I had some time on me to update, so here it goes! REVIEW! It is not that hard to click the review button and say a word or two! Anywho, this chapter came to me earlier than what I thought. I also took time to add in a few thousand extra words than the last two chapters. Your welcome.
Chopper had an idea on how to apologize to Luffy. He just didn't have the right materials, the right colors; he didn't even know what to say! The Zoan dropped the rumble balls he was mindlessly working on and put his hooves to his face. What if Luffy didn't forgive him? What if his captain decided to kick him off the ship for not having a suitable apology? Tears welled up in the youngest crewmember's eyes and he couldn't help the small sniffle that followed.
"Something wrong Doctor-san?" a voice called from the door. Chopper squeaked in surprised and hurriedly rubbed his face free of tears. He turned to the archaeologist.
"N-no, Robin," Chopper said. "Everything's fine!"
The older woman watched as watery, red eyes, a sniffling nose, and a smile that looked more like a grimace greeted her. For a moment, the archeologist wondered if she should change her title to the ship's psychologist; the ship certainly needed one. Pushing the thought from her mind, the older woman walked the room to step in front of the reindeer and bent down to meet him at eye-level.
Chopper sighed. He knew it was wishful thinking to fool the older woman. Luffy and Usopp told him this theory once that Robin just knew everything. Perhaps, that was true.
"Now, Doctor-san, why don't you really tell me what is on your mind?" Robin asked warmly. Chopper looked up from the floor and saw wise, blue eyes staring at him. Maybe she could help, he thought. She does know everything!
"What if Luffy doesn't forgive me?" the Zoan asked. He nervously put his hooves together and started twirling them anxiously. "What if my apology isn't good enough and he kicks me off the ship? I don't know what to do then! They'll kick me off to this island and I'll never be able to leave because I'm too scared to go to the ocean alone! I won't be able to make friends because I'll miss everyone here too much!"
Tears were flowing freely down the Zoan's face as he described his worst fears to Robin. The archaeologist propped her face on her hand, with her elbow resting on her knee. She waited patiently for Chopper to get the worst of his sobs over, while petting his back softly, before commenting.
"Now, Doctor-san," she said. "Do you really think our Captain would ever kick anyone off the ship?" Chopper blinked wet eyes at her and shook his head. The older woman stood up and grabbed a tissue, handing it to Chopper as she kneeled down in front of him. The Zoan blew his nose loudly, letting his fear of being kicked off the ship go into the tissue.
"If you really are worried about the quality of your apology, I can help you. But, I doubt Luffy-san would ever turn down a crewmember for forgiveness."
"Really!" Chopper exclaimed. "Thank you, Robin! I have an idea as to what to do for the apology, but I have no idea what to say, or what colors to use." The Zoan paused for a second thoughtfully. He turned his now dry eyes up to Robin.
"Do you think Nami will let me use her paper?" he asked. Robin smiled and said simply, "What is it you need?"
Later
"Okay, guys. Here is everyone's portion of belli for the day," Nami said while handing out small bags of coins to each member on the ship. "Now, get what I told you to and the rest is for whatever you want to get. That trip to Skypeia really helped us along. But, keep in mind that that's all you're getting for a while!"
Nami stopped in front of Chopper and kneeled down to his level. The Zoan took the pouch of money gratefully from the navigator and felt the weight in his hooves.
"Chopper, I put a little extra in there for you. Robin talked to me earlier," she whispered. Chopper dropped his jaw in surprise.
"Whaa! Nami, you're being generous?" he asked. The younger woman smiled and winked at Chopper while offhandedly saying, "Yeah, yeah. You can pay me back with interest later."
Chopper immediately put his head down and sighed. He should have known better from Nami.
'Still', he thought. 'Better I have it now.' The young doctor looked up at Robin, who smiled down at him.
"Ready to go get our things, Doctor-san?" she asked. Chopper smiled, saying, "Yup!"
"Alright! Groups are Zoro, Luffy, and myself, Sanji and Usopp, and Robin and Chopper. Be back before sunset!"
Everyone yelled an agreement before all rushing off to the city. Robin and Chopper followed in suit. They walked a few minutes into the small trading area of the town. It was a busy port with a small town atmosphere. People bussled around everywhere with Vendors shouting random sales. The duo walked around for a a minute before stopping at a creative shop with paintbrushes as the sign. Chopper assumed it was an artists shop.
"Is this where I can get my items, Robin?" the timid deer asked. He looked around nervously, already feeling people staring at him. The Zoan took on his deer point, hoping to not cause too much attention to himself. Robin looked down at Chopper and nodded, pulling the reindeer inside.
Choppers sensitive nose was immediately assaulted with a variety of smells. Musty papers, acrylic paints, and other items he couldn't verify. He looked around in the cluttered room, noting how much stuff was in here in proportion to how small the store really was. Random things, it seemed like, were placed on a variety of shelves that looked like they would fall any moment.
'Usopp would really like this place,' Chopper thought. Robin directed her hands towards one shelf that held beautiful paints on them. The doctor took notice on the wide variety of colors. Next to the paints, crisp, white paper like laid perfectly aligned on each other. Probably the straightest, and neatly aligned thing in the entire store.
"Robin, this is what I need!" Chopper exclaimed. Robin quickly picked up a few pieces of paper and Chopper pointed out which paints he needed.
"Hullo! Hullo! What do we have 'ere?" an elderly voice shouted. The two crewmates looked behind them towards an askew lady with wild, graying hair. She had on boggle glasses that magnified her gray eyes by tenfold.
"We were looking for some paints and paper to put on a card, I see we found what it is we were searching for, though," Robin said. The lady smiled and nodded her head vigoursly.
"Oh, did you's now? Good, Good! I can check you out if you need to be headin' out. I heard them pirates be in port today, and some of them can get pretty out of hand!" the owner said. Robin and Chopper smiled politely, handing her the paints and paper for her to bag.
"Are pirates a big concern on this island?" Robin asked politely, handing her the money Chopper was given from Nami. The lady laughed a high pitched , but hearty laugh.
"No, not on this island. We usually get a few pirates a week that think they can plunder and ravage the place, but we've got ourselves a class A sheriff. He puts them pirates exactly where the Navy wants them!"
Chopper frowned, but Robin kept a cool face. "A class A sheriff?"
"Oh yeah," the shopowner answered. "He's eaten some of that Angel's fruit, or something, and he keeps them rascal pirates at bay! Never have we had a problem since!"
"Oh, you mean the Devil's Fruit. Well, it's nice to know that we are so protected being here. Thank you for your time," the archeaologist said. The crazy lady smiled and waved them goodbye as they exited out the store.
"Do you think Luffy and Zoro would get in trouble?" the young doctor asked. He still hadn't had the chance to apologize and it would be terrible if Luffy got hurt before he had the chance.
"I hope not, Doctor-san. Nami had said something earlier about a storm coming in from the West. We would need to set sail into the storm if trouble was caused here."
"Oh, but Nami is with them, " Chopper said. He smiled in relief. What trouble could those two possibly get into if their strict navigator was with them?
Meanwhile…
"HOW IN THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT, LUFFY!" Nami screamed. The Captain, the swordsman, and the navigator were sprinting down the cobblestreets of the main part of town with an angry mob of people and marines running after them.
"I didn't mean to! I told you I lost you in the crowd because I got distracted by something shiny, " Luffy defended. Nami growled, "Well then explain to me, WHY YOU KNOCKED DOWN THREE BUILDINGS, FOUR VENDOR'S STALLS, AND A MARINE BOAT!"
Zoro looked queerly at his captain for a moment before sighing. Only Luffy. Luffy, on the other hand, looked positively offended at Nami for asking such a question.
"Well, after I lost you I figured I could climb the tallest building and search for you up there since it would give me a better chance of finding you. So, I rocketed myself to the nearest building and accidently flew through the building knocking it down, taking out the three vending stalls with it. That was when the people started chasing after me and I flung myself to another building, but also overshot it taking down the other tower that was attached to it. Then the marines found me and started to attack so I rocketed myself in a random direction to escape, but wound up flinging myself into the sea. So, to stop myself from hitting the water, I grabbed onto the nearest boat, which accidently was a marine's boat. I fought some marines there and I'm not sure how, but the boat started to sink. I think it 'cause I accidently shot my foot through the hull," Luffy said. Both Zoro and Nami stared at him incredulously for a moment. Only Luffy would be able to accidently cause massive mayhem.
"Did nobody teach you as a child to stay in one place when you get lost?" the navigator asked. All three of them turned a corner into an alley, while running, and watched the mob pass them by.
"I think Ace tried to tell me this once in the ravine, but I don't remember," the rubberman replied. Nami facepalmed for a moment, while catching her breath. Why did she bother to keep the two idiots out of trouble today? Knowing Luffy, she shouldn't of even tried.
"Honestly, Luffy. This is ridiculous!" Nami exclaimed.
"Lay off, he said it was on accident," Zoro dryly said. Nami responded with a fist to the head. The swordsman glared before the expert thief threatened a worsened debt.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" a male voice asked. The three strawhats straightened up quickly to look at a young man staring down at them from the top of the alley. Luffy turned to the man and observed how wore a sheriff's star on his shirt. The sheriff levitated to the ground in front of them. Zoro put his thumb on his swords, while Nami grabbed her climtact. Only Luffy seemed to relax for a moment.
"Are you the strawhat pirates the marines are screaming about?" he asked. Luffy grinned and laughed.
"Yeah, probably. I might've caused a little damage. It was on accident though," the young Captain laughed. Nami quickly bashed the rubberman in the head.
"Ow, Nami! What was that for?"
"It was for saying it was on accident!" the navigator growled, with a twitch in her eye. Luffy frowned and rubbed his head.
"That's because it was on accident! I told you I didn't mean any of it!" Luffy pouted, facing the young navigator.
"Well, then it was for causing major damage to the city! I didn't hit you earlier for that!" Nami responded. Luffy slacked his jaw open before puffing his cheeks out.
"No fair, Nami," he argued. "You can't hit me for something that was already over and done with!"
"I DO IT ALL THE TIME!"
The sheriff and Zoro watched with deadpanned expressions as the two crewmates argued back and forth. It took a minute, and another bump on the head, for the two to calm down.
"Uhh, as I was saying," the sheriff started. He wasn't used to criminals ignoring him or interrupting his spiels. "So, it was you that caused all that damage-"
"On accident," Luffy interrupted. The two bumps on his head still visible. The sheriff sighed. He wasn't getting anywhere with this.
"Regardless! You caused damage and now you must pay for it. I hear the marines have been wanting you especially."
Luffy put his strawhat on his head and Nami straightened out. With a wicked grin the rubberman laughed, "I'm sorry to inform you, but I can't do that. You see, if the marines catch me, I can't become Pirate King."
The three pirates darted out of the way as a blast of heat shot out at them, making the cobblestone they stood burn like wood. Nami stared at the burning stone with wide eyes.
"What kind of Devil Fruit is that?" she asked. The sheriff laughed. " My name is Sheriff Boone and I ate the Burn-Burn fruit which causes everything I touch to burn like wood. I use the heat to levitate me in the air, so that I can fly."
Zoro dove at the man, with all three swords out, making Boone jump away from the center of the group. He, in turn, sent a wave of heat towards Zoro. The swordsman easily evaded, but the blast of heat burned through the wall of the building.
"No fair!" Luffy shouted. "You caused damage too!"
Boone glared at the rubberman, but quickly dodged the first thrown his way. Luffy didn't hesitate to bring his foot up to Boone, suprising him with a kick to the face. Though, the strawhat pirate quickly retracted his foot shouting in pain.
"Gyah! You burned me!" the rubberman shouted. Boone took on a wicked smile.
"Why of course, my entire body is encompassed in the heat. You touch me, I burn you. It's a lose-lose situation that you're in. Why do you think I'm sheriff of this town? I'm untouchable," he said cooly.
Nami brewed up a short rainfall while the two were fighting. The clouds gathered over the unsuspecting sheriff. She knew that they needed to escape the small alley, less they destroy the buildings around them.
"Thunderstorm Tempo!" she yelled. The sheriff barely had the chance to shout before a torrent of rain collapsed on him. "Zoro! Luffy!" Nami called. "Let's get out of this space!"
The three pirates didn't hesitate to run from the small alley to the center of the town. Using the small distraction as a chance to get away, they started to run towards the ship. They didn't make it too far before they heard the shouts of Boone behind them.
"You damn pirates! Get back here!" he yelled. Luffy twisted his neck to face the flying sheriff just to stick out his tongue at the young man.
Boone started shooting blasts of heat at the runaway pirates, leaving burning craters in their wake. People shouted around them, barely escaping themselves. A stray blast blew up a fruit vendor's stall.
"Luffy," Nami said while running. "We need to knock him out or something. He's destroying the place and might hurt somebody!"
"I'll take care of it," Zoro said. The swordsman stopped to face the flying sheriff, putting Wado in his mouth. "You two can find the others."
Nami and Luffy nodded running in what they were hoping to the right direction to the other crewmates. Zoro didn't turn to watch them leave.
"So your crewmates ditched you did they?" the sheriff asked. He levitated down to the ground, facing the bandana-wearing man.
"Tch," Zoro replied casually. "They knew that you were too weak to need three people to fight with."
The sheriff gaped at Zoro, "Why you little shit!"
