03/03/2017
A/N: Hey Everyone!
I present to you Chapter 2 of this story.
Things are still going a little slow so sorry about that.
I'm also trying to improve my writing with more descriptions and less repetitions.
Sorry in advance for any grammatical or spelling errors.
Thanks to whoever is reading this story!
Your support means a lot to me! :)
Shoutouts:
Candy: Thanks so much for the review! I hope you enjoy this chapter! ^_^
DISCLAIMER: I do no own One Piece! But I do own this story and my OCs!
PLAGIARIZERS WILL BURN IN HELL!
Sea Of Green
Chapter 2: Boulders, Tunnels and Offices
"My name is actually Hoshizora, they started calling me Hoshi for short, but it kinda stuck."
She looked down shyly and put her already gloved hand into her pockets.
Shachi had told her of how he and Penguin met up with Law and Bepo.
And a little bit of their pasts, which included their interests in mechanics.
They would walk in silence for a bit, until one of them decided to ask a question, sparking another short conversation.
Penguin also seemed to warm up to her, and even Bepo would drop an occasional remark every now and then, but Law somehow managed to stay silent for a good portion of the journey.
"So um, how old are you Bepo?"
"I'm twelve"
Bepo smiled shyly as he trudged forward to walk alongside Hoshi.
She grabbed one of his paws friendly and rubbed it between her hands.
The gesture didn't go unnoticed, as Bepo wrapped that arm around her.
Hoshi turned her head around to ask:
"And you guys? How old are you?"
"Seventeen" Shachi piped up.
"Eighteen" said Penguin.
"Oh! I'm only fourteen…."
Hoshi looked down again, a little nervous.
"And you? Law?"
"Sixteen"
"Oh."
She blushed lightly and turned away, slightly intimidated since nearly all of them were older than her.
Their journey continued like this until they reached a mountain, in front of which Hoshi stopped and turned around to face them.
Shachi immediately questioned:
"Why did you stop?"
"All of you will have to be thoroughly searched before you can go any further."
She tried choosing her words carefully, as not to come across has hostile.
Nonetheless, the atmosphere immediately tensed up.
Law's eyes narrowed into a suspicious glare, Bepo backed away from her, and Shachi and Penguin were taken off-guard too.
Taking a deep breath, Hoshi turned to knock on a loose rock on the left.
It was a series of knocks, some short, some long, maybe it was Morse code Law wondered.
She then pressed her ear to the boulder, probably waiting for some reply.
After what seemed like forever, the boulder rolled down and two burly men walked out from behind it.
They were taller than the average human, but not quite a giant either.
Still, they were intimidating enough.
The carried a large backpack each, and an assortment of weapons.
Bepo now scurried off to hide behind Law, although it did no good as he could still be seen clearly.
They swallowed hard as the huge figures made their way towards them.
Hoshi still stood by the boulder, she glanced at them unsurely.
They never bothered to introduce themselves, and began the search right away.
Much to their surprise, Bepo was handled with the least roughness.
Shachi and Penguin were too scared to speak so they decided to cooperate.
Law on the other hand, kept glaring at them, but still went along with it.
Hoshi turned away from the scene, hoping these new kids weren't spies.
Her musings were interrupted by a gruff voice:
"Get the handcuffs! This one is a devil fruit user!"
She turned around in panic to see the gatekeepers lock seastone cuffs on Law.
'Oh no, that means he IS a spy! How could I be so stupid? Oh god, what will happen now?'
She held her breath in anticipation of a fight, some sort of protest, a conflict or resistance.
But none came.
Law quietly accepted the handcuffs with no more than an irritated look on his face.
Shachi and Penguin apparently had nothing on them other than a knife each, which they probably used for protection against wild animals.
Five minutes later, they were all done.
Wordlessly they rolled the boulder back further, and motioned them to come in.
Hoshi immediately rushed to their sides, her expression relieved and happy.
She kept glancing at them as they followed the gate keepers through the mountain pass.
Shachi and Penguin were on their toes; Bepo was still trailing behind Law carefully, while Law looked irritated and frustrated.
The walk was short, and soon they reached another mountain.
This time the gatekeepers bent down to speak with Hoshi.
Their voices were low so the rest of the group couldn't pick anything up.
They then walked back to where they had come from, leaving the teenagers alone.
Hoshi finally spoke:
"I'm sorry about that! I know the gatekeepers aren't the nicest of people!"
Shachi snorted.
She continued:
"But it had to be done! So many times we've had spies trying to sneak in pretending to be homeless!"
She looked a little ashamed but she carried on:
"And that's why I had to ask you to come with me back then…."
"We keep a record of everyone on this island and their activities."
"Anyone other than that is considered a potential threat."
Their disdain turned to surprise.
They had not expected this 'Revolutionary' organization to be so well-guarded.
Penguin was a little confused.
"But what if we didn't come along with you?"
"Then I would have used force."
At this he couldn't help but laugh.
Shachi held his giggles and spoke:
"I'm sorry Hoshi, but you're just a little girl! What could you possibly do to stop us?"
"There are three of us, and only one of you!"
"We're all boys, and older than you!"
Hoshi huffed.
"I would have called someone for help!"
"Oh but what if we already killed you by then"
Penguin's voice was low, but it held a certain spook that was only amplified by the screeching winds.
She held his stare in defiance for a good two minutes.
"Nah!"
They all sweat-dropped in unison, with the same thought in their heads:
'This girl is so gonna get herself killed'
"If you really wanted to kill me, you would have done that long ago. Why wait for when I have arrived to my base and I have backup? And when your strongest member is wearing cuffs? Huh?"
She grinned defiantly.
Shachi was impressed.
"You're smart girl, I'll give you that!"
She blushed at the compliment, and proceeded to roll another boulder to the side.
Although behind this one, there was a hallway of some sort.
She gestured them to come inside, to which they responded slightly hesitantly.
Anyhow, after they all were inside, Hoshi replaced the boulder at the entrance.
With only the few lightbulbs hanging above them, the hallway, or should I say cave was very dim.
The ceiling was curved, so it seemed higher than it actually was.
They reached end the very fast and were greeted by a proper steel door, no more boulders.
It was a thick steel door, worn out with time supposedly; nothing special about it except there was a keypad instead of a handle.
Hoshi secretively put her hand around it and quickly typed in a long sequence.
The machine beeped green three times, and the door clicked open.
This time the hallway was bigger and brighter, and there were many doors on each side.
She guided them to the second door on the left, where she typed another code to enter.
Now they were inside a small office.
The room was average sized, four chairs lined up in a corner, a desk with a chair on each side was in the other corner, and a few dying plants on a bookshelf.
A wooden door was behind the desk.
Hoshi instructed them to sit on the chairs, while she disappeared behind said door.
Shachi, Penguin and Law immediately slumped down into the creaky, old chairs.
Bepo opted to sit on the ground next the empty seat.
It felt good to finally sit down in a warm room for once.
They stretched their legs out, feeling the numbness go away.
Shachi and Penguin started whispering between themselves.
Law tuned from their conversation as he leaned his head against the wall.
His mind was overflowing with thoughts.
He rubbed his hands on his temples to ease the oncoming headache, but to no avail.
He took a moment to glance towards the boys on his left, who were still engaged in an animated discussion about their so-called 'saviour' Hoshizora.
He sighed.
This was for them.
They were lost, young, and still naïve compared to him, which was why he had decided to protect them and their dreams.
He would do this for them.
While he was ready to fend for himself in the bitter cold, they weren't.
A soft snore from his right caught his attention.
Bepo sat leaned against the wall, eyes closed and asleep with a blissful expression on his face.
The pure white fur was a symbol of innocence, innocence that Law vowed to protect.
Gentle rises and falls of his chest were a smoothing rhythm to gaze at.
Law felt his own eye-lids grow heavier.
How long had it been since he had slept?
The hand cuffs were wearing him out.
The short moment of peace was interrupted when the squeaky wooden door opened.
A young man appeared who seemed to be in his early thirties.
He had a mop of faded brown hair on his head, and a beige hat.
His dressing was neat, but by no means professional.
He cleared his throat before introducing himself:
"I'm Warren; I need to collect all the data on you guys, make files for you to register you into our organisation. And I expect your full cooperation."
The sentence was said in a monotone voice which indicated that he had said these words many times before.
He sized them down from behind a golden pair of spectacles, his eyes resting on Law the longest.
"So he is the Devil-fruit user?"
Hoshi replied:
"Yes, but don't the details yet, so we will need Sir Dante's help for that."
Warren's brows knitted, he was confused.
"What about the Polar Bear? I was thinking he would be the Zoan."
"He has been tested with kairouseki and it didn't affect him, he says he is a mink."
The middle-aged man nodded understandingly.
Turning to face Hoshi, he smiled gently and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Your brother was asking for you! I suggest you go see him now; I can handle the rest from here. Thanks for bringing them in."
She smiled and nodded politely and turned on her heel to leave.
Just then, a young man burst into the room.
His dishevelled hair fell in dark brown curls over his blue-green eyes.
"Um, am I interrupting something?"
Hoshi bit back a chuckle as Warren looked clearly irritated.
"I would appreciate it if you learned the art of knocking on a door Luke!"
"Sorry"
He said meekly.
Luke hung his head down and dropped a stack of papers on his desk.
Hoshi spared one glance at the boys on the chairs before quietly slipping out of the door.
She had made it more than halfway across the hallway, when a voice called from behind:
"Hey Hoshi!"
She turned to see Luke making his way out of the office, waving his hand.
"Heya Luke!"
She stopped and waved back, waiting for him to catch up with her.
When he caught up, they started walking again.
He had a curious expression on his face as he spoke:
"Who were those kids back there?"
Her small voice contrasted with his deep one.
"I found them out in the countryside; they had nowhere to go, so I suggested they come here!"
His eyes widened in surprise.
His voice had a slight accent to it as he spoke:
"My my Hoshi! Taking in new recruits now are we?!"
Hoshi giggled a little nervously, remembering how she too had once been the new recruit.
Deciding to change the topic she asked:
"I heard my brother was asking for me? Did you tell him where I was?"
"I told him it was messenger duty, he wasn't very happy!"
The brunette huffed.
"I wish he would stop treating me like a kid!"
He shot her a sympathetic smile.
"You know he is only trying to look out for you!"
Guiltily she looked down, but pouted nonetheless.
"I know, I know."
The rest of the walk was spent talking about other things.
And every now and Luke would crack an inappropriate joke to which Hoshi would respond with laughter and a kick to his shin.
They reached the end of the hallway, and showed their passes to the guard and entered.
It was a medium sized room with a few doors at the end, and a long staircase spiralling down.
Luke went first, and Hoshi followed.
She grabbed the pole in the centre for support, and carefully made her way down the stairs.
It took a good five minutes to reach the end, as the tunnel was dim and the staircase steep.
The clanking of the metal stopped echoing as Hoshi stepped of the staircase.
Luke extended a hand to help her, which she gratefully accepted.
While the tunnel around the staircase was small and round, the end was wider and a little rectangular.
It was spacious enough for five people to stand comfortably but it was dark enough to get claustrophobic.
A few steps after the staircase there was a big wooden double door.
The neat wood contrasted with sandy ground on which they stood.
Luke swiftly opened both doors, and they stepped into the common room of the compound.
It had a very high ceiling and metal staircases and walkways intertwined in a complex pattern above them.
The walls were also made entirely of metal, which gave a cold factory-like vibe to the place.
The room was fairly quiet as usual, since everyone was probably in their dorms by now.
A nearby clock displayed the time 4:30 which meant an hour and a half until dinner.
Luke excused himself and climbed one of the many staircases that lead to his dorm.
Hoshi was about to the same until she remembered her Brother had asked for her, sighing, she made her way into the opposite direction
A/N: Thanks for reading! Do share your thoughts and review! :D
Next chapter we will get to find out about Law and co. , and you will get to meet Hoshi's brother!
I'm also working on the length of the chapters, and a proper updating schedule.
At most I will keep it weekly, but if it's ready before that then I will post it sooner.
- Ao Tori