CHAPTER NINE
"ETHAN YOU IDIOT!" Whitebeards voice was heard across the deck, all the crew turned to look at what was the major cause of the commotion, Whitebeard was holding up a pair of underwear that had shrunk considerably and he was staring daggers at Ethan who had been doing the washing after the "accident" with the cannon. Irvine was standing in between them in hopes of preventing bloodshed and an unhappy trip down to his cabin.
"It's not my fault…much" Ethan protested his hands held up in defeat; Whitebeard attempted to take a step forward but was stopped by Irvine.
"Now calm down." Irvine said placing a hand on Whitebeards shoulder.
"You…idiot…" seemed to be the only words that Whitebeard could muster to express his feeling about the washing.
"I fix weapons, I don't do washing…" Ethan grumbled to himself, Whitebeard heard this and raised an eyebrow.
"Then how come my clothes are the only ones that seem to be shrunk?" His eyes then narrowed in a menacing way, Ethan took a large step backwards as if to avoid his eyes but it was like one of those pictures…its eyes followed you everywhere. Ethan backed into the railing of the ship, with a quick glance over his shoulder he contemplated making a break for it but stopped at the sight of the four crew-men that left the ship a while ago, he smiled and waved at them before he turned back to face Whitebeard.
"Traceisback!" He said in a very quick tone, Whitebeard stopped.
"What?" He asked, Ethan took a deep breath and started again.
"Trace…is…back…" Whitebeard glanced at him.
"Why didn't you say that then?"
"I think he did." Irvine joined in, appearing at his shoulder, Ethan took another look over the edge at the group and a frown appeared on his face.
"What…no supplies?" He asked innocently unaware of the events that had just happened and he was greeted with fours sets of evil eyes.
"Geez, I was only asking, what crawled up your butts and died?" Ethan sighed out as he walked past Whitebeard who was still holding the pair of underwear that he Ethan had shrunk in his hands.
"Have fun" Ethan said as he walked straight past him, Whitebeard turned to face him.
"Wait! I'm not finished with you yet, Ethan!" Whitebeard called after the boy but Ethan just kept walking. Whitebeard then threw the clothing in his hands into Irvine who caught them. Whitebeard then paced over to the ledge and called down to his crew.
"Are you coming aboard or am I going to have to leave you behind?" He snapped making them all flinch. Trace placed a hand on his head.
"Great, Whitebeard's in a crappy mood…" He mumbled under his breath. Trace looked up and saw that Whitebeard was staring at him.
"What did you say?" Whitebeard's voice had a threatening tone to it, Trace's body jolted up.
"N-no! Coming aboard captain!" He gave a confused looking salute and the four of them clambered on board. Whitebeard gave them a funny look which cause JT to tilt his head in confusion.
"What?" He asked as he noticed the look that they were given.
"Where are the supplies that I sent you into town to get?" Whitebeard asked sweetly, his mood was not improving and now he had to either send them back into town to get supplies or tell the crew that they will be living off of their show laces. Trace crossed his arms across his chest and prepared to explain the situation to him.
"You see….it was Rayne and Lucia's fault!" Trace pointed a accusing finger in the girls general direction.
"Hey!" They both yelled in unison.
"Don't you dare blame this on us, we had the Navy chase us and then we had to hide in a dark and smelly alleyway and then-" Lucia began to rant, Whitebeard raised a hand to silence their chatter.
"The Navy?" Whitebeard asked as his eyes flicked to the town and then back again, Rayne nodded.
"Yep, the swine's are after us, as per-norm, but they want to kill us and…which is nothing new I guess." Rayne finished talking and glanced over at Whitebeard who's attention had returned to the town.
"Where you seen?" He asked.
"Don't think so." Trace replied, Whitebeard sighed.
"Can't take any chances…raise the anchor! We are leaving…NOW!" He yelled at the top of his voice, the random crewmen on the ship jumped into salutes and busied themselves into work, random calls of 'raise the anchor' were heard across the ship. Whitebeard turned to Trace.
"I need to talk to you in a minute." He then spoke to the rest of the group. "The rest of you are dismissed" Trace looked at Whitebeard and in his head he thought about what he was going to say.
"About time you got back" Ethan had returned and was talking to Rayne who smiled at him.
"How badly did you torment him while I was gone, Ethan?" Rayne asked, Ethan gave her a sly smile.
"I made a cannon blow up in his face and I shrunk his washing" He stated.
"Good, I'm proud of you."
"What happened in town?" Ethan asked as he remembered the looks that he got when he asked about the supplies. Rayne frowned.
"Stuff." Rayne said as she looked over her shoulder, Ethan place a hand on his hips and stared at her.
"Whatever." He shrugged his shoulders at her. Rayne sighed. Lucia was looking around the deck when a voice called her name.
"Lucia!" Taro's voice sounded, Lucia spun around in tome to be pulled into his embrace and a smile appeared on her face.
"Taro, I missed you!" She squeed.
"I missed you too!" He smiled as he tightened his hug, Rayne and Ethan looked at each other.
"It's been an hour maybe two for god sake." Rayne moaned at the display of affection "If I was like that with Ethan everyone time we were a part we would be like that all day!" Ethan gave Rayne a look of disgust.
"Eww! You giving me and hug? That's like JT smiling or Whitebeard not calling me an idiot!" Ethan said as he out his hands in his pocket and walked away. Rayne looked after him for a moment before she followed.
"Trace?" Whitebeard asked as he made sure the deck was clear before they began their chat. Trace looked at him.
"It was a no go and even though I would have gotten something JT decided to smack him in the head with a sword" Whitebeard's eyes widened.
"What?"
"Anyway, the dude said something about him being in the south so that is our best bet." Trace said as he looked out across the ocean, a crew-men walked up to them and asked Whitebeard where they were heading.
"To the south!"
-----
Another one bits the dust.
You know the drill please R&R.
