A Delicate Plan

Kelda settled in uncomfortably. James had gone off to get his plan in action, she had no idea what said plan is, but from James' personality, it would either be completely brilliant or completely insane. To be honest either one sounded like it could work now. However, the fact that he wasn't looping them into the plan was a bit worrisome. He seemed to be peacefully living his life performing some small minor tasks for the ship-builders and, of course, leaving Olivia and Kelda to do the same. They had both taken up the job with aplomb, but...they both kept a vigilant eye on the Marines, expecting something to go wrong. The Marines seemed to be off in their old world, though, as if planning their own secret coupe.

In order to save on money Kelda had reclined herself to the cheapest room and cheapest beds possible. On top of having to work to buy a new ship, she had to work for some basic beli to spend on room and board. She understood why, but she supposed at that same token she would've appreciated a more comfortable bed and higher pay.

However as she thought about the future ahead of them if they couldn't get off of this island right off the back, who knew what would happen to them. You heard of a lot of pirates floundering after being stuck on an island forced to try to work past their prime. She rolled over and started working on the small locked box, which supposedly housed the map to One Piece. Would their journey to find the One Piece be over before it even began? Kelda shivered a little bit, sinking a bit further into her bed. It could be a bad omen.

The question of James 'plan' was fresh in her mind and she did want to know what it was. Could they really trust it if they had to hinge all of their hopes on this one small thing and yet stay in the dark? It seemed like it contradicted itself. She sighed as she sunk into her bed, resting on the edge.

However, soon there was a hard and heavy knock on her door. "Coming!" she shouted. She had currently been delegated to Dock Four, which thankfully was at a slight lull so she had enough time to relax, but if they had gotten a new job she would have to rush out there and get to work. To her surprise there stood Morris, sweat pouring down his face as he looked in on her.

"What are you doing?" he shouted as he forced the door open wide and strolled in. Kelda looked at him, completely baffled. She had no idea what he was doing here or what he was talking about.

"Just resting," she stated before taking note of the aura that flowed around him. This wasn't a joke or him asking her out. He was seriously worried and in a panicked state of mind. "Is anything the matter?"

"What do you mean 'is anything the matter'!" shouted Morris, jabbing his finger at her as he brushed her aside and charged in jumping onto his hands and knees and peering under the bed before sighing and looking left and right. "James said that he was planning something big and that you were currently acting on it!"

Kelda raised an eyebrow and quickly glanced left and right as well. This sounded like some kind of practical joke. She eyed Morris questioningly for a second before her eyes went wide, finally completely understanding what was going on.

"Where is James?" she asked. Morris picked himself up and thought for a moment.

"I was with him when he stated that, if I remember correctly we were by Dock One when he suddenly started laughing about him putting his plan into action," Morris eyes soon joined with Kelda's a look of complete and total shock, but at the same time complete and total understanding. He had been taken for a fool.

"CRAP!" he shouted grabbing his hair and nearly pulling it out by the handful. He turned around and began to charge out of the room, followed swiftly by Kelda. "Why are you coming?" he barked back at her.

"I have no idea what my captain is doing. So if he's doing something big and spectacular I would like to be there to watch," she said, a slight smile playing on her face. Knowing James it would probably be something worth seeing whether it was something big and spectacular or something even smaller and barely unnoticeable, whichever one it was it would be perfect. However, upon arriving at Dock One Kelda realized it wouldn't quite be either one.

"Nova, where is James at?" asked Morris, nearly tackling the female shipwright, but she swiftly side-stepped him and stuck her leg out causing him to trip, stumbling to the floor.

"You're his babysitter, not me," she stated as she looked at the clipboard she held and then back at the ship.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know," Morris complained, "but I took his eye off of him for one second to go check on his crew mate and he's gone." Kelda snickered that he had completely skipped the part where James had tricked him into doing so.

"Wait? What are you doing?" asked Morris as he jumped up and looked at her clipboard.

"For some reasons the Marines requested that I take lead on this project," Nova said as she strolled up to the ship and put her hand against the wood, checking its density as well as feel. "Its going to be my biggest project ever."

Morris smiled and nodded. It was nice to see someone advancing far, especially someone with a nice ass like Nova.

Nova perked up, apparently feeling Morris' eyes burning a hole in her butt, "aren't you supposed to be watching James not me?"

"Aye, but I would rather watch you any day of the week," Morris said, slipping down to a knee, taking Nova's hand in his and pulling it closer to his lips where he was going to grace it with a kiss, but Nova pulled it away and returned to work, obviously showing where her mind was at.

Morris backed away, despite being completely rejected in about three seconds flat he still had a wide set smile on his face like nothing had happen. He beamed proudly back at Kelda as he walked swiftly out of the room, "She's a nice girl, its nice that's she's so focused. It seems she accepted this duty."

"You're not upset?" asked Kelda as she eyed her 'partner' questioningly, causing him to shrug lightly. "I mean, not only does she have a higher job level than you, but she's also apparently selected to be the boss of a major project."

"She deserves it," he stated, "the boss wouldn't just give into the Marines demands, plus she has managed to become one of the best shipwrights here with ease. She actually came to this dump for the ship-building services. That's more than you can say for any other shipwright here pretty much." Morris paused for a second as he scratched his cheek, slightly embarrassed that he was praising someone, but he huffed when he ended and promptly changed the subject. "So, where did your captain go?" Kelda shrugged.

"James could've gone anywhere," she stated, "he didn't tell me about his plan nor did he tell me where he would be."

"So he could've just left the island," Morris stated. Kelda glared fiercely at him, but Morris didn't seem to mind instead he kept on smiling and strolling along. "I'm just saying. Nobody around here seems to be panicking and if he's not going to Dock One or to cause a ruckus some place else I can't imagine there'd be much else worth doing. Unless he wanted to take a moonlight stroll through the garbage."

Kelda went to counter his argument, but found herself with a surprising lack of any sort of evidence asides from 'James wouldn't do that', which admittedly wasn't a very compelling argument. Morris laughed, seeing he had stooped his opponent in a battle of wits.

Kelda could only turn up her lips, in a little pout, resisting the urge to let loose a childish 'nuh-uh'. "Or he's just busy running circles around you with his big plan," Kelda chided, putting her foot down. It didn't really strike a hole in his argument, but she could see it wound his ego.

Morris swiftly turned around and struck out, grabbing a hold of Kelda's arms and pinned her against the wall viciously. Kelda's eyes went wide as she stared at him. A crimson form of aura, crept over him, an obvious sign of rage.

"Did you forget? Since I have you here I can hold you accountable for his actions," he said as he tightened his grip on Kelda's arms and she saw why he was so proud of his power. She could feel the blood circulation in her hands stop while he gripped them tightly. He could easily overpower her even if she did expect him to attack her like that.

Don't misunderstand her if she could grab her sword, she was fairly certain she could put up a good fight and force him back. But as she struggled slightly to break free from the grip she couldn't help, but find it fruitless. He easily overpowered and sunk her body further into the wall with his strength.

"If you do that then you'd have to explain to your boss why," Kelda pushed back against his strength and tried to throw him off of her once more, but found it impossible to resist. So instead she just glared at him, hardening her gaze and keeping it steady on him. "Why you let James get away. And how he outsmarted you."

"Pretty amazing of you, thinking that even in this position you can threaten me," Morris chuckled, leaning in and basically on top of Kelda. "Like I told your captain there's a reason the boss of the shipyard selected me for this job. Its cause I don't give a damn. The boss told me you all are pirates, so I guess that means no running to the Marines no matter how badly I treat you. Remember if you want to live outside of the law you better be prepared for other people who gleefully leave out of it as well."

Morris let go of Kelda. She didn't slump to the floor, but she did feel her legs shake a bit as his smell still lingered on her clothes. "Yee hi hi!" laughed Morris as he turned and walked away from Kelda. "You're lucky your captain hasn't done anything. I won't punish you for your poor choice in friends, but I can guarantee you if I so much as catch a whiff of any trouble. I'll be coming back for you."

Kelda stayed almost mesmerized for a few second as the slight shaking of her legs wore off. Finally when she managed to catch her breath, she rushed back to her little Morris-free room. Once inside she struck out against her nearby 'humble' (read as crappy) dresser. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to do that. She wasn't necessarily angry over her little chat with Morris, but she supposed she did have every right to be annoyed. She supposed she had always thought such a ridiculous little outburst would be beneath her. Not only that, but even more annoying was Morris' aura.

She should've seen it the thin black veil covering it, but his kind actions towards her and Olivia had always hidden it well. Or maybe she was just too worried about the Marines to really focus on him. He was a background character, who just now had decided to show his true colors. She supposed she only had herself to blame. As she curled up into a small almost ball-like position on her bed, she wondered what James' plan would involve and why he didn't elect to take them with him or if he really did just run away.

Pushing these feelings away wasn't easy. She had just met James after all. There was no telling if he was a coward or a fighter. Her Oto-Oto no mi didn't give her the power to tell that so she had just listened to her heart and leapt into a relationship with this crew, hoping for the best and believing in the best as well without really thinking about it.

The darker thoughts soon encroached in her mind, taking over any place where a happy one may have been. She missed James. Knowingly their happy and always chipper captain would have some words of happiness to impart on Kelda, but as his whereabouts were unknown she could only slump further into her bed.

The Fifth Day

Things never work like you expect, do they? Oh, well, it seems like Morris ain't a nice of a guy as people first suspected (which you really should've expected seeing as this is a CSpacian story, everybody is a jerk until proven otherwise). Heck, even then approach them with some sense of distrust.