This was quite the big pain in the ass actually...you better enjoy reading this one~
- Stage 13 -
-The Storm-
There were deep puddles filled with rainwater on every street just half an hour after it had started pouring down. The townspeople had evacuated to these levels up here, where hopefully only the highest waves would just barely reach them by chance.
Every door was locked from the inside and all the windows had been shut off with wooden planks to prevent any water – whether it was caused by the heavy rain or waves – from somehow seeping in.
The citizens were clearly used to this, you had to accept this 'obstacle' every once a year when you lived on this island after all.
Too bad none of the Strawhats had been prepared for any of this, not even Nami – not to a storm of this extent, clearly not.
While everyone seemed to be taking shelter somewhere safe, one person was still running around through the streets – almost desperately trying to find a way to get some place lower – strange enough.
Hoshi still hadn't managed to get off these higher levels no matter how many stairs she slid down.
The girl had to turn around on every corner, so it seemed, as she was stopped by huge piles of junk creating an obstacle that was impossible for her to cross without tearing them down accidently. Those townspeople really had done their jobs right, sealing off any dangerous area completely.
Anyone who wouldn't be at least on this height, would have an incredibly hard time trying to get to at least where she was now.
Meaning: if there was still any person left on the lower levels by chance, he – or she would be doomed. Like – doomed for real.
"Fuck!"
The drenched girl spat out after facing another blockade made out of old tables and doors by the looks of it.
Breathing even heavier afterwards, she had to find some other way to get past these piles of rubble soon, her legs were aching painfully while she was only walking though.
That damn grass head...!
She had to give it to him though; when Zoro used that moldy brain of his, he didn't just do it half assedly. That – or all of this was just the result of him acting spontaneously like always...She felt pissed just pondering.
Growling in frustration with clattering teeth, the pale woman took another detour after actually attempting to climb up that garbage pile...to no avail.
It was cold.
Of course it'd be in a storm and soaked to the bone like this!
The spare shirt someone had to have put on her while she was unconscious didn't do much now that she had been out in this rain for quite some time.
Hoshi knew that what she was doing wouldn't help make her body get better at all, but she didn't even feel any pain above her hips anymore, so that didn't really matter anymore.
"Tch!"
She clicked her tongue another time before she finally retreated to the upper level where that damn swordsman had dropped her off before somehow making it down the wall where he soon after disappeared from her sight.
I should have been prepared for this!
The only thing that weighed heavier on her mind for a second there, was that the grass head might as well have ended up right on the shoreline, instead of meeting up with the others.
Clenching her jaw at the mere thought of it, the girl started running again despite her legs feeling a little sluggish after the events earlier this day and from before even that.
Idiots would die by drowning as well, she knew – her only hope was that the swordsman hadn't gotten lost even worse, found the crew, or would be a real badass swimming while one of these about 10 meter high waves tried crushing everything beneath them which she had seen quite a lot since a few minutes ago.
"Don't you guys get lost on me too!"
The woman hissed while erasing that possibility from her mind and running through the pouring rain further up the staircases.
She really was still raging about that idiot dropping her there like that, but the idea of any of them in danger made her body move even faster despite the ugly feeling in her stomach.
It was simply impossible to catch up to that lawn headed idiot, but st the very least, she might be able to find the others again.
Nami, Usopp and Luffy should have been together, right? There was some slight chance for herself to find all three of them together then.
Once she took another set of stairs, the wind got stronger and the increasing rain made it difficult to make out anything apart from the faintly glowing lights inside the houses.
While Hoshi had had apparently wasted quite some time trying to follow their swordsman, Nami and Chopper already were on the highest levels of the whole island and looked desperately for their captain and said lawnhead.
Since their newest 'recruit' didn't know anything of all the stuff that had happened at Iceburgs' burning mansion, she was unaware of the fact that their archaeologist really hadn't seemed to leave the crew as voluntarily as it had formerly looked.
The moment Robin had told even Luffy about her leaving, him and his first nakama didn't really see anything after that because one of the masked men, who took the woman away, sent the two flying somewhere far away through the window.
However he had managed to even do that...
the cook was currently making his way to the train station where the 'Puffing Tom' – the sea train, would soon depart with his precious archaeologist on board.
So now, there were only Nami and Chopper left – Hoshi didn't even know of Usopp leaving the crew because of their chips' critical state and their captain attempting to leave the liars' beloved Merry behind.
Iceburg, the islands' mayor apparently, who had gotten wind of almost all of the Galleras' shipwrights belonging to some 'secret' organization, had joined the navigator and the doctor on their search, along with one of the few workers of his very own company that hadn't betrayed him.
Right now, the four of them couldn't do anything but stare at the raging storm and the first gigantic wave to roll over the lowest parts of the city, while there still was no sign of neither Luffy, nor Zoro.
The situation all of them were currently in was indeed more than desperate.
The latest, supposedly safe crew member, was very close to meeting up with the red haired woman and the tiny reindeer after she had been running through the town while retreating to get as high up as possible, every time the waves that crashed into the outer lines of the towns' walls increased in size.
The drenched girl had to admit that this wouldn't do any good if her running through this freaking storm kept on for any longer.
She shouldn't even be outside in this weather, the extraordinarily high amount of densely accumulated electricity due to the storm clouds made her body shiver in agitation so heavily, that she felt like bursting even with the sea stone around her fingers.
After reaching the very last place where she would be able to run to, her feet simply stopped moving and the girl came to a halt on something that looked like a large viewing platform.
"What the hell-?"
She hissed exasperatedly after getting used to the pouring rain up here while shielding her eyes with both her shaking arms.
You got to be fucking kidding me!
So there she was, standing on the very highest place of this goddamn island built upon Atlantis-like flooded buildings and in front of her stood no one less than two remaining members of her crew.
I should've refrained from running after that damn moss head - she started cursing herself for that.
...That damn blockhead!
Hoshi would have pushed the blame on him if she hadn't known any better than that, but Zoro couldn't have possibly planned for her to actually follow him for real like an idiot.
Picking up her pace to a fast walk, the pale girl made her way towards Nami, Chopper and these other two men, that she didn't know yet, while taking a deep breath before calling out to them.
"Hey! Nami, Chopper!"
The two flinched at the familiar voice from somewhere pretty close until the navigator turned her head into the right direction.
"Hoshi!" The slightly older woman almost screamed due to the loud rumbling noise that arose from not too far away.
Trying not to jump at whatever came next, the pale girl had stopped next to the redhead and looked from her to Chopper who eyed her through these large, dark orbs that were filled with sorrow.
"It's fine, really."
The shorter girl reassured the tiny reindeer and Nami, who showed some concern herself.
"You..."
Hoshi slowly started.
"Lost Robin, right?"
With a look over to the two men standing quietly some meters behind them while observing the three pirates before them, the dark haired girl felt like they wouldn't be calmly dawdling around staring blankly at the storm like this if they still had hope finding their archaeologist.
"She..." The small doctor was obviously struggling with his words and the red haired navigator waved it off and patted his tiny head.
"Sanji is currently going after them."
The shorter girl didn't exactly know what she meant by 'them' but she didn't feel like asking and looked into direction from which the huge waves would soon come rolling in.
"So – Back to what actually got me here-"
With her shaking arms resting on the stone wall for support, she continued with quite an unnerving look in her eyes.
"Where are the others?"
With that, she seemed to have hit a nerve as even the usually tough navigaor clenched her fists.
"You don't know yet...right."
Nami quickly told the younger of them what had happened this day from the point where Robin had disappeared and Usopp quit until she came to their current situation.
"So that leaves us here -"
She nodded in direction of the purplish haired man and the blonde one behind them.
The smaller girl briefly eyed the two men, the taller one was Iceburg, the head of the Gallera company, which left the blonde to his left to be a former worker there himself, Pauly – if she recalled his name correctly.
Not giving them any more notice than a polite nod, Hoshi looked to the lowest parts of the town about 100 meters beneath them.
"Then, where the hell are Luffy and that moss-headed klutz?"
Don't tell me -
She only thought after thunder struck down on the taller buildings of the lower town that still didn't reach the altitude on which they were standing.
Not really prepared to fight the urge to curl up and wait till the disgusting feeling left her insides, Hoshi cowered over the stone wall while a set of shivers washed over her body.
The pale girl wasn't surprised as she heard the blonde man that had stood behind her yell out something while now standing next to her.
She hadn't only imagined a hand on her shoulder probably telling her to stay right where she was before the navigator slid down a set of stairs and leapt onto the nearest rooftops.
"What are you doing, girl?!"
The smaller girl eventually heard his exact words as he actually called after the navigator that seemed to have an idea as to where her Captain was.
"You can't possibly make it-"
Hoshi got back on her feet properly and squint her eyes to make out whatever was going on there out on the sea.
Of course the red haired woman would ran like hell now.
"That's just insane..."
But Paulys' words only got lost in the raging storm while Nami already ran and slid over the soaked roofs of the abandoned buildings now, quite desperately trying to reach Luffy, since she had found him out there somehow as the lightning lit up the place for a tiny moment there.
Another rumbling sound and the crash of thunder a bit further off on the shore and Chopper started making his move as well.
Hoshi could only hear him gallop down the stairs as she got up with still shaky legs.
"I'll go get Zoro!" The doctor yelled and was long gone before any of the townspeople that had only been watching before they had come closer to see from a closer place, so it seemed, could do anything.
The pale girl nodded in agreement and took another deep breath.
"I'll get you some time."
She skipped onto the stone wall and straightened her back while the wind and the pouring rain made her clothes and long hair whip around her frail figure.
Without hesitating for another seconds, she tore the two sea stone rings off her fingers and let the energy that surrounded her find its' way to her almost naturally.
The next few seconds, the three of them seemed to be doing just fine; the pale girl didn't really notice what Nami or Chopper did, but she herself was quite busy pulling the thunder along with the storm clouds into her direction, where the waves soon crashed into the stone wall. Even if this worked to some tiny extent though...
Something way bigger was coming there and she knew she would end up as a human lightning rod sooner rather than later, whether she wanted it or not -
Throwing her right arm up into the air to let any tension accumulate around her spread fingers while using the left hand for support, she already felt her devils fruit power well up even stronger.
This won't nearly be enough-! She realized while kneeling on the cold stone wall as her eyes fell onto something far behind the huge buildings of the lower town.
Something far more dangerous that this storm itself – the actual Aqua Laguna would be rolling in on them and bury each and everything an its' way to the very center of the island in only a matter of seconds.
She'd be needing more space than this when those gigantic 'pillars' that set everything on the lowest levels into darkness inevitably came too close.
The young woman rose from the ground and turned to her right to run over the balustrade into the direction of the stairs.
She had to get even closer – even if she really shouldn't and didn't want to in the slightest.
Damn adrenaline-! She cursed while gritting her teeth before she already jumped down the stairs to where they created some sort of small plateau that was almost perfect for what she would have to do next.
With quite a bitter grin on her blank face while raising both her arms to actually 'welcome' the storm, Hoshi swallowed the disgusting feeling of unease as the first 'giganto-wave' was about to collide with the island.
It was as if the storm clouds were forming a clean circle around a tiny clear spot in the sky above the very center of the island.
The navigator and the small doctor were off to save their crew mates from the huge waves that put quite a threat on them despite only one of them being a devil fruit user actually.
Nami had found their captain being trapped between two buildings where he was somehow stuck inside the gap where their brick walls met.
Chopper was still having a fairly hard time figuring out if those sticks that stuck out of a chimney over there were some sort of decoration, or rather the legs of their swordsman, who had had the bad luck of having landed right there – strange enough.
It was the small person on the mid plateau between the staircases leading further up or down the higher levels, who seemed to struggle even harder that the poor reindeer that barely saw anything in this rain.
The girl pushed against the storm as hard as she possibly could.
She even managed to hold off the clouds somehow so they formed something comparable to a sphere around her.
When the first giant wave threatened to collide with the lower town where her crew mates were, she had tried to shove the energy produced by the storm as far away as possible, she couldn't do any more than that after all.
With little effort though-
The only thing that had done was create a tiny safe spot a few meters around herself. Not that helpful at all, but it seemed like that monster of a wave still hadn't washed over them, meaning she'd have some time left to figure something out.
Even if it only meant slowing down the approaching Aqua Laguna by just a tiny bit.
"Damn it!" The girl hissed quite impatiently regarding the circumstances and tried pushing away all that bundled up energy until it started to tear on the plateau thing she stood on.
She was forcing her way through the wind and the rain to make out the storm fronts a few 100 meters ahead so she could actually grasp them.
Until the girl found a way to do it, the waves had already accumulated and the only thing she was able to do was let the masses of water grow further and further into another gigantic pillar that set the lower town up to where the viewing platform was into darkness.
Gritting her teeth and pushing even harder, Hoshi could only faintly make out that the 'wall' the water created was apparently standing still while it loomed over the two largest buildings where she estimated the navigator and her captain to be.
Wherever Chopper and Zoro were, she couldn't tell, but at least Nami was trying to get out of there as quick as possible, judging from the exasperated screams the dark haired girl had been hearing for a few moments now.
Their ginger haired navigator was probably talking sense into their rubber brains of a captain in face of the waterfront standing right in front of her about 50 meters taller than anything else on the lower levels.
"Fuck!"
Hoshi shuddered after another lightning struck quite close to her as it turned the next roof to her left to rubble.
A tiny smile had ghosted over her tense features as the sight of Luffy holding a freaking out Nami came into her view and caused her to falter for a second.
Her captain really had the luckiest timing of them all.
He'd still be stuck over there it it hadn't been for Nami persuading him to make it out alive for the sake of his crew, first of all Robin and maybe even herself included.
Chopper...Hurry! The short girl thought unaware of the reindeer helping their swordsman grab one of his swords and making it out of that damned chimney where no one had hopefully seen him being stuck.
Another set of thunder strikes lit up the sky and made the air around her rustle and heat up the skin on her face and arms.
Pulling herself together, Hoshi took one strike head on and fell back a little as the bursting energy threatened to tear her skin off.
So that's what being a human lightning rod feels like...
As the girl stumbled backwards, the tension seemed to flood onto a different 'current' and made her lose control of the biggest energy source in front of her.
The first wave made its' way through the lower town as it easily rolled over the buildings like they were nothing but pebbles on a road.
Shit.
With a loud bang, something crashed into the sides of the stone wall next to her as she furiously tried to get a hold of the situation again.
"No-"
Stepping up with one hand clutching something in mid air before her, the girl let the water masses slow down while smaller waves followed soon after the gigantic one that seemed to be reaching for her like it was trying to pull her into the water.
The girl got shoved backwards by some smaller waves that pushed forward with much more force than she had expected.
Crashing into the stone stairs with her back first, she felt the air being knocked out of her lungs as she tried not to let the tide pull her down while holding onto the stairs she had collided with quite painfully.
With her knees shaking under the weight, tension, exhaustion and shock, Hoshi got back on her feet to hold off there was to come next.
Seeing something fly her way and landing harshly next to her on the plateau after being flung there, the girl widened her eyes in surprise as she realized it was her comrades. First on, Luffy entangled with Nami and Chopper, who had wrapped his tiny arms around that mossy green head of Zoros'.
So they made it in time.
A sigh of relief left her pale, bluish lips as she staggered forward, barely holding up while forcing back the next set of bundled up tension and energy that wouldn't stop flocking together.
Her breath slowed down while the wind still whipped around them and made it even harder for her to see; at least her devils fruit indeed had done quite a decent job for them.
Thank god they're safe...
The voice in her head allowed her to think upon seeing their faces while the tension inside her started building up once more.
"Ah-" The young girl hissed as a small wave of the energy she had formerly used herself fled from her fingers and gave her a harsh sting.
She could hear her comrades start talking after they seemed to have gotten over the first shock of having barely escaped from those masses of sea water by a hairs breadth.
They had to retreat further, just here wouldn't be enough, another one of the same monstrously high waves from a moment ago was coming.
Standing up straight with her eyes fixed on the point where the first masses of water would be crashing past the buildings, the pale woman stretched out her right arm again.
How high will this one be?
The girl pondered about it herself while already getting ready to keep the energy that came along in check, hopefully with more success than the first time.
...And there it was.
If you didn't know about any of this, you would've thought the large line that formed beneath the clouds was the horizon, even Hoshi, who saw it with her own eyes, was pretty close to believing something as stupidly far off as that.
But this was no such thing.
In fact, the wave rolling in on them now was about twice as gigantic as the first one she already had only barely been able to hold off.
The tension started rising and the hairs on her forearms stood up again.
There was a short moment of silence behind her, before she realized her crew mates were as taken aback as she was.
"What the-?"
That was Nami, unable to even grasp what her eyes were trying to fool her into seeing.
The younger girl wasn't able to move at first, but whipped her head around as the first drops of seawater caused by the wave reached her face.
"Go as high up as possible!"
Her voice came out pretty desperate while her captain, the navigator and Zoro only stared into the gaping darkness this wall of water created.
"Shi-SHIIIIIT!"
Their captain exclaimed in disbelief as the about 100 meter high wall of a wave came closer.
This is ridiculous... The girl thought not sure whether to cry or scream.
If she hadn't been in a position like this, where she actually had to hold some of that off, she would've found her captains' reaction to be pretty hilarious.
Not so much at this moment though.
"Get back!"
Hoshi now screamed at them and she saw it in the looks they gave her that they understood.
It's no good...
Her body felt the threat and let her shiver uncontrollably as she could only stop the countless masses of water from rolling in even faster.
Shoving back inside the scream from where it wanted to come from as a wave of pain struck her body, the young woman winced remarkably before a third set of thunder crashed right into the ground beneath her feet.
"Stop it!"
A voice from behind her echoed through the rain, almost impossible for her to make out through the tunnel vision she had, while the roaring sound the water and wind were raising filled her ears painfully.
She knew that she had to stop this thing for fucks' sake!
"I'm trying!"
Hoshi sternly hissed and used her left hand to support her right while squeezing squinting her eyes from the pain. By the time someone had run up to her, the girl couldn't even tell who it was anymore.
"No-" the blurry voice close to her said.
"Stop this!"
She didn't really understand.
Furrowing her eyebrows, she grit her teeth and kept pushing against the unstoppable force from the wave.
"Hoshi!"
Now, she could finally make out from where this voice originated, it was Luffy who stood a few steps in front of the others and looked at her with something like a stern expression on his usually soft face.
The question her own face posed was answered by the navigator though.
"Let go."
A second of silence passed before the aghast girl even believed what she had heard the older woman tell her.
...What?
The girl blinked slowly.
Nami could see her trembling body completely soaked like her and everyone else was too. Her lips had taken a significant shade of blue and even the movement of her taking in breaths looked weary. She was done with this.
But the girl didn't seem to understand what the navigator meant by letting go – after all, letting go right now meant stopping the use of her powers which would inevitably result in them being completely exposed to the real force of that gigantic thing no one believed to be a wave.
Even the swordsman had started to move into her direction now, most probably after seeing the girl in front of them look just as devastated as they all felt actually.
She glanced back to where the water masses had almost reached the staircase and looked back to them again.
Her light green eyes were blank from shock and disbelief, even he could tell, while she still held up both her arms on which the skin had torn and mostly had ripped off from the back of her hands and her white fingers.
Without any of them saying another word, the trembling girl slowly fell down to her knees.
Shit-
She couldn't hold this one off, she was aware the others knew so too – without having a clue of what her devil fruit could really make her do.
The girl stopped moving now that all the energy she had assembled around her seeped away and left her sinking to the ground right in face of the wave that already loomed over them.
Now, that there was nothing holding it off, the wave literally leapt forward.
She heard the screams of her crew mates over the ones of the townspeople further back on the viewing platform where her comrades would have been safe as well.
It's no use... The woman slumped down on the ground thought while Nami, Luffy, Zoro and Chopper couldn't do anything but stare at the water masses crashing through, burying everything underneath and soon after, swallowing their latest 'recruit' along with themselves just a second later.
The seconds the water threatened to engulf them, which would have meant at least her, Chopper and Luffy certain death, their captain leapt forward and wrapped both his arms around the helpless girl.
Her eyes widened in surprise as she felt herself flying through the air instead of being overrun by the crushing wave.
With quick movement, their captain had grabbed his other three companions and flung himself with help of his devil fruit to the highest part of the staircase.
He actually managed to put them all down – more or less safely – on top of the large viewing platform.
Nami, completely out of it and with tears of shock forming in the corners of her eyes wasn't quite ready to let go off her captains' neck yet and gaped at the aftermath the seconds 'giganto' wave had left behind.
Her elbow entangled with Hoshis' so she wouldn't leave her behind accidently, the navigator had grabbed for their newest crew mate just like Luffy had right on time.
Zoro had grabbed the person closest to him, which in this case was Chopper, who seemed to have passed out from shock in face of near death.
After having been thrown up here, he was the first one to stand, still holding onto the tiny reindeer while staring from the soaring waves that still didn't subside, to the smaller girl kneeling there embraced by his captain.
What did she do there...? He wondered at a loss of words while his eyes rested on the shivering group of people that sat there in relief of having survived this insane wall of water just barely.
As their captain got back on his feet, he pulled up only the younger of the two women who actually owed their lives to him. Nami simply leant onto his legs looking as if her soul had left her body since she had seen her life pass right before her eyes.
"Ara-"
The rubber man interrupted their moment of shock.
"Where have you been?"
He uttered to Zoro, leaving his first mate flabbergasted and about to drop their ships' doctor just as he had come to again.
"You see, he was stuck in a chimney-"
The first words the reindeer spoke weren't those of gratefulness, but rather more insulting to the green headed man than he had probably meant them to be.
Hoshi turned her attention back to the lower town after hearing muffled sounds from their doctor while Zoro bluntly 'silenced' him with a sour look that made their captain roll up laughing.
...This looks more like a battlefield than an abandoned part of the city. The brunette thought upon watching as the tide granted them better view of the lower town where those waves had previously rolled over.
This was no island with its' city built upon stones and solid ground, this was the result of desperately trying to maintain a subtly life while living on with this phenomenon every once a year.
Whether this was a trademark or rather a curse regarding the homes the people here had to leave behind – she didn't know.
Truth was – Water Seven was only an island on which the whole population retreated further and further to higher levels when the parts of their towns they had constructed too close to the water, were to be swallowed by the sea.
Still deep in her thoughts, another word for this place crossed her mind, much like a name she had already given this island more jokingly than being serious really.
If the former lowest levels of this island actually reach until deep into the ocean already...?
She would've liked to see so for herself, but that wouldn't be possible for her in the near future, so she erased it from her thoughts just as quickly as it had crossed her mind.
Keeping to wonder about it, she helped their navigator up and let the ginger haired lead her to the others much because the pale girl herself could only stand with someone elses' help.
...Built upon Atlantis, huh?
"So-" Nami started after getting a hold of herself.
"What's your plan next?"
She directed her words right at Luffy who looked from Zoro and Chopper to her and Hoshi with a calm expression.
He indeed was their captain after all.
Another moment of silence passed in which his look slid to the ground obviously fixing his mind onto one thing, although his decision most likely had been clear ever since their day had gone wrong.
"We're going after them."
The captain of the Strawhats exclaimed, his plan was set.
This guy really had a talent for raising the spirits of his people – not that any of them had expected anything less from their rubber for brains captain.
A sigh of relief escaped his crew mates before each of them nodded in agreement.
The tiny doctor had come closer to Hoshi to check whether her wound shad gotten any worse. Finding the girl to be practically unharmed , except for the exhaustion as a side effect to her using these powers after quite some time and to that extent, he let her off without scolding her for running around in that state.
Unable to do more than letting out a weak chuckle, the girl found herself faced with three of her remaining crew mates who all seemed to have more on teir minds than they'd say out loud.
Zoro for one, was exchanging serious looks with Luffy, whose expression hadn't changed from the determined, yet stern look after Chopper had looked over the young girls' wounds.
Deciding to stay out of this completely, the swordsman only let his look slide over her white skin that seemed almost transparent since she was even paler than before on the roof, where she practically begged him to take her to the others.
His gaze on her only darkened when Nami suddenly pulled up the right hand of the younger woman and carefully separated her frail ring- and middle fingers from each other.
"Hoshi!" She exclaimed in surprise while looking up to the girls' face.
The inquiring look on her blank features was instantly answered by the navigators' outburst.
"Where are those rings!"
This was more an order to tell her the truth, rather than a question that needed an answer.
"I..."
The shorter girl started, obviously unsure of where to start, whether to tell the truth straight forward or try to explain first.
She caught the look of her captain while looking over her comrades' faces.
He knew...
"You held up this wave just now, didn't you."
Now, this was more of a statement than a question.
Seriously, what was with all those questions that weren't meant to be questions at all?!
"Yes."
She calmly answered.
What.
The swordsman whipped his head around in disbelief.
Staring at her past their navigator, who gave her an unidentifiable look, Zoro let his gaze sink to her hands, where the skin had started to rip from when she had forced the energy against its' will.
The tension had made her skin end up in a state where the torn bits formed lines around her fingers as if they had lead the energy on currents around them.
How absurd.
He knew so himself.
Hoshi felt his look on her and knew that he was most probably the only one here who was aware of her abilities since she had told him about it more clearly apparently.
"that's why I never take them off."
She said indifferently and put both her sea stone rings around her fingers after pulling them out of the breast pocket of her soaked shirt.
"You see what that power does."
The tone in her voice didn't match the calm smile she showed on her face.
"You saw what it does to me."
She quickly added with a supposedly reassuring smile.
There was something with deeper meaning to that in her words.
Her statement left quite the bitter aftertaste though.
Not only for Zoro, who started to wonder to which extent she had used that strange power of hers, but most of all, he asked himself how that must have felt.
That question bothered him quite a bit while his eyes rested on Hoshis' tattered body.
"But-" The girl broke the silence.
"It's not the time for this."
Her gaze shifted to Luffy.
"The only way to get off this island is by ship, isn't it?"
Of course she couldn't know that there was another way, the sea train, apparently.
The navigator quickly explained that other possibility, who the people who took their archaeologist away were and to which place they might have taken her along with them.
This was new to Hoshi since she had practically been sleeping through all of this.
"The last train will leave very soon, they can only take that one because of the storm."
Nami stated explaining further.
"Moreover, Sanji should be there, right Chopper?"
She continued with a look to their doctor.
With the crews' eyes on him, the reindeer replied.
"Yes. He went directly after them when we had made sure Hoshi was alright and he could leave her there with Zoro watching over her."
At the last few words, said girl slightly flinched and felt quite a bitter taste by the thought of holding them back like this. It had been Robin to put her in that situation though.
The swordsman gave their captain a nod after Luffy looked at him for confirmation; not that her needed it.
"We should hurry."
Nami said and was ready to leave when she noticed none of the others except for the younger girl had actually made a move towards the train station.
The dark haired girl had stopped right on her heels when she felt the grip around her wrist.
"Hoshi."
She instantly paused and turned around to their captain, who had made her stop like that and now looked at her more serious than before.
The girls' face slightly softened and she looked up at him while waiting for what he was to tell her.
Exchanging stern looks with Chopper and one that told her not to say anything with Nami, the green haired swordsman knew what this was about.
He was aware of how their captain would handle this, he had to.
Already feeling tense in face of the girls' reaction to what that rubber man would say, Zoro watched the pale womans' uneasiness slightly grow by the long silence between them.
"You'll stay, we'll do this on our own."
…
Even the lawn head felt a little bad after how their normally goofy captain had just blurted that out in face of their latest member.
Watching Namis' jaw drop while pulling herself together not to meddle with this and Chopper lower his head so his face was hidden beneath his hat, Zoro knew they didn't really have a choice but to accept this.
They knew that this was the better way.
Not so much for the dark haired girl though; her lips were slightly parted as if she was to speak up to him, but simply couldn't, while all expressions had simply dropped out of her face.
With blank eyes widened so you could see the dark rings underneath even better, she simply stared at the man in front of her, unable to counter while the look of disbelief grew into something heavier.
The girls' face had lost even the faintest bit of color she had had before Luffys' rather dry statement and the whole picture of her with her dark hair all wet and being soaked to the bone just as all of them, including himself were, she looked like a ghost to Zoro for a second.
"Luffy-"
"No."
The captain neglected the ginger haired woman.
"She will stay here."
His voice just got even more serious – if that was actually possible.
The navigator didn't want to say anything else and helplessly lookd to the younger of them with an apologetic expression.
Hoshi hadn't moved an inch, not even when Luffy walked past her with his face hidden in the shadow of his straw hat. While Chopper was still fidgeting around, looking from one of his crew mates to the other, Zoro stood on the same spot as well.
He's right...
With his eyes locked on the girl that now furrowed her eyebrows while staring blankly ahead, he felt quite uneasy -for whatever reason.
It wasn't that bad for her to stay here, where nothing else could happen to her.
"Am I a bother to you?"
The voice sounded as stony as the ground they looked at and he wouldn't have believed it to belong to the girl that seemed to see right through them while talking to their captain with a cold look.
Another moment of silence passed in which Nami and Chopper likely held their breaths while Luffy pulled his straw hat even deeper into his face without giving an answer to that.
The pale woman in front of him let her shoulders hand down while her head was slightly bent to one side with a sour look on it.
You gotta be fucking kidding me...
Zoro couldn't help but literally wince when he saw the young girl grit her teeth, fighting off that desperate look which was very likely to show on her features pretty soon before she let out a brief chuckle.
"I see."
Her words were empty for a moment while her face lit up with something even worse than shock or sadness or anything like that.
She was disappointed, in herself, Luffy, or whoever; you could clearly tell now.
"I'm sorry."
Luffy slowly uttered without looking back to her.
"I know that."
The girl softened up the tense expression and slowly straightened her back after she bit down on her bottom lip while swallowing heavily.
Walking past her to get to Luffy and the other two, the swordsman felt a little off just leaving the girl standing around helplessly like that, but the really had to get going now since what Chopper had said was accurate, there would not be more than 15 minutes until the train departed.
Hoshi turned around with Zoro passing her hesitantly – oh how she would have loved to pull him back and try to convince him to take her along – she was well aware that it would have actually worked with their lawn headed swordsman.
"I'm sorry, Hoshi..."
The navigator repeated what Luffy had already said to her with a really hurtful look on her face which instantly told the younger of the two women that her comrades really did mean it.
She knew all too well how much those four didn't really want to do this either, but still, the pale girl couldn't come around the disgusting feeling it left inside her while looking over their faces once more.
Her captain now looked right at her and she knew there wouldn't be another way to maybe get their archaeologist back in time if they didn't leave now -with or without her – that didn't matter at the moment.
She answered him while meeting his eyes with a serious gaze and even managed to somehow crack a soft smile to the little reindeer, who looked the least happy with this.
"Don't worry, Strawhat-san."
A voice suddenly interrupted from a little behind the young girl that hadn't even noticed the two men who came closer to join in on their situation.
"I'll keep an eye on her."
Hoshis' froze the instant she heard the purple haired man, Iceburg, speak up.
His 'proposal' didn't really please her to be honest, who was that person anyway? Apart from this towns' mayor...
Her look jumped from that tall guy to her captain and back until she saw Luffys' reaction to that.
"Wha- No, Luffy-"
She started feebly to somehow change his mind until said straw hatted man actually showed signs of relief in form of a wide smile of gratitude in face of this act of kindness.
Now, the girl really was upset; she took another step towards the rubber man while shaking her head in disagreement to what already seemed more like a settled argument; to her captain at least.
"Luffy! Wait, I can still-"
But her outburst was stopped abruptly by the strong grip on her right shoulder that actually held her back quite firmly.
She flinched at the sudden sting coming from there, before turning her head over to the one obviously telling her to stop. Her eyes only widened as they wandered onto a serious face which belonged to their green haired swordsman.
Looking for a way around that glare of his, the shorter girl shuddered as another set of lightning struck down on the island about 50 meters away from them.
Damn it! She cursed herself while biting down on her lip to force down the sudden wave of nausea that was about to make her anger and disappointment burst right out.
Zoro could see the girl struggling for a second before the look on her white face completely dropped the same way it had a few minutes earlier.
She gave up her resistance and stepped back, not trying to talk their captain into something else; the look in her eyes was quite determined though.
Hoshi let her green orbs gaze over to the taller man to her right while giving him a nod with pretty tense eyebrows.
Now that the smaller girl stopped doing anything but keeping her words from spilling over, she really was trembling. He could feel her shoulders shiver under that a little too firm grip of his.
"Alright-"
Her voice was indifferent after pausing for a moment.
"Whatever you want."
She called to Luffy, who now gave her another apologetic look which almost made the girl cringe before he replied with a serious look on his determined face.
"Then go already!"
The younger girl almost ordered her crew mates, who even managed to smile at her now.
Nami gave her a bitter look while waiting for their swordsman to join them and giving him a sign to leave.
"One thing -"
The four of them stopped almost out of her eyesight.
Luffy looked at her with his usual expression but seemed a little more tense at the tone in her voice.
"Don't you dare come back with less than you are now."
The pale girl hissed with something like a forced smile on her bluish lips.
While Nami, Chopper and their captain simply nodded, apologized again and even promised her to do just that, the swordsman stopped for a second longer to look back to her.
He hadn't missed the pledge in her usually calm look, but there wasn't really anything he could've possibly said to the young woman to put her at ease or even stop her from trembling this badly.
She looked pretty disappointed while clenching her fists after the others had already turned around.
When she met the green haired mans' eyes though, the girl grit her teeth and looked
even more miserable when he actually gave her a smile.
One simple smile, before speeding after those three leading the way to not end up lost somewhere at a crucial time like this.
You idiot...
Hoshi cursed that mossy head of his while pulling herself together not to scream something offensive after him.
Damn him and his innocent faces randomly popping up right when it benefited her the least.
She stayed right where her captain had told her to let the crew go on without her, it almost felt like he wanted to make her stay behind while everyone else kept advancing further, that wasn't the case of course, she knew that.
It just bothered her to be the one holding them up for these minutes in which he had ordered her to stay where she was safe.
The girl didn't say another word to all those weird looking men who had stood on the viewing platform while watching the few remaining Strawhats, including herself, who fought against the storm.
They witnessed them barely making it out again actually split up to leave the weakest one behind – that's how it must've looked to most of them since they had started sobbing like crazy when Luffy told the young girl they'd go without her. What reason these idiots had to bawl their eyes out was quite a miracle to her at that time.
Hoshi watched those weird ass guys run past her to catch up to her very own crew, while patting her back here and there.
After their loud rambling, sobbing, yelling and wishing her luck – for whatever reason - had subsided the second they were out of the girls' and the other two mens view, Hoshi simply felt like punching at least something to get over the annoyance that bunch had posed.
Why the hell were they here anyway?!
The youngest on top of the cursed viewing platform asked herself, still thinking about those star patterned cauldrons they wore for pants and weird-ass goggles made of rubber and metal scrub which couldn't stop them from looking even more stupid.
Letting her gaze shift from the 'battlefield' her and the other four Strawhats had been on where those huge waves could barely be seen from here, a few meters back due to the tons of rain pouring down, the soaked girls' eyes met the two men, who bluntly stood there, dripping wet and looking pretty miserable themselves just the way she did.
With her arms pulling the buttoned flannel shirt that had been pure white before and probably belonged to the cook judging from its' scent – wherever the hell he was – more tightly around her sopping wet body, she couldn't help but feel awkward with these two oddballs around her.
The blonde one, Pauly, crossed his arms in front of his chest to supposedly appear manly and like that could shelter him from the rain – which it obviously did not.
And the other, purplish haired, more friendly yet serious looking one, stood there, carefully patting the tiny head of that evenly tiny mouse poking out of the breast pocket of his red and yellow striped suit.
He might have looked more authentic while he was deep in thought but...a mouse, really?
A fucking mouse.
This will be even more strange and unpleasant than you thought.
Hoshi sighed upon thinking about it in defeat.
Those two must have gotten through somethings themselves, huh?
She continued to let her mind talk to herself while looking closely at those bandages around Iceburgs head and chest.
"So-"
The youngest one of this weird trio started bluntly.
"What the hell has been happening to you two then?"
Her words were followed by a silence that wasn't all that quiet at all, with all the rain pattering down on their heads.
As if it hadn't been pretty awkward already.
The girl started getting more and more tired of this stupid idling around while she grew impatient, not that she was a person to start showing when there was something not quite going smoothly actually.
She wasn't the first one to start moving though.
The tall blonde man had been stepping for- and backward on the palms of his feet for quite a while now.
He just looked so damn restless that it eventually affected her as well since she kept watching him fidget around over there.
Why is he even here when it bothers him that much anyway?
Now, this was just ridiculous; if this Pauly guy really did want to be with all those other men who had obviously run off to where the train was going to depart in the next few minutes, why didn't he just bloody do so?
Not that it mattered, but she got the feeling of not being the only one left out here.
For fucks sake.
She felt like groaning out loud just as the taller, purplish haired man started talking.
"They should be off any minute now."
Well, that was pretty clear to them, wasn't it?
The blonde man obviously flinched so hard it almost caused his still unlit cigar to jump out his mouth.
"Pauly."
There it was again, hat weird feeling his words gave her as well without being directed at her.
"You might as well go along."
The instant the words left his lips, the tall, a little brutish looking guy stepped forward, let his eyes wander over the girl while tucking his supposedly soggy cigar firmly into the corner of his mouth and then sped up unexpectedly fast.
He had only been waiting for his 'boss' to give the permission, huh?
Well, that left her alone with the major of whom she still didn't really know what to think – and his pet mouse, not to forget.
It had to have been around 15 minutes since her crew had left this platform now, so they had to have gotten the only train departing from this island. If nothing else had happened that is.
Just thinking about the slight possibility made the girl cringe and she let out a deep sigh that didn't go unnoticed by the older man a few meters to her right who still patted the tiny mouse, which strangely looked pretty warm an comfortable inside that soaked through suit of his.
She would have turned around and gotten off this place the second those exceptionally kind pirates ran down the stairs if it hadn't been for something deeply bothering her.
While the unfamiliar woman a bit further to his left was keeping her distance from him, which he didn't question at all given her situation, he could watch her eyes rest calm on a point far in the distance where she could be estimating her comrades to be.
She wasn't too far off with her calculations since she almost directly faced the train station on the other end of the island.
The tall man pondered about how or whether at all he could start a conversation, she didn't look too much against it at the moment.
"You can go see them off, I'm sure you know that."
His voice sounded calm and with no ulterior motives or any of the like behind it, even though the dark haired girl still wasn't too fond of him standing on this platform with her; she wouldn't be happy with anyone up here though.
"There's no one holding you back from just seeing them-"
She now faced the other was and slowly walked closer to the stone fence from where you might just be able to see everything of this island without even looking for it.
"I won't."
These words came out easier than she herself had thought to be possible.
While the kind of friendly man behind her thought about what she just bluntly stated like her answer had been obvious, the pale girl put her hands onto the cold fence and carefully leapt up once more.
"I can see them all off from up here just fine."
Iceburg didn't move while closely watching as the girls hands tensely clutched into fists.
Despite that the wind kept mercilessly whipping around her with the rain not subsiding at all, his eyes didn't have a problem with seeing her clearly.
"You know,"
The young woman went on.
"It shouldn't be too hard to see Merry and where we anchored her, not from up here."
Her voice softened at the mention of their pirate ship.
She seemed to be looking down the large wall encircling the main city and separating the lower- from the higher levels.
While the purple haired man behind her was keeping an eye on her as careful as before, Hoshi was actually thinking about what he had said to her before she stepped onto the stone balustrade.
What he had meant by that was obviously without any deeper meaning than just the words of an adult, honestly telling you to do what you saw fit.
He didn't say it like he meant to urge her to follow his advice – which it really wasn't.
The thought of it crossing her mind let a chuckle loosen up the formerly tense corners of her mouth while she straightened her back, opened her eyes and bent her head to look right at him since she was going to speak up.
"Nothing's holding me back from anything."
While she looked like falling down to her knees to him just a second ago, Iceburg now say her face show her real thoughts and feelings more accurately.
The way this girl only turned her face to him slightly to speak and how she had lowered her fists until they fell down next to her body, he hadn't missed that movement.
With a smile on her face, Hoshi hopped down from where she had had a close view over all the things down there on the shorelines and quickly walked over to the very tall man, which she had to realize upon getting closer.
Iceburg seemed to understand that she meant for him to go ahead and lead the way to someplace less windy, cold and most of all, far from all of these storm clouds that still wouldn't stop covering the whole sky even now.
As the pale girl followed the older man over to a set of stairs on the right, there was something like a faint sound of pipes coming from the other side of the shore that surrounded Water Seven. It was the sound of the signal pipe the train let out upon its departure which was clear enough for even them to her.
No matter how calm and indifferent she had been just a second earlier, Hoshi whipped her head around to look to where the sound was still coming from.
Almost being able to see the smoke the steam engines created, the girl already looked past all those buildings and through the rain to where her crew mates were.
Before any hard feelings could threaten her to do anything stupid, she let the purple haired man lead her through large gates so she wouldn't take any further notice from any of that.
Only the bitter expression remained as the heavy doors shut out the storm and every sound with it behind her back.
They had just left the island this exact moment, enough to make her falter and slow down her pace for a second there.
She would be waiting.
- Stage 13 -
- END -
authors note:
This chapter might seem longer than the others if I'm not mistaken, 22 pages for one chapter indeed is something I think.
I might have put more mistakes in it since my confusion got so bad that I couldn't even remember where to put those apostrophes...
And I might have called Iceburg Iceberg in the older chapter, same as with him not being the major, but the mayor of Water Seven and the Galley-La Company.(not Gallera or whatever I accidently called it...)
There must be so many confusing things in this one, I almost feel sorry for that :D
As always, Shanks for reading, feel free to write some reviews and see you next Stage I guess.
With my heart open wide, A.N ~