Luffy woke up before Nami did and immediately went into the forest to capture another winged buffalo for breakfast, like the two mornings before. He liked this forest a lot. It reminded him of his hometown. He almost expected to see Sabo and Ace jump out of a tree and start attacking some giant tiger.
But...
He shook his head and made himself push those memories out of his head. Now wasn't the time to be mourning, there was food to be caught and eaten.
He whistled while skipping around, then stopped, thinking that he heard something.
Like...some sort of scared whimpering.
"Eh? Who's there?" Luffy called, spinning around. There was no answer. Luffy shrugged and continued to search.
~whimper
"Alright! Who the hell is here!?" Luffy called out, annoyed. He kicked the ground, and suddenly fell into a small hole.
"GAH! Wha-"
"OUCH! Who is that!?" Shouted a voice under him. Luffy pulled himself back up onto the ground and looked into the hole, where he saw an extremely worried looking man with brown hair and glasses who was very short and squat. The man was rubbing his head and repeated.
"W-Who are you boy?"
"I'm Luffy. The man who'll become king of the Pirates. Who the heck are you?" Luffy asked. The man swallowed and peeked at the boy above.
"A pirate captain. I'm Fidget of the Squat Pirates."
"Ooh! A captain! What are you doing here Short-Guy?"
Fidget began shaking.
"I'm stranded here. I barely made it through the winter alive...This island is a killer..."
Luffy raised his eyebrows.
"Eh?"
"Please.,..take me back to your camp...I'll explain everything once there..."
Luffy thought for a minute.
"Alright...but my Navigator is here too...And if you even THINK about hurting her..."
"I won't..."
Luffy pulled Fidget out of the hole and his stomach growled.
"ooh...but can I kill offa Buffalo first? I'm STARV-"
"DON'T TAKE THE FOOD FOR GRANTED!" Fidget suddenly shouted. Luffy fell backwards and stared at Fidget with surprised eyes. The short-guy seemed so cowardly and weak that he didn't expect him to have such a booming, commanding voice. Fidget wiped sweat from his brow and regained his timid look.
"I-I'm sorry...it's just..."
"Luffy!?" The voice of Nami called out. She ran up to the two men and glared at Fidget.
"Who's this midget?"
"He's Fidget...he's stranded here too." Luffy answered. "This is Nami! My Navigator!"
Much to Nami's surprise, Fidget barely gave her a glance. He kept his eyes on Luffy.
"Listen...both of you...once the last leaf falls...winter will come. You won't be killed off by the snow, or the cold, or even by the animals for that matter. Because, the animals won't be here anymore. Everyone of them will migrate to a warmer area, the berries will freeze, and soon there will be nothing on the entire island to eat. Not one thing."
Both of them made surprised noises in their throat.
"And you won't be able to store food either. The meat from the buffalo spoils after a week, and the berries will only last so long. I was only able to survive because I have a small stomach..."
"So...you're saying that if we aren't rescued by winter, we'll die of starvation!?" Nami exclaimed.
"Oi Nami! We won't die here! Idiot!" Luffy shouted. "The other's will save us LONG before then!"
"I thought that too..." Fidget said, shaking violently. "But this island has been long forgotten, and is near impossible to find. It's called "Ghost Island" as only those who have been stranded on it know about it."
"I've heard about it!" Nami announced. "I thought it was just a rumor!"
"It's not. I'm the only one who has survived here for so long. Everyone else has died during their first winter."
Nami gave Luffy a glance, and much to her surprise he wasn't fazed a bit, his expression unreadable as his eyes were covered by his hat. She turned back to the man and he gave them a sympathetic look.
"I highly doubt your stomachs are as small as mine...so I don't know how long you'll last...I pray that you'll survive, but you must plan for the worst."
"But Luffy's stomach is larger than a whale's!" Nami noted.
"Nami! The others will come before then!" Luffy suddenly barked. Nami whipped her head and began to panic with worry.
"But what if they don't!?"
"Trust them Nami! They're our Nakama!" Luffy uncovered his eyes and stared right at Nami. "Like hell they're going to lollygag and look half-assed for us. They love us just as much as we love them, and you can sure as hell believe that if one of them got stranded somewhere, I wouldn't rest a moment until they were found."
Nami froze and Luffy's eyes darted to Fidget's and bore a hole into him.
"You had better be telling the truth..."
"I swear I am!"
Nami had something to say, but from the looks Luffy was giving, she found it best to stay quiet. When Luffy was like this, there was no argument. He crossed his arms and lightened his expression a little.
"Are you the only other one here?"
Fidget looked behind his shoulder.
"Uh...as far as I know. I've been here for a little more than a year, but I don't really go outside of my hidey-hole much..."
Luffy nodded and directed his eyes toward Nami. They seemed to be asking 'Do you trust him.' Nami saw what he was asking and gave a small nod. Luffy grinned in response and uncrossed his arms.
"If you want, you can hang out with us. I'm really strong so nothing will hurt us. We don't have a camp yet so we'll have to make one, but I can do that!"
Fidget's eyes widened and he waved his hands.
"Look, I-I appreciate the offer but I really don't think I ca-"
"C'mon! It'll be fun!" Luffy laughed. "Plus, you seem like a fun guy! It'll get boring with just us!"
"Please Strawhat...I can't go wi-"
But Luffy was already off, finding some buffalo to eat. Nami shrugged lightly.
"You can't change his mind...believe me I know."
Fidget had his mouth open, then closed it slowly.
"I could use some company..."
Nami smirked and put her hand on Fidget's shoulder.
"Luffy isn't just 'company'...he's an experience."
XXXXXXXX
Nami could definitely see something odd in their new friend. When Luffy arrived with a large buffalo and they ate, she noticed Fidget pick at the food, almost as if he was scared to eat it. He also didn't make eye contact with them, and only spoke when he had to. It was almost as if he went out of his way to not get friendly with the two.
The rest of that day was more of a blur than the other two days. She was starting to wear of being on this island, and now that she knew about how secret it was, she couldn't help but become slightly worried. If what Fidget had said was true...
"Nami."
Nami was startled by the sudden voice and she spun around. She had to squint in the darkness to see the figure of Luffy.
"...yeah?"
She saw the figure step closer until she could make out his face, serious with a hint of concern. When he didn't say anything, she said, "Is Fidget asleep?"
"Aa." Is all he said. Nami was perplexed as to why he was acting so oddly.
"Nami, do you trust him?" He asked after a minute of silence. Nami narrowed her eyes.
"Yeah...I guess..." She answered. "He seems friendly, and I'm unsure that he would have the ability to do anything that we couldn't handle."
Luffy gave a small, unsure nod, which made Nami wonder what he saw in the man that he would consider a threat.
"...why? Do you not trust him?"
Luffy gave a shrug and stuck his hands in his pockets.
"Dunno...but don't you think it's kinda weird that he survived super long with no food?"
Nami's expression grew curious.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean...a winter is a long time...so if he didn't have any food he would die right?"
"Well, he did say he had a small stomach..." She assured. "Or maybe the winter isn't as long as a typical winter. It takes maybe 40 days to starve you know.."
Luffy still looked unsure, but he gave another shrug and sat down, eyes covered by his hat. Nami sat down in front of him and stared at him, waiting for him to say something.
"...Luffy?" She finally spoke, growing worried of the boy.
"...when does winter start?" He asked softly.
Nami was taken aback by the question, but she thought for a moment.
"I'm not completely sure, but seeing as how this is a fall island, I would say maybe a couple weeks to a month or two."
"...alright." He gave a small smile and lifted his head, locking his eyes with Nami's. After about a minute, he gave a small snicker and pulled his hat over his eyes.
"...what?" Nami asked, put off by his behavior. Luffy maintained his grin, slowly stood up, and looked down at his navigator.
"You know, I'm glad that out of anyone, I got stranded with you." He said, before walking to the beach and gradually lying down for sleep.
Nami froze for a moment, then squinted her eyes at the obscure comment. Where did that come from? She wasn't quite sure. She gave a small sigh and lay down on the grass, losing her thoughts to sleep.
Holy crapapples! Did I actually update?! Wow! That was unexpected! \owo/
Um...yeah so. I'm trying to become more active on this site again. Hopefully you all still enjoy my writing and stuff. Thanks for being patient.
