CHAPTER FOUR

"How long do you think he'll sit there?" Ethan asked Rayne, who was staring out into the distance.

"I dunno, he's sat there for 3 hours already!" Rayne replied. The two of them were sitting on the deck, mainly avoiding Whitebeard who still hadn't forgiven them for the hammer accident. Rayne was sitting on the rail whilst Ethan was leaning on it.

"Why are we staring at him, shouldn't we help?" Ethan said in a very off-handed way.

"Nah, this is way more fun." Rayne laughed.

"True." Ethan said also laughing. The two of them sat there laughing for a while until the two of them noticed someone approach. A girl with long brown hair, which was in two loose pigtails, had walked over.

"What are you two laughing at?" She asked.

"Hi, Lucia. So you finally escaped the kitchen and decided to join us." Ethan said, he was still laughing; Lucia placed her hands on her hips.

"Who did you two wind up this time?" Lucia had a very disapproving look on her face.

"We annoyed Whitebeard a couple of hours ago." Rayne said.

"What did you do?" Lucia asked in a way which was almost dreading the answer, Rayne smirked.

"I dropped a hammer on his foot." She said trying not to laugh.

"You did what!"

"It was an accident, honest." Ethan said in defence, but as soon as he caught Rayne's eye he burst into laughter. Lucia sighed and sat on the rail as well.

"So what were you two laughing at?" Lucia asked again.

"When?" Ethan said.

"When I came out 5 minutes ago?" Lucia said, Rayne and Ethan looked at each other.

"Him." They said together, both pointing out across the deck. Lucia looked over in the direction they were pointing, her ayes widened when she saw what they were pointing at.

"Why is he doing that?" She asked, her eyes still fixed on the spot that they had pointed to.

"Well, that's a funny story, you see…" Rayne began, Lucia's eyes shot back into focus and she turned her attention onto Rayne.

"That storm we just had was vicious, right?" Ethan said, Lucia nodded her head and the realised what he had just said, frowned.

"How is the storm, which was vicious, going to lead into a funny story?" Lucia asked.

"Well, you know how after the storm we did a stock check, repairs and what not?" Rayne was continuing the story.

"And how is all of this going to lead to the funny part?" Lucia said again, this time her temper was flaring.

"Chill, Lucia." Ethan said.

"Just get on with it!" Lucia sighed.

"Right, so after cleaning up the ship, he couldn't find…and he's been…-" The rest of this conversation was drowned out by Rayne, who was laughing so hard that she had to hold onto the rail to stop herself from falling off. Upon seeing this, Ethan burst into laughter as well.

"How long has he been sitting like that for?" Lucia asked, she was looking back out across the deck. After a moment Rayne calmed herself down.

"About 3 hours." She said as she got down from the rail and sat on the floor with her legs stretched out.

"Shouldn't we talk to him?" Asked Lucia.

"Nope." Ethan said.

"Why?"

"Cause that would ruin mine and Rayne's fun, I mean we can't get the blame for this one." Ethan said with a smile on his face. Lucia, on the other hand, didn't see the funny side.

But look at him!" Lucia protested, pointing across the deck. Rayne stood up and joined Ethan, and together all 3 of them looked out across the deck.

The thing that was making them laugh was Trace. He was sitting at the end of the deck, alone; he was in the fetal position and was rocking backwards and forwards. Rayne, Ethan and Lucia all stared at him.

"So what's wrong with him?" Lucia asked, but her question wasn't answered by Rayne or Ethan, it was answered by JT.

"He's upset because he lost his hat." JT said, as he joined them on the rail. Ethan and Rayne burst onto laughter, again.

"So, he's been sitting like that for 3 hours because he lost his hat?" Lucia looked over at Rayne and Ethan, who were still laughing, and she began to see the funny side to all of this.

"Yep" JT said, suddenly his attention was diverted by the sight of Whitebeard walk over to Trace. They all stopped and stared, waiting to see what was going to happen.

Across the deck, Whitebeard approached Trace; he was still limping from the hammer incident, with an unhappy look on his face.

"Trace?" He asked, Trace just sat there and ignored him.

"Trace?" He asked again and still he got no answer. This caused him to lose his temper.

"WOULD YOU STOP FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF!" Whitebeard yelled, making all the crew on deck jump. Trace continued to ignore him and still rocked backwards and forwards.

"Argh! I give up; I'm too old for this." He sighed. Whitebeard turned around and saw Irvine walking towards him. Irvine was holding his hands behind his back, meaning he was hiding something; Whitebeard grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Irvine, do something!"

"Relax; by the way how is your foot feeling?" Irvine asked as he had noticed the slight limp.

"Better" He then added "No thanks the Rayne and Ethan, I swear when I get my hands on those two I am going to kill them."

"Well maybe you should keep off it like I said but you never listen to me, do you?" Irvine said as he brushed past Whitebeard and walked over to Trace. Irvine knelt down by him.

"Trace?" He asked in a soft ton of voice. Trace ignored him like he did Whitebeard.

"Trace?" He asked again in a slightly louder voice.

"TRACE, LISTEN TO IRVINE!" Whitebeard yelled making everyone on deck jump, again. Trace turned his head and looked at Irvine.

"Yes." He said in barely a whisper.

"I have your hat." He said as blunt as he could. Trace stared at him.

"You do?" He asked

"You were in such a hurry this morning to leave my cabin you never gave me chance to tell you that JT gave it to me." Irvine explained as he held out Trace's hat.

"My hat…" Trace said as he put it onto his head. A smile broke out over his face and he stood up straight.

"Well, I feel better." He said. Whitebeard stared at him, and then he walked over to him and hit him hard across the back of the head.

"Thanks to you we lost time getting to shore!" Whitebeard snapped at him.

"How is that my fault, you could still get to land with out me." Trace shot back.

"That's not the point."

"Erm…guys?" Irvine began

"Do you want to fight about it?"

"Guys?"

"Maybe I do."

"GUYS!"

"WHAT!" Trace and Whitebeard said together.

"Land." Irvine pointed out across the rail.

"Ok, set sail." Whitebeard cried out to his crew.

"Yes, sir!"

"I still think you're a moron." He added to Trace.

"I'm going to kill you." Trace snapped.

"Argh, here we go again." Irvine sighed waking off to let them do what they wanted to do.

"OUCH"

"I see I am going to need to get the medical kit ready." Irvine said with a smile on his face.

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ARGH! That took for ever to write.

But I hope you enjoy reading it.