Chapter 7

To Warship Island

Well this is a little inconvenient, Hawke grabbed Apis and ran back into the cabin as cannon balls started bombarding the Merry.

"Hawke, you steer!" Nami shouted after her, "Listen for my directions!"

Hawke's hair flew about her face and she quickly tied up her bangs in their braid before putting her hands on the whipstaff and holding it steady. The wood felt rough under her fingertips and she swallowed nervously; she'd never steered a ship before.

Through the open galley door, she and Apis, who was peeking around the door frame, had a full view of the crew in action. This was the first time Hawke had seen any of them in battle, and she had to say she was impressed. Her eyes flicked to Sanji, who was kicking the incoming missiles out of the air like they were made of paper. Then she moved her attention over to Zoro, who had his three swords out and was cutting through cannon balls left and right. "Doesn't that hurt his teeth?" Apis wondered aloud as she leaned further out the door. "Be careful," Hawke cautioned before turning her gaze to Luffy. The rubberboy was using his stretched out arm the punch cannon balls out of the sky. He's so much stronger now, she smiled to herself as the Merry lurched a little on the waves. Hawke tried her best to steady the ship before jumping a little as some loud bangs came from the rear deck. Usopp must be firing the cannon, she thought as the ship jerked again.

"Hard to port!" Nami's shout suddenly came in through the galley door and Hawke yanked hard on the whipstaff, "And try to keep her steady!"

The Merry lurched and began moving away from the marine fleet that had appeared out of nowhere and begun attacking them.

"I'm assuming those marines are looking for you," Hawke grunted, panting with the effort of steering.

Apis shot her a guilty look, but nodded her head. A flutter of noise suddenly drew both girl's attention to the doorway, where a gull had landed on the rail of the balcony. Hawke stared at the bird as it tilted its head to the side and regarded her with a piercing black eye. There was a pause, and everything seemed calm for a moment.

"There's going to be a big wind!"

Hawke blinked and looked down at Apis. The girl was staring back at her with wide eyes. They had both shouted the same thing at the same time. The gull launched itself back into the sky in a flurry of noise, a feather fluttering down to the deck behind it.

"What!?" Nami shouted in from the deck. But Hawke and Apis only shifted their stares from each other to the navigator and offered no response, "Well I'll take the chance," Nami grumbled, then she started barking orders to Luffy and Usopp, "There's going to be a sudden squall," she shouted, "We'll ride it out of here."

Hawke felt a giddy sensation in her chest as she tightened her grip on the whipstaff. Her eyes were wide as she looked back to Apis, who was standing at her side now, looking up at her with a curious expression.

"Apis," Hawke's voice came out in a whisper, "Can you-?"

Her words were cut off as the floor jerked out from under her feet. Hawke had to use all her strength to keep the ship from turning off course as a huge gust of wind billowed the sails, almost tearing them from the rigging in the process. The Going Merry easily sped far ahead of the larger marine ships, escaping into calm waters.

Apis ran out the galley door and Hawke let go of the whipstaff to hurry after her, worry mixing with the sudden hopeful feeling in her chest. She breathed a sigh of relief when Luffy came bounding towards her from rear deck. He's fine, she thought as she leaned out over the rail and squinted behind them. Sure enough, the masts of the marine ships could just be seen on the horizon, and they were tracking away from the pirates. "Good," she smiled, "We outran them."

"Alright!" Luffy let out an excited yell, "Onwards to Warship Island!"

Hawke smiled and glanced over to Apis, who was leaning over the opposite rail and laughing at the marines. She pushed herself off the rail and made to join the girl; questions were burning inside her and she wanted to know if Apis… Hawke suddenly stiffened, a tremor running through her body. Something's wrong, her eyes began shifting quickly around the deck, trying to find what was out of place.

"Hang on," Zoro's voice cautioned, drawing the crew's attention.

Hawke jerked her head around and caught the swordsman watching her with steely eyes. She shifted her weight nervously from foot to foot, lifting her hand to brush her hair off her cheek. Then she froze, her hand raised half way and a look of fear spreading across her face. Her eyes snapped to the sky and then back to Zoro.

"You noticed to," the swordsman looked out at the water, "The wind has stopped. We've been floating here for some time."

There was a moment of silence as his words sank in.

"What?!" Nami's nervous exclamation drew Hawke's attention. She watched the navigator's eyes widen and then her mouth open to let out a piercing shriek.

"What's wrong Nami!" shouted Luffy, hurrying over to where the navigator was standing. His eyes flitted to the sea, looking for potential enemies.

"We… we're in the Calm Belt!" she shrieked.

Hawke's mouth dropped open slightly and she ran over to the rail, joining Apis in staring into the water in terror. Hawke had heard of the Calm Belt. A place with no wind, ever. A place where no sailig ship could go and hope to return. A place where sea monster's filled the waters. Hawke shuddered as she peered into the unmoving depths.

"Something's coming," Apis whispered, tugging slightly on the cuff of Hawke's jacket. The older girl stiffened and continued to probe the water, a feeling of dread building in her stomach.

"You don't understand," Nami was still yelling from the balcony, "There's no wind here, how is a sailing ship supposed to sail?! And not only that but –"

Without warning, the sea around them exploded! Hawke let out a cry as waves tossed the Merry about. Water drenched them and it was all Hawke could do to hang onto the rail with one hand and Apis with the other. When the sea finally calmed down enough so that they could stand, the crew looked out and gasped.

There were sea kings all around their boat. Great serpentine bodies of all different colours coiled and writhed in the water, tumbling over and on top of each other in a spray of white foam. Hawke had never seen such monsters! Among the usual snake-like ones that were featured in all the myths, there were giant frogs and even a pink one with a bird's beak and feathers.

"This place is the sea king breeding ground!" Nami finished hysterically. Sanji quickly ran over and stood in front of their terrified navigator, trying to console her.

"This isn't good," Hawke panted, noticing that the frog-like sea king was regarding them hungrily.

Usopp screamed as the giant frog leapt towards them. Its belly bore down on them and Hawke tensed her legs, quickly noting where Luffy was and turning towards him. But before they were smothered, the Going Merry shot up into the air once again.

"What is going on?!" wailed Usopp, tumbling around the deck.

Just then Apis let out a scream. Hawke whirled around and noticed that her hand was no longer on the girl's shoulder.

"Apis!" she shouted and ran to the rail as the hem of a yellow dress disappeared over the rail. She reached out to the falling girl, but her fingers clutched at empty air and Apis plummeted towards many open mouths full of sharp teeth.

"Hang on!" shouted Luffy as he reached out his arm towards her. The rubber limb shout out past Hawke's head and she followed his hand down until she saw him wrap around Apis' waist and begin pulling her back to the ship.

"You've gotten much better at aiming, Luffy," Hawke smiled at him over her shoulder, "I remember you couldn't even hit the side of a building."

"Hey!" Luffy laughed as Apis went sailing through the air, "My punches are way stronger than pistols now."

Hawke let out a giggle just as a shout came up from over the side.

"Throw me over there!" Apis shouted, pointing at something below the ship that Hawke couldn't see.

But Luffy must've seen where she wanted to go because he changed his direction and Apis went flying down under the ship again. As Hawke leaned out to try and follow her trajectory, she realized what was going on. They had been lifted up on the nose of another giant sea king! This one was the largest of the bunch; a serpent covered in black and white stripes. Her heart hammered against her ribcage as she looked into an eye as big as the Going Merry.

"What did you do that for?!" Nami suddenly shouted, leaning way out over the rail, "Now he'll be angr-!"

Hawke didn't have time to wonder what Apis had done. The planks below her gave a giant lurch and there was a very loud roaring sound. Hawke screamed out in terror as the water was suddenly much father below them than it had been. The Calm Belt, with its writhing mass of surfacing sea kings, disappeared from under them and was replaced with clear rippling waves.

The ship landed back into the water with an enormous splash and Hawke leapt nimbly from foot to foot as the deck rolled under her. As the movement subsided, she felt a warm breeze kiss her cheeks and looked up to see the sails full once more.

"We're out of the Calm Belt," she sighed with relief and helped Apis unwrap herself from Luffy's arm, "What did you do back there?"

The little girl's cheeks flushed and she rubbed the back of her head nervously.

"W-well," she stammered.

"We're saved," Nami interrupted as she appeared at Hawke's side and collapsed onto the rail in a defeated slump, "Let's just get to Warship Island now."

Apis seemed glad of the distraction and nodded. "Yeah, no more distractions," she stated.

Nami's face reddened and she shook her fist angrily. "It's not like this was our fault!" she fumed at Apis.

"I'm sorry," the little girl whimpered, cowering behind Hawke.

The dark haired girl let out a chuckle and patted Apis on the hat. "Don't let her scare you," she smiled, "Nami's just glad we're out of there."

The navigator sniffed loudly and put her hands on her hips. "Well let's get going," she snapped, "Hawke, were you alright steering?"

The dark haired girl bit her lip, "Not really," she mumbled, "I've never steered a ship before. I think we were really lucky that the Merry went where I wanted it to go…"

Nami gave her a curious look, but the shrugged. "Usopp," she shouted, "You take the helm."

The sniper, who was already on the balcony, quickly entered the ship and corrected their course. The returning wind seemed to be happy they were back, blowing them quickly towards their goal. By the afternoon, they had set anchor in the bay in front of Apis' village.