"I think it's uninhabited…" I yelled down below. "I mean, it doesn't look like there's a city or anything."
"Ready the anchor! We'll land on the island!" Luffy yelled excitedly.
I smiled happily as I collapsed the telescope and descended down from the crow's nest of the Merry.
By the time I was down, everyone had already figured out what they were going to get from the island.
I stayed with Sanji out on the beach while everyone else went to stock up on food. So, when they all came back, we had a feast! But even when that was done, Luffy had eaten most of the food, so we all went out to find even more.
"Hey, did you find any medical herbs, Chopper?" Usopp asked.
"Yep!" he said. "I've collected most of them, but there may be even rarer ones on this island. But, more importantly… Something's been bugging me for a while."
"Hm?" I asked. "What is it, Chopper-nii?"
"That weird groove running down this path," he said, pointing to the ground.
"Yeah, that is weird," Usopp said. "I wonder what it is."
"It looks like a bike trail," I said. "I thought this island was uninhabited…"
"It can't be a bicycle if no one's here," Sanji said.
"Yeah, that's true," Usopp said.
We could see a clearing up ahead. I hoped that our walk was almost over because it was getting pretty boring.
When we reached the clearing, Chopper started running towards a large rock in the middle of it.
"What's with Chopper?" Luffy asked.
"Maybe he found something," Zoro said.
I looked closer at the rock and saw some black fuzz on top of it.
"Chopper!" Luffy yelled. "He's trying to have that huge mushroom all to himself!" He dropped his bag of provisions and sprinted towards the rock.
"That doesn't look like a mushroom to me…" I said.
All of a sudden, Chopper bounced backwards from behind the rock.
"What the matter?" Luffy asked, catching up.
"Something happened, let's go," Zoro said urgently.
We all ran over to see what the matter was. It turns out the so-called 'mushroom' was actually the hair of a very tall man.
"What's with you guys?" said the man.
"What's with you?" Luffy spat right back.
I heard Robin gasp right behind me. I looked back right as she fell to the ground in terror.
"Robin?" I asked. "What's the matter?"
"Oooh?" asked the man. "Now, don't get so bloodthirsty, guys. I'm not here on orders. Since it's a nice day, I took a stroll here."
What is this guy talking about? And what does he have to do with Robin? I thought.
"Orders?" Zoro asked, clutching his swords anxiously. "From what organization?"
"He's a marine," Robin said. "And he's one of the people known as the World Government's ultimate powerhouses."
A marine…?
"An Admiral at Navy Headquarters… Aokiji," she said.
"Oh, my," he said, smirking. "You've turned into a good-looking woman… Nico Robin."
"Why is s-someone like that here?!" Usopp asked with a nervous stutter in his voice. "You should be hunting multi-million berry bounties! Go someplace else!"
"Hold on a sec, you guys, geez…" he said. "I came out to have a good time and honestly I'm feeling very attacked right now. Didn't you hear what I said? I only came for a stroll, didn't I? Don't get so worked up." He laid down on the grass, saying it made him tired standing up and explained once again that he had no intentions of capturing us. "I came to check the whereabouts of Nico Robin, and just as I thought, she was with you guys," he said. "I'll have to report this to headquarters 'cuz now the total bounty for you guys has changed." He started doing the math and eventually came to the conclusion he was too lazy to do math in his head.
I thought that if we were being threatened, we should just roll with it and get away as soon as possible, but no. My family thought otherwise.
Luffy was about to attack him, but Sanji and Usopp held him back with all there might.
But many people came out of the woods after hearing that Aokiji was a marine. They all looked starved and weary. Usopp and Sanji went to go find some food while Chopper started to take care of the injured people. They all were in a shipwreck caused by a giant frog apparently named Yokozuna that plowed into their passenger ship. Aokiji said he would handle the survivors since there was an island nearby where they could get proper treatment.
"How are they supposed to get there?" I asked. "They don't have a log pose or even a ship!"
"Oh, they'll be fine," he said.
"Nothing you say sounds convincing, you know…" Usopp criticized.
Well, after a couple minutes loading supplies onto a raft by the shore, Aokiji and the survivors were ready to take off. He went to the water's edge and squatted down. As he put his hand into the water, he told us to step back a little. So obviously, we all did since we didn't know what his powers were.
In the blink of an eye, the whole ocean in front of us was frozen. I was so amazed and stunned, as were everyone else. How could he do something that extensive so quickly?!
No wonder he's an admiral… I thought.
He came back up onto the shore nonchalantly and said, "That will probably last a week. Take your time and head in that direction. You'll get to the island in four days. But it's a little cold, so dress warmly while walking."
All the survivors were ecstatic and very grateful to him as they started towards the next island. They even thanked us!
It started to get a little chilly so I backed away from the ice and started rubbing my arms to stay warm. Everyone soon joined me because of the frigid conditions out on the ice.
Aokiji was brooding on the ground, looking at Luffy.
"You're just like your gramps, Monkey D. Luffy, you're hard to figure out," he said. "Well, the reason I came here was to have a look at you and Nico Robin… On second thought… Maybe you should die now, huh? The government is still taking you guys lightly, but if I delve into your history, I can tell that your group has a backbone. Although your group is small, since its gathering shrewd members, it'll probably become a problem later on. I've been dealing with outlaws for a long time, but it worries me to think how you'll turn out."
I took a cautious step away from Aokiji as Usopp started freaking out and remembering how he said how Aokiji only came to check things out.
"The reason I especially regard you guys as danger is because of you, Nico Robin," he said.
"You are after Robin!" Luffy shouted out. "I'm gonna beat the crap outta you!"
"Her bounty amount isn;'t just an indication of her strength. It indicates the level of danger she poses to the government. That's why you got a 79 million berry bounty on your head at the age of eight," he said.
I looked to Robin nervously, wondering if he was going to attack us.
"You survived by using people and being quick to change sides. So is this group your next victim?" he asked.
Robin's eyes widened.
"Th-that's not true!" I said sheepishly.
"Yeah, you hold a grudge or something?" Sanji asked, about ready to kick him.
"No," he said. "But if we are somehow connected, it's because I let her get away once. You guy swill eventually realize it, too. In the future, you'll regret that you took in a troublesome woman," he said.
"Shut up, her past doesn't matter to us!" he said.
"What matters is the present," Sanji said.
"Yeah, Robin is our fiend now! Don't talk bad about her in front of us," Chopper yelled.
Robin and Aokiji just stared at each other. It was intense to watch the hatred in her eyes towards the man.
"You did a good job befriending this lot," he said.
That was the last straw for Robin. She held her arms in the signature pose she always did before attacking and yelled, "Just get to the point! If you want to capture me, go ahead and do it!" Thirty hands spouted from the ground and from Aokiji himself as she shouted, "Treinta Fleurs!"
"Robin, stop!" Usopp yelled nervously.
"Clutch!" she said, as the hands shattered him into ice shards.
Did she really kill an admiral…? I wondered.
But my wonder was put to rest when he emerged from the ice.
"H-hey, guys! Run!" Usopp yelled, starting to sprint away from the dangerous man. "Let's get out of here!"
"That wasn't nice," he said, walking over to Robin. He made a jagged and spiky sword out of his ice. "I wasn't going to kill you, but…"
He swung his sword towards Robin, but Zoro blocked it with his own sword. Sanji took the opportunity to kick the sword out of Aokiji's hands.
As Luffy wound up his arm to attack, Aokiji grabbed onto Sanji's leg and Zoro's arm. When Luffy punched him, all three of them started to freeze. They all fell back in shock and pain.
"Oh, no!" Chopper said. "They have to be treated right away! If they get frostbite, their limbs could fall off!"
"Robin, run!" Nami yelled as Aokiji enclose his icy touch around Robin.
I was too frightened to move, even though I ordered my legs to do something. I watched in horror as she froze alive.
"Robin!" I gasped.
Luffy boiled over in rage. "You jerk!" he yelled.
"She'll still live if you defrost her carefully," he said.
I sighed in relief. At least she wasn't dead yet.
"But her body is fragile, so if you break her she'll die," he said. "For example…" He wound up his arm, threatening to punch her.
A jolt of lightening shot threw my body as I sprinted to save her. "Tick-Stop!" I yelled, 'freezing' him in time.
"Thanks, Maggie!" Luffy said. "Get her on the ship and save her!"
Usopp picked her up with Chopper and ran for the ship. But as I lost focus, Aokiji 'unfroze'.
"What the hell…?" he said, looking at me.
I squealed a little bit and backed away.
"You're better off not saving her," he said. "The world's better off with her dead."
A courageous Nami pointed her Clima Takt in his face and said, "Not to alarm you, but all pirates are like that."
"You're right," he said. "But get out of my way."
He threw here to the side. Just as he did that, Zoro and Sanji started running to attack him, but Luffy ordered them to stop.
"I wanna fight you in a duel," he said to Aokiji.
"Fine with me," he said. "But since I don't have a ship to ride back on, I'll have to kill you."
I ran over to help Nami up.
"You guys go back to the ship," he said.
We four nodded and sprinted back to the ship. I didn't know how Sanji did it, with a frozen leg, but he ran as fast as the rest of us.
"Chopper!" Nami screamed.
He rushed outside and asked where Luffy was.
"We'll explain later!" Zoro yelled, clutching his frozen arm. "We're gonna go back, but do something about our frozen arm and leg!"
"Well, melt those frozen areas with water right away!" he said. "But we're using the shower room for Robin…"
Sanji was literally a step ahead of him. He dove into the water and said, "Is this ok?!" Zoro joined him.
"Yeah, once you melt them, come up to the ship with rubbing the affected parts!" Chopper yelled down at them. "Nami, Maggie, come up and help with Robin!"
"Yeah!" we both said, rushing up the rope ladder to help them.
Everyone was exhausted, yet relieved to hear that Robin and Luffy, yes, Luffy (he was frozen too) were both alive and had heartbeats.
After three days of letting them rest and get warmed up, we sailed out to our next island.
When Robin finally emerged from her bed, I was the first to hug her. Well, mostly because I cheated and used my powers, but hey, first is first.
We all finally had lunch together after three days with Robin missing. (Luffy popped back up in no time at all).
But after lunch, as I was up in the crow's nest surveying the waters, I noticed something swimming in the middle of the ocean. Curious, I took out my telescope to get a better look.
"Hey guys!" I said. "There's a frog swimming freestyle in the water!"
"What?" Zoro asked. "Are you messing with me?"
"No, look!" I said. "Look!"
After hearing his bewildered gasp, he decided he needed to inform everyone of what he discovered.
"Zoro-nii…" I said, perturbed. I sighed and watched as everyone saw the same spectacle I saw.
"Follow it, guys!" Luffy merrily ordered.
"Yeah!" they all agreed.
I actually fell out of the crow's nest because they shifted our course rather sharply, but Luffy caught me before I could plummet down to the deck. With an extended arm, he dropped me back into the crow's nest with a smile.
"Thank you, Luffy-nii!" I called.
"No problem, Maggie!" he said.
"Keep heading straight!" I said. "It's headed for a lighthouse!"
Nami came out, strikingly mad that Luffy changed our course without telling her.
As we pulled our ship up to the lighthouse, a bell started ringing, almost like a warning bell.
I surveyed the area and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw a train coming straight for us.
"GUYS!" I yelled. "There's a… a t-train!"
(I don't own One Piece or any of the characters. This was made for entertainment purposes only and no copyright is intended.)