The Island of Meat

The Young Woman in White!

An Eternal Pose to Your Dreams!

"Good luck?" Zoro said, looking rather unconvinced.

Robin smiled, and said, "Yes, giving travelers a much needed lift to their destination is sometimes thought as extremely good luck in some societies."

"I'd call that suicide on the Grand Line," Usopp said, squinting at the young woman in the little dinghy.

Luffy leaned over the railing, and grinned at her, "Come on up! We'll give you a lift."

Shooting him an admonishing glance, Nami said, "Luffy, we shouldn't give every stranger you meet a ride. It's too dangerous when we all have a bounty on our heads."

He just turned that same grin towards his navigator, "We'll be fine. Shishi."

After a ladder was sent down, and the girl was up on deck, Sanji twirled to her side before kneeling at one knee in front of her, "My lady, why hasn't the sun fallen from the sky in shame to blanket us in darkness? Why haven't the man in the moon and his rabbit jumped to try and catch the stars for you? The world would be best in eternal night – your sheer beauty blinds me!"

Usopp and Zoro made a slapping motion in the air, "Too late."

"Shut it!"

As Sanji turned his attention towards Usopp and Zoro in the form of shoe stomps to the face, Luffy laughed, slapping his knees as he was entertained. The girl – dressed in white silk with lacy cream gloves – smiled at him, blue eyes sparkling in mirth.

When Luffy noticed this, he, still grinning, pointed in the direction of the kitchen, "Are you hungry?"

Nami felt slightly uneasy when the young woman seemed to focus so intently on their captain, "Why, yes. Thank you."

He took her hand, already much too amiable in Nami's opinion as he led her to the kitchen. Sanji followed after, seeming to realize that Luffy would be alone with the pretty, new girl, and that was a grave atrocity in his book. Nami didn't feel any better with Sanji following their captain.

The cook was just as likely to do something stupid when a pretty woman was involved. Luffy was just always up to something ridiculous.

She plopped herself into a chair in the dining room, across from the woman and Luffy who appeared quite tickled – with Sanji and his reactions, and just the girl in general. Doing her best to not play with her hair, Nami sat straight in her chair, feeling awkward as the two talked. It seemed as if Luffy had forgotten she was even there, but she forced the thought away.

He's a boy, she thought. Of course, he was bound to find a girl he'd like. Her eyes narrowed, suddenly uncertain, If this is how he flirts anyway …

He said, "I had the octopus shoved down my pants the whole time!"

This is Luffy after all. I guess I shouldn't be surprised if that's how he does it.

Deciding to save herself and her captain some face, she interrupted him, "So … Kuru?"

She nodded with a gentle smile.

Nami found herself smiling back, and said, "Kuru, where are you from?"

"The Island of Meat," she said, and she pulled out an Eternal Pose from her voluminous sleeve.

Abruptly ecstatic, Luffy slammed a foot onto the table, halfway standing on his chair instead of sitting on it. His fists pumped excitedly, and he said, "What! Really!?" He bit his bottom lip, eyes wide as he waited for a response, obviously wanting a little bit of confirmation. Kuru's nod was all he needed to jump up onto the table to dance, "Yahoo! All right, we're going to the Island of Meat. The Island of Meat," he seemed to sing, shimmying up and down the course of the table.

Allowing him to do his odd dance once or twice, Nami then grabbed his face, and pulled him back onto the floor. She said, "No dancing on the table."

Luffy didn't permit Nami's irritation to damper his spirits however, and he ran back onto the deck, yelling his jubilation, "We're going to the Island of Meat, everybody!"

The navigator was less thrilled, eyeing Kuru's Eternal Pose until it was handed over to her. Kuru said, "He's a nice young man."

"He's an idiot," Sanji finished his cigarette, and ground it into an ashtray before he went into the kitchen, pulling up his sleeves. As he began to cut up some choice steaks, he said, "It's about time though. This might shut him up for good about every next island being the Island of Meat."

"He might never want to leave if it's true though," Nami said.

Sanji laughed, and said, "That's true."

"So," she turned to Kuru, "is it really an island filled with every meat imaginable with only the best meat chefs of the world?"

"Oh, no," Kuru said. "I wouldn't say it was like that at all. We're very picky about our meat."

She smiled, "I guess he won't like it as much as he thought he would then, huh?"

"People react to our cuts in different ways. I think he might enjoy it," she said, that smile still set firmly in place.

"How long does it take a Log Pose to set there? We wanted to head out to Fishman Island as well," Nami said, pointing to her Log Pose as if she hadn't seen the thing on her wrist, practically claiming her role as navigator.

"It takes about two months. That's plenty of time for your captain to enjoy our hospitality."

Nami's eyes narrowed on the Eternal Pose and then onto her own Log Pose, "I guess so."

!#$&()+

His excitement turned out to be contagious for the rest of the crew, but Nami was dubious, looking at her Log Pose every now and then. She supposed – quietly to herself – that she had lied. The navigator of the Thousand Sunny didn't want to go to Fishman Island at all, and the fact that they had to go through some haunted Florian Triangle to get to it was ludicrous.

She didn't want to go – Fishmen were a part of the past that she did not find a pleasant part of her life. In fact, they had been a major part of her life up until a scant five months ago.

Six, she recounted. I've been with Luffy and the others for six months. She found a faint smile growing on her lips, and she thought, Now they're the most important people in the world to me.

Glancing up at Luffy who was standing with Kuru, she wondered why she wasn't happier for him. There was a beautiful woman on his arm, and his eyes were likely filled with the sun, ocean, and thoughts of an island filled with meat. Nothing would obstruct his way; not even the protests of a concerned friend.

Nami hugged herself in the chill air.

It's been four weeks since … Luffy looked back at her, grinning, and Nami smiled back.

He pointed out towards the horizon, and said, "Nami! I see an island!"

Kuru smiled at him, and he turned to her instead when she said, "Yes, that's my home, Luffy-kun." Nami twitched. "I hope that you'll enjoy your stay with us."

"'Us?'"

"Oh, yes," she said. "Won't you stay with my family and I? We have a grand house on the hill. That way you and your crew won't have to waste any money for a hotel." She lightly touched his shoulder when he looked at Nami, "Won't you, please?"

Controlling the raging twitch this time around, Nami shrugged, and said, "It's your call, Captain. She is right about the money though."

"Okay, we'll stay with you," he said.

Kuru just smiled.

As they docked the ship, Luffy immediately jumped off with Kuru not far behind. He waved up at them, and said, "I'm going to Kuru's place while you guys finish up here!"

Usopp groaned, but waved him off, "Have fun, you jerk!"

"Bye, guys!"

Biting her lip, Nami watched he captain go up the road, following the girl in white. She jumped in shock as someone touched her shoulder, and she turned, looking up at Robin. Nami said, "Is there something wrong?"

The older woman seemed to think to herself for a while before she appeared to settle on something to say, "Kuru-chan's complexion is very healthy now."

"Oh, yeah," she said, looking back up the street to see Luffy still trailing after the blonde like a little puppy.

"She was so pale when she arrived."

"Maybe she was out at sea for a while," she said. "I guess it's good that we got to her in time before she just wasted away."

"You don't sound very pleased about it though, Nami-chan."

Eyes widening, she looked back up, and said, "What? That's not true, Robin. I mean, Luffy's gotten to know her so well. He'd be upset if he ever noticed how unwell she looked."

Franky leaned in on Nami's other side, and she turned to him when he said, "Did he notice?"

"I don't … understand," she said, looking back and forth between the two.

"Don't you remember, Nami-chan? She was white as a sheet when she came aboard."

"The cook-bro made a huge hissy fit about it – his little spiel about there being no light in the sky because she was bright enough."

Robin said, "And then he never mentioned it again."

Her form twitched, and she looked out into the street again, searching for the hale figure of Kuru and their captain. Now that they were saying something to agitate her already restless mind, Nami began to worry all over again.

Franky said, "You were the only one we could talk to about it. Sword-boy doesn't seem to care, the cook-bro is useless, sniper-face is too freaked out by what we told him, and the doc's the same way. Those two are layering themselves with crosses or some such thing."

Her good sense told her that a storm was afoot, and an excruciating headache hit her. She said, "We have to get the others to see something's going on then. Luffy's pretty stupid sometimes, but he does notice people's moods. Maybe he knows there's something wrong already, and he's just trying to get her away from us."

At least, that was her hope. In truth, she was quite certain that their captain had been duped in some way, and they had to pull him out of some danger.

"This is the Florian Triangle," Robin said, and Nami bit her lip.

Some footsteps coming from behind, made her shriek, and turn around in surprise only to blush fiercely at the sight of Usopp. He raised an eyebrow at her, but said, "Have you guys seen Chopper?"

She blinked, and said, "Huh?"

Yawning, Zoro – whom had been napping beside the three conspirators – sat up, and blinked blearily at their sniper, "Eh? Chopper left? When?"

Usopp glanced around as if to make sure their doctor wasn't just hanging about the ship's deck, "I saw him about a half hour ago when we got into port."

Robin and Franky nodded to each other then, and he said, "We were talking to him a little bit before that."

Looking out toward the town again, searching for Luffy, Nami said, "And where's Sanji-kun?"

Zoro stood as the others looked around unsurely. He snorted to himself, and jumped up to stand on the rail of the ship, shading his eyes as he looked. He said, "I wouldn't be surprised if dumbass followed Luffy and the girl."

"Wait," Franky pointed at him, "are you on our side about the creepy chick now?"

"Aren't I always on your side!? I'm the first mate!"

Robin pointed out, "You didn't care before."

"Because it's Luffy. He can take care of himself. Dumbass and Chopper are different. One's a dumbass and the other's gullible," Zoro said.

"I wonder who's who," Usopp said with a light roll of his eyes.

"All right," Franky said, putting a massive arm into Zoro's path when he looked like he would charge. "Boys, and girls, I think it's about time we split up into groups. Let's find the cook-bro, Chopper, and Strawhat before someone else disappears. Got it?"

Nami's eyes trailed over the landscape waiting for them, and wondered where Luffy had gone. Kuru had spoken of a hill, and Nami searched the hills beyond the town before she squinted, a bit concerned when she finally found a house nestled kilometers away from the town with a spindly road leading to it. For a moment, she thought she could see two figures on that road, but after she blinked, they vanished.

!#$&()+

Yes, that's right! It's my Halloween story, and the crew's on one hell of a ride. I hope you enjoy! Please, review! I want to finish this before Halloween.

!#$&()+