Another day of perfect sailing weather, strong winds, warm breezes and little distractions.
I focused on the weight Zoro had let me borrow. Things were still tense between the swordsman and me, I predicted it would stay that way until I found some way to wane suspicion off of me. The only problem was that I had no idea how to do that.
Luffy stared up at the sky. "Aw. No snow, too bad."
Zoro glanced up at him, "Snow, in this climate?"
The captain looked down at him, "Sure, it already happened once."
"You were blissfully asleep while it happened." I said, switching the weight from my right hand to my left.
Luffy looked at Vivi, "Hey, what about you, do you think it's gonna snow?"
"I wouldn't rule anything out, but the sea you were in the first time it happened was special." She frowned, "The seven magnetic fields that Reverse mountain emits tends to make things particularly chaotic." She looked out at the sea, "But don't let your guard down in these waters, the odds of it being as wild as your first journey may be small, but these waters are different and dangerous in their own right. Remember, never underestimate the sea."
Sanji came down from the kitchen, "Hey, who wants to try my special drink?"
Carue ran up behind the chef, I threw up a hand, jumping down to the lower deck, followed by Luffy and Zoro. I took a cup from the tray and took a sip, It was some sort of sparkling water. I smiled, "This is good."
Vivi slammed her hands on the railing looking down at us.
"Hey, do you guys wanna get out the fishing gear?" Luffy asked, getting smiles from Zoro and Usopp.
"Fishing, hell yeah. I'm in."
"Sounds good to me, I'll even make you one of my custom fishing rods, you'll love it!"
I shook my head, "Count me out, I'm going to train a bit more before we reach the island."
Carue didn't quite understand how his straw worked, he bit the end, but then lifted it up. Wrerking when nothing really happened, Sanji knelt down, "No, like this." He adjusted the straw in the duck's mouth so it was in the glass. After Carue figured out what was going on he drank the drink in one fell swoop. Sanji smiled, "Well, since you're so thirsty, have another." He placed another drink in front of Carue.
I stood up, walking back up to the upper deck as Carue continued drinking until Sanji had run out of glasses to give the duck. Nami was exiting the kitchen which she had turned into her navigator's quarters until we reached the island. I saw that she hand some drinks as well.
Vivi pointed down at the male entirety of our crew, "They're acting like idiots!" I stopped at the top of the stairs, looking at her.
"Here, Vivi," Nami said holding one of the drinks out to the princess, "Maybe this will help. Just relax. These boys may go through idiot phases but when things get rough they get to work." She smiled, "Trust me, I should know."
"Sorry," Vivi apologized, "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm getting worked up over nothing."
I shrugged, "Well, to be fair you're from a desert kingdom and we are sort of wasting water with that little 'see how much the duck can drink' contest."
Nami smiled wider, "This ship will put you at ease, you'll cheer up in no time!"
I glanced down at them, Carue had apparently had his fill and was now a water spout. Luffy and Usopp were laughing like crazy. I chuckled and picked up the weight again, this weight was 25 Kilos, making it 55 pounds, and I was adjusting to using it. I felt disbelieve rolling off of Zoro when I told him I couldn't pick up his 100 kilo weight, or his 70 kilo weight, and could only just barely lift his 50 kilo weight.
Nami and I both smiled at the princess, and for the first time since the day started, she smiled aw well, "Yeah... they're... funny."
Things got quiet on the ship until we heard something break the water not far away.
"Hey, look! It's a dolphin, a pirate's best friend." Sanji said, admiring the creature.
I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, looking up from the weight. "Yeah..."
"Oh wow. It's beautiful!" Nami said.
I bit my lip as the dolphin came closer. "I don't think that's normal dolphin.."
I was right. The dolphin jumped over us, e crew let out one simultaneous, "It's huge!"
After it broke water again Luffy thrust a hand in the air, "LET'S GOOOO!" I dropped the weight as the others dropped their glasses.
"Move it!" Zoro shouted.
"Right!"
"On it!"
"Kay."
Sanji took the lower ropes, Usopp took the upper ropes, Zoro had the steering, I had watch. "STARBOARD!" I shouted, "IT'S OFF THE STARBOARD SIDE!"
Merry groaned as she slowly turned.
Usopp had come down from the mast and was taking one side of the lower ropes, he pointed, shouting to Sanji, "Get the other side!"
"Yeah! I got it!" Sanji shouted back.
Vivi watched us in amazement, "She... was right."
Luffy stood beside me, "Okay! Hurry, Let's MOOOOVVEEE!" The dolphin jumped again, "Alright! It's gonna be a big one!"
The dolphin landed in the water right behind us, creating a wave that we expertly rode for a sizable distance.
"WOOOO!"
After the wave had dissipated Luffy was standing on the lower deck looking up at Nami, "Nami! Which way now?"
"Give me a second, I'll check." She looked at the Log Pose on her arm, she smiled, "Port side! Full!"
"Turning full!"
Merry turned port, I squinted, "Hey..." There seemed to be an island on the horizon
Luffy jumped on his perch, holding his hat in place.
Nami lifted the Log Pose so that she could make sure that the island was the correct one. "There's no mistake. Cactus Island and this one are definitely pulling against each other." Nami pointed to the island, "Our next stop!" She declared.
"So that's Little Garden..." I said, smiling slightly.
"ALRIGHT! This is it! Our second island on the Grand Line!" Luffy shouted excitedly.
Everyone was gathered at the front of the ship as we sailed around looking for someway inland. I looked around, Little? Everything I'm seeing is huge! There's nothing little here!
"I can see why they call this place Little Garden." Luffy said, inspecting the foliage we could see.
"I can't." Zoro said, crossing his arms, "What's little about it?"
"Exactly.." I said, that feeling from the night before returning full force.
"Yeah, this island looks pretty harsh if you ask me." Nami said, "Why the cute name?"
Usopp was shaking so hard you could hear him, "Y- Yeah. M- Maybe we'd be better off skipping this island."
Vivi gently pet Carue's head, "We have to be careful..." She said softly, "I can't help but remember the warning Ms. All-Sunday gave us..."
I looked down, That was a little ominous wasn't it? I know I shouldn't trust what that woman said, but we'd better approach this as if everything she said was true...
"So.. what? We might be attacked by giant monsters?!" Usopp was completely terrified now.
Luffy laughed, "Who knows?"
"Listen," Usopp turned to Luffy, "I'm sure we can make it to the next island with out going ashore on this one!"
"I'm sure we can't," I put in my two cents, "The Grand Line currents could take us any direction, and we don't have a compass other than the Log Pose, which is useless unless we get this islands magnetic field registered."
Nami nodded, "We need to go ashore."
"Not to mention we're in dire need of restocking our food supply." Sanji added, "We didn't get so much as a sack of flour in the last town."
"Guys, there's our ticket in." Zoro said as he pointed to a small tributary.
We turned the ship into the tributary and began going inland.
"Think they'll have a BBQ restaurant here?" Luffy asked hopefully.
"We didn't travel all this way for BBQ!" Sanji shouted at the captain.
Luffy looked a little sad, "I thought the point of this visit was to get food."
I rubbed my forehead, "Not that kind of food, Luffy."
"Waddya mean? Food is food, right?"
"Food as is supplies we're going to cook later." He took a drag from his cigarette. "Jeeze, what are you thinking?"
I shook my head, "I don't think I want to know what Captain is thinking..."
Nami had been expertly ignoring us, she walked over to the railing, "I donno... Usopp might be right about this one..." She pointed to the shore, "I mean look at the plant life here. I've never seen anything like it. Not even in books."
There was a strange bird call from the island, high and shrill, the worst possible combination. I covered my ears, "Gah! That noise!"
"Ahhh~ You're so adorable!"
Usopp turned around, winking at Sanji, "Thank you."
"THAT'S NOT FUNNY! I was talking to Nami and Leanah!"
The navigator looked out at the forest, "What was that screeching?"
Sanji smiled, raising a hand, "It's alright, dear, just a bird, nothing to worry about," He was completely oblivious to the absolutely huge bird flying up behind him. "Just like this jungle."
Nami and Usopp took several steps back, I dropped to a fighting stance and had a hand on Ami.
"Uh... What's wrong?"
"Sanji, behind you!" I shouted as the bird got closer.
He turned and was able to dodge just in time to miss the bird's claws. It flew off, he stood up again turning to face the retreating creature, "What the hell's the matter with you, ya damn bird!?"
Luffy stared at it as well, "Whoa, it's big... could be tasty..."
BOOOOOOOOOM!
Nami stared out into the now misty jungle in horror, "Hear that? Is that a noise you expect to hear in a normal jungle?"
cannon fire? I thought to myself, No... There's no way, we would have seen them with an explosion that loud... something bigger than a cannon? A Volcano?
Usopp covered his eyes, "That sounded like a Volcano erupting! We're all going to diiiiee!"
I sighed, "Stop being so over dramatic, it didn't sound like a substantial explosion, so it's possible that either the Volcano wasn't quite ready to fully erupt or it's not a vary large volcano, really we have nothing to fear." Usopp knees shook in response. I rolled my eyes, then looked forward again.
We sailed a little more inland, a large growl signaled a giant tiger coming up to prowl next to the ship.
"A tiger!" Nami said, staring at it in horror.
"It's gigantic!" Usopp said as the pair retreated to the other side of the ship.
I squinted at it, it didn't look like it had ill will towards us... more like it was in pain. Then in coughed up blood and keeled over. Nami ran back over, "What?" She briefly looked to Luffy and me, "What just happened?"
"It... died." I said slowly.
"I know normal, and this is definitely not it!" Nami exclaimed, "Someone explain to me how a mammoth tiger can just keel over covered in blood?"
Usopp was sweating bullets, he nodded slowly, then looked up, "LOG POSE AND FOOD BE DAMNED! WE'RE NOT SETTING A FOOT ON THAT ISLAND, AND THAT'S FINAL!"
Nami had a slightly better idea, "We can just reset the Log from the ship!"
"Right!" Usopp agreed
"When that's done, we'll leave and never look back!"
"Right." He agreed again.
"Right, we'll all just stay... here."
A little more inland sailing later and Zoro dropped the anchor.
I sat down on the deck, staring at the sky, It was going to get boring if we all just stayed on the boat.
Luffy began laughing, "Sanji! Go make lunch!" He said between tiny bouts.
The chef gave our captain a confused look, "You want lunch?"
The captain nodded, "Yep, and one more thing." He turned to Sanji, smiling the biggest of smiles, "Make it a great big pirate lunch with lots of meat and no veggies! I'm gonna need some more energy."
I smiled, I saw where he was going. Nami ran between them, "Energy for what? What are you doing? You're not leaving here!"
Luffy's large smile turned more innocent, "You know," He laughed, "Fun stuff. Do you wanna come along?"
"Did you really think telling Luffy he couldn't do something would work?" I asked her.
She looked back at me with tears in her eyes, "I hoped it would."
I stood up, I didn't want to go with Luffy, But exploring a little can't hurt...
"Sanji, hurry up, I'm starving!"
"Right, be patient, I'll have it too you as soon as I can."
Vivi seemed to be thinking, she looked at Luffy, "Say, Luffy, would it be alright if I came along with you?"
Usopp screamed.
"Sure! Sounds great!" He was so excited he couldn't keep still.
"No!" Nami stared at the princess, "Vivi, you can't be serious!"
She smiled, "Yeah, I'd rather not sit here with nothing to do but worry about my troubles. This will keep me busy until the Log's reset."
"Out of the question! Seriously, it's way to dangerous for you out there!"
"I'll be fine." She assured the navigator, "Besides, I'll have Carue with me." She looked down at her duck, who took a moment to take in what she had just said, then warked in terror.
Nami inspected the duck, "Hey, something's wrong. Carue doesn't look to good. I think he might be in shock."
"Hey, Vivi," Sanji waved from the kitchen door, "If you're going to go exploring you're going to need a lunch, I'll pack you one."
"Thank you, and could you make something for Carue too?" She asked politely.
"Of course, you just leave it too me." He shut the door of the kitchen. About an hour later Sanji emerged with enough food for three people (Luffy, of course, would eat enough for two anyway) and a drink. He walked over, putting the food carefully into a back back and strapping the drink around Carue's neck. "There you go, Two pirate lunches for Luffy and Vivi, and one special drink for Carue."
"Thanks." Luffy said before he jumped up on the railing and down to dry land, followed by Vivi and Carue.
Vivi turned to us, "Well, see ya guys later!" They began running off, "Don't worry! Everything will be fine!"
Usopp was now staring in admiration, "Vivi, what a girl... she's so brave."
"And just what would you expect from someone who could infiltrate the enemies ranks..." Nami said dryly.
I took in a deep breath, "I hate to do this... but I swear, I'll be damned if I just sit on this boat waiting for the Log Pose to reset." I gently pat Merry's railing, "No offense meant, of course." I whispered to the boat. I turned to Sanji, "You mentioned we were short on food, right?"
He nodded, "Be careful while you're out there. Wouldn't want you getting hurt."
"Okay." I launched myself off of the deck and landed on the ground.
"Hey. Wait up." Zoro said, "I'll go too." He landed next to me.
I glanced over at him, then up at Sanji for further instructions. "Just, if you see any animals that look edible bring them back." We turned to leave, "And Zoro," We paused, turning back to the ship, Sanji was glaring down at him, "If Leanah ends up with so much as one scratch on her I'll personally hand you a beating you'll never forget."
the swordsman rubbed his head, "Alright, I can see why you'd want me to do this, since I can bring back something you couldn't catch yourself as well as protect her better." He started walking off.
I glared at him, What the hell's that supposed to mean?!
Sanji, meanwhile voiced my thoughts, "What the hell does that mean!?"
Zoro stopped, glaring back at Sanji.
The chef stood, one foot on Merry's railing, matching the swordsman's glare. "You're saying you can capture bigger game than I can? That my hunting skills are inferior? That I can't protect a beautiful lady?"
"Yeah. That's right."
The tension between them sparked and I pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Challenge accepted." Sanji jumped down and landed on the other side of me. He glared passed me at Zoro, "Winner brings back the most pounds of meat."
"What do you mean pounds? 'Cause I'll bring back tons."
They both began walking in different directions, "Why don't you let your hunting do your talking for you?" Sanji said, pointing his cigarette at Zoro.
"Heh, good luck, cook."
I stayed in place. It took them both a moment to realize I hadn't moved an inch.
"Leanah, dear! Why don't you come with me? I'll keep you safe!" Sanji was looking expectantly at me with hearts in his eyes.
Zoro stood there with his hands in his pockets, staring at me in total silence.
I blinked, then started down the path in front of me, "I don't need either of you to protect me, and I won't be a part of one of your stupid contests." I waved my hand in the air slightly, "While you two get meat, I'll go get fruit, or something."
I crossed my arms inspecting the trees for any sort of edible fruit. "This is a reasonably warm climate so... maybe I'll find apples or something..." I ran a hand through my hair, looking up higher, that's when I saw them. "Ah!"
Round red fruits were hanging from the high branches of the trees. I tapped my foot, "But how do I get them down?" I asked myself. I tried the tree, but the trunk was too mossy, I couldn't get a proper footing. I slowly grabbed my swords, smiling, I had an idea on how to get them down. I positioned my blades upwards, "Regaling Storm!" The wind blast knocked one loose from the tree.
I walked over and picked it up. "A pomegranate!" I exclaimed, "Awesome!" I set that one aside and got out from under the tree, positioning my swords again, "Storming blast!" Several branches full of pomegranates fell from the tree when my attack hit. I smiled wider, not what the technique was intended for, but still good.
I collected up as many as I could carry and headed back to the ship with them, I hummed a tune, the words weren't exactly coming to me, but the tune was catchy. I took a short cut I had seen earlier back to the ship, There are two smaller paths... but if I just go straight here and jump down the rocks, I should get back faster... I thought to myself as I weaved between the trees.
I reached the edge of the peak-like thing to hear two people simultaneously say: "I am the winner."
I sighed as the chorus came once more, "You've lost, dammit!" Great. I thought as I made my way down the rocks.
"Look, as you can see my catch is bigger than yours."
"Moron, this competition 's about weight, how much meat we bring in, not the length of the beast. And Mine's obviously way beefier than yours!"
"Ha! Who cares how husky you dinosaur is, all that matters in the amount that can be cooked, and that thing's all bones, you're carrying about four pounds of meat there."
"That thing you're lugging around is nothing but muscle and skin."
I finally worked my way down, "Jesus." I sighed, "Seriously you two?" I walked in between them, "We're here to get food for the ship, not see whose is bigger." I glared at them both, "Stop fighting about it and just figure out what we can and can't use for cooking."
The tension between them was still strong, so strong they ignored me completely. "Ugh, this is pathetic, I'm not going to waste my time arguing with you. Tell you what, I'll go capture another beast just to shut you up."
"Yeah? Well if you're going to go after a different one then so am I, I won't let you cheat me out of my win because of a dumb technicality."
The volcano behind us erupted. Sanji smiled, "Alright, the next eruption from that Volcano signals the end of the competition, you have until then to secure your prey and return to the Going Merry."
"I can handle that, you're on."
I groaned as they went their separate ways again, "Ugh! Damn men!"
Author's note:
I had way too much fun writing this chapter. Way. Too. Much.
Your ever willing Author,
Kari910
