Hi, guys! Sorry I'm posting a few hours later than I normally do - I got caught up in watching a couple old black-and-white films. If you like watching old mysteries, I'd suggest The Thin Man. There's as much humor in that series as there is crime-solving. XD
Thanks to colbub, GrandMasters, The Three Kings, and Alder Niis for the Favs and Follows!
pizzafan123 - Yeah, they were pretty long last week...I tend to keep the chapters somewhere between 3K and 4K, but sometimes they can get away from me and prattle on for a while. :) I'm glad you like how I'm going with the sibling relationship that's starting up between Maria and Zoro. XD Yeah, there was definite irony there! But Luffy's got a hidden smartness, too.
The Pokemon Arc isn't going to (officially) show it's face until a long time later, but there are going to be peeks at it all over the place.
Tsukino Aisuru - A - At this point, Maria's just along for the ride, but she could end up changing a few things...
Grandmasters - Good question. I think Maria's more right-handed, but I'm not exactly sure. Let's ask her!
Maria: I used to be, but after a while I had to get used to using both hands for a lot of the stuff I got involved in. My right hand's my main weapon and writing hand, though.
And there you have it.
Whelp, enough with the answering of reviews and stuff! Here's the chapter!
Chapter 51 - Unusual Crew, Suspicious Brew
True to Franky's word, he somehow managed to put together something that looked like an elaborate staircase that led from the Sunny's deck to the deck of the fishermen's ship. As soon as that was in place, Luffy somehow managed to get all of the men up onto the deck, where Chopper dragged them into his new office.
"Your deck is a lawn?!" the short man exclaimed in surprise as he came up.
Maria, who was following them up after Luffy and Robin, gave a sigh and shook her head. "He seems to be easily startled by things."
"Well, I doubt that a crew of fishermen down on their luck would have expected a pirate crew to come to their aid," Robin commented in reply. "Most pirate crews are notorious for their more violent tendencies."
Maria hummed in response to this. "Still, it makes you wonder...is our ship the only ship that carries a lawn on the main deck?"
"I believe so."
Maria and Robin walked over to the galley and slipped inside, followed closely behind by Franky.
"Maria-san! Robin-chwan!" Sanji called out from the kitchen. "Have a seat! Dinner will be ready soon!"
"Thanks," Maria replied, taking the seat that she had started to consider hers. Franky and Robin followed suit in different locations on the table.
Maria quietly looked down at her orange jacket while she listened to Sanji work his magic in the kitchen. The amnesiac felt like she wanted to do something with her hands for some reason, but she had left her books back in the girls' cabin - and the aquarium room.
Maria decided that she was going to need to go and remedy that later.
"I can't help but feel that there's something fishy about those fishermen," Franky commented, frowning. "I mean, that ship doesn't look like it's made for that kind of thing."
Maria shot a curious look over at the shipwright. "You think so?"
"Yup. I've seen plenty of ships, and that one isn't one that I think a bunch of fishermen would take as their own. Most fishermen stay close to their home islands, too - they keep it on the horizon."
"And we haven't seen an island in the area, right?" the amnesiac guessed. "Because I haven't seen one; have you guys?"
"I certainly haven't," Robin noted thoughtfully.
Franky shook his head. "Neither have I."
"So...what does that mean?" Maria frowned.
"It means that there's something going on that we might not know about," Sanji responded, coming over with a couple steaming bowls of what looked like soup before adding salads and small loves of bread.
As the cook was putting down the bowls, Luffy and Usopp came barreling in, followed by Nami, Zoro and the fishermen that had come over from the other ship.
Sanji was quick to hand off other bowls of soup, directing the fishermen to sit down on a bench that was on one side of the room. The cook then retreated back to the kitchen while the rest of the crew started eating.
Maria picked up a spoon and took a sip of the soup, pleased to discover that it was both warm and delicious. The amnesiac moved to swallow more of the soup, feeling the warm liquid move down her throat and hit her stomach while its warmth moved outward into the rest of her body.
That's when the amnesiac heard what sounded like sniffling. Her blue eyes moved up from the bowl of soup, and she caught sight of the fishermen crying their eyes out while they were eating the soup at high speed.
"Uh..." Maria blinked a couple times when she saw the group of men weeping like babies. "What's up with them?"
"Delicious! This is amazing, Mr. Eyebrows Cook!" the short man proclaimed between sips.
"S-so good!" added one of the larger fishermen. Anything else that he said was garbled because of his tears.
"What big babies," Nami muttered from where she sat next to Robin. "Geez."
Robin let out a slight laugh, clearly amused.
"Do people who haven't had Sanji's cooking usually act like this?" Maria asked, looking at the fishermen with an expression of curiosity.
"You didn't," the navigator responded, looking over at the amnesiac with a pointed expression.
Maria shrugged. "I said usually. I don't know if I'm technically usual. Considering my amnesia and the Berries I pulled out of nowhere."
Nami opened her mouth to respond, then frowned while Robin chuckled again.
The little man looked up, and let out a yelp. "And beautiful pirate ladies, too!"
"O-oh! You're right! They're so beautiful, I can't stop the tears!"
"It seems you're right about them," Robin commented, chuckling.
Zoro suddenly slammed his bowl down on the table, causing Maria to look to her right at the swordsman.
"But I wish they wouldn't cry so loud," Nami muttered, glaring back at the fishermen.
Zoro grabbed his wooden mug and swallowed down its contents, letting out what sounded like a gasp as he took in a breath of air before reaching for something else.
"So, where are you guys from?" Luffy asked, looking over at the fishermen. "We're trying to get to Fish-Man Island so that we can get to the New World, and if we knew how close we were, that'd be a great help!"
"What?!" the short man gasped, dropping his soup bowl. "You're heading for the New World?"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the tall man in green overalls commented. "I won't go into details, but that place is hell!"
Maria blinked in surprise upon hearing the man say that, blinking a couple times in confusion.
"Hey, wait - you mean you guys have been there?" Luffy asked in curiosity.
"Ehh...no," the short man responded, relaxing somewhat.
"We've just heard stuff about it is all," the taller man added quickly. "From other sailors. They said it was a terrible place."
"Idiots," a man with sunglasses muttered under his breath.
Maria turned to look in the man's direction, raising an eyebrow upon hearing that. She exchanged glances with Franky, who had a slight frown on his face behind his sunglasses.
"I don't care about stories like that," Luffy responded, grinning. "We won't know whether it's hell or not unless go." The Straw Hat laughed.
"Besides, sometimes stuff like this is over exaggerated, right?" Maria spoke up.
"Yeah! Shishishishishishi!"
Just then, there came the sound of something colliding with something else outside, causing everyone to look up from their food and at the door that led outside.
"What's going on?" Maria asked as Zoro and Luffy got up from their seats.
"I'm gonna find out," the swordsman replied in a low growl. He started for the door, the others following after him in a curious procession.
Luffy threw the door open and stepped out into the cool night air, looking around with a curious expression while Zoro stood in the doorway. Maria, who happened to be right on his heels, stood on her tip-toes in order to look over the swordsman's shoulder.
"Oh! Hey there, friend!" came a voice from the main deck. "You really saved us with that food, so I wanted to do something to thank you!"
Zoro moved out of the doorway as he and the others moved out into the cool night air. Maria caught sight of a figure standing on the lawn below: a muscular man who the amnesiac hadn't seen before, but her eyes kept going to the yellow spike of hair on top of his head and the too-wide grin that was on his face.
"The name's Stansen, and under current circumstances, I'm acting as captain." The man lifted the large barrel in front of him with one hand and tossed it up to the pirates.
Maria let out a yelp and instinctively ducked as the barrel came flying towards them, but Zoro caught it easily with one hand.
"It's a special drink we save for times like this," Stansen explained, still grinning. "Enjoy yourselves!"
"Thanks!" Zoro responded with a grin.
Maria got up from where she had ducked, and she looked at the barrel with a cautious expression. "A drink?" She frowned, thinking back to the party that had happened their first night on the ship. "I think I'll pass, thanks. That stuff should be probably be drunk occasionally, not every hour on the hour."
Zoro glanced over at Maria, then gave a shrug. "Your loss." He then turned and walked into the galley with the barrel over his shoulder, the others following on his heels.
"Are you sure you don't want it?" Stansen asked as he came up the stairs towards where they were disappearing into the galley. "It's really good."
"No thanks." Maria stuck her tongue out. "Everything in moderation. I don't plan on getting addicted to something like that." With that, Maria walked back into the galley sat down where she had been a moment ago.
The amnesiac jumped a bit when Zoro sat down with a dull thud in his seat before tilting his head back.
Zoro finished off the mug in his hand. "Man, you're strange guys."
"Yeah," Usopp spoke up, lowering his own mug. "Seriously, you didn't have anything to eat, but you have tons of this stuff?"
"Y-yeah," Stansen replied from where he was sitting on the counter. "Anyway, this food is great! We're lucky to have run into you guys when we did! Especially way out here!"
Luffy gave a laugh at Stansen's statement. "It's no big deal."
"But it is!" Stansen argued. "If we were able to go back to where we came from, we'd be able to give you a better reward than this."
Maria paused mid-bite into a chunk of bread, frowning. Something was building up in her gut, but she wasn't sure what exactly it meant. However, she was starting to feel rather uneasy.
"You're not fooling anyone," Sanji spoke up from the kitchen. "Truth is, you want us to help you get there, don't you?"
"You got me!" Stansen looked back at the cook. "Is it that obvious?"
Luffy laughed. "Look, it's fine, we get it! We'll take you - don't worry."
"You sure? Why, thank you!"
"Now, wait a minute, Luffy!" Nami spoke up. "If we change course now and don't go to Fish-Man Island, we're screwed!"
"We drop them off real quick, so it should be no problem, right?" Luffy pointed out.
Maria frowned at her captain before nodding in agreement. "It shouldn't be. I mean, all we have to do is get them off the ship and we'll be off, right?"
Luffy nodded. "Come on - it'll be fine! It'll all work out in the end!"
Stansen laughed. "Your crew is lucky to have such an understanding captain. All right, then - I place our care in your hands!"
Time Break
"I'd like to propose a toast in honor of your good fortune and journey back!" Usopp declared, raising his mug. "Here's to a safe return!"
"Yeah!" Luffy agreed, raising his own mug. "I'll drink to that!"
"Cheers!" came the unanimous cry...from everyone except for Maria and Sanji, that is.
Since the amnesiac didn't have a drink to toast with, she decided that it might be a better idea just to keep her mouth shut rather than raise an invisible mug. And the cook had already gone out to the helm to make sure that they were going in the direction that the fishermen had said their home was, and he had taken his mug with him.
After a couple minutes, Maria decided to get up and go back to the aquarium room to grab her astronomy book. If she was going to ever move it, now would probably be as good a time as any. The amnesiac slipped out of the room while the others were laughing with Stansen, her eyes giving the galley one last scan before she slipped out of sight.
"It's weird that most of the fishermen look nervous," Maria commented to herself, frowning. "Why would they look like that when their captain gave us the alcohol?" She quickly made her way down the stairs and disappeared into the aquarium room - where the shark no longer was, much to Maria's surprise - and sat down on the couch and grabbed her astronomy book.
"Maybe I can get some reading done before we get to wherever it is that these fishermen come from," Maria muttered to herself as she opened up the book and leaned back on the cushions.
"In this first chapter, I will explain constellations that are oriented with most worlds in the same locations and with the same sort of history. Some constellations have different names depending on the culture the names oriented in, but their orientation in the sky and their shape are the same.
"First, the Northern Cross, which was used by sailors of the past in order to find true north on the sea..."
Maria heard something thunk outside the door of the room, and her head shot up, a wary expression coming over her face for a moment before the door opened, revealing who was standing on the other side.
The amnesiac blinked a couple times. "Hi, Franky? What's up?"
The cyborg walked into the room and closed the door behind him, pausing for a moment before speaking.
"That drink was drugged," the shipwright commented, coming over to sit next to Maria. "Probably some kind of sleeping drug or something."
Maria's eyes widened, and she sat upright in stiff surprise. "What? They drugged it?"
"Yup."
"B-but you drank some of that stuff! Why haven't you fallen asleep yet?" Maria blinked in confusion as she looked up at the cyborg.
"You know how I made my stomach into a fridge for my fuel?" Franky looked over at the amnesiac with a somewhat curious expression.
"Uh..." Maria gave a slight nod. "Yeah. But what does that have to do with anything?"
"I had to rework my entire digestive system when I was repairing myself, so it's going to take a bit for the stuff to actually affect me."
Maria gained a surprised expression. "Really?" A frown worked its way across her face. "But...how exactly is that possible?"
"You don't need to worry about it." Franky waved off Maria's questioning frown. "Point is, though, most everyone else is asleep, and we're gonna have to do something about those so-called fishermen. Since you're the only other one who's actually awake..."
Awake...
That word set off a number of alarm bells in Maria's head - mainly ones that were connected to recent memories.
"That could be easily solved," the amnesiac stated quickly. "We need to get back to the galley - there's some stuff there that I know we can use to wake the others up - and make sure that you don't fall asleep!"
"Really?" Franky raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"Yup. Come on." Maria got up from where she was sitting and started towards the door that led out onto the main deck, Franky following a short distance behind her.
The duo managed to get into the galley without running into the fishermen - which Maria thought was odd, considering that they had been in the galley with the others or wandering around on deck a moment ago.
Maria started to look around the galley for a moment, frowning slightly as she saw Zoro, Usopp, Nami, and Luffy sleeping around the table - two of the three boys sending puddles of drool to the floor. The amnesiac sighed before dashing into the kitchen.
"What are you looking for in there?" Franky asked. The cyborg let out a loud yawn almost as soon as he was done asking the question.
"Something that I gave Sanji this morning," Maria responded, not looking over at the cyborg. Her gaze went around the area, and then she caught sight of what she was looking for, stuffed into one corner of the counter space closest to the small fridge. "There it is! I hope there's still some Chesto Berries in here!"
"Berries?" Franky repeated in surprise. "How are those things going to help?"
"Well, besides making good dressings, sauces, and juices, Berries are used by Pokemon as natural medicines." Maria dropped the astronomy book on the counter, then dug into the brown backpack for a moment before pulling out what looked like a mini blue and purple tree. "Chesto Berries, for instance, work as a great way to wake somebody up. The trick is to get the person asleep to eat it." The amnesiac tossed the Berry over to Franky. "Go ahead. It'll probably take care of that drug problem you're starting to have."
"Thanks." Franky chomped down on the Berry, chewing it for a moment before swallowing it down. "Weird. Feels kinda dry."
"And it's not the only one that does," Maria responded, pulling out a few others from the backpack before looking over at the other people at the table. She blinked for a moment before turning to look back at the cyborg. "Where's Robin? I know Sanji's at the helm, but -"
"She's out there with him." Franky let out another yawn. "How long is it going to take for that thing to kick in?"
"Shouldn't be too much longer." Maria thrust two Berries into Franky's hands. "Here. Take these two out to Sanji and Robin and force it down their throats. It should wake them up."
"Yeah, sure." Franky grabbed the two Berries from Maria's hands, then turned and stepped out into the cold night air.
The amnesiac quickly turned and started grabbing more Berries from the brown backpack.
"Are you really sure that's going to work?" asked a slightly curious voice from behind Maria.
"Pretty sure," the amnesiac responded without looking back. "I mean, Berries are natural medicines, so it should be able to wake them up." Maria paused upon realizing that she had just answered someone's question, and she whirled around.
"How is it that you two're awake?!" Maria yelped, her eyes wide with surprise.
"This isn't the first time that something like this has happened," Zoro replied. The green-haired swordsman shook his head. "Seriously, what is with it with people drugging perfectly good drinks?"
"I don't think we'll ever know," Nami commented, sighing with an unhappy expression. She sent a glare over at Zoro. "You should probably get out there. No telling what's going to happen now unless we do something about those so-called fishermen."
Zoro glowered in the navigator's direction, then snorted and got to his feet and went over to the door of the galley, where he peered out the window.
"Nah. Those three should be able to handle it." The swordsman let out a yawn, then turned and walked back over to where he had been sitting a moment ago, folding his arms across his chest.
Maria scrambled over to the door and peered out the window herself, an expression of relief coming across her face when she saw Franky, Robin, and Sanji all staring down the "fishermen."
"All right!" the amnesiac declared, grinning.
There's Maria's Berries doing their work! :)
See you guys tomorrow!
