Thought I'd post some weekend reading for you folks. Enjoy and have a good one xxx

Chapter 10 – Next stop...

Her hands held onto her head and she tried to force the images out of her brain. Something with those out of control flames had made something break inside of her and she could not help but scream.

The Whitebeards were slowly getting away from the marines. After all there were only two of the enemy ships and everyone knew that Moby Dick wouldn't budge for even twenty of those. Not surprisingly, the marines gave up after a while and Moby Dick could sail off into the night.

"Oi, Marco how did it go?" asked Embleton with a sly grin when it was once again calm.

"Not well, Emble, not well..." Marco said loudly and annoyed.

"The map was destroyed along with almost that whole mansion" Rea said.

"I take it, the mission failed, kiddos" a voice came from behind the group. For such a large man, Whitebeard really had a way of sneaking up to people.

"Correct, Captain" Marco mumbled.

"Ah, I am sorry for you" Whitebeard said and turned towards Mey who still sat crawled up like a tiny ball against the wall.

"What's up with tot?" he said and pointed a thumb towards her and looked at Rea, Charlie and Marco and Marco walked so that he was closer to Whitebeard and said in a low voice:

"There was an accident where a fireplace went out of control for a bit. Sent her into a panic. Oyajii, I think she remembers…"

"It was traumatic for her, that night, so not surprising. We should tuck her in and speak to her in the morning and…"

Waff

A silence was set upon the group and Whitebeard and Marco looked down at their feet where a tiny white dog was stood, tongue hanging out its smiling mouth. Whitebeard looked at Marco.

"Care to explain?"

"Seems we failed to get the map but brought you a pet instead, pops" Marco grinned, not knowing what else to do.

Mey had also heard the tiny bark and opened her eyes and removed her hands from her face. Had the dog followed them onto the ship?

So it seems. After Charlie had picked a screaming Mey up in one arm and dragged Rea out in the other, the dog had ran after. Being so small it went unnoticed with them and boarded the ship that in a haste had left the shore.

"Well, I am grateful for that!" Whitebeard said in a happy tone and lifted the little dog up in his massive palm.

"Everyone, let's go to bed, it has been a hectic night. Make sure you get some rest. And we will talk in the morning" the last thing he said to Marco alone before he went towards his own cabin while talking to the puppy:

"I shall call you Stefan, oh yes I am!"

"Hey" Mey looked up and saw Rea stand there, a hand outstretched, "time for bed, firefly". Mey closed her eyes tighter, and she covered her face with her arms.

"Please do not call me that".

"Mey what's wrong, what happened over there?" Rea asked but Mey had already thrown her arms around her and Rea just lifted her up and carried her below deck towards her bedroom. Rea stayed with Mey until she was certain she was alright.

"Fire is dangerous and it is wise to be careful with it. You are safe now, you know that right. You are always safe on this ship. Nothing can happen to you here" Rea assured. Having been on this ship for five years now, she had grown incredibly fond of everyone and never felt the slightest bit unsafe.

"I know, as long as I am here I'm fine" Mey smiled and closed her eyes.

Rea left the room, feeling still a bit worried but also very tired. She took off around a corner in the corridor towards her own room that she shared with one of the girls from the nursing team. Once she had disappeared, Marco took a step from the shadows.

There was a silent knock on the door and Marco entered Mey's chamber. He reacted. She had not lit her candle on her night stand as she usually does.

"Just wanted to check that you're okay, kiddo" he mumbled from the door opening. She sat up, not saying a word. Marco did not really know what to say but he lingered for a bit before starting to close the door.

"Oi Marc" she mumbled and he stopped and opened the door a bit more.

"If I should not let people know I am a pirate, then what am I?" Mey asked.

"Well, you're Mey"

"I know that" she snapped, in her same old tone and Marco shuckled.

"Well … I suppose you are a pirate if you want to be" he winked.

Mey smiled at that.

"Yoi, I am sorry I yelled at you earlier… Sometimes I just worry about you and if people know you are with this pirate crew, well..." he mumbled. He was not good at this.

"It's okay" she smiled, feeling herself become slightly lighter. A lot of her sadness had been guilt about the map. And as if Marco could read her mind he said:

"And don't worry about the map, we know what island it's on and I remember pretty much what it looks like. We will figure things out together, eh!" he smiled and she smiled back.

"Yes"!

"Well .. you need some rest, go ahead and go to sleep and I'll see you in the morning"

"Okay", she said before he winked again and closed the door. Mey could finally breathe out and collapsed on her bed. Her first adventure had surely been tiring.

Marco closed the door silently, sighed and went back upstairs to the dining hall where the kitchen crew had made midnight snacks for the ones that remained up. Five of his mates were sat together, drinking coffee and other beverages and munched on some sandwiches. He grabbed a bottle of beer from a bucket with cold water, opened it on the bucket's edge and went to sit next to his nakama. There were Jozu, Charlie, Vista, Emble and Haruta.

"She's fine then" Vista mumbled.

"As fine as she can be, I shouldn't have brought her…"

"Maah she'll have to come along at some point. Can't keep her on this ship all the time" Vista said, "when I was ten I was already a skilled swordsman and could take on five men in one blow!"

"How were you supposed to know his robe would catch fire and that she would react like that", Haruta said, "don't blame yourself. Now, about the map".

"Well it turned into a child's drawing before it turned into ash. We won't see it again" Charlie said. Marco nodded.

"Aye, we will just have to try and find the mine without it. Karma said only jewels will do and apparently these ones are supposed to be spectacular…"

"Those could be rumors" Jozu muttered "I mean, no one has ever actually said they've seen this mine, for all we know it could be a freaking fairy tale"

"Well, how about not dissing every idea I'm putting out there, or maybe you'd like to become Karma's debt, you massive wedding ring…" Marco muttered.

"What was that..!" Jozu growled and they faced each other.

"Guys come on…" Haruta said tiredly and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Who is this Karma anyway?" Thatch came out from the kitchen with a trey of olives and cheese and sat down.

"This guy we came across in a bar not long ago, friendly bloke, just stubborn as hell and when he won over Mey, fair and square, he did not budge".

"He is a sucker for jewles..." Haruta said.

"So we'll just have to bring him part of our next catch, no big deal"

"Causes us a bit of trouble that girl eh?" Thatch laughed.

"You could say that again" Marco said with a hint of a smile.

Something woke her. The cabin was as dark and silent as usual at this hour. Still Mey sat up. Sleeping no more, but still not fully awake. Her eyes focused yet unfocused. She sat like that for a while, before her head turned towards the door. Something called her. Not sure why, but she still got up and barefoot with only her night gown on, she went upstairs up on deck. It was a chilly night but she did not feel it. Her eyes was stuck on a spot on the approaching island.

They rarely docked the ship in nighttime and let down the anchor to await light. Mey was not going to wait. She jumped.

"Seems we've reached the island, exciting stuff to try and find that mine tomorrow... what the..." Thatch had said and added that last bit when if felt like the ship was falling.

"What's going on? Sea King?"

"Nah, it's somtehing else" Marco said slowly, "come on!"

They all ran outside to see the dark island a good two hundred meters away, dark and lush with what seemed like lightning bugs roamed around.

"Eh, Commander..." someone said and caught Marco's attention from the island. He looked at his nakama who pointed towards the water, that was gone.

I'm sorry about the rather short chapter. It was sort of a bridge chapter into our next adventure! Be careful with fire and have a great weekend!