Not Pirates, Treasure Hunters

Part 4 of 4 in a saga

A One Piece Fanfiction by Aoikami Sarah

Chapter Twenty Six - Welcome to Guraba!


Iisopp was the first to wake that evening and he did so slowly as every muscle in his body ached from hours of hard work. He rubbed his eyes and listened to the sounds of voices and movement he only assumed were made by the rest of the crew. When he sat up and saw that everyone was still sleeping he leapt to his feet to figure out where the sounds were coming from. "Holy crap! Guys! Guys!" he shouted and ran around, prodding and in some cases kicking his comrades. "Wake up!"

"What's goin' on…?" Jones asked sleepily.

"Land!!" His friend shouted.

"You spied land?" He rubbed his eyes.

"You could say that…" Iisopp replied and pointed to the bow. The Ferris was anchored in a busy harbor. The island before them appeared to be densely populated and practically nothing but streets and buildings could be seen for miles.

Chisa pulled herself up and peeked over the side. "Uaa! We sailed to Water Seven in our sleep!!" she shouted. Laughter from below caught her attention and she leaned over the side to check it out, giving the crew a little fan-service in the process.

Bobbing on the waves alongside the ship was a small boat with a dark-skinned man wearing a bright yellow turban in it, grinning up at her. "Hahaha. You're a little off there, Missy. I saw your ship floating around a few leagues from shore and I though she was abandoned in the storm. When I saw you kids on board I towed you in and waited until you woke."

Jones stood behind his sister to protect her reputation. "You mean, this isn't Water Seven?"

He laughed. "No, my friend. This is Guraba."

Jones cursed and checked his log pose. The needle pointed in the opposite direction from the shore before them. "Well, how far from Guraba is Water Seven?"

The man laughed again. "Pretty far. Water Seven is on the South of the Grand Line. This is about as far North as you can go without hitting the Calm Belt."

"Fantastic," he groaned. "How long does it take for a Log Pose to reset here?"

"One and one half weeks." Yellow-turban grinned and held his outstretched hand in a gesture that was unfortunately all too familiar.

"Let me guess, you'd like to be paid for towing services rendered?"

He nodded.

Sakura, who had been checking out their cargo situation returned to Jones' side. "Nothing missing so far as I can tell," he muttered.

"How much does one usually charge to tow a Carrack this size?" Jones asked, wincing.

Yellow-turban smiled and nodded. "About two hundred should do it."

Iisopp grimaced. "I got one. Jones, you got the other half?" he asked, passing him a fistful of Berrie. Jones rolled his eyes, tossed the wad of bills to the man who bowed again and raised his sails. The redhead turned to his crew. "Alrighty then. Hopefully, we can find an eternal pose for an island further down the line here."

"Welcome to Guraba!" another voice called from the sea below. Everyone came to the side this time to see. The man in the yellow turban was sailing away and a man in a blue turban was rowing toward them.

Chanson lit a cigarette. "Ah, great. What now?"

As he came to a stop he stood up in the boat and bowed to them. He wore a badge on his long, tunic shirt. "How long will you fine young people be staying here in Guraba?" he asked, pulling a notebook out of his jacket pocket.

"Are we in trouble already?" Chanson scoffed.

Blue turban either didn't hear her or chose to ignore her. It was hard to tell which. "The harbor tax for a vessel this size is 300 Berrie a day."

Everyone boggled. "A day?!"

Sakura counted on his fingers. "That's three thousand Berrie if we don't find an eternal pose!"

"About two thousand more than we have," Iisopp muttered.

"All the more reason to find an eternal pose quick and get the heck out of here," Jones muttered back. "Who's got three hundred they can pitch in for the cause?" Chisa laughed. Sakura chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. Iisopp turned his pockets out. Chanson glared at him but grudgingly dug into her purse. The man in the blue turban thanked her and rowed to shore.

Chisa waved and watched the funny-looking man go then spun around to face her brother. "Nii-chan, how does the box feel about where we are? Is it a good place?"

Everyone stared at her. Taka blinked a few times. "That thing can… feel?"

Jones held up his hands, grinned sheepishly and prepared to change the subject but Chanson gasped and startled him as she grabbed his right arm. "Oh! Jones! I totally forgot when the storm hit." She faced him and gave him a very serious look. "I had a vision," she said slowly.

He seemed flustered but tried to hide it. "A vision? What do you mean?"

His sister snaked her way around him and stared up at him with a confused face. "A vision?!" She asked.

"Yes," Chanson answered gravely. "I was standing on the deck and then wham! It was like I was somewhere else, but I wasn't. I saw another ship and some pirates and I saw my Grandfather, Richard Sairen…!" She went on to tell them the gist of the waking-dream she had on the deck of the Ferris before they encountered the storm. "And I think that my music box is named after this Akuma-no-Mi-user-Vincent-person because Richard said that he wished he could power more instruments at once." She panted a little, having told the story as quickly as she could speak. "Did you ever have something like that, Jones?"

All eyes fell slowly on the captain. "I dunno…" He said, looking off at Guraba's coastline. "Maybe, but… I'm not sure."

Chanson clamped her hand on his arm again. "Did you see anything like I did?"

Jones suddenly wished he were onshore, perhaps sitting at a bar with beer in hand and no one boring holes through him with their eyes like his crew was doing right now. There was no avoiding it. He'd have to tell her. "Yeah. I saw Vincent, too, only younger." It wasn't the whole story, but the fact that Chanson had seen her grandfather whom she'd never known and he'd seen his grandmother who he had never known was a little too disturbing to him to share.

"So what do you think this means?" Iisopp asked, folding his arms.

Chanson crushed out the cigarette she'd been neglecting to smoke. "It means there's a connection between the two boxes through this Vincent person. I'm connected to mine through my grandfather who sailed with him. Jones, do you think you're connected to yours?"

"I stole mine," he said, avoiding the truth.

His best friend narrowed his eyes at him. "Yes or no, Jojo. I've known you long enough to know when you're full of crap."

Jones leaned against the side. "I just don't want to scare anyone."

Sakura shuddered. "Too late for that, I'm afraid."

The redhead sighed. "Yes. In my vision, Vincent was my grandmother's brother. I'm related to Vincent and if your vision indicates that the boxes were named for him, then that would explain the connections we have with them."

Chisa frowned and stared at him but said nothing. Taka nodded as if it all made perfect sense. "Is that how you can lug around something that's too heavy to carry as if it were nothing?" she asked.

Chanson nodded back. "Makes sense. My mom carried him sometimes. I never really thought about it. It just always seemed normal to me!" She laughed lightly. "She also talked to him which I thought was normal and now he talks to me."

Sakura boggled. "It can talk, too?!"

"Yeah, in fact, Vincento just told me that we're still on track, right Jones?" He nodded. "Both boxes are humming as if they're harmonizing the closer we get to wherever it is we're going." Chanson's face lit up as she got an idea. "Ooh! Hey, Jones, we should see if we can get them to navigate for us!"

Jones stared at her and clapped his hands together. "Well, it's getting late. We should split up to go ashore," he announced suddenly. "Half of us should stay on board to protect the ship and the boxes in case McRae shows up again."

"Good call," Iisopp agreed. "We don't have the Arabasta Royal Army to look after us this time," he said patting the main mast and watching his friend carefully.

"Sounds good," Chanson agreed. "I'm going ashore first." She headed for one of the two dinghies.

Taka followed her. "Me too."

Sakura made a run for it. "Women and sea-sick doctors first!"

Iisopp pouted. "Aw, man. Leave the people from East Blue behind, why don't you?" Too late. Chanson was already ordering Sakura and Taka to empty the dinghy of rain and seawater from the storm so that she wouldn't get soaked before they reached the pier.

Jones patted him on the shoulder. "Relax, Iisopp. We can go out once they come back. Besides. We owe Chanson 300 Berrie. Better to keep her happy for now!" He strolled over to the petulant singing-star and asked her kindly if they would get some supplies they hadn't gotten in Jaya for their trip. Iisopp huffed but kept his comments to himself.

.x.

Guraba was steep. Long avenues led the eye up from the short, stocky buildings of the waterfront business district to taller buildings in the hills. It was late in the day, but there were many shops still open. Colorful, vibrant fabric flags and banners flew from lampposts and street signs. The people who roamed the streets, like the two men they'd seen already, were dark skinned and auburn or black haired. Sakura, Chanson and Taka tied their dingy at the pier and went to look for a marketplace. With the sun just setting, they had another hour or two to get supplies before the shops closed.

Just after the pier there was a large welcome sign and a map of town for visitors. There were benches to either side of this for people to sit and watch the busy harbor. Taka scrutinized the sign, Chanson sat on a bench to the right and counted her remaining money and Sakura rallied the troops.

"Ok, everyone, we'll split up," he ordered. "Chan-chan you can cover food. I'll get the medicine and ammo. Taka, you take the miscellaneous list Jones gave you."

"Why do I get the hardest chore?" Taka complained as she realized the list would take her to many stores all over town.

"It's my feeling that you're the least likely to get distracted," Sakura noted. Chanson glared at him.

The ninja girl paused then nodded in agreement. "Does anyone else get the feeling that Jones is hiding something?" she asked suddenly.

Chanson lit a cigarette. "Probably, but I'm not concerned. Vincento says we're headed the right way, toward the end of the Grand Line."

Taka narrowed her eyes at her. "Why are you here?" The singer made an offended face at her. "I mean, why do you want to see this through? You didn't seem like you wanted to have anything to do with us when we were in Arabasta, but now you're not even questioning the fact that we don't have a clear destination."

Chanson shrugged. "I guess because I know my mother's music box isn't lying to me. And Vincento said something about a great treasure at the end of the line!" she grinned and rubbed her hands together.

Taka shrugged, turned and headed to the first of her various stops - a stationary store in which she hoped to find the paper Jones had requested. Sakura waved and he and Chanson headed in the opposite direction.

Men with long poles lighted streetlamps along the sides of the clay buildings as the sun set. On a bench to the left of the welcome sign and map, a boy sat and stared at the Ferris anchored a few hundred yards before him. His eyes were wide and he waited until the treasure hunters had gone before letting out a breath he'd been holding. "I don't believe it…" he muttered.

He didn't notice as a young marine approached him. "Ah, there you are Diego," he said in greeting. "The ship leaves in a few minutes. You should hurry on board, now."

Diego looked slowly up at the marine. He smiled deviously. "Thank you, but I've found another ride."

.x.

Just before the stationary store Taka spotted a small sword smith's shop. She looked in the window at a display of broadswords. "Yeah, I won't get distracted," she scoffed.

The door opened. The bell jingled. The shop owner called 'come again' to a customer as he left. "Thanks, old-timer," the customer said with a small wave. His head was shorn and a thin, green beard framed his jaw. He wore a long coat, a white shirt, black pants and a green haramaki. He slid a sword with a white hilt back in place next to two others on his hip. As he turned to the left he did a double take at the shop's window. "That's weird. Coulda sworn there was someone there," he grumbled.

.x.

It was getting dark when Sakura emerged from the last shop. He spied Chanson making her way toward him. "All done?" he asked.

She held up bags full of clothes, shoes and a few supplies. "Yep. Where's the Tomboy?" Chanson wondered. "I thought you said she wouldn't get distracted?"

"That's odd. Maybe she got bored and headed back to the ship?" He pushed his glasses up his nose and started walking with Chanson back toward the Ferris. They passed by the sword smith's shop just as he was closing up. A friend of the shop-owner's from the neighboring stationary store was chatting with him.

"You wouldn't believe who I had in the shop today, Bert!"

"Who, Kenji?"

"Roronoa Zoro himself!"

Sakura stopped in his tracks. "Excuse me, did you just say Roronoa Zoro?!"

"Yeah!" Kenji said, beaming. "He just wanted service on one of his swords. I got to check out the famous Wado Ichimonji, the Sandai Kitetsu and Yuna Shiri with my own eyes!"

"Ah! This is great! The guys will be so excited! Do you know where he is now?!"

"No idea." The sword smith shrugged. "He left about an hour ago."

Sakura turned to Chanson. "Alright, we can probably catch up with him!"

"Um, what?" Chanson asked, drooping a bit. "I am tired. Why do we have to go running around looking for this Roro-person?"

"He's one of the Straw Hats, Chan-chan," he told her. "Iisopp wants to get a copy if The Book to all of them. Stumbling across his path is really lucky!"

"Whatever. I tell you what, I'll cover this area," she said, sat down on a park bench and lit a cigarette. From a few feet away a couple of people whispered and pointed at the pop idol. "Ugh. Or maybe not. Damn it, I should have brought body guards with me," she grumbled and followed the doctor.

.x.

Chisa and Iisopp watched Guraba through a telescope and remarked about the interesting things they saw in the fading light and discussed what they would do when they were allowed to go ashore. Jones approached them and patted them on the back. "Well. You guys have things under control," he said quickly and started walking away. "I'm gonna go see if I can't scare up some… stuff."

Iisopp's brow twitched in annoyance. "Hold it, Carrot-top. Whaddaya mean, stuff?"

Jones turned and gave him a pleading look. "Iisopp, I've been so good this whole trip..."

Iisopp folded his arms. "No."

"And we owe Chanson 300 Berrie…"

"No."

"And we don't have enough to keep the ship here if we have to…"

"No!"

"Please!!"

"Jones. What part of 'no' do you not comprehend?!"

Chisa startled Iisopp by putting her hand on his arm. "Nii-chan won't get caught," she said simply. "It's ok. He's going to steal from pirates."

Outvoted, Iisopp slumped his shoulders. "And that makes it ok…?" he groaned. Jones clapped him on the shoulder and gave him what was supposed to be a reassuring grin. He lowered the other dinghy and slinked off under the cover of oncoming darkness to see what he could 'scare up'.

More to come…