ureshiitamago: Hey, ya'll! This one is going to be relatively short as well (Short meaning around 3000 or so words), mainly 'cause it's a filler, and I'm trying out a new laptop.
Aave: What's a laptop?
ureshiitamago: Nothing you need to concern yourself with yet.
Aave: Oh, ok. Here are the thankies!
We would like to thank; Mr. 0-San and balrock for following and favoriting!
A special thanks to Mr. 0-San, Guest(AC), and The Utterly Fabulous Z for reviewing!
ureshiitamago: AC: Thanks ;) and you're welcome!
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece!
"We're going on an adventuuure, I wonder what's in store!" I sang happily. "We're packing up our bags, and we're heading out the door!"
"Maybe there's someone there who will join my crew!" Luffy said excitedly.
"Maybe you can find some food. But Nami's right. We're not prepared." Zoro added.
Chapter 10: Woo hoo! Bushy haired Ghosties!
"We've found a deserted island!" Luffy shouted happily from his perch on the figurehead. "Looks like there's nothing here but trees!"
"I wonder if there's dessert here…" I said thoughtfully. "Pecan pie with vanilla ice cream would be nice…"
"That's not what 'deserted' means…" Nami-baka said with a sweatdrop. "And anyway," she turned to Luffy, "I told you it was uninhabited. You won't find anyone to join your crew here."
"Zoro!" Luffy called back to our boat. "Get over here!" He turned back to Nami-baka for a moment. "Aave's island looked uninhabited except for the pirates, and she joined my crew!"
"I'm haunting your boat." I said in a monotone. "There's a difference." Luffy shrugged, and turned back to the boat to see Zoro still sleeping.
"He's asleep." Luffy said, and then started to walk over to the boat, presumably to wake Zoro up. Nami-baka grabbed the collar of Luffy's shirt, and said;
"Let him rest. He's still recovering from his injuries." Luffy did a quick 180.
"Good thinking." He said, walking off to the forest. "Okay, let's go!"
"Aye aye mia kapitano!" I flew after him, and dove for his hat. He ducked, and leaned on a tree.
"Go where?" Nami-baka asked, watching our antics with a raised eyebrow.
"Maybe there are people living deep in this forest!" Luffy said, ducking another of my attempts, and sticking his tongue out at me.
"People, no." Nami-baka said irritably. "Hungry monsters, maybe."
"Hey, remember what I said about mutants and gods?'" I asked Luffy.
"Yeah." He said. I tugged on his arm, and pointed to our right. Some kind of a cross between a rooster and a fox ambled out of the tree line.
"You're psychic." Luffy said.
"I'm not psychic" I denied.
"What is that?" Nami-baka wondered.
"It's a rooster-fox." I said, as if the answer was obvious.
"Hey look!" Luffy held up what looked like a cross between a rabbit and a snake. "It's some kind of weird rabbit!" I giggled and played with the rabbit ears.
"Yeah, weird is right!" Nami-baka said, holding her head as if trying to wake herself up from a very bad dream.
"Hey!" I said, pointing to the side. "A lion-pig!" I pointed up to a tree. "And a monkey-bat! I'm going to name that one Momo!"
"It looks more like a pig than a lion…" Nami-baka commented. "And that looks more like a monkey than a bat. Why Momo?" I shrugged at her question.
"It just fits. Here, Momo!" I held out an arm. "pop" The newly named Momo jumped onto my arm and handed Luffy a peach.
"It definitely fits!" Luffy said with a laugh.
"There's something odd about this forest…" Nami-baka said. I looked at her with overly wide eyes.
"Really? For true?" I asked eagerly. "More odd than a rubber man and a ghost?" That gave her pause. She opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by a mysterious voice. I loved mysterious voices! They were so…mysterious.
"Do not come any further!" The voice said. Momo jumped off of my arm and back into the trees and disappeared.
"WHO SAID THAT?!" Nami-baka shouted. "WHO ARE YOU?!"
"I…" There was a dramatic pause, "am the guardian of the forest!"
"Like a God?" Luffy asked the voice.
"Um…yes." The voice answered. Nami-baka and Luffy both looked at me.
"I'm not psychic!" I said to them, crossing my arms and pouting. "You were saying?" I prompted the guardian of the forest.
"Ah, yes." The guardian of the forest started to shout. "If you value your lives, you will leave this place now!"
"…" we didn't say anything.
"Are you pirates?" The voice asked us uncertainly.
"That's right." Luffy confirmed.
"Yup." I said, kicking my feet in the air.
"Why would he ask us that?" Nami-baka wondered out loud.
"Maybe he's stupid." I suggested.
"Ah, so you are pirates!" The voice exclaimed. "Don't you dare take another step into this forest! If you do, you must face the trial of the forest! Will you risk having your bodies dismembered."
"Like this?" I asked, taking my head off of my shoulders and juggling it. Luffy laughed, and Nami-baka screamed.
"AAAAAH!" The voice screamed, "SHE'S NOT HUMAN!"
"Nooo, I'm a half-pint bean-sprout midget." I said, rolling my eyes in the most sarcastic manner I could.
"Who cares about the trial of the forest?" Luffy asked the voice. "Why would you ask me that?"
"What is he talking about?" Nami-baka asked.
"I think something's wrong with him." Luffy commented, looking around for the source of the voice.
"Maybe he's stupid." I suggested again, doing cartwheels in the air, and grabbing for Luffy's hat every chance I could.
"What did you say, Mugiwara fool and ghost girl?" The voice asked ominously.
"Where are you?" Nami-baka asked, punching the air and looking around. "Show yourself!" Luffy started to walk to a section of forest.
"I think he's over there…" He said.
"I warned you not to come any closer!" The voice said. I heard the clacking of a gun behind Luffy and I. "Now you must face the trial of the forest!" I squeaked as I felt a bullet fly through me, and then gasped involuntarily as I saw it enter Luffy's back. Luffy grunted, and I caught his hat as it flew off his head. I grumbled as the bullet flew through me again after Luffy deflected it.
"…HUH?!" the voice shouted.
"Th-that really scared me!" Nami-baka said. "Was that a gun?" I handed Luffy his hat back, and he placed it back on his head.
"Wow!" Nami-baka said. "Even bullets can't hurt you!"
"No," Luffy admitted, "but they scare me, too, so I don't like being shot."
"I don't either." I said. "It feels like a weird ripple in water, but in my body." Nami-baka wrinkled her nose.
"That doesn't sound too pleasant." She agreed.
"What…what are you two?" The voice demanded shakily.
"What are you?" retorted Luffy. He walked across the clearing we were in and looked through the trees. "The bullet came from here." He said. I looked over his head, and saw a smoking gun lying in front of a suspicious looking bush in a box.
"Look!" Nami-baka said, pointing out the gun. "There's a pistol on the ground!"
"What's this?" Luffy asked, walking up to the bush in a box.
"Looks suspicious." Nami-baka said, also walking up to the bush in a box.
"Hello." I greeted the bush in a box. "Do you know where our god went?"
"HEY! IT'S MOVING!" Nami-baka shouted. Indeed, the bush in a box had sprouted legs and was running in the direction opposite of us. I flew after it, and stuck a foot out in front of its feet. Whump. The bush in a box bush-planted on the ground.
"HEY! HELP ME UP!" The bush shouted into the ground. Nami-baka looked at the feet.
"It's a person." She said with a sweatdrop.
"HELP ME UP, I SAID" The bush turned person demanded.
"He tripped himself, and now he's acting indignant…" Nami-baka observed.
"I was the one who tripped him!" I said proudly.
"Don't be so proud about that…" Nami-baka said.
"He looks like a shrub!" Luffy said with a laugh.
"Let's not help him up." I said. When Luffy and Nami-baka looked at me, I decided to explain what I meant. "First, we must find another shrubbery. Then, when we have found the shrubbery, we must place it here, beside this shrubbery," (Here, the guardian of the forest protested) "only slightly higher so you get a two layer effect with a little path running down the middle." I looked at their faces to make sure that they were following what I was saying. "Then, we must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest, with…a herring!"* I finished gleefully. Luffy shook his head.
"Too much work. We'll just help him up." He said. I pouted.
(lol, line break 'cause I'm lazy)
"The fruit of the Gomu gomu tree, a Devil's Fruit,eh?" Shrubbery-man said. "I've heard the tales. But this is the first time I've ever met someone who's eaten the fruit." I stared at his unibrow in amazement.
"It's all connected!" I said.
"This is the first time I've ever seen a guy stuck in a treasure chest." Luffy said, sitting opposite the shrubbery-man. "Are you a 'boxer'?"
"Unibrow…"
"Well, when I was younger…HEY, THAT WAS A STUPID PUN!" The shrubbery-man shouted.
"I'M STUCK AND I CAN'T GET OUT!" He shouted. "I'VE BEEN ALONE ON THIS ISLAND FOR 20 YEARS! YOU CAN'T IMAGINE HOW MISERABLE I'VE BEEN!"
"Unibrow…"
"20 years?" Nami-baka gasped. "You've been all alone for 20 years?"
"That's right…20 years." The shrub agreed.
"You must be stupid." Luffy said bluntly.
"I'LL MURDER YA!" The shrub screamed at him.
"Unibrow…"
"20 years…" Shrub said with a sigh. "It's been a long time…That's why my hair and beard are this long." He glared at me. "And I used to have two eyebrows!" He growled.
"Highly unlikely." I muttered, still staring at the unibrow.
"I haven't had a conversation with another person in all that time." I frowned, somewhat feeling for him. I had been like that too, except for on a larger scale. I was snapped out of my reverie when the shrub gave a great shout of pain.
"OW! OUCH! WHAT'RE YOU DOING?!" I giggled at Luffy, who was attempting to pull shrub out of his box.
"You're stuck." Luffy remarked, gritting his teeth and pulling harder.
"CUT IT OUT!" Shrub shouted. "YOU'LL BREAK MY NECK!" At that threat, Luffy stopped trying to detach shrub's head from his body.
"DON'T BE RECKLESS!" The shrub scolded him. "I HAVEN'T HAD ANY EXERCISE FOR ALL THESE YEARS…BY NOW, MY BODY'S GROWN INTO THE SHAPE OF THIS BOX!" He took in a deep breath, and calmed down considerably now that Luffy wasn't trying to decapitate him. "I can't get out, and if you break the chest, you'll break me with it."
"But," Nami-baka said, drawing his attention to her. "how did you get there in the first place?" I wrinkled my nose, sensing an impending rant about someone's past, and started to play cat's cradle with Fairy Queen.
"You said you were pirates?" Shrub asked Luffy.
"That's right!" Luffy confirmed. "So far I only have a crew of four."
"I'm haunting your ship, there's a difference." I corrected automatically.
"Well, I used to be a pirate too." Shrub said.
"Really?" Luffy asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
"It was great! Risking my life in pursuit of treasure!" Shrub said enthusiastically.
"It's fun, huh?" Luffy said.
"Fun fun fun fun, the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is that I'm the only one!" I sang as I tried to figure out how to handle a new string hold in the game that Fairy Queen and I were playing.
"What's wrong with her?" Shrub asked Nami-baka, looking at me with trepidation.
"Nothing, ignore her." Nami-baka said.
"You got a treasure map?" Shrub asked Luffy.
"I've got a map of the Grand Line." Luffy said. "I'm going after the One Piece!" Shrub started to sweat.
"WHAT? THE ONE PIECE?!" Shrub yelled. "YOU'RE NOT SERIOUSLY THINKING ABOUT ENTERING THE GRAND LINE!?"
"So…" Shrub went on, looking at the map that Luffy was holding out. "Where is this Grand Line?"
"I don't know." Luffy said. "Can you tell me where it is, Mr. Shrub?" Shrub broke out laughing.
"I can't read maps!" He said.
"You can't?" Luffy laughed.
"How can they call themselves pirates?" Nami-baka said from next to me.
"I can't read maps either!" I chirped, finally figuring out the string hold.
"Ok, look." Nami-baka held out a map. I made a face. She was going to teach something. Yuck. I tuned her out until they got to a more interesting topic, choosing instead to stare at a pair of yellow eyes that were peering at me from the treetops. It didn't look like Momo. Finally, after much persuading from Fairy Queen and me, it emerged from the tree. It looked to be a cross between a shiba inu and a humming bird. It was about the size of my hand, and its wings were a beautiful turquoise.
"I dub thee, Gwaine!" I said. I looked over to the others, who seemed to be having a serious conversation about the dangers of Grand Line.
"C'mon Gwaine." I said, floating over to where the others were. "Let's show you to Luffy." Gwaine let out a sound like a cross between a bark and a buzz, and followed me through the air.
"…understand?" Shrub was saying to Luffy. "The search for the One Piece is a fools dream."
"Maybe so," Luffy said with a laugh, "but I think we'll find it!"
"Give up!" Nami-baka said with a smile. "There's plenty of other treasure to be had. Why get ourselves killed?"
"We'll find it!" Luffy said, his grin widening. "I'm very lucky!"
"I think you will too." I said, floating down to sit in Luffy's lap. He petted my head, and I started purring. Nami-baka sat down next to us.
"Fine…" she relented, "but I don't know where your confidence comes from."
"I'LL TELL YOU WHY I HAVEN'T LEFT THIS ISLAND!" Shrub suddenly yelled, causing me and Gwaine to yelp. Luffy grabbed me, and stood up, still holding me.
"What, Mr. Shrub man?" Luffy asked.
"Hope." Shrub said, staring off into the distance. "I still have hope."
"About what?" Luffy asked. I groaned as Shrub started his backstory. I really hated those. I exchanged a bored glance with Gwaine, who was fluttering by my head. He licked my nose, and I started to play with him. I would throw a tiny stick, and he would fetch it and bring it back.
Apparently, Shrub had been trying to find treasure on this island, but once he thought he had it, he fell into a chest, and got stuck, and then his nakama left him behind. Such nice nakama…
"And nobody's been here for 20 years?" Luffy asked, tickling my sides to make me pay attention. Shrub ignored my giggling, and hefted his pistol.
"No, lots of people come. Mostly pirates, looking for treasure, but I scared them all off with my trial of the forest bit." Shrub said. I fiddled with the brim of my hat as I listened.
"All that treasure I saw up on the cliff…I just couldn't bring myself to part with it!" Shrub let out a sob. "IF ONLY I WEREN'T STUCK IN THIS CHEST!" He shouted angrily. "ALL THIS TIME, I'VE PROTECTED THAT TREASURE! IT'S MINE! ALL MINE!"
"You're absolutely right." Luffy agreed. I craned my neck around to see him nodding. "It's rightfully yours."
"GAIMON!" Nami-baka shouted. I assumed that that was Shrub's name. "I'LL GO UP THERE AND GET THAT TREASURE FOR YOU!"
"Really?" Gaimon-not-Shrub said. "That would be great! I'm glad I told you my story."
"But you're a pirate and a thief." Luffy pointed out.
"And a baka." I added.
"SHUT UP!" Nami-baka shouted. "I'M A THIEF, BUT I'M NOT HEARTLESS! AND I'M NOT A BAKA!"
(line break because I have writers block for this chapter!)
"Wow. Tall rock." I said, floating above their heads.
"Here we are." Gaimon said. "This is it! It's been a while since I came here."
"Why didn't you tell anyone else your story?" Luffy asked Gaimon. "Like you told us."
"I never trusted anybody." Gaimon explained. "Besides, none of the others ever tried to talk to me."
"FINALLY!" Gaimon suddenly shouted. "TODAY IS THE DAY!"
"Luffy, Aave." Nami-baka said, clapping a hand onto Luffy's shoulder. "Do your stuff."
"You want us to do it?" Luffy and I asked her.
"Well, I can't climb that!" Nami-baka said, pointing at the sheer cliff in front of us.
"I'm counting on you two!" Gaimon said. I sighed, and flew upwards with Gwaine. We set down up top and waited for Luffy, who catapulted into us. We laughed for a minute about that, and then looked in the treasure chests…nothing. Not even a gold coin. Luffy and I looked at each other and frowned. Luffy picked up a chest, and walked over to the edge.
"I see them!" He called down. "Five treasure chests!" I put one of the empty chests upside down on my head and pretended to be the dreaded treasure eating monster.
"…EM DOWN HERE…ON'T DROP THEM ON US!" Gaimon's voice was patchy from inside the treasure chest.
"Forget it!" I heard Luffy say. I took the chest off my head, not in the mood to play.
"LUFFY, ARE YOU INSANE?" Nami-baka shouted. "AAVE, YOU THROW THEM DOWN HERE!" I floated over and peeked over the edge.
"I don't feel like it." I said, dangling Bearetta over the edge.
"ARE YOU BOTH INSANE? THROW THEM DOWN!" Nami-baka ordered.
"Forget it!" Luffy said. "I don't want to."
"Me either!" I said.
"DARN IT, YOU TWO!"
"It's ok. They don't want to do it." Gaimon said.
"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?" Nami-baka yelled at him. "IT'S YOUR TREASURE!"
"Mugiwara! Ghost girl!" Gaimon shouted up to us. Bearetta went back into my hat. "You.." He was crying… "you're great kids!"
"WHAT?!" Nami-baka shouted disbelievingly.
*sniff sniff* "I-I suspected that might be the case…I had my fears…" Luffy sat down, and I lay my head down on the rock. "But…I just didn't want to believe it…" He held his head in his hands.
"They're empty…aren't they?" Bingo.
"Yup." Luffy said. "They're all empty." Gaimon mumbled something into his hands that I couldn't hear.
"But you've been guarding them for 20 years!" Nami-baka said. "…and they're empty…"
"This is too depressing…" I muttered to myself.
"I agree." I heard Luffy whisper.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Luffy suddenly laughed. "Don't feel bad, Mr. Shrub head! You're lucky we showed up! Another 30 years and your life would've passed you by!" I smiled as the mood surrounding the conversation became lighter.
"Kid…"
"Luffy…"
"Well, only one thing will make up for a disappointment like this!" Luffy exclaimed. "You're going after the One Piece with me!"
"You want…" Gaimon looked speechless. "You want me to join your crew?"
"Banzai!" I shouted, throwing rose petals in the air.
(line break!)
"Are you sure?" Nami-baka asked Gaimon. "You really want to stay on this island?"
"Yes…" Gaimon said. "Nice of you to ask me to join you, but this is my home. There's no treasure, but I can still be the guardian of the forest!"
"Why?" Nami-baka asked.
"Did you see all the unusual animals that live in the forest?" Gaimon asked her.
"All those weird snake-rabbits and lion-pigs?" She said.
"Like Gwaine?" I asked, pointing to said shibainu-hummingbird. Gaimon nodded.
"More people come to this island looking for exotic animals than for treasure. I've grown fond of those critters after all these years." Gaimon explained. "I don't want to abandon them."
"You're sort of an exotic animal yourself!" Luffy pointed out.
"WATCH IT, BUSTER!"
"But he's right." I said. Gwaine barked in agreement.
"HEY!"
"In a way," he went on in a calmer tone, "I'm relieved that there's no treasure! I can finally stop fretting about it and enjoy this island!"
"Too bad you won't be coming with us." Luffy said. "I kinda like you."
"Can Gwaine come with me?" I asked Gaimon. Gaimon nodded.
"If Gwaine wants to, sure." I looked at Gwaine, who wagged his tail, and flew over to the boat.
"You'll get yourself a great crew!" Gaimon said to Luffy. "Now, go find the One Piece, and make the world your oyster!"
"Thanks!" Luffy said. "I will, see ya!"
With that, we cast off.
*I do not own Monty Python
I am glad that's over with. I don't know why, but writing this chapter was kinda boring. So, forgive me if it's boring.