Chapter: Making Friends

It was now noon. Bunny had spent her free time wandering around the area a bit without being seen by any acquaintances who could tell their parents about their little trip. That turned out to be relatively difficult because almost everyone in the village knew her. Again she thought that sooner or later her parents would find out about it anyway, but she still felt uncomfortable about it.

Their steps directed them to the small park near the harbor. There were certainly many mothers with their small children there at this time, but it was their favorite place and so she ignored all caution and went inside. Since she was alone at home, she has been drawn here often. There were always people around that she knew and the hustle and bustle and laughter of the children made her feel good. Usually, Buster was with her every time and romped with her or the other dogs across the meadows and splashed in the little pond, where a couple of white ducks always swam, but her moody behavior in the morning made her feel at ease with him for the time being forfeited.Now she was really sorry that she had annoyed him so and she decided to give him a really fat bone as a reconciliation offer tonight.

A tangle of voices and laughter made her look up. Not far from her a crowd of people had formed who seemed quite amused about something. Curious, Bunny stepped closer to get a better look. After weaving past a few people, she could see that in the center of the circle was a boy with glasses, who was wearing a pointed hat with yellow stars on his tousled black hair and had set up a small table in front of him which was a box covered with velvet. In his hand he was holding what looked suspiciously like a wand. Now the boy began to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen. If I could now ask for your valued attention. I am the great Joe-ini and I will now take your breath away with my magical tricks.First, I'll conjure up a fluffy, white rabbit out of this box. And all of this without any lazy tricks or a false bottom. Look for yourself! ", he called to his audience and lifted the box to prove that there really was nothing in it. However, one of the hinges came loose and the box collapsed. Instead of thunderous applause, he only earned mocking giggles. With a slight shimmer of red around his nose, he hastily reassembled the box and continued.

"As you have seen this box is really empty ... um ... I'll start the magic now ..." he stammered a little nervously and then raised his wand.

"Abrakazoo Abrakasitten ..." he started in a theatrical voice, but then he broke off and scratched his head in confusion.

"Oh no, wrong saying ... um, .... well .... Eene meene soap bubble; a rabbit is jumping out of this thing now !!", he shouted loudly and waved his wand frantically.At first nothing happened, but then a white plastic pigeon shot out from the tip of the staff. It dangled from a worn metal spring for a moment in front of people's eyes before the metal gave way and the pigeon plopped onto the sandy ground.

It seemed as if all bystanders were holding their breath, but then suddenly a roaring laugh broke out. Some people had tears of laughter in their eyes, others blatantly booed the poor fellow.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a little black-haired boy jumped into the circle.

"Hey Mopsi! The weirdo has nothing on it! Now I'm going to create a bit of a mood here !!", he squeaked and stood in front of the completely perplexed wizard. Then he pulled down his bright yellow shorts without warning and began to wiggle his bare bum cheerfully.

"Come on guys! Dance the Po-Boogie-Woogie !!", he screeched with a laugh and tried to encourage a couple of pretty young women to do the same.They seemed less delighted with his idea and screamed into the distance.

"POISON ONIONS !!!! What kind of crap are you doing there ??" suddenly roared a brown-haired woman who now came rushing towards the little dancer with wide eyes and pulled him hard by the ears.

"There's really nowhere to go with you, you little monster! Harry finally has a week's vacation and you have to screw everything up again. Go! Off to the hotel and then your revealing butt has a wedding!" pulled the little guy behind him, who now threw wild insults at her head.

Now there was really no stopping it. Several people rolled on the floor, panting and the babble of voices increased in volume. And in the middle of it stood the boy with the wand and looked as if he was about to burst into tears. Bunny really felt sorry for him, but it was just too weird.

"Well, gentlemen.After this little show I will now present you the grand finale of my performance, "he started again, trying to drown out the general laughter. Surprisingly, someone really seemed to have been listening to him, because the crowd rang in from somewhere derisive "What ?? Do you want to pull your pants down now? "As an answer. The audience hooted again.

"Uh ... no ... well, I'll ... I'll be right now ..." he stuttered helplessly.

The sweat was already on his forehead and he was still holding his wand out.

Bunny couldn't watch that anymore and she already had an idea how to help this boy. She quickly checked the situation to make sure no one was watching and then let a small bolt of lightning from her left hand shoot into the center of the circle. Everything went as planned and it really looked like lightning had just shot out of the wizard boy's staff.The desired effect occurred immediately. There was a sudden silence and everyone looked at each other puzzled. But the boy himself had the most perplexed expression, because he could least believe what had just happened. Could he do magic after all? Hadn't all the unsuccessful attempts with his magic box been in vain ??? But he couldn't think about this mystery any more, because a thunderous applause broke out. People clapped enthusiastically and some shouted things like "Well done, little one!" or "You've got what it takes!" to. With his head bowed and an embarrassed grin, he bowed several times.

After sensibly blocking requests for an encore by pretending to have an urgent appointment with the dentist, the crowd slowly dispersed.

Bunny waited until the last spectators had patted him on the shoulder in appreciation and then slowly walked towards him."Hey big Joe-ini! Great show!" She said with a grin. The boy had been staring at his wand, completely fascinated, but now he jumped up and looked at Bunny in shock.

"Oh, ... mmh ... thanks ..." he muttered and scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

"I know you from school. You're in parallel class. Joe Porter, right?", Bunny tried to get the conversation going.

"Yes, that's right.", Joe replied and dared to take a closer look at her.

"And you're Bunny D. Kate. The one who's always late ..." he added with a shy grin.

"Oh, I already have my reputation ...", Bunny laughed exuberantly.

"And you will surely soon become known as the great sorcerer!" She continued with a chuckle.

"Well, to be honest, I have no idea how that happened. I didn't even cast a spell ..." Joe said and again that extremely confused look broke out on his face."I might be able to help you with that ... but only if you promise to hold tight !!" giggled Bunny and gave him a conspiratorial look.

Joe agreed, of course, and a little later the two sat together on one of the park benches a bit away from the lake and Bunny told him the whole story about their devil powers and also about their plans to become a pirate. She didn't know why she was serving up her whole life story to this boy, whom she hardly knew, for no reason, but Joe listened with open mouth and didn't interrupt her.

At first, Joe really didn't know what to think of this girl. From seeing at school, he had always thought her a slightly bumbling but still quite normal girl with long blond hair and big blue eyes, but with her stories about pirates and devil fruits she now seemed more like a female baron of lies. But when she gave him a few samples of her strength, all his doubts were gone and he was completely thrilled.Again and again he let them shoot small lightning bolts and soon they made fun of it to scare unsuspecting passers-by a bit.

When the phone rang at his house a few weeks later and Bunny asked him if he would like to join their pirate gang, Joe thought it was a good joke and accepted for fun. He even agreed to bring the provisions with him after she had asked him to come to the port at exactly five o'clock the next afternoon.

However, he hadn't expected what awaited him ...

Pulling a packed picnic basket behind him, he arrived the next day at the agreed meeting point, where Bunny was already waiting for him. And she wasn't alone. Her dog Buster was also sitting next to her on the jetty. Joe was a little surprised that the animal was wearing a pirate hat, but then his gaze fell on something that almost made his eyes fall out of his head.Directly in front of them there was something floating on the water that, with the best will in the world, could no longer be called a boat, but at most a "floating heap of junk".

"What the hell is that ???" Joe asked and looked at Bunny in shock.

"Well, what does it look like ??", Bunny answered the question blankly.

One more time Joe looked at the swaying nutshell, which had been patched up with boards in several places and didn't even have a sail, let alone a mast, and then a grin slowly spread across his face.

"Where did you get this great ship from ?? I'm thrilled! Let's set sail right away! Oh no wait ... that's not possible. This box doesn't even have sails ..." chuckled he. This girl was really up for any fun ....

"Oh, I know that it is nothing special, but it will be enough for the beginning. I bought it on Ebay. It was a real bargain. Well, the sails were unfortunately not included in the price, but there are paddles for that.Man, I really had to be very careful that my parents didn't discover the part !! They