The Bowin Island Adventure
By John Hallman
Chapter 1: The Errand-Boy
Somewhere along the Bowin Archipelago
It had been almost 2 hours since the man known as "Captain" Usopp had departed from the island where he and the warrior Heracles have resided for the past year-and-a-half. Because the number of giant insects and carnivorous plants increases farther from the center of each island, the task of leaving is considered suicide. Thanks to his intense training, Usopp had managed to accomplish this feat. However, the ordeal had left him drained of energy and dehydrated.
"Damn you Sensei! Go fetch some honey Usoppun! It'll be a breeze Usoppun," the frustrated pirate shouted sarcastically to the heavens. His iron-clad master had given Usopp the task of fetching honey from the "Honeycomb Palace" on the island south from their island. However, the honey itself is guarded by a colony of man-sized honey bees. Heracles had told him that the bees served as the archipelago's life force; the bees are responsible for pollinating the island's flora.
Usopp wiped beads of sweat off his elongated nose and reached for his canteen at the bottom of his gondola, which was more like a giant banana peel with oversized leaves for oars. He took a few sips and checked his sniper goggles and slingshot to make sure they were undamaged. Unfortunately, his arsenal of "pop-green" seeds and "fire-star" projectiles had been half spent. On the plus side, the sea was blessedly placid.
To calm his nerves, Usopp hummed the tune of the beloved pirate melody "Bink's Sake" that he and the rest of the now separated Straw Hat Pirates used to sing. He recalled the merry times he and the crew had together: Brook playing his violin, Franky doing his ridiculous pose, Chopper with chopsticks up his nose, and his captain Luffy stuffing his mouth full of Sanji's spiced meat.
Usopp missed the crew terribly. Ever since being separated by the pirate warlord Bartholomew Kuma, he had been more than anxious to get back to the Thousand Sunny, anchored at Sabaody Archipelago, and reunite with the others. This made waiting for 2 years much more difficult. However, he needed to keep his head in his training in order to become more useful to the Straw Hats.
He saw his destination only a few miles away. Of course, what was considered an island was actually, like the rest of the islands that made up the archipelago, a massive species of carnivorous plants known as "Stomach Barons." Like a Venus flytrap, the plants would periodically raise their giant leaves and scoop up whatever hapless, obese creature that was unfortunate enough to wander into the Forest of Gluttony and into its crater-sized maw; a fate Usopp himself had narrowly avoided.
"Made it! Now if I can just find a way up."
After a few more hours of rowing, the pirate found himself in the shadow of one of the island's gigantic appendages. Usopp could tell the plant had recently gorged itself due to the lazy drooping of the large petals. This provided an opening to climb up the plants side. He pulled from his pack a rope attached to a grappling hook and began to twirl it.
"One, two, three," he said as he sent the hook flying up the cliff and latching onto some kind of citrus tree. He then got out of his boat and started scaling the plant's side.
When he reached the top, Usopp heard a low hum emit from the depths of the green jungle. Gathering his courage, he began his trek into the dark forest to the bee's hive.
"Its just a little honey, how hard can it be?"
(Chapter 1 end)