Eleutheromania

Chapter 11

Again, I'm really sorry for how long I took! My weeks have been so screwy at work, it's ridiculous, and we haven't even hit busy season or the Dig yet! (I've also been crook, but that's beside the point)

Thank you for the awesome reviews, favourites and follows since then though! It's like payday came early whenever I get a notification regarding my fics, so please keep it up!


Where were they? His brothers… there was a fire in the Grey Terminal, he had to warn his brothers…! He had to warn them!

So much pain… his ship exploded…? No, that happened after the fire, his brothers were alright! But Dadan… Dadan was hurt, he had to go back and help them, help Ace and Dadan…

Bluejam! Bluejam had Luffy… He was going to kill Luffy! Ace would die first, he wouldn't let anything happen to their little brother…!

He had to get up, he had to save his brothers!


Koala was having a blast chasing fish! The sea water seemed to revive her after the night spent worrying over Sabo, and even though she was struggling with trying to catch this school of mini-tuna, it was great!

There was still that tiny voice in the back of her mind, though, reminding her that Lami was watching Sabo all on her own, and she, Koala, would have to return shortly. After she caught their dinner, of course!

Having chased the fish along most of the coast and up against the cliffs on the south side of the island, Koala paused in her pursuit to swim closer to the ocean floor that lead up the cliff faces. Getting in closer, she cheered at her good luck: oysters! They were scattered throughout the sand, there were other, smaller, shellfish clinging to the cliff walls, and some curious silverfish were peeping out from between the rocks. They'd have a feast tonight!

Creating another bubble from her piece of coral, Koala placed her haul inside so that her hands still remained free. Thinking of her two new friends, Koala followed the currents out of the bay a little bit and down into the beds of seaweed, which is where she managed to catch some more fish, as an apology and a thank you to Leif and Coby. Just as she was ready to swim back however, a glint of gold amongst the seaweed caught Koala's eye. Swimming in for a closer look, she found a gilded spyglass – the model was at least twenty years old, but still very fancy.

Humming happily, Koala followed the seaweed trail back to the western edge of the island, picking up the occasional knick knack along the way. By the time she was within a stonethrow of the jetties, Koala had found some old muskets, daggers, a string of pearls (she tucked that one away for later), a gold compass, as well a few silver fob watches. By the time she was ready to shoot herself and her catches back on deck, Koala had also tucked the compass, three watches, the pearls and a brooch into her deep pockets. It was just as she was about the spin out of the water, though, that something strange caught Koala's eye – an olde cannon.

Frowning, Koala swam a bit closer for another look, jerking back when a moray eel hissed at her from the muzzle. Blowing a raspberry at the creature, Koala tucked the strangely misplaced weapon in the back of her mind and shot herself back up on deck, just as a very cranky Lami was coming topside.

"The hell took you so long?" Lami snapped; Koala merely grinned from inside the circle of seafood that had landed, rather unceremoniously, once the bubbles had popped.

"I had to chase dinner," Koala told her easily. "I got this for you, too!" She added, pulling out one of the fob watches.

Lami stared at it for a moment, face blank, before looking back up with that half-sneer she'd worn in Arlong Park. "Something of that age is hardly going to work after however long in the sea – it's not water proof."

Koala pouted. "And here I went to all the trouble of getting you a present."

"It was shiny and you wanted justification to pick it up," Lami shrugged coolly, turning away. "And by the way, I don't eat shellfish."

Koala went pink. "Now's hardly the time to get picky! I just caught us a free meal that should keep until tomorrow, at least!"

Lami paused with her back to Koala, one hand on the door leading below decks. "It's not called being picky," She replied icily. "It's called being allergic. Dumbarse."

The colour in Koala's cheeks spread to her ears and down her neck. "Oh," she said in a small voice.

Now that she thought about it, there had been members of the Revolution who were allergic to many of the meals she helped prepare… shellfish, just fish, calamari, there had been many occasions when Koala had had to create a secondary dish to accommodate for those who would either break out or, in some cases, die if they ate the seafood she had already cooked. She should have asked Lami about allergies, but it slipped her mind…

First things first, she had to get the food she'd caught into some clean water until she could start preparing it. Lami was still able to eat the fish she'd caught, apparently, and the shellfish would be easy enough to prepare for herself, as well – or she could just give a larger proportion of the shellfish to Coby and Leif. First things first though, pots!


By the time the cousins returned, Koala had descaled and gutted almost all of the fish. "Ah, just in time!" She called cheerfully. "You can help me skin the fish!"

The boys stared in shock – they'd only been an hour and a half, how had she gotten so much seafood already?!

"K-Koala-san!" Coby gasped, bug-eyed. "How did you…?!"

Leif burst out laughing. "You're really something else there, miss! You wanna do a trade?" He grinned as he offered a basket full of mushrooms, herbs, roots, berries, bark, fruits and, to Koala's mild disgust, grubs.

"Uh… Thanks, Leif-kun, but half the fish and most of the crustaceans are for you two, anyway. Turns out that Lami's allergic," Koala shrugged, putting their share of the fish back into the bucket of water that already held their half of the oysters and shellfish. "I didn't know how big your families were, so I got a bit of everything."

"It's just us and Auntie Dawn," Leif said quietly, after exchanging a glance with Coby. "My parents died in the pirate attack twelve years ago, and Coby's dad died in marine service."

"I'm sorry about that," Koala replied, eyes softening. "But, on the bright side, you'll certainly have a feast! And, thanks for getting those supplies from Dawn-san, too. It's been rally hel –"

"Koala!" Lami shouted suddenly from their ship. "I need help!"

Koala was off like a shot, leaving the food to the cousins.

Coby and Leif exchanged worried looks before gathering everything up and taking the supplies aboard ship.

"Hold him!"

"What happened?!"

"He's having a reaction, but I don't know what to!"

Trying their best to ignore the rushed voices of Lami and Koala, they took the food into the galley, and then followed the voices back to where they were keeping their sick captain.

"Go fetch Aunty Dawn," Leif told his cousin quickly, making his way to the captain's room. "Bring whatever she thinks is necessary!" The boys split up then, Coby leaving the ship and Leif entering the room to see what he could do.

The blonde man in the bed was thrashing weakly, his face red and fevered, shouting hoarsely for people called "Ace" and "Luffy".

Lami was snapping instructions at Koala, glasses balanced precariously on the tip of her nose, a book discarded on the floor as she flipped through the medicine that she'd 'liberated' from Frosch-sensei, preparing a needle with a sedative she'd made earlier in the day from the stolen ingredients.

Leif dashed forward and slapped the serum from her hands, pulling another casing from his backpocket. "Don't use the stuff from Frosch-sensei, it's a virus! Use this instead, otherwise he'll be dead by tomorrow morning!"


I'm not too sure about the ending for this one, so if you have any thoughts, please let me know! I promise I'll explain everything in the next chapter