"Hello? My name is Monkey D. Luffy," the rubber man announced into the receiver, "I'm going to be the King of Pirates!"
A frightened Usopp skidded over to Luffy and knocked the captain over the head. "You picked up too fast and you said too much!"
Rei tilted her head and looked curiously around the room. It seemed like a good moment to laugh but then she caught the serious look on everyone else's face and stifled the urge. Only Usopp and Chopper seemed surprised by their captain's outburst. The rest of the crew, while expecting Luffy to pull a stunt like that, knew the severity of the situation and remained expressionless.
"Is this the boss? It's cold!" a man at the other end of the line shouted, "My colleagues are getting cut one after another. The samurai is going to kill us!"
Zoro's ears perked up and he stood up a little straighter. "Samurai?" he repeated softly as he leaned a little closer to the phone. This could be interesting, he thought to himself.
"I'm on Punk Hazard!" the man cried out before a sound of a slashing blade came through the snail.
The man gasped and then the line was cut.
Catcha.
"HE GOT KILLED!" Chopper and Usopp screamed.
The rest of the Straw Hats stared wide-eyed at the snail, digesting what they just heard. Rei's mind raced with possibilities but she remained calm. She had spent many years learning how to keep her emotions in control so that she can think rationally under any given situation.
"It could be an act," Rei said softly.
"Maybe it's all a compelling set-up to lure us in," Robin agreed, nodding her head.
"How level headed," Brook sang out to the two women as he strummed on his guitar.
"Speaking of samurai…" Zoro said, his one track mind only focusing on the subject he was interested in.
"The samurai," Brook explained, "Are the swordsmen from the Wado Kingdom. It is a country that is closed off from the World Government."
"The samurai there are strong, like the fighters on Beffi Island," Rei added, "The Navy can't do anything about them and the World Government chooses to leave them alone."
Rei watched Zoro run a finger along the black hilt of his Shusui. He never told her where his swords came from so she wondered if it had a connection to samurais.
Rei suddenly felt sad and slightly guilty as she realized she didn't know much about Zoro or the rest of the crew, even though they knew everything about her. Back on Beffi Island she got a quick rundown of each of their abilities and fighting style but beyond that, she didn't know much about her new friends.
It had been a whirlwind of events by the time she joined the crew, and even afterwards she was on bedrest for a couple of days to heal up from a nearly fatal wound. She figured maybe it takes a bit more time to get to know everyone but it still didn't stop her from feeling like a bad friend.
Zoro caught her staring at his swords and she quickly turned away. What's with that look? Zoro wondered. She was wearing her mask, which acted like a security blanket to her, but he could always tell how she was feeling by her eyes. Zoro hoped she would never find out about her tell.
It was hard to imagine but she was just as unwilling to share her feelings as he was. It was quite frustrating for him but enlightening as he now realized why sometimes the other crew members got annoyed with him for doing the same thing.
"Samurai island?" Luffy said, his eyes lighting up with excitement, "So cool!"
"But he said Punk Hazard not Wano," Franky interjected, "So this can't be the samurai island, then."
"Punk Hazard must be this island then," Rei said calmly and pointed out the door, "If the man used a baby transponder snail, the signal would've come from there so we would be in range."
The Straw Hats walked out one by one to the lawn deck as they viewed the island before them. Even though they were far back from the volcano, they could still feel the heat and smell the sulfur. Not knowing what lay ahead was dangerous enough but adding in an active volcano made the situation that much more precarious.
"Alright! Let's go help the guy!" Luffy said as he charged forward without any hesitancy and a grin that stretched from ear to ear.
"How do we figure out who's going?" Sanji asked, resting a firm hand on the captain's shoulders to stop him from doing anything too impulsive this early in the day, "Since we don't know what is on the island, some of us should stay back."
"Franky, I'll take the Mini Merry," Luffy said ignoring the cook's question and shrugging his hand off.
"You definitely can't go by yourself," Nami interjected, "What will happen if you disappear on us? We'll need to draw straws."
She pulled out a handful of white straws, each cut at different lengths. "The ones with red tips at the end means that you're going with Luffy. Ready?"
Rei took one without hesitating, as she didn't really care one way or another. If she was able to explore the island, that would be great but if she stayed behind on the ship, it'll give her a chance to talk to the rest of the group and get to know them. Either way, it was something she looked forward to.
She drew a white straw. Not going.
She heard a wail as she looked over to see that Usopp's worst nightmare came to fruition and he had drawn a straw with the red tip, along with Zoro and Robin.
"Oy, Know It All," Zoro called out as he adjusted his swords, "Anything about this island we should know about?"
Rei knew he was trying to get her to admit she didn't know much about this island so she decided not to let him bait her.
"Yeah. It's pretty dangerous and...," she said, hiding her smile behind her mask, "Someone could get lost."
He gritted his teeth while the rest of the Straw Hats burst into laughter.
Rei folded her arms and her tone became serious as she said something that did bug her about this island, "Actually, I do remember reading some Naval reports mentioning Punk Hazard. I don't remember the details but if this is indeed Punk Hazard, this island is involved with the Navy somehow."
"Then it's a trap!" Usopp cried.
Rei said, "Usually I would agree but this island has an active volcano. It would be highly risky even for the Navy to stay here for too long. Besides, I doubt anything I say now would stop our captain."
She looked over and saw that Sanji was already handing Luffy their lunches for the road and Nami was making a road of clouds using her weapon.
From the side of the ship, Franky pulled out a mini-ship with a sheep as the figurehead.
"What is that?" Rei asked, as it was the first time she had seen it.
She knew about the various docking systems Franky, the shipwright, had put in place but she had yet to see what was actually docked in each compartment. She knew one of them was a submarine but this was clearly not it.
"It's the super Mini-Merry," Franky said, "I modeled it after Usopp's previous ship!"
"Your previous ship?" Rei asked turning to Usopp.
"Yeah, the Going Merry," Usopp said proudly as he thought fondly of his beloved ship, "It was a caravel from the island I grew up on."
Rei bit her lip, feeling even worse for not knowing something so basic about her friend. She looked around the crew and watched as they climbed aboard the Mini-Merry.
Zoro caught her eyes again and she hurriedly looked away. She didn't want to get into it with him, especially now of all times in front of everyone while they were gearing for an adventure.
Something is definitely bothering her, Zoro thought as he took a seat, Maybe I should check it out.
"Oy, guys-," he started to say but then Luffy's foot slammed into the pedal and the Mini-Merry lurched forward. Zoro sighed and looked behind at the masked girl one last time before he moved his eyes ahead. He folded his arms across his chest. Tch, he thought, That girl is worrisome.
Rei stared at the Mini-Merry as it sailed along the bridge of clouds. She thought about the passengers on there and what she knew of them. When the small ship was out of view, the tactician turned to the crew members that had remained.
"Hey, you guys," Rei said hesitantly, "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything, Rei-chwan~" Sanji sang as he came over to Rei's side.
"Are you okay, Rei?" Nami asked as she leaned back against the railing with her elbows.
"Yes, I'm fine," Rei said awkwardly, "I'm just wondering...if you could tell me a little about yourself. If it's not too much trouble, I mean."
If her mask was off, they would be able to tell that she was blushing furiously. She stared down at her feet, unsure of how her friends would react to her request.
"I just feel like," Rei continued, "You guys know everything about me and I want to know everything about you. I'm sorry if I haven't asked you guys this earlier. I just never had friends before."
She was blabbering and she knew it but she just couldn't stop the words from flowing out. Please don't hate me, she thought as she continued to stare at the ground.
Suddenly, she found Nami's arm around her shoulder and she looked over at her roommate. Nami gave her a big smile, "Of course! What do you want to know?"
"Aw! Nami-san, you're so sweet and considerate!" Sanji said as he raced into the kitchen, "I'll make something refreshing for you to cool down while you and Rei-chwan chat."
"Yay! Snack time!" cheered Brook, Franky, and Chopper.
"You guys want it too?!" Sanji yelled in surprise.