Don't Underestimate Us!
Three days have passed since Corona and the others set sail from their island to reach their destination. Their mission was to search for a missing marine while helping some people with the industrialization of the jungle based island. During the course of the three days, Corona and Lucy continued on with their daily training routines to grow stronger while Jays usually monitored their training sessions. After completing their training routine for the day, Corona walked over to Jays for a moment of evaluation of the progress of her growth.
"So…how am I doing so far?" Corona panted while wiping the sweat off her face with a towel.
"You're definitely getting better with evading and striking an enemy. But your sword techniques are really lacking." Jays replied. "You show much hesitance when carrying that sword. It's like you're afraid to use it."
"That's because I am." Corona sighed. "I just don't feel right carrying around a sword."
"That's understandable. There are plenty of marines that don't use swords. Most marines use weapons that they're comfortable with." Jays turned her head to the left and looked to Lucy. "Like Lucy with her chain flail."
"I understand that but overall, I just don't feel comfortable using any kind of weapon." Corona said.
"Oh I see, you're more of the brawling type. You wanna learn how to fight bare handed and use martial arts?" Jays assumed.
Corona's eyes lit up at the thought of her learning cool marital art techniques. "Oh yes! I would love to learn some cool karate moves! I wanna learn how to knock people out by pinching their necks! Or learn how to do like a million flips and spins in the air before finally kicking someone! Or maybe…" The energetic marine continued to list off several exaggerated and yet possible moves that she could learn.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there Corona. I'm not a master martial artist that can teach you everything you want to know." Jays informed the now disappointed recruit. "Anyway, if you wanna learn something interesting, I'll teach you a secret move only used in the marines."
"A secret move?" Corona asked.
"Yes. It's one of several techniques of Rokushiki." Jays replied as she walked over to the mast of the ship. "Watch closely now, Corona. This is one of the techniques that I'm well versed in." The Lieutenant Junior Grade told Corona before she quickly jabbed her finger into the mast and quickly removed it, leaving a small hole in the mast resembling a bullet hole.
"Whoa!" Corona ran over to the mast and inspected the hole in the mast. "That was amazing, Jays! It looks like the mast has been shot!"
"Teaching Rokushiki to simple recruits? Is that even allowed in the four blues?" Lucy asked after watching Jays' demonstration.
"Of course it's allowed. Technically I'm not the one suppose to be teaching you this, but it's definitely allowed." Jays nodded.
"This Rokushiki stuff is really amazing. As we rank up in the marines, we can learn techniques like this?" Corona asked.
"Of course you can. In the Grand Line, regular recruits are usually taught the basic techniques like Shigan and Soru." Jays replied.
"If we learn these techniques this early on, then getting ourselves spots in the top ten rankings should be a piece of cake." Corona took an offensive stance and glared at the mast. She was preparing to execute the same Shigan technique that Jays used on the mast earlier. Upon noticing this, Jays attempted to stop the reckless recruit, but it was too late. Corona jammed her finger against the mast and a small sound of a bone breaking could be heard by those near. A moment of silence filled the ship until Corona gripped her now broken finger and screamed in pain. Upon hearing the scream, Koga and Wyatt burst out from their respective rooms and ran out onto the deck to confront the sudden scream.
"What's going on here? Why the sudden scream? Are we under attack?" Koga asked while scanning the area, his right hand tightly gripping the handle of his sword.
"That doesn't appear to be the case." Wyatt suddenly appeared in front of Corona and grabbed her arm to examine her broken finger. "It appears that Corona here broke her finger while trying to attempt the Shigan technique of Rokushiki."
Feeling a slight blush come to her face, Corona quickly pulled her arm away from Wyatt. She then examined her finger herself and paled once she saw it already beginning to swell up. "Oww…this really sucks…" She whined.
"It serves you right for practicing a technique that you only witnessed about two minutes ago." Jays rolled her eyes in annoyance as she went into her room to retrieve some medical supplies. Once she returned, she immediately applied a splint to Corona's broken finger.
"Thank you, Jays." Corona sniffled like a child as she stared at her finger.
"Next time you do something reckless like that, at least take the time to consider the consequences." Jays warned her.
"Right, I'll remember next time." Corona hung her head.
"Why a sudden interest in wanting to learn Rokushiki anyway?" Wyatt asked while Koga returned to his room.
"I wanna grow stronger than I am now." Corona replied as if it were obvious. "I want to reach the top ten of the rankings. Once I accomplish that task, I will be one step closer to becoming the world's greatest marine."
"World's greatest marine huh? That's not a bad goal to strive for." Wyatt respected Corona's determination. "But you won't be able to achieve that goal if you go around breaking your fingers."
"Yes, yes, I know that." Corona blushed in embarrassment while hiding her broken finger.
"If you really want to learn the Shigan technique, then you need to build up more strength for your hands and fingers." Wyatt told Corona as if he were an expert. Before Corona could open her mouth to speak, Wyatt had already disappeared from the deck. He soon returned moments later with a barrel full of water. "This will surely help you learn how to use the Shigan technique more effectively." He smiled with great confidence as he placed the barrel on the deck.
"How is a barrel of water supposed to help me learn this technique?" Corona asked as she looked into the barrel of water.
"This is how I learned how to use the Shigan technique from my mentor, Warrant Officer Patrick." Wyatt said with a smile. "He instructed me to continuously strike a barrel of water for hours on end."
"How does striking a barrel of water help you at all?" Corona asked, not understanding the point of this.
Wyatt simply walked past Corona and stopped in front of the mast. He then pulled his arm back and quickly jabbed his finger into the mast before quickly pulling it out, leaving a slightly large hole in the mast next to Jays'. "Trust me Corona, it'll help you."
"Well, if you're sure." Corona nodded before she started performing karate chops on the water. "How long do you think it'll take me to learn this technique?"
"It depends on the person really. It took me about two years to learn how to execute the technique properly." Jays replied.
"I've been practicing this technique for an entire month. But I'm still a little inexperienced of course." Wyatt said as he inspected the difference in size between his and Jays.
"Aw man. I expected to learn this technique properly before we even reached the island." Corona whined.
"What do you think you are, a mary sue?" Jays chuckled before she walked over to the wheel of the ship. "Besides, you only have a few hours to continue practicing. The island is right over there." She pointed to the island on the horizon.
"Guess I'll return to my room then. Let me know when we're there." Wyatt turned around to return to his room.
"Hold on a second, Wyatt. Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've seen you out of your room." Lucy spoke up, causing the young recruit to stop in his place. "It's not weird or anything. But you've been spending more time in there than you have been out here."
"You've also been taking your meals in your room with you as well." Corona added.
"Oh uhhh…that's because I don't do so well with the ocean. All this rocking around and splashing water makes me nauseas." Wyatt nervously laughed.
"Okay then, well I hope you feel better once we…" Corona stopped in mid-sentence once a loud crashing noise could be heard from Wyatt's room. All of the marines except for Wyatt sprung into action and rushed into the room. By the time they got there, they all saw Miles on the ground rubbing the large bump on his head.
"Miles?" Lucy asked.
"What are you doing here?" Corona scowled while folding her arms under her chest.
"Oh come on. Did you really think that I was going to stay behind while you guys searched for my father?" Miles pouted.
"I thought I told you that this mission would be far too dangerous for a little boy like you." Corona sighed while rubbing her temples on how bad the situation had gotten now that Miles decided to tag along with them.
"I don't care! If a bunch of girls are going to search for my father, then I might as well lend a hand!" Miles said sternly.
"There's a large difference between us, Miles. We're trained professionals and you're just a child." Corona said.
"Who's the trained professional?" Miles indicated to Corona's broken finger. "I heard you cry like a baby when you did that." As soon as the young boy teased Corona, he immediately found himself with a second bump on his head once the marine recruit rushed over to him and punched him. "Ow! Why'd you do that?!" He cried.
"Never mind that, Miles. How on earth did you get on our ship?" Corona asked.
"And how did you go unnoticed for three whole days of sailing?" Lucy added to the question. Before Miles could answer, Corona, Jays, and Lucy immediately put the pieces together. They all slowly turned around to see Wyatt trying to sneak off towards the dinghy's so that he could escape. But before he could do so, Koga reached his arm out and grabbed the collar of his shirt, preventing him from escaping.
"Well, I guess it's safe to say that Wyatt has something to do with this." Koga sighed.
"More like he has everything to do with this." Corona frowned.
"The boy is a master of manipulation. He tricked me into helping him on board before we set sail from the island." Wyatt nervously laughed.
"Wyatt, do you understand how dangerous this mission could be. Now that you brought this boy along, you only increased the danger." Jays informed him.
"I'm sorry; I promise I won't do anything like this again." Wyatt whined.
"Should we behead him now and toss his carcass in the sea? We could say that he was killed by the animals on the island." Koga suggested.
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea honestly." Corona nodded, obviously considering the idea.
"But won't that be much paperwork?" Lucy sighed.
"It'll only be paperwork for me." Jays sighed.
"Hold on! You guys are honestly considering this?" Wyatt gasped in shock.
"Relax, we're only joking." Koga released his hold on Wyatt and then pushed him back over to Miles. "Though from now on, that boy is your responsibility. Once we reach that island, you better not let him out of your sight."
"Do you understand this, Wyatt? This is important." Jays said sternly.
"I understand. I'll keep watch of this boy as if he were my own." Wyatt nodded. And with that, everyone on the ship dispersed to fulfill their own objectives for the next few hours until the time came when the marine ship reached the island. After having successfully docked onto the island, the marines were immediately greeted by a group of people.
"Ah, I see the marines have finally arrived once again. Welcome to our lovely island. My name is Sir Reginald from the Burama Kingdom." The leader of the group of people stepped up and bowed to the marines. He was a tall, slim man with short grey hair and green eyes. He wore a black top hat on his head, a pair of reading glasses, a fancy black suit, and black dress shoes.
"Pleasure to meet you; I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Jays. These people behind me are Seamen Recruits, Corona, Koga, Lucy, and Wyatt. The small boy behind them is Miles." Jays introduced everyone.
"Hello." The recruits waved to the group of people while Miles looked amongst the group.
"I don't see my father around here anywhere. Where's my father?" Miles asked, causing the group of people to look amongst themselves in confusion.
"I'm sorry young lad, but I have no idea what you're talking about." Reginald looked down to the young boy.
"Don't mind him." Corona covered the boy's mouth with her hand and dragged him to the back of the group.
"Okay then. Well, you all must be tired after sailing from your island. Please follow us and we'll provide some shelter for you all before discussing the mission." Reginald and the group of people led Jays and her group to a small settlement not too far away from where they docked their ship. They were all gathered in the mess hall of one of the large buildings and they were given a nice fresh meal to eat.
"It's so nice to see that the marines have taken an interest with our kingdom's affairs." Reginald smiled as he watched the marines eat.
"It's not much of your kingdom's affairs rather than it is the missions and the payment." Jays said.
"Well no worries. If you help us succeed in our mission, you all will be paid handsomely by our loving king." Reginald stated.
"Handsomely?" Corona's eyes were replaced with beli signs.
"Yes, our King would be most grateful for your assistance in helping us industrialize this savage island of wild beasts." Reginald nodded.
"If you're serving for a kingdom, then you should at least have some sort of army right? How come you need the marines' help if you have an army?" Koga inquired.
"The king does not wish to waste such valuable resources on slaughtering a bunch of wild animals." Reginald replied.
"So basically we're only here to do your dirty work." Lucy frowned while folding her arms.
"There's no need to put it that way, young lady. You're doing us a huge favor in helping us spread the influence of our kingdom." Reginald smiled.
"Why are even talking about killing wild animals? Shouldn't we be out there looking for my father?" Miles asked.
"Your father went missing here, young man?" Reginald asked.
"Yes he did. It was about a month ago when that bald marine commander came here." Miles responded with a nod. "They retreated from the island without him."
"Retreated from the island?" Reginald muttered before he covered his mouth to muffle his chuckle. "Oh dear, so you're the marines from "that" branch."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Wyatt asked.
"Last month when the marine commander accepted our mission, he eventually found it to be more difficult than he imagined. This of course resulted in his humiliating retreat from the island." Reginald scoffed arrogantly as he stood to his feet. "I'm sorry for the mix up, but I'm afraid that you marines must leave this island now."
"What? Leave the island? Why do we have to leave the island?" Corona asked. She was caught off guard by Reginald's sudden change in attitude.
"We assumed that you were the marines from a different marine branch. We requested assistance from a more "reliable" source." Reginald replied as he walked by and snatched away their food. "It would be rather awkward for them to come by and see you all here. So thank you for dropping by, but we don't need you around."
"Sorry, but we're not leaving this island just yet. We came here to find our missing comrade. We refuse to leave until we do so."Jays said sternly.
"Do you believe that your comrade is still alive? He's been missing for about a month, right? He's never wandered across here." Reginald told them. "He's most likely succumbed to the wild and has been feasted upon by the wild beasts."
"Don't you talk like that about my father! No animals would ever harm him!" Miles yelled as he stood up from his seat.
"Hmmm…since you sound so sure of yourself. How about you go out there and search for him then?" Reginald grinned.
"I will! And I'm going to find him!" Miles yelled before he dashed out of the room. Both Corona and Wyatt called after the young boy before proceeding to chase after him.
"What a spunky young lad you have with you. It's a shame that he'll never be able to find his father out there." Reginald laughed alongside the other people in the room.
"You shut your mouth!" Jays slammed her fist onto the table; her hair began to wave around, frightening most of the people in the room. "Who are you to decide if he'll find his father or not?"
"I'm just simply stating the facts young lady. If that Neanderthal of a marine commander from your branch couldn't handle these wild animals, then what makes you think your missing marine can?" Reginald asked. "Honestly, I don't think anyone of you will leave this island alive. You're all representing that laughing stock of a 22nd marine branch. I'm embarrassed to even be in the same room as you all. And further more…" Before Reginald could open his mouth to speak again, he suddenly found himself tangled up by Jays' hair.
"You've ridiculed us long enough! I don't care what you say about other officers, but you will not ridicule our branch! Don't you dare underestimate us!" Jays shouted.
"Release me at once! If you harm even a single hair on my head, the King will surely retaliate against you and your entire branch!" Reginald threatened his captor. "You'll be completely wiped out by our sheer military might in a matter of hours!"
Jays remained silent for a moment and actually took the time to contemplate about pissing off an entire kingdom. Figuring that these people weren't any even worth the trouble, Jays dropped Reginald on the ground and then turned to face Koga and Lucy.
"Come along Koga, Lucy. It's clear now that they obviously don't want us around." Jays glared at Reginald before she, Koga, and Lucy left the room.
"Oh, and don't bother coming back to the settlement. This is reserved for the "real" marines." Reginald laughed alongside everyone else in the room.
After being taunted and ridiculed by Reginald and the people of the settlement, Corona and the others decided to head back to their ship and discuss a game plan on how they would accomplish their original mission. All six of them sat around the table in the middle of the kitchen, taking the time to come up with an idea before voicing it out to the others.
"Does anyone have any ideas?" Jays asked.
"We're practically just searching the island right? How about we split up into groups of two and search the island? We'll be able to cover more ground that way." Corona suggested her idea.
"How do we split up in groups of two when there are five of us?" Koga asked.
"Don't you mean six?" Everyone turned to look at Miles. "Since I'm already here, I might as well help along with the search, right?"
"You're a civilian, Miles. It's bad enough that you're already here with us. We're not going to put you through anymore danger by sending you out there in a jungle filled with wild animals." Jays shook her head.
"That's not fair! Then what was the point of me coming here if you weren't going to let me help!" Miles frowned.
"You weren't supposed to be here in the first place." Lucy pointed out. "Things might have been able to work out if those assholes down at the settlement let us stay there."
"Well sitting her doing nothing isn't going to help us complete this mission any faster." Jays stood up from her seat. "We'll go along with Corona's idea to split into groups. The group one will be Corona and Wyatt, and group two will be Koga and Lucy. I'll be all by myself."
"What about me? If I can't search the island with you, then what can I do?" Miles asked.
"You're going to stay here and keep guard of the ship while we're gone." Jays grabbed a flintlock pistol off the counter and handed it to Miles. "Don't mess around with that you hear me? That is a real gun loaded with real bullets. If anyone or anything other than us tries to get on the ship, I want you to shoot them."
"S-Shoot them?" Miles stammered as he stared at the flintlock pistol in his hands.
"You need to understand the dangers you got yourself into by coming here." Jays said sternly. "I don't trust you out there in the jungle nor do I trust you near that settlement. So you're going to stay here inside of the cabin and keep this ship safe while we look for your father."
"But…" Miles soon shut his mouth once Jays slammed her fist on the table, causing everyone in the room to jump.
"Now then, it's still bright outside. We'll start searching the island until the sun begins to set. Make sure to leave markings around the area to signal others that the area has already been searched." Jays ordered as she and the other recruits began leaving the ship.
"What kind of markings?" Corona asked.
"Cut an 'X' on a tree or something." Jays replied before she headed off into the thick jungle.
"Wow…her personality surely did shift drastically huh?" Wyatt sighed as he folded his arms behind his head.
"Can you blame her? We were ridiculed by those people from the settlement earlier." Koga said before him and Lucy entered the thick jungle as well.
"Well Corona. Shall we go ahead and start searching as well?" Wyatt turned around to see Corona staring at the marine ship.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave Miles on the ship all by himself? What if something really does happen to him while no one's here?" Corona asked with genuine worry for the young boy's well being.
"Well it's not like we can bring him with us. What if something happens to him while he's with us? We'll be in far worse trouble than we are now." Wyatt stated.
"You're the only one that's in trouble though, Wyatt." Corona frowned as she walked past him to enter into the thick jungle.
"I know, I know, you don't have to keep reminding me. I know it was stupid to bring the kid along with us, but he has a good heart. He's a young boy trying to find his father." Wyatt sighed as he followed after her.
"I understand that completely. But he's still too young." Corona stated once again.
"I'm sure that everything will turn out to be fine in the end once we find the kids father." Wyatt smiled.
"How long do you think it'll take us to find him? This island is huge. Not to mention that this jungle isn't making things any easier." Corona sighed.
"Let's not forget that there are vicious wild animals here that supposedly kill people." Wyatt added in order to tease Corona.
"If that's supposed to be some sick form of a joke Wyatt, it's not very funny." Corona immediately responded by punching her fellow recruit on the arm.
"Relax, if anything happens, I'm sure that the both of us can handle it. I mean you did manage to take down a tough pirate with a devil fruit last month right?" Wyatt inquired.
"I didn't do it all by myself. Lucy and Harper helped as well. I only delivered the finishing blow." Corona said.
"Well nonetheless, I'm really excited to be working on this with you." Wyatt smiled.
"Let's stop wasting time talking already. We have a missing marine that we need to find." Corona started searching through random bushes for any clues.
"Right, right." Wyatt followed Corona's lead and started searching the area for any signs of the missing marine. Once the area had been completely searched, Corona and Wyatt marked the trees and then went on to search other areas. They continued to search several areas in the jungle but to no avail. The two recruits searched for hours and soon found themselves near a river.
"Oh my god, I'm so exhausted." Corona walked over to the edge of the river and then dropped down to her knees. She cupped some of the water into her hands and then proceeded to washing her face.
"It's starting to get dark. We should probably start heading back to the ship." Wyatt crossed his arms over his chest while inspecting the area.
"Damn it. We didn't manage to find a single clue on where the missing marine went or even what happened to him." Corona cursed silently while balling her hands into fists.
"Perhaps the others had better luck than us. No matter, I'm sure that we'll have better luck tomorrow." Wyatt assured the frustrated Corona before he looked to a pair of bushes nearby after hearing a sudden rustling sound coming from them.
"What's that?" Corona immediately unsheathed her sword and inched closer to the bushes alongside Wyatt.
"Come on out. We already know you're in there." Wyatt called out to whoever or whatever was hiding in the bushes. A few moments, Miles came out from the bushes with his arms up.
"Son of a bitch! Miles?" Corona sheathed her sword. "What are you doing out here? Why aren't you on the ship like Jays instructed?"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! But I can't stay on the ship! I want to help you find my father!" Miles frowned.
"You only continue to make me regret my decision in bringing you on board." Wyatt sighed as he walked over to Miles and grabbed his arm. "Come along now, Miles. We're heading back to the ship."
"Wait a minute Wyatt. Doesn't there seem to be something a little off about this jungle?" Corona asked once she began to notice how quite the jungle was. "We've been searching the island for hours and yet we haven't come across a single wild animal."
"Well you have to consider that Commander Heyman was here a month ago before us. He probably cleared out a bunch of them before he was forced to retreat." Wyatt stated.
"Yeah probably, but still, not a single animal is here?" Corona sighed.
"Are you saying that you want there to be a wild animal here? Because personally I don't think that..." Before Wyatt could finish his sentence, a loud roar echoed throughout the jungle. Corona, Mile, and Wyatt cringed at the loud roar and were forced to cover their ears until the roaring had finally ceased. Once they removed their hands from their ears, they heard a loud set of foot steps coming towards them.
"Are they the people from the settlement?" Corona asked while unsheathing her sword alongside Wyatt.
"No, these foot steps don't even sound human." Wyatt glared in the direction of the noise, waiting patiently for whatever was coming to them to reveal itself to them. "Hmm...it stopped?" He lowered his guard once the loud footsteps ceased.
"Why would it suddenly-" Before she could finish her sentence, a loud black gorilla swung down from a vine and slammed an unsuspecting Wyatt into a nearby tree. Before Wyatt could pick himself back up, he found himself being repeatedly punched in the torso by the visibly angered gorilla.
"Wyatt!" Corona rushed over to her comrade and attempted to save him. Her attempts proved to be futile for once she got too close to the gorilla, it swung its arm outward and smacked her into the river. Upon crashing into the river, Corona hit the back of her head on a rock and slowly drifted off into unconsciousness as the currents from the river pulled her downstream, leaving Miles and Wyatt to deal with the rampaging gorilla all by themselves.
That's the end for this chapter! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! I would also like to say Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you all got what you wanted/needed and I also want to wish you all a Happy New Year! With that now out of the way, here's the preview for the next chapter!
Next time on One Piece: The Fight for Justice!
The Wild Child!
Corona: Oh man! Why am I even trying to save you? You nearly killed me earlier!
Jays: What do you mean you lost her?
Wyatt: Please forgive me! I take full responsibility for this!
Miles: I shot it...I actually shot it...
Lucy: Now two of our comrades have gone missing on this mission!
Koga: What do you think her chances of surviving out here on her own?
?: They're planning on raiding the settlement later on tonight to avenge their fallen comrades.
Please Review and Enjoy!