It's been a day since the crew and I left Loguetown. The storm ended and right now, we're sailing to the entrance of the Grand Line. At least, that's what I think. Currently, I'm doing a little target practice with Lapin. We might sail across some enemies on our way to the entrance, so I have to be prepared for anything. I wish Icould say the same for the rest of the crew.
Luffy's on the ship's figurehead, which he considered it to be his special seat. Zoro's doing nothing but napping, which I find it to be surprising since he was aiming to be the world's greatest swordsman. I assumed that he would be training like crazy, but I guess not everything's what it seems to be. Nami was looking at a map that shows us how to get to the Grand Line. Usopp was in the crow's nest, looking out for trouble and other things that we might come across. As for Sanji, he was on deck, enjoying the weather.
"Nami! Are we there yet?" Luffy called. Obviously, he can't wait to get to the world's dangerous ocean.
"We left Loguetown a few days ago," our navigator told him. "It'll take us a few more days to get the Grandnd Line. Just be more patient."
"Okay," our captain replied happily. He then turned his head towards me and Lapin, as we finished our training. "Hey Xion! Let me fight that rabbit!" he ordered me.
"Can't," I said, walking up to the rest of the crew. "Lapin is worn out from training. And even if she isn't tired, what if you two wreck Merry? We're in the middle of the ocean, remember?"
Hearing my reasonable answer, Luffy pouted, which strangely seems cute. Don't ask how.
"Hey! I see a flock of birds off to starboard!" Usopp informed.
"Birds?" the captain repeated.
"Yeah! And in the water, I can sort of make out a pretty big... I can't really see it with those birds. What do you think?"
"If there are a flock of birds over there, then there must be a lot of fish there as well," I assumed.
"Really?!" Captain Luffy asked me.
"I heard that there's a school of fish if there are a flock of birds," Sanji supported. "Catch us some lunch, Luffy."
Agreeing with the idea, Luffy stretched his arm all the way to where the flocks are. "Gomu Gomu no Amidori(Net-Catch)!"
"Whoo! Nice stretching!" Usopp complimented.
"What a handy guy," Sanji muttered.
As Luffy caught a fish and pulled his arm back, I made out a human figure instead. As his arm stretched back, Sanji and I realized one little thing. If Luffy stretched his arm back, IT WOULD ALSO HIT US IN THE PROCESS! Realizing that, he and I ducked to avoid not getting hit. I wish I could say the same for our sleeping swordsman, for he got hit by Luffy's arm and was knocked off the ship.
"Oh, sorry Zoro," Luffy muttered, in a 'I-don't-care' tone.
"YOU DAMN MORON!" Sanji yelled, getting back on his feet.
"WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOUR ARM HITS US AND WE'RE DEVIL FRUIT USERS?!" I asked our stupid captain. As we scolded our captain for being an air-head, Nami and Usopp both pulled Zoro up.
After pulling him up, we all gathered to the fish Luffy caught, which is actually a girl.
"This isn't a fish," our cook observed.
"It's a little girl," Nami identified.
"What's she doing out here in the ocean?" I asked.
"You sure it's not a mermaid?" our stupid captain asked.
"How does she look like a mermaid?" Usopp asked back.
"Like Xion said, though, what's a little girl doing out here in a rowboat?" Nami repeated my question.
Some time later, we carried the girl in the kitchen on the galley to let her rest peacefully. While she's resting, Sanji was making some luch for us and something warm for the little girl when she wakes up. As he was making the food, the girl suddenly woke up and accidentally headbutted Usopp's chin, who was watching over her with me.
"ITAAAI!" she screamed, holding her head.
"So you're awake," Nami said. "And more lively than I thought. Are you hurt?"
"I bet that you're hungry," Sanji said. "I'm making some soup right now."
The little one seemed to be observing her surroundings and grinned.
"Were you shipwrecked?" I asked. "There was a storm a couple of days ago. I'm surprised that you survived. Well, all that matters is that you're alive. What's your name? My name is Xion. The guy that's cooking is Sanji. The girl with orange hair is Nami. The guy wearing the wristband is Zoro. The one you headbutted is Usopp. And-"
"I'm Luffy," the said man interrupted. "I'm captain of this pirate ship."
As soon as she heard the word 'pirate', the girl freaked out. "PIRATES?!"
"We're heading to the Grand Line!" he told her.
There was an awkward silence as she just sat there with her mouth wide open.
"What are we going to do to the kid?" Zoro asked, breaking the silence.
"Now that you mentioned it... what should we do?" Luffy asked. "I'll think about it tomorrow."
That night, I became extremely worried about the kid. She didn't eat lunch and she stayed in the kitchen, refusing to talk to any of us. I walked in to see how she was doing, only to see her hiding under the blanket, panicking. now that I think about it, any one would be scared of pirates. And I bet that was the reason for her refusal. I then heard a stomach growl and assumed that it was her's. Smiling a bit, I summoned Lapin and have it get something out of the freezer. It didn't take me long enough to make a meal out of what she took out.
"Here you go. You have to be really hungry by now," I said, handing her her meal. "Don't worry, I didn't put in anything weird." Observing the food carefully, the girl took a bite out of the food I made and started to devour the whole thing. While she was eating, a loud shriek came from behind me, nearly having the kid to choke on her food. I handed her a glass of water and turned to see Luffy caught in a huge rat-trap. The lights were then turned on and Sanji was scolding Luffy for trying to steal something to eat.
"Luffy. How many times do I have to tell you? Can't you listen for once?" he then looked to the side to see the girl eating. "How did you get past those traps?"
"It wasn't us," I told him. "I had Lapin get something. Dream Eaters have better senses than humans does. Ergo, she knows where the triggers for the traps are and avoided them." Buying that excuse, Sanji just wipped up some food for our hopeless captain.
After the girl finished eating the meal I made, she stared at the meal that Sanji made. The sight and smell of it made her stomach growl.
"Do you want more?" I asked her, noticing her stare. "You do realize that there are some portions for you as well, right? If you stay here, Luffy's going to eat it all."
Hearing those words, the girl perked up. Before Luffy could get her soup, she jumped to the table and drank it before he could. "IT's delicious!" she complimented. "It's the first time I had anything this good!"
"So she's finally come around?" Nami asked from the door with Usopp and Zoro.
"Luffy. You're eating again?" Usopp asked.
"I didn't have enough for lunch," the straw hat boy told the sniper.
"What are you talking about?" I asked him. "You had two pots full."
"Really?" he asked with an innocent face.
"You freaked out when you heard that we're pirates, didn't you?" Nami asked the shy girl. "Well, that's a normal reaction these days."
"... You won't sell me off, will you?" she asked.
"You thought we would?" Usopp asked back.
"Everyone does seem pretty scary here," Zoro joked.
"With this face, you're one to talk." With that insult caused by Usopp, he and Zoro got into a small rumble.
"Not Xion," the kid spoke up. "She has this 'big sister' kind of feeling, so I wasn't scared of her."
I chuckled a bit at that statement, since I took care of a little girl for six months before joining this crew. "Anyway, you want some more? Our chef made enough for everyone here, right Sanji?"
"Yes~ Xion-swan~" he replied, in his loverboy mode.
With that reply, the kid asked for more, followed by Luffy, whose request was rejected by our lover cook.
The next day, the guys and I woke up early to get ready to set sail. I don't know if we're going to continue to sail to the Grand Line or bring the kid to her home island, wherever it is. While we were preparing to set sail, something exploded in the kitchen and out the door is the girl, who's covered in soot and dizzy.
"Hey. What the heck's going on down there?" Sanji asked from the crows nest.
"I made breakfast," she replied. "Everyone, breakfast is served."
At the sound of food, Luffy happily marched himself into the kitchen with the rest of us following him. I had a bad feeling in my gut that we're being served something bad. And, boy, was I right. For breakfast, we're having something burnt and smell funny. Don't ask how.
"Ehehe... You made this by yourself?" Nami asked with a nervous smile, in which the girl nodded to.
"It's got... quite an appearance," I said, trying not to hurt her feelings.
"On top of saving me, you're even feeding me. So from now on, I'm doing anything I can do to help," she reasoned.
"That's nice of you, but it's not really necessary," I said.
"And this stuff doesn't look edible," Zoro added. That statement made me and Nami mad, we shoved his portion down his throat.
"But is it really good?" Usopp asked.
"What are you talking about? It's great," Luffy said, making the little one happy.
"There's proof. I'm sure it only looks bad," Sanji supported, as he and Nami took a bite. Well, they do say looks can be decieving, so I took a bite after them.
"You sure?" Usopp asked again, taking a bite from his portion. That was a big mistake for all of us to trust Luffy, for the food was SO... DAMN... SPICY! That said, we chunked water down our throats.
"Is it really that bad?" the girl asked, taking a bite out of Luffy's portion. Her reaction to the taste was the same as ours. "TOO SPICY! What happened?! Did I use too much seasoning?!"
"Well, mistakes happen. Just try not to make the same mistakes in the future, okay?" Sanji told her, cheering her up. "Hey. This girl put her heart and soul into making this food, don't you dare leave a crumb." Usopp and Zoro gave our chef a 'are-you-kidding-me' face. "Don't look at me like that. You'll hurt her feelings. This girl... Now that I think about it, what's your name?"
"Apis. My name's Apis," she introduced herself.
"Apis-chan's life is at stake here. I'll beat the hell out of anyone who leaves a scrap of food. Of course, I'll make something for you two, Nami-san, Xion-san." Nami thanked him for that. As for me, well I never had any appetite to begin with. In fact I have no appetite at all, for some reason. So I gave the rest of my food to Luffy and left the kitchen, after telling Sanji that he didn't need to make anything for me.
As I walk out, I hoped that Apis didn't take my leave the wrong way, which I bet was what she is doing.
*GENERAL P.O.V*
As Xion walked out the door, Apis looked down at the floor. "The food ruined her appetite, didn't it?" she asked.
"It's not that," Nami said. "For what we know, it's been like this ever since she joined this crew."
"What do you mean?"
"Didn't you notice the amount of food Xion ate when you got here?" Usopp asked. "For some reason, that girl has very little appetite. None of us knew why."
"Really?" Apis asked.
"I bet there was something in the food that Ero-cook put in that she didn't like," Zoro joked.
"What was that, stupid Marimo?" the said chef asked.
"Well, as long as she's alive and okay with it, it's all right and normal," Luffy said, eating Xion's portion.
"Having very little appetite is not normal, Luffy," Usopp corrected his captain.
"Really?"
*XION'S P.O.V*
I was in the middle of the deck, training with Starlight, my Keyblade, for quite some time now, as usual. As I was going for a slide attack, I suddenly heard a voice.
'Help me...' it said. 'Someone... Please help...'
"Who are you?" I asked, looking around. "Where are you?"
'Please... To Gunkan Island...' the voice then faded away when it gave me a location.
It was almost like the time when I first met Lapin back on Tanoshi Island. A voice came out of nowhere while I was training, telling me to go to deep into the woods. When I got to the center, there was a Keyhole on the ground in the center. The voice then told me to unlock it and my Starlight suddenly appeared in my hand. Out of instinct, I aimed it at the Keyhole and a beam of light was shot out of it. The Keyhole then disappeared and revealed a floor door. I cautiously walked down and that was when I found the Dream Eater Manual and book of ingredients, as well as the ingredients to make Lapin.
I was sure that another Dream Eater was calling me for help right now. I wanted to ask the others if we could set sail for Gunkan Island, but I don't know where it is. Not only that, what if they ask me why? I can't tell them that a Dream Eater was calling me from that island, can I? They'll think that I'm crazy. Though this is for that Dream Eater that's calling for help. I can't turn my back on it. That said, I ran to the door and was about to slam the door open when I heard Apis's vioce.
"Really?! You'll take me back to Gunkan Island?!"
'Back to Gunkan Island?' I mentally repeated. 'Then, Apis lives in that island? And by the sound of it, Luffy seem to have agreed to take her back before going to the Grand Line.'
"Yay! Thank you Luffy! Yay! Yay! I'm so happy!" Hearing those cheers from that girl makes me feel happy. Besides the fact that I'm going to the island where the Dream Eater is, we're also bringing the kid back home. If there's one thing that makes me really happy, it's seeing kids happy. "In return, I'll make breakfast for you until we get there!" Apis added, ruining my happiness, but just by a little.
'I'm glad that my appetite is weaker than a normal human,' I thought in relief. I then walked in after hearing everything, getting looks from my crew and Apis.
"Hey, Xion!" Luffy called. "We're going to bring Apis back home before going to the Grand Line. We're close to her home land, so it's going to be a quick drop-off. You good with that?"
"I'd be lying if I said 'I'd rather get my memories back instead of helping a kid', so I'm okay with it, captain," I said.
"Thank you, Xion!" Apis thanked.
Some time later, as we sail to Gunkan Island, we were all doing whatever. Luffy was on his seat, Sanji was inside making some snacks, Zoro was napping, Usopp was in the crow's nest, and Nami was observing the weather. As for me, I was training while Apis was playing with Lapin. While we were doing our thing, Usopp called us from the crow's nest, saying that there are some Marine Ships off the aft bow.
"The Marines?!" Nami repeated.
"He's not kidding!" I told her, looking from behind the ship. "And he's not joking when he said some, either!"
Nami went to the railing and looked at the back as well. "You're right. But why is a fleet that size here?"
Luffy and the others came and looked at the direction that we're seeing. I heard Apis gasped a little when she saw those ships.
"I bet they're here for my head!" Luffy boasted.
"Even so, why would they bring that many?!" I asked.
"They know how strong I am! I am too strong!"
"You're too careless!" Nami and I yelled.
"Those are the ships from the eighth division," Apis said. "They're the Marines that I ran away from!" With that information, Luffy, the others and I all thought the same thing about this situation. Suddenly, we heard cannon shots.
"They're shooting cannonballs at us!" Usopp screamed, climbing down from the nest. Luckily, they all missed us.
"You there! Pirates!" a deep, male voice called from one of the ships. "Stop you ship this instance! That was a warning shot. The next shot won't miss!"
"Like we're going to stop," I said, summoning my Keyblade. "Lapin!" The called Dream Eater came to my side and was ready to fight.
"Now what, Luffy?" Zoro asked. "If we're going to fight, let's do it now."
"Okay. Let's fight," he quickly replied.
"Hold it, hold it!" Usopp yelled, swiftly coming near us. He then protested about the idea that's given by our captain. I admit, we are at a disadvantage, but that doesn't mean that we're weak. They just have too many people on their side. In case if he forgot, I fought at least hundreds of pirates and bandits before joining this crew. Judging by his reaction, though, he completely forgot about that fact.
"A wind is coming," Apis spoke. "A big wind."
"Zoro, face the sails toward the south," Nami ordered. "Usopp, Sanji, turn us hard to starboard. Hurry!"
"What's wrong?" Luffy asked.
"A squall is coming," our navigator told him. "We're riding it to get away from them. There's no way we can beat them like this." Catching up to what she meant, I returned Lapin back into her card before she gets blown away by the upcoming wind.
As if on cue, the wind came and Merry rode it towards south. I quickly pocketed Lapin's card before it gets blown out of my hand due to the speed. Speaking of which, as we were sailing hard towards south, I can't help but forget something.
'South... South... South... Wait a second! We're in the East Blue. On a map, it's on the top right side of the world, north of Grand Line,' I thought. 'If we were to go south, and due to how close we are to the Grand Line, we should be there then. But why do I feel like there's something else that we're going to end up in?'
While I was thinking that, Usopp, Luffy, Sanji and Apis were cheering about how they lost the Marines. I then seemed to notice how calm it has become. What's even more abnormal is the fact that the sails aren't being carried by the wind, literally! I was not the only one who realizes this, Zoro found it strange as well. Analyzing the ship's condition, my eyes widen in fear as I just remembered the second fearsome sea that surrounds Grand Line.
"What's wrong you two?" Nami asked. "You had those serious looks for a while now. Well, for Xion, your's looks like you've seen a ghost."
"It's just, something's weird here," Zoro answered. "It feels like... this ship hasn't moved at all."
Confused at what he said, Nami looked around to see that our ship is indeed NOT MOVING! "Now that you mentioned it, there isn't any wind in the sails at all," she said.
"Nami, do you by any chance, know one ocean that seperates the Grand Line from the other Blues?" I asked, hoping that she knows what I'm talking about. After a few seconds of silence, Nami screamed.
"What's wrong, Nami?" Luffy asked.
"Nami-san? Xion-san too?" Sanji asked with more concern than Luffy.
"Oh no..." Nami spoke.
"WE'VE ENTERED THE CALM BELT!" she and I shrieked.
A/N: Before I continue on with the next chapter, I would like to ask the readers if they would please PM me or give me a review on which Dream Eater should reside in Gunkan Island as well as being the next Dream Eater to join Xion's team of Dream Eaters. I know that some of you guys already gave me your ideas, but that's as a starter and I need more thoughts and ideas. Last day of ideas would be on June 8th. Until next time, readers. XD
