Chapter 13
Saro was in complete darkness again, standing by herself. She couldn't even tell whether or not she was dreaming. It was so dark that she couldn't even see her own hand in front of her. Looking around, she suddenly heard a voice calling her name, just like last time.
"Saro! Saro!" it called over and over again. Again, the black haired girl turned to see a light in the darkness. The voice called again, exactly like the first time, it sounded louder when she faced the light. Hesitantly at first, she took a step towards it, and then another and another. Soon, her gait was normal and she reached a hand out to the light.
"What took you so long?" asked the voice, belonging to that mysterious man. He sounded very familiar to Saro for some reason. He pulled her up and out of the darkness, into a lighted place where she could see everything. Everything, but the mystery man's face.
"Who… who are you?" she stuttered, both hands in the man's assuring grip. For some reason, Saro felt safe and sure of herself in his hands, even though he was a complete stranger. He laughed, even that sounding familiar, and grinned at her, or at least she thought so.
"I'm…" he said, but the name was scrambled out as if someone didn't want her to know. She bunched her eyebrows worriedly as his grip loosened, and she frantically gripped back. He grinned at her again, leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry, you already know who I am." Saro looked hard again before he disappeared into the light, but still couldn't make him out.
"Don't go…" she whispered as the light faded away with him. Her echo was the only thing that greeted her as the darkness came back.
Slowly, she opened her eyes, realizing it was only a dream again. She was greeted by dim light filling into the Crow's Nest. She stretched out her bare feet, sliding it lightly against the wood planks to keep from getting splinters. She looked over her shoulder and found that Luffy had rolled off the other way and sleeping soundly on the wood. The writer stood up and stretched her body out, looking out at the dawning sky. She picked up her journal and sketchbook, and began climbing back to deck quietly so she wouldn't awaken her captain.
'That dream… it was so real and the voice was so familiar. And it was the same voice, I'm sure of it,' she thought as she continued down the long way back to the deck. When she had reached about halfway, she noticed the air was more humid than in the Crow's Nest.
'That's quite odd … so many weird things happen along with weird people,' she thought, smirking to herself. She landed back on deck with a thud, and looked around. Zoro was still snoring by the mast, and she saw Sanji lying with Lin in his arms. She sharply sighed, and continued to the kitchen. Her stomach grumbled and she looked around for some food.
"Well, since I'm already in here, I might as well make something for myself," she said to herself, placing the two books on the table. She grabbed a couple of ingredients and lit the stove top.
"Let's see… what to eat…" she muttered. Saro decided to make some hard boiled eggs, instant ramen that she somehow found, and a loaf of bread. She filled a pot with water and placed it gently over the burning stovetop. Then she grabbed a smaller one and did the same over another stovetop. She grabbed three eggs and placed them into the bigger pot before it boiled, and placed the contents of the instant ramen into the water of the other one. Finally, she placed the fresh loaf of bread into the oven for just a short while.
"Now, I've got to find two bowls and a plate…" she said again, beginning her search while keeping in mind the boiling water. With all the fuss she was going through, she hadn't even noticed the kitchen door open, or the person who had opened it. She was able to find two bowls and went on her way to find a plate, still not aware of the person who had entered.
"Here we are," she said finally, placing it back on the counter. The person who had come in silently lifted up their arms and came closer towards her, quietly making each step. Saro checked the flames of the stovetop one last time… right when the person up and clutched onto her, and definitely had no intention of letting go.
"What the hell?!" she exclaimed, finding herself restrained and lifted up into the air. Surprisingly, her ears and tail from her powers popped up. The perpetrator laughed a bit and laughed out, "Got you, Saro!" She, with some difficulty, turned her head around to find that it was Luffy and his rubbery arms that were grabbing her. Right then on her discovery, she proceeded to turning a pinkish color.
"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed again, struggling to get out of his grasp. He laughed again and nuzzled his face into her shirt, sending an odd tingle up Saro's spine.
"Hugging you, silly Saro!" he laughed again.
"Let go of me!" she demanded, stopping to struggle due to her lack of air.
"Not till you say the magic word!" She narrowed her eyes, annoyed with his antics, and sighed, or at least tried.
"Please?" she said, not knowing what else to say. He nodded and let go of her, where she promptly fell into the edge of the counter, sucking in as much air as her body would allow while she held herself up against the counter. The boy laughed and hugged her again, normally, and nuzzled his head against hers. She blushed to an extreme and slowly stood up, gently pushing him off.
"Why'd you do that?" she asked again calmly, trying to hide her blushing. Her ears narrowed a bit, and her tail swished back and forth. Luffy grinned at her, only confusing her even more, and answered, "'Cause I love you, silly Saro!" Saro's eye widened as she felt a mass of blood rushing to her face.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Nami awoke from the yelling in the kitchen and rubbed her tired eyes. She sat up in her bed and found Robin asleep by the desk with a book underneath her.
'Up reading again, huh?' she thought, though wasn't surprised. The navigator got up from bed, placed a jacket over the archeologist's shoulders, and proceeded out of the women's cabin after going through her morning clean up routine. She was greeted by slight sunshine and a fresh breeze. 'A good day today…' she thought… until she noticed Sanji and Lin sleeping together on the ropes.
'That Sanji…' she grumpily thought, moving towards the lower level of the deck. She walked through the grassy lawn and inspected her mikan trees for any damage, or ripe oranges. She spotted an exceptionally ripe one and looked at it with some interest, for it was larger than any ripe orange she had ever seen.
"That's very unusual, yet remarkable. I feel kind of bad to have to pick it," she said to herself and, like Saro, didn't notice the footsteps behind her. It was pretty deep in the tree, so she stuck her hand in, struggling to reach it. Suddenly, a hand wrapped around her waist and the other reach into the tree with her and grabbed the orange, placing it into her hands.
"Alright Sanji, that's enough," she said, excepting it to be the gentleman and back away. But… the presence didn't leave. Instead, the owner of the hands guided her out and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a slow hug. She looked down and saw the noticeably tan and muscular arms this person had.
"Morning," they said in their husky, heartfelt though, and rested their head against hers. She shook away and stared at the one who had hugged her.
"Zoro?!" she almost screamed, only controlling herself to not wake everyone else. He blinked and nodded, somewhat smiling at her. She felt that sensation of warmness in her face, or that could've been the possible blood rushing to her cheeks. Blushing, she held the mikan in her hands and managed to ask, "What… what was that?"
"A hug," he answered, walking towards her to give her another one. She backed away, receiving a sort of… hurt reaction in Zoro's eyes, though it showed in no other way. She felt some pity at once and stopped, asking again, "But… but why, though…?" Zoro smiled again, something that Nami wasn't used to.
"I love you, that's why," he answered simply as if it was the easiest thing to say in the world. Nami's jaw slightly dropped, and her heart pulse quickened.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Lin moved her head out a little to see the blaze of light shining on her. Some voices behind her were fading away somewhere when she opened her eyes.
'Probably Zoro and Nami arguing about something,' she thought, pushing herself off of the ropes. The cook was still fast asleep, one arm over Lin. She gently placed it onto the ropes and brightly smiled at him. After watching him sleep for a few minutes, she climbed down the ropes, being careful not to shake it much. The young girl stretched, groaning tiredly as she did, and noticed the smell of ramen in the air.
"Ramen? Here? I didn't know they knew what ramen was," she said, forgetting about it to go look at the fish pond situated by the center of the ship. She kneeled down on her knees and bent over towards the edge. She peered in and noticed the fish the crew had caught.
'Hmm… maybe I can try and use my powers again!' Lin thought excitedly. She concentrated deeply for a moment, closing her eyes. When she reopened them, her hand had transformed into water again. "Paramecia types can control their element… maybe I can control this water," she reasoned, concentrating on the pond water. Slowly, the water rose up and floated around in the air for a moment. Amused by this, she lost her concentration and the water fell back with a splash.
"Oops…" she said, finding herself all wet and looking back to make sure she didn't wake Sanji up. The blonde man was still sleeping. She sighed in relief and turned her attention to her wet clothes. An idea sparked and she pointed her hand towards her clothes, concentrating. Slowly, the water parted from her clothes and floated back into the pond. Lin ran her other hand through her clothes.
'All nice and dry,' she thought, smiling. She stood up and dusted herself off, stretching afterwards. Suddenly, she was grabbed by the waist and pulled back into a hug. The unknown person held her tightly and then released his grip, resting his head on her shoulder. Lin blushed with a blank face, and turned to find a certain blonde headed, love sick cook hugging her.
"Morning, Lin-chan," he greeted, smiling. She smiled back and turned around to hug him back.
"What was the hug for?" she asked, not that she cared that he did. She playfully stood on her tip toes and rested her forehead against his.
"Nothing. I just love you with all my heart, Lin-chan," he answered in his smooth voice. Lin blushed red and stood back a little, her heart pounding after those words. But along with that pounding, she couldn't help but think she heard, 'This can't be happening…' from other voices.
Notice how long it was! And another cliffie! And the most obvious thing that i refuse to say! Before you go into fangirl mode, I want you to calm down and not jump to conclusions. It is the beginning of a new adventure... so... yeah. Calm down and then review. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review! Thank you! See you later!