. Before he had a chance to get angry she moved her hand. "Thanks cap." With that she walked over to Cloud and held out the thing she found.

"I think I only found a small pebble."

[neverfirstclass]

Cloud was likewise watching in awe. He wasn't entirely sure what happened. He was familiar with the concept of limit breaks but he'd never seen one go off up close like that. And now that the attack was dealt he was worried about the change that had overtaken the pirate.

"I didn't hurt you did I?" He looked at Ashe, "I'm sorry. I thought I was just enhancing his attack."

As concerned as he was about Luffy, Yuffie was still pretty good at imposing herself into the situation, "Oh, uh, I see." He had no clue what was going on in that scramble. He's a little sad that she didn't actually have the seeds after all.

[gomu_ningen]

Luffy's voice isn't the same pitch as before, a higher tone like that of a child's rings as he snaps back a hearty response to the now taller ninja.

"No one hurts my nakama! Not even some crazy salad! Everyone okay? Ashe? Cloud? Wait.." He pauses for a moment, looking blankly at Yuffie. "Thanks, Youpy." As Ales runs over, Luffy crosses his tiny arms in front of his chest, looking over his form before responding to his merchant.

"Yeah, I'm fine. For some reason I get small like this if I use my GEARS. It's like my body kinda' shrinks because of all the strain, or something like that."

[thegreatninja]

"IT'S YUFFIE!" She shouted over at Luffy and then crossed her arms to wait for the others.

[umslay]

Ales walked around Luffy so that there was someone standing between him and Yuffie. He didn't want another fight between them.

"Gears? What? Are you part robot?" That was the only context for gears that he had heard of.

[gomu_ningen]

"I wish! Being part robot would be awesome!"

He looks at his hands, marveling over how tiny they are in comparison to how they normally appear.

"It's what I call my technique. It's named after taking things into a different gear. Ya' know, like, 'kickin' it into high gear'? Like that."

There's a whole science to it, and unfortunately it isn't in Luffy to be able to explain it. With his body being primarily made of rubber, Luffy's internal organs and bones are able to stretch and expand at will. Pumping blood and an expedited rate allows him to move faster, hit harder, and more. Any normal human would be under extreme duress, but with his organs and veins being able to now handle it, it was a simple feat.

Turning into a 'chibi' version of himself, however, has yet to be explained.

"I ate the Gum Gum fruit, so I turned into a rubber man. That's why I can stretch."

[umslay]

He had to agree, having the strength and power of a robot would be amazing, but unless that was possible, Ales was happy being an unassuming Teensie.

But at least the naming now made sense.

"Rubber? That's pretty unusual. Why haven't you mentioned that already?" There was nothing fantastical about a person that can stretch, compared to the strangeness that is his world. If he got those powers from eating a fruit, however, it meant that most people in his world couldn't.

[gomu_ningen]

It's a rather quick remark, tilting his head to the side as he brushes a finger over the bridge of his nose.

"No one asked. 'sides, I didn't know I could use my powers until we were fighting that monster by the big chicken ra-"

His sentence stops suddenly, his body bursting into another plume of smoke so that the pint-sized Luffy was now back in his usual form.

"Phew! That's better! Any ways, I didn't really need to use my powers for anything, so I never noticed."

[neverfirstclass]

Cloud nearly fell back in surprise as Luffy was once more surrounded that puff of smoke, balking at the sudden change back to normal shape. It was funny how people kept saying that this world (and by extension his own) were odd for having magic, but here was something even stranger.

Pushing it out of his mind, he glanced over to Ashelia, "So...uh...what do we do now?"