So sorry for the extremely late update I have been super busy so I really haven't gotten much time to work on this story at all. I really appreciate the reviews I've gotten apologies if the writing is a bit below par like I said before it has been so long since I last did a story with humour so I was going through an experimental phase. But I promise to improve the standard from now on.
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece
Finally the day had come for the trip to commence; after a lot of time was spent planning and many tedious hours spent budgeting and choosing the right location the time had actually come for them to go. The day had come for them to go camping, just imagine spending nights underneath the tall looming trees while gazing at the starry skies every night.
Okay, the truth was...everybody was too broke to afford to go to the beach this time and the next best thing was camping in the woods. Second confession there weren't necessarily camping bit more along the lines of them staying in a house located in the woods.
For the most part Marco had found the train ride to be seemed to be endless and the destination a distant of travelling from the earth to the sun. Okay...maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration but given the current situation he found to be nearing his wit's end. Sighing in frustration he snapped his book and opted to observe what his brothers and sisters were doing. Ace was dead asleep to the world leaning against the window for support. His eyebrow arched slightly in amusement when he spotted Thatch had drawn out a sharpie and was in the middle of an intense game of connect the dots on Ace's face, a mischievous grin on his face as he continued to use Ace's skin as his living canvas.
'Some things just never change' Marco thought to himself. Really no matter years passed he still acted the same since high school. Although... he was counting his blessing seeing as how he wasn't on the receiving end of one of Thatch's pranks.
'I'm telling you that can't be right the whole idea is ludicrous and unrealistic.' A very familiar voice piped up. On his right side Haruta appeared to be engaging in a serious argument with Molly and Ami. The current topic being something that hardly interested him in the slightest; he knew well enough that if he tried to defuse the tension he'd end up having to sides and when he ended up having to choose sides' one side would be angry with him. As the infamous line goes: 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' is a quote he had come to understand the meaning therefore tread cautiously.
The remainder which consisted of Jozu and Vista who appeared to be chatting peacefully amongst themselves.
For awhile the train ride continued with this relax atmosphere when...
'How many rooms are there in the lake house?' Haruta asked
'Four rooms, why?' Thatch replied having withdrawn his sharpie into his pocket after completing his latest 'master piece'.
'How are we going to divide the rooms?' she continued
'I'm sure we'll figure something out when we get there.' Thatch replied with a shrug
Izou then scoffed 'you do remember what happened last time you suggested that whole figure it out when we get there, right?' making air quotes to further emphasis his point
At that comment Thatch began to rub the back of his head in a sheepish manner as if he were being lectured by a parent for doing something they weren't supposed to do and still having the audacity to do so after being told not to.
'Thought so.' Izou said a slight smile of victory tugging at the edge of his lips.
'What are you guys even talking about?' Ace asked having woken up from his nap.
'Well...' Izou started. For a brief moment he paused to have a look at his face, stifling the urge to roll his eyes when he saw the childish doodles on his brothers face 'that time you and Thatch had the genius idea that the best way to decide to who gets what room in that Osen was to have a no holds barred race to decide to see who gets what room'
At that Ace now had a sheepish expression mirroring the one Thatch had 'thought it would be cool and fun' he mumbled to himself
'Lighten up Izou it made the stay a lot more interesting and I'm sure we gave those employees something interesting talk about and livened up the place.' Vista suggested
'That is until we got banned for life from visiting that Osen ever again, yoi' Marco stated having given up on his attempt to take in the scenery
'Best one and a half nights ever.' Molly said
'One thing that bothers me...' Thatch started 'why did all those scream women run out of the hot spring screaming and one hour later I saw you three walking out with smiles on your faces?'
'You were spying on us?' Ami questioned eyes narrowed in suspicion
'Not necessarily but it's not every day that you see a stampede of woman running down a hallway in nothing but their towels or bathrobes' he said
'Come to think of it what did happen?' Jozu questioned
'We dumped a few fake snakes in the spring and pretended it was a real snake.' Haruta stated simply
'Fake snake, why would you put a fake snake in a hot spring?' Thatch pressed further slightly curious to where this current development was heading.
'Well we found it to be a bit crowded for our liking so Haruta came up with the idea of planting few a fake snakes in the hot spring and scream our heads off and pretend it was a real snake. This worked like a charm and cleared the spring of any other women rather quickly.' Molly explained
'There reactions were priceless' Haruta added 'what a girls got to have her privacy once in a while, you know' not sounding the slightest bit apologetic of probably giving twenty to thirty or so women miniature heart attacks if not scarred them for the rest there lives.
The rest of the train ride to the location was filled with countless recounts of their exploits at the unfortunate Osen in which a majority of them had gotten banned for life from ever staying there again after a day and a half stay(a new record by the way). Upon arrival at the fairly large lake house, much to Ace and Thatch's chagrin the decision of how the rooms would be divided was not decided by another race but a simple game of drawing straws. In which everyone was content with their temporary roommate. After everyone put their bags away everyone opted to relax in the sitting room or sit on the bar stool on the counter to decide what do for the rest of the day.
'What about we head to the lake?' Jozu offered while gesturing his hand in the general of a window which had a gorgeous view of the lake. The water shimmering like a liquid iridescent jewel underneath the glare of the sun.
Thatch then chuckled nervously 'You see here is the thing...'
Marco eyed his brother who was sitting on a bar stool 'Thatch what did you this time or what's the catch, yoi?'
The wooden counter suddenly became very interesting as he tried to ignore the suspicious glance Marco was giving him.
'Thatch' his look having hardened into his infamous 'If you don't give me an answer now I will eventually find out what the hell is going and make you pay'
He didn't want to pay 'Okay the reason why I got this place so cheap from the owner is because...' Thatch paused briefly, preparing himself for the shit storm that was bound to hit very soon 'this house was said to have been built over some old cemetery of a land owner who used to have a farm back here but some strange shit happened and this place became haunted with some curse. The house burned down twice, the farmer went broke then his wife died having had enough the farmer hung himself in the sitting room. I could've sworn when the guy gave me the keys he was grinning muttering something about freedom. The reason why we can't go into the lake is because something about monsters in the lake and people who go in never surface'
An awkward silence settled into the room as they tried to comprehend what he just said.
'I knew there was a catch in there somewhere. Pay up Ace!' Haruta demanded. A smug grin on her face as she held out her hand in Ace's direction who grumbled before pulling out several beris from his wallet.
'So since we can't go to that lake because of a rumoured monster infestation and if we tried to swim in it we might actually die, what do you suggest?' Izou asked wryly
'Seriously where did you find this place?' Molly wondered aloud
'Well there is another place near here that is rumoured to be another place that is safe to swim in that is about fifteen minutes walking distance from here.' Thatch offered
That had been one and a half hours ago in which they had set out in search for a place to relax for the rest of the day before returning back to the lake house. So far they had been no signs of the so-called place to swim and they were now officially lost in the forest. Correction hopelessly lost with no signs of assistance of getting out. Marco had deduced.
'Are we there yet?' Ace asked for what appeared to be the fiftieth time which was beginning to get on everybody's nerves. Ace who continued this onslaught appeared to be either oblivious of everybody's killing aura or he was just doing it so he could kill the current onslaught of boredom that was driving him insane.
'Relax only a couple more minutes and we'll be there.' Thatch repeated for what appeared to the fortieth time a slight edge of nervousness creeping in.
'That's what you said half an hour ago.' Haruta hissed in annoyance while pulling out the leaves and brambles stuck to her hair 'He is a dead man when we get back.'
'Only a bit further we will be there.' Thatch said while pulling backwards a set of branches. A sigh of relief escaping his lips 'You guys I told I would find-I mean we're here!'
The place was beautiful and looked like something out of a fairytale. Behind the bushes lay a small water fall with a twenty foot drop into a large lake. The water was crystal clear and splashed against the boulders that lay at the foot of the waterfall. For a moment everybody stood their taking in the beauty of the place before rushing into the secluded area.
The girls, Ace and Thatch immediately removed their clothes and headed for the water. Soon after full out splash war began and after much convincing and instigating on Thatch's part everybody was in the water. Either participating in the splash war or floating on one of the large tubes they had brought along with them.
'Speaking of which where has Ace disappeared too?' Ami questioned out of the blue.
Lifting her head slightly from her floating mattress, Molly looked Ami with a contemplative look 'come to think of it...where has that flame-brain disappeared too'
'It has gone too quiet.' Haruta finished 'Oi Marco any idea where he disappeared too?' she yelled to the man in question who just shrugged casually in reply while before returning to reading his book.
'Death from above!' a very familiar voice yelled
'You don't think...' was the thought everybody thought simultaneously.
There unfinished thought was finished when a very familiar freckled pyromaniac leaped off the top of the waterfall into the water body below.
'Well now where he went, yoi' Marco sighed in defeat as he looked at the wet pages the words had become blurry and unrecognisable to the eye.
'Dammit Ace was it really necessary to do that?' Izou sighed in annoyance 'this is going to take forever to clean' he thought to himself.
'So how much did I get?'Ace asked pensively to Jozu, Vista, Thatch, Haruta and Ami who appeared to have contemplative expressions on their faces.
'I give you a six out of ten' Haruta commented 'the technique was good but the splash effect was what killed it for me.
'What a six that clearly deserves an eight.' Ace protested
'Silence or I'll give you an even lower score!' Haruta demanded with her body bent backwards while pointing her index finger downwards-how she managed to remain perfectly balanced on her black tube was a mystery; she then proceeded to cackle maniacally.
'I knew giving her power was a bad idea' he thought to himself 'what about you guys you must agree that I deserve at least an eight or nine'
'Nope.' Ami started
'Sorry I think she got it spot on.' Jozu observed
'Definitely a six out of ten' Vista agreed
'Or a five' Thatch thought aloud
'Five sounds more accurate' Ami remarked
'Final verdict five out of ten?' Haruta clarified
'Agreed' everyone hollered simultaneously
'Marco...' Ace whined
'I kind of agree with them, yoi. Five out of ten is pretty accurate' Marco observed
'Traitor!'Ace said in a childish manner, with his lip curled up into a pout which just made Marco inwardly roll his eyes.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in the location when...
'Thatch do you know how to get back to the house?' Molly asked out of the blue
The man in question then began to sweat nervously 'Well, you see the thing is...'
'You're kidding me right?' Molly gaped in shock
'Thatch you really messed up this time.' Ace observed
'I hope you can fix this or else.' Izou warned while giving the man in question a smouldering look
Thatch grinned nervously under the glare he was being given by Izou 'I am so screwed if I don't find out how to get back to the house' he thought to himself.
In honour of one of the best holidays ever I will be doing a Halloween special
Read and review?
