"You were eavesdropping," I said as I looked down at the log post on my wrist. I had bought a few at Loguetown, where they sold them if you knew where to look.
"I was not," Ace said, sticking out his tongue at me. "I was making sure of the safety of my sister."
"I used my Observation, Ace. I know you were eavesdropping on me and Crocus," I replied blandly, sighing as I saw that Ace's log post was finally pointing in a different direction than mine. We had agreed to go separate routes, but once again we had a checkpoint to meet other at. Ace was in a hurry to explore the Grand Line (AKA: accomplish something to separate him from our father) so we decided to meet again, once again in six months, at the island right before the second half of the Grand Line. Sabaody.
Ace noticed the same thing, giving me a lopsided smile. "Well then," he said with a heavy breath, pulling me in for a hug. I returned it without hesitation. "Stay safe. Have fun. Kick ass," that last part made me laugh, and I pulled away to ruffle his hair like I had when we were kids. He squawked, batting me away. "I hate that you're still tall enough to do that!" He exclaimed, looking down the half-inch difference between us. He was still taller, but I was happy that I was still growing. "Aren't girls supposed to be short?"
"Yeah. They're supposed to be big-chested, small-waisted and unable to lift more than five hundred pounds, too," I retorted. "We all know I'm none of those things."
Ace snorted, rolling his eyes and pushing his hat (I had knocked it off with my hair-rustle a minute before) back on his head. "I still can't believe you use a two-thousand pound weight every day," he mused. I shrugged.
"I need a bigger one now. I'll try to get one on an island later," I looked around, taking in that half of our ship was covered in snow from the storm a few minutes earlier while the other half was baking in the newfound heat. Heat which, of course, my brother was immune to. Lucky bastard. I turned my head to look into his eyes. Our eyes. The only thing different between them was that mine had longer lashes and were ever so slightly more rounded. Other than that? Mirror images. I took in the look in his grey orbs, the heat. The fury and protectiveness— the life that burned there. And I smiled.
"I'm gonna miss you, again," I whispered. "I feel more safe when you're here. Like we're two halves, and I'm always a little restless until you come back to fill in what I'm missing," I admitted. Ace chuckled.
"Ah. I can never seem to fully relax without you, brat," He agreed. After one last stare, Ace finally turned and leapt off of the Dying Dream and back onto his ship with his crew. Following his Log Post, they slowly veered away from us. I watched as they left until I could no longer see them.
"There goes my guiding light," I whispered to myself. "Oh well. I won't lose sight of my priorities. They hang too heavily over my head."
—*—*—*—*—*
A month later, we were on the coast of San Faldo, the Carnival City. It was hard to keep the excitable Yalla from sneaking into the sea train, since the invention had absolutely captivated the young girl. But before I could go into the city on the morning of our second day there, Raz grabbed my arm.
That in and of itself was enough to raise red flags in my head. Raz wasn't much for physical contact, and he always insisted on respect with me in particular. He would never have just grabbed me if he didn't feel like it was necessary to get my attention quickly and quietly. So I glanced out of the corner of my eye to make sure everyone else was already off of the ship before turning to him.
"What is it?" I asked softly. Raz's mouth was in a deep frown, and he nodded his head towards the trap door before leading me down to the infirmary. Only once the door was closed and locked and he was sitting in front of his desk did he speak.
"We need to talk about funeral arrangements," he said bluntly, making me immediately plop my full weight on one of the cots. "It's not an immediate necessity, but after Kilik and Yalla got injured after our last fight with bounty hunters? I decided to take a full physical of everyone again."
I nodded. He had been doing check ups to keep an eye on our symptoms, but full physicals weren't something we had time for very often. "I remember, you gave me mine a few days ago."
"Yes, well," Raz combed through his purple hair with his fingers, looking worried. Worry was not a normal state for him. "Maven, Katie and Lin are getting worse by the day. We knew this would happen, it's the one thing we all share as members of this crew. Kilik isn't getting any better, his body is producing venom at faster rates as the days go on. You, me, and Yalla are the only ones whose diseases are relatively stagnant for the moment. And we're on the sea. We need actual plans in place for what happens once one of us dies."
I clenched my eyes shut for a moment, taking a steadying breath. I couldn't put this off. As he crew's Captain, this was my job. I had to make the big decisions, nobody else.
"I don't want to do anything that takes place while we're traveling," I said softly, leaning forward onto my knees. "No burials by fire on the sea. That seems too… too temporary. You all deserve something more permanent. We've dealt with nothing but temporary things our whole lives, fleeting things. I want something long lasting for all of you," I admitted to him. "I want to find an uninhabited island," I looked into his eyes. "It will be the first, and likely the last, island we ever claim. But I want an island just for us. Just for our crew. And we can all be buried there, together."
Raz sighed, smiling at me. It was such a rare sight that I drank it in. It was a soft thing, a small tilt of the lips and rare emotion in the eyes. But it was genuine. "Then let's find one, Captain."
—*—*—*—*—*
I went into town after that, relying on the bright colors and parties to lift my spirits from the gloomy discussion. Carnival town would be a good place to unwind, I'd have to get an eternal post for it. Our crew could use some parties every now and then.
The bright flashes of purple and red and yellows and the songs and laughter in the air filled my mind, drowning out everything else. Gradually, I felt myself relax. I found myself steered towards a large outdoor stage, where an announcer was swinging out his arms as he spoke into a standing microphone.
"Ladies and Gentleman! Enjoy the Grand Line's Performing Creatures Troupe! Next one up is the lovely Synalla, the graceful Snakeneck!" The gaudy man backed off, relaxed by a tall woman with a neck at least several feet long. I could feel my eyes blow open wide at that alone. She had long black hair that went down the full length of her long neck in perfect zigzags. Her eyes were shaped a lot like Luffy's, and were a striking purple. I didn't know if those were contacts or not, but I liked it.
The dancer brought her arms over her head, tilting her head up despite her already tall neck, giving us a perfect view of the bottom of her chin. She held out one long leg in front of her, causing her shiny blue dress to slide a bit up her thigh. Then she moved.
I watched, entranced, as the woman spun and leapt and kicked. Every away of her hips and reach of her arms was perfectly executed, nearly hypnotizing. Somewhere along the way, the woman caught me staring and locked eyes with me during the last of her dance. When she threw her arms wide in a final pose, I just stood there for a minute, soaking in the last of the emotion in the air before turning to leave.
I was stopped a few minutes later by the feeling of a presence directly behind me. I turned my head to assess the threat, only to blink as I was faced by the very woman I had just seen perform. She seemed to glide over to me, laying an arm easily across my shoulders as if we had known each other for years. I raised an eyebrow at her, confused but interested in what the woman had approached me for.
"Did you enjoy the dance earlier, darling?" She asked in a smooth voice, smirk leveled my way. I smiled up at her.
"I did. You are a very good dancer," I admitted.
"Didn't you ever learn to dance?" The woman asked, seeing the wistfulness that had probably been in my eyes. I chuckled and shook my head. The woman pulled away a bit, clearly surprised. "But most women learn to dance! Or they at least teach themselves! It is the best way to get to know the limits and working of your body!"
"Believe me," I said with a laugh. "I have a firm handle on my limits. I've spent all my life training in fighting," I jabbed a thumb to indicate Stormfall, where it was placed over my back. The woman just seemed to notice the weapon and how close her arm was to it, drawing her arm completely off my shoulder. I snickered.
"Fighting?" The woman asked, eyes wide. "Why would you spend your whole life learning that? It's important to defend yourself, yes, but what about your passion? There has to be something you're passionate about!"
"There is," I said with a nod, making the woman dip her head to she was closer to my height, eyes wide in interest. I smirked. "I'm very passionate about fighting."
The woman groaned, disappointed. "I'll enlighten you to the joys of dancing. Come, this is the Dance Festival! There is bound to be a performer that will inspire you even if I clearly didn't do a good enough job of it!" Synalla immediately started to herd me down the road, leaving me bemused. But I followed, until the long necked woman finally stopped with a smile.
"Here!" She said, waving an arm to indicate a stage set up for acrobatics. "I don't know this performer, I wonder if they're new. Whoever she is, she's spectacular!" Synalla seemed genuinely impressed, which made me give in and slide my eyes up to watch the acrobat.
My jaw dropped and my eye twitched almost immediately. That was—!
A very familiar little girl with dark pink pigtails was dancing on the tightrope as if it was a normal floor, easily gliding and jumping over it in graceful spins that I occasionally saw her practice across the sails of the Dying Dream.
"Ribbon-Ribbon!" She called out, her arms extending into ribbons to grab a trapeze and pull herself on it. She flipped over it so much that I feared she would get herself tangled, but she never showed a single issue. I didn't even realize that Synalla was no longer at my side. I just watched Yalla's little body easily navigate the air and the different equipment on the stage until she took her bow.
"Yalla!" I yelled, getting her attention. She smiled at waved down at me. I smiled back, shaking my head in exasperation. "Don't get lost!"
"I won't, Maven-Chan!" She called back before disappearing backstage. I figured she must have shown up on her own, lured by the nostalgia of the acrobatics that she used to do growing up. I calmly walked around the back to pick her up, only to freeze in horror.
"MAVEN-CHAN! HELP!" Yalla was in the hands of none other than the snakeneck woman, Synalla. The dancer whirled her head around to see me, eyes wide in her face as she held Yalla tightly in her arms, handcuffs around my Nakama's wrists that made my blood run cold. It had to have been Seastone, Yalla would have already escaped if it had been made of any other material.
She was helpless.
"I'm coming!" I quickly took Stormfall off my back, storming towards the dancer, who stepped back from my swing with ease.
"Is she your friend?" Synalla asked, glancing down at Yalla before returning her gaze to me. "Sorry, but I need her!" Without another word the dancer took off. I followed as fast as I could, but was reminded once again about my weakness when it came to speed. The much more agile dancer was easily able to outrun me, and I soon lost her in the curving streets of the party town.
I instantly called up my Observation, spreading it out as far as I possibly could. A familiar feeling of energy slammed into my radar; Yalla. Another familiar feeling showed up much closer, though. This one was a living mass of creativity and humor. I ran towards it first, grabbing the arm of a very surprised Kilik from where he had been haggling for metal ores.
"Maven?! What—?"
"Yalla was kidnapped! Have you unlocked Observation yet?"
"Eh? A little bit, but—"
"Spread it now and run with me!" The guy had never heard me speak so forcefully, and instantly began running at my side, allowing me to let go of him. I could feel the blip of Yalla's aura slowly getting further away. I grit my teeth in frustration and desperation. Yalla!
—*—*—*—*—*
The long necked woman shoved away her guilt. That tall freckled woman had been nice, and so much more interesting than most of the tourists that came through that town. It wasn't often that she saw a female carry a giant battle axe on her back, after all. Synalla had thought that maybe the wavy haired girl had been attracted to her— Synalla would be lying if she said the other girl wasn't attractive, too. Something fiery and strong was in that girl's eyes and captivated the dancer— but upon approach Synalla found herself rather disappointed. Not with the girl who was apparently named Maven, if Synalla's captive was able to be trusted.
No, Maven was fine. It was the fact that the girl's smile had been so completely innocent, her gaze never once suggesting attraction. Either she was straight, or legitimately didn't think about romance much. So yeah, Synalla had been a bit disappointed.
At least, until she stopped by that acrobatics show. Yalla was the best acrobat she had ever seen, and she had a devil fruit!
"Why did you kidnap me?!" Yalla was yelling, having flashbacks to the last time she was kidnapped and panicking. Synalla had no idea that she was nearly causing the poor girl to have a panic attack. Yalla didn't like remembering anything related to the captivity she had went through those few months ago. She just escaped! Maven saved her, Why was she kidnapped again?! The girl couldn't understand it.
"You'll be okay," Synalla said absently, slowing down as she lost track of the freckled woman chasing after the kid. "My Troupe, my family, needs you," she said as she pushed aside the curtain that led to the backstage area of the stage Synalla had been dancing at before. "You'll make the perfect person to replace me as this troupe's head performer," the longneck was still saying, despite Yalla having gone silent and no longer struggling. "I don't have—"
"The Performing Creatures Troupe," a strong, familiar voice suddenly interrupted from behind them. Synalla whipped around, eyes wide in shock at the familiar head of wild black hair that she saw there, the owner standing tall next to a man with tousled brown hair and an odd sword that was shaped like a bone. "The performing group that only includes rare races and devil fruit users," Maven locked eyes with Synalla. The taller woman couldn't look away. "Give us back our Nakama!"
Synalla gritted her teeth, slamming her hand into the girl's neck to knock her out, softly putting her down on the ground before turning to her new enemies. The snakeneck reached behind her, pulling out two bladed Tessen, or fighting fans topped with iron spikes in the ribbing. Each spike peeked from the top of the wan in a wicked edge, showing that they were good as both blunt weapons and bladed weapons.
Maven readied Stormfall; her axe was similarly both blunt and sharp. Kilik stood ready next to her, holding his bone shaped sword in attack position.
"Pirate style!" The man called, nearly making Synalla snicker. A bone, like in the Jolly Roger, as "pirate style" sword fighting? Maven had some odd friends.
Synalla saw Maven run at her, easily twisting to the side. The tall pirate captain was strong, but Synalla was a dancer. She was fleet footed and agile, Maven would have to catch her before she could land a hit on the snakeneck.
But Synalla?" The woman dove forward, one of her tessen colliding with the blade of Maven's battle axe as the stronger woman barely brought it up to block in time. The man rushed forward, clearly meaning to make up for where his companion lacked in speed.
Despite the odd shape, the man was surprisingly good with his sword. Synalla had to move one arm as rapidly as it could go to block every strike with the steel spokes of her fan, swinging up one leg to try to kick the man away. Her strong calves powered her kick, sending him flying back when her foot met his torso. Synalla whipped back to Maven, who she had been avoiding the massive strikes of.
Synalla twisted around Maven's movements, ducking and bending under her arms and swaying around every stroke. Maven couldn't hit her, the dancer moved too fluidly. Meanwhile, Synalla easily squeezed past every defense Maven had, her agile body slipping quickly in and out of striking distance as if she was waltzing, landing crushing pound after crushing pound with one of her iron-reinforced weapons. Her other landed slash after slash, throwing blood into the air like confetti.
But Maven didn't stop. She barely even hissed in pain, never slowing her barrage.
"Blunt… Hail!" Synalla was caught off guard as Maven's hand slid down her large weapon with speed that the snakeneck could barely follow, and leapt back at the woman began a blurred barrage of blows with the flat side of her axe's blade. Synalla raised both tessen to block it, but the blows came from every direction. One finally hit her on her overly large target of a neck, throwing the lightweight woman to the side, where she was caught by the brown haired man, surprisingly sharp bone-shaped blade held at her long neck.
"Why did you take Yalla?!" He yelled, protective of the girl who had been kidnapped with him once before.
"Search her pockets for the key," Maven ordered sharply, forcing herself to stand straight despite the pain that the plethora of wounds on her body was giving her.
"I'm… Sorry…" the soft voice came from behind them, making all three adults turn their heads to look at the tiny form of Yalla as the acrobat forced herself to sit up. The seastone was obviously still draining her powers quite a bit, making it hard for the girl to even speak properly since she had no resistance to the material. "You're like is, aren't you? You don't have much time," the dancer froze, eyes wide. "I'm sorry, but I can't be your replacement. I'm dying, too."
Synalla, no longer caring about the blade at her throat, dropped to her knees. If Kilik didn't quite pull away fast enough to prevent the trickle of blood that ran down her skin, nobody mentioned it.
"So it was hopeless? It was hopeless his whole time..?"
Maven picked the key out of the dancer's dress, walking over to unlock Yalla as the snakeneck looked down at her hands in despair.
A small hand touched Synalla's knees, forcing the woman to look up into soft yellow eyes. The little girl smiled at the older woman.
"It's okay," Yalla said. "We're all hopeless. Maven-Chan, Kilik-chan, and the others too. Being hopeless isn't so bad," she gave her kidnapper a large smile. "You're not a bad person at all! You should join us!"
"Wha— join pirates?!" The dancer asked, shocked. She looked up at the girl with the long black hair, whose weapon was on her back. Maven's arms were crossed and showing off whatever muscle there was on them. "There's no way your captain would accept me, not after I—"
"Yalla forgives you, so it's fine," Maven's relaxed voice caught the dancer off guard. "People do crazy things when they're desperate and dying. Just look at me, I started a pirate crew of terminally ill members," the tall woman knelt by her Nakama and the snakeneck, holding out her hand.
"All you need is a dream that you're willing to chase until you die."
Synalla felt tears well in her eyes. "I… I want to see the New World! I want to see the New World, and find other Snakenecks, or free snakeneck slaves. That's my dream!"
"Welcome aboard then, Synalla."
—*—*—*—*—*
Synalla was brought to the Dying Dream, where we all gathered after sunset. I probably shouldn't have let her join so easily, but I knew she wasn't a bad person. She had been misguided, but not bad. She'd be better off with us.
"A log post maker?" The long necked woman asked, tilting her head. "Ah, yes. I know one," she admitted. "But why?"
I hummed, locking my hands behind my head and leaning back. "Consider it a secret project I'm working on," I replied, making the rest of the crew sigh in exasperation. That meant they wouldn't get an answer either, and they knew it. Synalla chuckled, quickly getting used to my antics as she stood up.
"I'll bring him then. He's a traveller and won't be in town very long. As long as you promise to drop him off at an inhabited island once you are done with whatever the project is, I'm sure it will be fine."
"Thanks!"
An hour later, we were off looking for inhabited islands. We veered off our original course, using the eternal posts that the log maker had on him to explore more open sea until our normal Log Post locked onto a magnetic field that he didn't recognize the island it was pointing towards.
That routine went on for three weeks. We pulled up to the latest uninhabited and likely unknown island we had managed to find, both my arms covered in bandages from a scuffle with a rival pirate crew the day before. The promise of dry land and rest drove us, and we wasted no time getting off.
But once we took in the actual island, we all stopped. The entire thing wasn't very big, maybe a mile long in every direction. But it was completely covered in poppies and pink, blue, and purple hydrangeas. Every now and then, an olive tree rose up from the ground. But most of it was a virtually undisturbed meadow.
I told my crew to wait for me as I explored the slightly hilly island, walking over the meadows and careful not to step on the many flourishing flowers. When I came to the first olive tree, I carefully laid my hand on the bark before pulling back. Black roses were sprouting from around the roots, small things that would one day grow into large bushes of the flower. I took my time going back to my crew and the log post maker, looking over each of them slowly.
I took a deep breath, turning to the log maker with steel in my eyes.
"Here," I said sternly. "Make two eternal posts for this island, please!"
"Maven, don't you think it's about time you tell us why we've been traveling around islands without even a village?" Katie asked, leaning against the side of the Dying Dream with a soft frown on her face. Lin, who had even more bandages on than I did, nodded rapidly.
"Yeah! Is this for Raz? It's covered in plants, but aren't they normal?"
I shook my head, pushing my fedora lower on my head with one hand.
"This island is officially named Hopeless Island!" I yelled, startling my crew.
"Red poppies stand for peace, sleep, death, and remembrance. They can also be promises of resurrection or eternal rest, depending on how they are depicted. Blue hydrangea are flowers for apology, pink is for gratitude and deep honest emotion, while purple is for deep understanding," Raz spoke up easily, showing that his profound knowledge for herbs also included knowledge of the language of flowers. He walked up to stand next to me, and turned to face everyone who was looking at us.
"Yalla, could you make a big flag of our Jolly Roger? Kilik, put it on a large flagpole when it's done. This is going to be our burial ground," I told them bluntly, glancing over my shoulder at the field of flowers. "We will always be together, here. A promise of the permanence we have been denied while living. A graveyard only for Hopeless Pirates. Forever. The place… the only place where we will never be separated."
—*—*—*—*—*
We dropped the log post maker off at an island commonly used for vacations a week later. He decided to make not just two, but enough eternal log posts for all seven members of the Hopeless Pirates. We kept the small, portable version in our pockets or— in Synalla and Yalla's case, as a necklace— and used the extra, normal sized version the man had gifted us as a permanent fixture on the Dying Dream's steering wheel. Kilik had it bolted down safely onto the surface, an easy feat since the wheel was horizontal like a table rather than upright like in most ships. Now, no matter where we were, we had the means to get back to our final island.
—*—*—*—*—*
"Well, if the sailors and townspeople we've encountered are right, we really shouldn't land there," I said lazily as I laid down on the deck of the Dying Dream. I was being as lazy as I dared, lifting a mere seven hundred pound weight (light as a feather for me already) with both hands over my chest. Kilik had put cushions on the handles so that I could use the cushions like a stress ball, exercising my arms and my grip at the same time.
"Since when do you care about what we should do?" Lin asked dryly from where she was laying down next to me, the both of us deciding to just enjoy the pleasant weather while it lasted. "Raz wants to study the plants in the Grand Line, right? We're in the Grand Line. There's a group of islands that are huge carnivorous plants with unknown flora all over it," the brawler looked over to me with a bland look in her green eyes. "There's no way we aren't going there, is there?"
"Nobody who lands there ever escapes!" Synalla was seething, trying to convince us to choose a new route. She was still new, she'd learn. None of us responded to her. "And why are you all acting as if Lin having glowing hair is normal?!"
Yes, Lin's normally grey or silver hair was glowing bright pink, as in actually giving off light.
"It is normal," all of us chorused at the long necked girl, making her head twitch.
"It's my fault for going into the infirmary to ask for a bandaid," Lin said blandly, already used to the antics of our doctor, though no less peeved by it as time went on. I could tell that she was just glad that her hair was only glowing, and there were no more physical effects this time. She rather liked being able to move her limbs freely, after all. It was necessary for a brawler, and I knew she felt trapped and defenseless whenever she was even partially paralyzed by Raz.
Synalla just gaped at the girl, and I sighed.
"You've traveled with us for two weeks. Raz was focused on helping me find a good place to call Hopeless Island, so she was uncharacteristically somber. Now that our important little project is over, he's back to his normal self," I stated easily. "You should get used to it. You adapted to me using huge weights pretty easily, and the way Lin attacks like a rabid animal or how Katie is surprising lethal despite her innocent rich girl appearance. You didn't even blink when Kilik made a sword shaped like an oar, or when Yalla decided to walk on her hands on top of our sails."
"Yes, but I thought that there should at least be one normal person in the crew!" The dancer said in exasperation. I stopped mid-rep and lifted my head to give her the most deadpan expression I could muster.
"We're all terminally ill pirates traveling the Grand Line," I said slowly. "What makes you think anyone who steps foot on this boat for more than a few minutes is normal?"
"Okay, fair point. But still—"
"LAND— err, PLANT SPOTTED!" Yalla cried from her spot on top of our largest sail, her legs cheerfully swinging from where she sat on the highest ridge of it.
We were approaching the Boin Archipelago. I was fairly sure we wouldn't land on the same island-plant that Usopp had landed on during the anime's timeskip (would that still happen? I wasn't sure, it depended on what I'd be able to do. I'd have to face that when the time came), but it would still be the perfect place for Raz to start carrying out his dream.
He had studied the plant life on the islands we had already landed on, and made some fun discoveries. But none of them had given him the breakthroughs he wanted, though he did have a much larger amount of medicines for a bunch of minor or mild ailments. I knew he was saving them with Katie in mind.
I put the weight I was holding to the side, standing up. Raz, in a fit of uncharacteristic anticipation, had brought up a table so he could mix some simple herbal remedies on deck. He carefully set down what he was working on, and stood up. I could see that he was trying very hard to hold in his childish excitement, which made a knot form in my chest.
What would Raz have been like without his disease? Without needing to stay composed to help extend his life? He might have been funny and energetic and wacky, more like a kid studying their obsession than the serious prankster-doctor that I knew. And I felt my heart ache. How often did Raz push down his happiness out of consideration for his health?
That was painful just thinking about.
Carefully, Katie steered the ship towards the giant plant. Looking at her, I encountered another huge worry of mine. She was still trembling, having gotten sick yet again just a few days earlier, and still recovering from the remnants of the illness she had caught.
She was getting sick more and more often as the days went on. She ignored it, since she had also earned quite a name for herself. We all had. During our almost two months in the Grand Line, we had already made an impact. Ace's bounty was already soaring up, though I knew it was likely more due to his heritage than anything else. My bounty had only risen to thirty-five million, which meant that nobody had found out about the relationship between me and Ace yet. Katie was very pleased about the name she had managed to make for herself as Dark Nymph Katylan.
People spread rumors about her being an enchantress that slit the necks of her crew's enemies in the middle of the night, which made me and the whole crew laugh when we heard it. We also heard tales about her bow being so strong that it could level marine ships with one arrow. That wasn't true either, but it made Katie burst with pride. That, along with her now thirty-million belly bounty.
I knew she had dreamed of being so famous when she was little. That she had dreamed of sailing the sea like we were doing right then. And I wondered if her getting more sick wasn't because her determination was fading now that she had started to achieve her dream.
I hoped not. It wasn't time for her to die yet.
We didn't all land on the giant plant, not wanting our ship to get destroyed by the thing. Instead, we took the rowboat (we replaced the one I had lost in East Blue with a bigger model) and only me, Raz, Lin, and Synalla got on. Katie still needed to rest a bit to recover from the last of the illness she had most recently contracted, Kilik was busy working on a new sword, and I wanted Yalla to stay behind to act as their defense just in case. The girl was already known as one of the three "monsters" of our crew, right there with me and Lin.
Raz wasn't completely left out, the whole crew referred to him as our Poison Wizard. He wasn't much of a combatant physically, but armed with his different herbal concoctions and a little help from Yalla, and he could take down one or two Marine ships all on his own.
I led the way off the rowboat, leaving it tied up even though I didn't expect it to still be there when we left. Almost immediately, I had to take off after Raz to keep him from getting lost. He was already taking samples and exploring the wildlife on the island of the Archipelago that we had landed on.
That was when a carnivorous plant made its first attack, a large trumpet-mouthed plant leaping towards us. I let Synalla handle it, the long necked woman easily slicing it to ribbons…
Only to get reprimanded by Raz for not leaving any of it in tact for his research. I sighed, resigning myself to collecting plant saliva and root samples for my crazy doctor.
I really loved my crew.
—*—*—*—*—*
This chapter just didn't want to be written. X.x I had to take a day off to relax and recharge, and woke up with plenty of energy to write this story this morning. It still didn't turn out exactly like I wanted, and it is definitely the shortest chapter of the story so far besides the first chapter/prologue. But I think it's okay..?
Adventure (and tragedy) incoming!
GalliumStoat: Thank you! Those are my favorite parts to write :P
Freddie4153: that would be SPOILERS. But I haven't decided yet, sooo ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ I have several idea for how that scene will play out, and haven't decided which one I want to go with yet. So you'll just have to wait and see! :D
Chibi-no-Baka: Thank you! I hope the death scenes are good, because I know I'm going to be absolutely bawling like a baby while I write them. And I'm trying to keep this as original as I can, so I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Telepath98: There shall be no coin toss, unfortunately. I have everything decided. And yeah, I'm preparing myself too. Be brave, Catthhay. Be brave. TT^TT
Lobisomen616: I shall do my best! ()ゞ
Still gonna cry like a baby though.
Zafrinel: she's quite the defiant little bugger, ain't she? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Until next chapter!~