- Hoku would be an absolute menace on Kid's crew
- His crew would actually begin to question whether or not it was a good decision to let their captain force her onto their ship
- Would claim she's only working temp on his ship because she had strangely rationalized that this was a good way to get Luffy to give up on her/she could just ditch this crew whenever and go die peacefully in a hut somewhere after following the news of the Straw Hat's journey
- Is constantly questioning/not listening to his authority, she never takes it to the point of being blatantly mean, but just kinda ignores his orders/does whatever she wants
- Hoku makes sure to get work done for the crew to earn her keep, helping out with ship chores, figuring out who's the cleanliest and making sure things don't look too gross with all these grease monkeys hanging around (she's not that neat either)
- pops up in strange places around the ship, gets along with random crew members, even offers to help ink tattoos for them from time to time once she really warms up to them
- she's become a bit fond of these weird, punk rock pirates
- is always fighting with Kid, it's either two-sided shouting matches or one-sided curses and shouts from Kid while she picks at her ear and ignores him
- unironically ends up causing him to be both a more destructive and less destructive pirate, he causes less human bodily harm but ends up destroying more houses or towns from his fights with Hoku (she always tries to rebuild homes for anyone)
- it's a running joke to see how long they can go at sea before Kid gets angry at her, he seems to get livid at the very sight of her just lounging on her back on top of some barrels, but his crew reminds him its his fault for wanting her
- Hoku likes messing with Kid but she actually starts to warm up, very, very little to him. She kind of finds him more amusing than anything else, fun to mess with, likes that he's so bullheadedly passionate about his dreams but just hates how angry he always is
- "I think he just needs to get laid," Hoku finally joked once to Killer, causing the first mate to pause completely in the middle of his meal. There's a few things Killer could say to that, but he decides it's wiser not to get involved with anything in that regard
- Killer just isn't sure how to tell her that sometimes Kid's "anger" isn't quite "anger"...
- Hoku and Kid spar often, mostly because it's a fight turned physical but Kid genuinely thrives when it comes to fighting with Hoku
- one sparring match in particular ends up a bit...
"You're always runnin' around like a rat," Kid accused, kicking up a storm of sand as he lunged for Hoku. She leapt out of his reach, dodging his metal extended claws. "Afraid of getting caught, doll?"
"You're always grabbing," Hoku snapped back. She lowered herself briefly to the sand, swinging her foot out and catching Kid in his side. He grabbed quickly for her ankle, but Hoku swung her foot up and sprung back on her hands, just out of his grasp. "Always tryin' to hug me."
"Shut it!" Kid snarled. The shore line lapped right at their side, encroaching closer onto the sandy slope. A salty breeze tousled Hoku's hair out of her face, baring her completely to him. "One of these days you're gonna be cryin' because of this."
Hoku laughed, a loose, breezy sound that grated against his ears. Kid felt his pulse thundering louder in his ears. Hoku leapt nimbly closer, he knew this tactic well by now, her way of getting ready to try to finish him off. Her fingers reached for her sword. "Whatever you say, brat—"
Kid moved differently this time, lunging forward, arms raised. Hoku balked for a second in surprise, eyes wide at his frontal assault. Kid still had hulk and mass over her, the entirety of him slamming her down into the ground with a ghost of her breath rushing past his ear.
Hoku reacted quickly, scrambling with him in the sand as grains flew across the both of them. Kid wrestled with her, trying to force either both her wrists into one of his or pin her legs down—whichever he could manage first—a knee slammed into his ribcage, a foot managed to extend and catch the side of his head—damn she's flexible.
Hoku's hand grabbed at his hair, pulling roughly. Kid snarled, blood pumping at the sensation while Hoku glared fiercely beneath him. Something thrummed, a little louder in his ears, and before Kid could force her down Hoku was suddenly heaving with all her might—legs locked tightly around his waist. Kid felt himself go sideways before he could fight back, forced with a rough palm down onto his back and facing upwards as Hoku straddled him.
Her hair fanned out wildly around her face. Sweat dripped a bit from her chin from their brief and rough struggle. Hoku glared down at him, daring him to fight back. Her lips pulled into a little bit of a snarl, the faint glint of that sharp canine catching light. Kid's hand shot up automatically, gripping her waist, the other grasping her thigh—his entire hand could almost cover the expanse of her thigh, he realized suddenly, like a screw clattering to the ground in the back of his head. He could feel the heat of her skin through her rough pants, the taut muscle and still slightly plush flesh at his fingertips, dents pressing under his grip.
Her hip fit even easier into his hand, one firm grip. His eyes flickered up briefly to her face, still twisted into a daring look of triumph above him—the faint heave of her chest, the rise and fall, rise and fall—
A drop of sweat rolled down the column of her neck. Kid felt something heavy pull into his gut.
God, he should kill this woman.
More screws clattered to the ground in his mind, a ruckus of noise, each one a shattering image of Hoku laughing annoyingly amidst his crew, shoving Wire as she almost fell over her barrel. An image of her snoozing uselessly in the sun, glowing from its warmth, sprawled out with ease across the deck. Her hair catching the first rays of light as she peeked over the crow's nest from the watch the night before. Her eyes meeting his across a bar, crinkled at the corners in teasing annoyance—
He needed to wreck this woman.
Her fingers wrapped around her brush. The slow or quick turn of her hand across paper. The colors that spilled out beneath her fingertips. Her happy, grudging huffs of awe at his work. The soft, audible sound of her in his private workshop, gaze lowered to whatever project laid before her.
Her eyes, flickering to meet his gaze, reflecting his visage entirely.
Hoku suddenly went ramrod straight above Kid. She paused, her once firm grip of his chest and head faltering. Kid blinked, annoyed to have been dragged from his thoughts as he looked back up at Hoku—
Kid blinked, once, twice, going almost slack in disbelief at the sight before him.
Hoku's cheeks had flushed, a dark, flustered red. She looked stunned, stupified almost as though she was trying to comprehend and register the situation at hand herself. Kid watched, almost mesmerized by the way that blush seemed to creep from the back of her neck as well—did her whole body flush like that? How far did it go?
Why the hell was she blushing in the first place—
(Something hard pressed flush against the inside of Hoku's thigh, a size she did not need to consider, situated right beneath the weight of her pressing originally hard down against Kid to keep him pinned—)
Kid went carefully still in realization. His grip on Hoku instantly went slack.
(Her weight fit snug against him. A shudder threatened to run down the back of his neck. Shamelessly he imagined for a second her back against the sand, her hair sprawled out amidst it. Her eyes, round and wide filled with his visage, her cheeks flushed, his lips following it down her neck. Something hot pooling in his gut flushed upwards, right to his fingertips as they flexed, suddenly itching to hold—)
Hoku was off Kid in a flash, jumping to her feet as her hands flew up into the air as though she were under arrest. Kid scrambled up onto his elbows, jaw working—
"Hey, uh, sorry about that," Hoku said first before Kid could even think of what ought to come out of his mouth. He blinked dumbly at her. "It's—that's a totally normal thing to happen, so don't worry about it, yeah? No worries, bud. Uh—I'll um, go? See ya back on the ship!"
Hoku darted away, running off the sand before he could even grab for her ankle or hold her back. Kid sat there amidst the sand, heat pulsing against his skin, a very real, very personal problem tenting upwards against his—
Kid let out something like a slew of curses, shouting angrily at nothing and everything—
- Killer was perplexed for only about five minutes later that evening when Kid returned, some time after Hoku, more angry and grumpy but strangely subdued around her in a way he was not before, and then Killer sorta figured it out
-basically Hoku on Kid's crew is 3/5 her giving him an aneurysm and 2/5s something else
