A/N: Incest only occurs for blood related siblings, guys. This is definitely not an incest flick. Emmy & Luffy are 100% not related and that is also clear to everyone around them. Emmy and Luffy call each other brother and sister because to them that is their title and they don't know any other way to describe it. (Also, very clear to everyone else that their relationship is not that of a brother and sister but everyone's just holding their tongue at this point).
On that note...
Ch 55 - I'm Trying to Stay Positive.
"Miss Maid, you want to take a break from walking, I can switch with you," Vivi offered as she sat perched on top of the newest member of their traveling group. It was a camel that Nami had affectionately named Eyelashes.
They had saved him from becoming lunch for a Sandora Lizard. It was the only good thing to come out of a of a string of unfortunate events. The most unfortunate being Luffy accidentally getting duped by herd of Warusagi Birds, known to steal belongings from unknowing travelers. They were traveling with no food, no clothes, no camp, and most importantly, no back up water. The only water left was the ones that Ace had brought along himself.
He was the only one wise enough not to participate in the random game of rock paper scissors that Luffy had demanded with the stipulation that the winner was to carry everyone else's belongings.
"I'm okay," Emmy said with a small smile. She seemed to be the only one hanging onto the last shred of positivity. Everyone else were too annoyed at the captain, too uncomfortable in the heat, or too worried about the state of the country.
"Emmy-chan? Are you sad that Ace said goodbye? He was with us for such a short period of time after such a big reunion. It's okay to cry, if you want," Sanji said, noticing how downcast the first mate's eyes were.
Emmy shook her head and to the cook's surprise, her smile got brighter. "Actually, he stayed longer than he actually needed to. I could feel his sense of urgency to leave but I could also feel him fighting it somewhat just so he could spend some more time with Luffy."
"And you. Don't you think?"
Emmy blushed and her hand went up to touch the string of beads that hung around her neck. Ace had left after the sandstorm and headed back towards where they had docked the Going Merry. He had given Luffy a blank sheet of paper to keep. The crew didn't know what it was but Ace was adamant that it was important. He also left with an odd request to Emmy. He had given her hand a little squeeze before asking her, "Hey, Emmy. Can you tell how I'm feeling right now?"
Emmy had blinked and then taken off her headband to really focus on Ace's emotions. "Yes, you're feeling-"
"No, don't describe it," he had interrupted with a grin, "Just feel that and remember it, okay?"
"Oh...okay…"
After a few moments he enveloped her in a hug and then whispered into her ear. "That's how an older brother should feel about a younger sister. Remember that."
It was all very perplexing and even now, Emmy wasn't sure what exactly Ace meant.
"GAHHHH! CROCODILE!"
"Eh?" The group looked over at a nearby sanddune and spotted the captain running back and forth with his arms outstretched.
"Crocodile!" Luffy roared at the top of his lungs, "I'm going to kick your butt!"
"What's he freaking out about?" Sanji asked.
"Did he eat a weird cactus?" Usopp asked.
"Ugh. Hasn't he caused enough trouble for today?" Nami groaned, "Chopper? Do you have anything to fix Luffy?"
Emmy glanced back at the ship's doctor, who was being pulled by the swordsman on a makeshift sled. The desert heat had finally gotten to the winter island native. "I don't think he would be much help right now."
"Oh geez. Alright, Zoro. Prude. You guys deal with it then," Nami said with a wave her hand.
"Wait! Why me?!" Zoro demanded, "Emmy can just put him to sleep or something and then drag him back."
"You want me to double your debt?" Nami threatened.
"It would be good for you to come along," Emmy said as she made her way towards Luffy without any complaints, "Judging by his tone, he's in a combative mood."
Zoro scowled but dutifully followed the first mate while pulling the doctor behind him.
"Raaaaaaaaaaaa!' Luffy screamed and ran away from them towards some unseen target, "Crocodile!"
Emmy gasped and hitched up her tunic and went after him. "Luffy! Stop! Luffy!"
She raced over mounds of sand dunes, kicking up sand everywhere, with Luffy's straw hat fixed in her sights.
"Wait a second!" Zoro shouted when he finally caught up to her. He grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around, "Don't run off too fast otherwise you might get lost!"
Luffy stopped his thrashing and faced them. "Emmy?"
Zoro let out a sigh of relief. "Oh good, he's come back to his senses. Oy, Luffy. You-"
"Grrrr! Let go of her, Crocodile!" Luffy scowled.
"Oh dear," Emmy said as they watched Luffy push up his sleeves and bend his legs.
"Looks like it's come to this again," Zoro sighed and stepped in front of Emmy while rolling up his own sleeves, "Emmy, you look after Chopper. Let me wake up this fool."
"Just don't use your swords!" Emmy warned while Zoro dashed forward.
"I know!" Zoro barked back.
"Gum-Gum Submarine!"
Luffy's fist came charging through the sand and up towards Zoro's chin. The swordsman avoided it easily but the first mate was not so lucky and it punched her clear across the face and sending her tumbling down the other side of the sand dune.
Emmy wasn't sure how long she had been out but by the time she woke up, she was covered in at least 3 inches of sand.
"Oh dear," Emmy gasped when she remembered what had caused her to be in this state. she scrambled up and over the sand dune, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."
Both Zoro and Luffy were locked in a frozen state with each other's fist lodged right against one cheek. They were torso deep in sand and she could only see the white in their eyes. Zoro had a nosebleed while there was a drizzle of blood over the side of Luffy's mouth. A gust of hot wind blew swept by her feet as she hopped between her nakama.
"Zoro? Luffy?" Emmy tried giving both their shoulders a shake but the men weren't budging. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."
She scrambled back up to wear the reindeer was buried. "Chopper? Dr. Chopper? I need your help…I only know how to put people to sleep. I don't know how to wake them-"
She gasped as an idea struck and she ran back to the two boys. She looked between the two of them to decide who she should wake up first.
"I know this would work on Luffy but what if he wakes up and gets another fit?" Emmy wondered out loud and then absentmindedly smoothed out the front of her tunic, "Maybe I should try to wake up Zoro then…"
She took a deep breath and pinched Zoro's nose. "1...2...3...4...5...6…7...8...9...10?!" Emmy gasped and hurriedly let go of the swordsman's nose when his face started to turn purple but yet he still wasn't waking up.
"HOT!" Suddenly, the reindeer came bursting through the sand and coughing up sand, "What happened? Where am I?"
"Dr. Chopper!" Emmy cried, "Please come help!"
"Emmy? What's going on?" Chopper asked as he slid down the sand dune and towards Emmy, "Ah! What happened to Zoro and Luffy?!"
"They accidentally took each other out...I'm trying to wake up Zoro but he's not responding to me and-" Emmy started to explain.
"Say no more. I got just the thing," Chopper said. He took off his backpack and started to rummage through it. Then he pulled out a bottle of smelling salts and stuck it under the swordsman's nose. "This should do the trick."
WIthin seconds, Zoro was awake and coughing up a fit. "Th...Thank you," Zoro gasped and then he winced and felt his jaw, "Where are the others?"
"They should be right over…" Emmy started to say as she climbed up to the top of the highest sand dune, expecting to see their nakama in the distance somewhere, "...No...Maybe I'm facing the wrong direction."
She ran to an opposite sand dune and looked up. "Oh dear…I think they went on without us."
"Those cold hearted bastards but that's alright. We'll just retrace our steps and then follow their footprints," Zoro sighed.
"Erm…." Emmy bit her lip as she looked down. The desert was smooth with only Emmy and Chopper's footprints from when they awakened, "Footprints?"
"Are you kidding me?!" Zoro seethed.
"It's okay! I remember we were heading that way!" Emmy said and pointed towards her right, "So we'll just keep walking that way until we catch up to everyone or see their footprints."
"Are you sure?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow.
Emmy nodded. "Yep! The sun was in front of us when we were walking with the others so we should walk towards the sun!"
"But doesn't the sun move?" Chopper asked.
"Oh yeah..." Emmy said.
"Oh god…" Zoro moaned.
"It's okay! We'll just keep walking in that direction," Chopper said with forced optimism, "I don't think that much time has passed so we'd going in a general direction. Maybe I can catch their scent when the wind comes again."
Zoro sighed and threw Luffy over his shoulder. "Well, it's better than nothing. Alright, let's go then. Chopper, can you handle the heat? I can't pull you while carrying this guy as well."
"I can pull you if you need," Emmy offered.
"I'm good," Chopper said and returned to his normal form, "I think I can handle walking for the rest of the day. Also, if you need help carrying Luffy, I can do that too."
"We can trade until this idiot comes to," Zoro agreed, "Emmy, lead the way."
"Yosh!" Emmy thrust her fist up in the air and walked on ahead.
That was the last spoken word for several hours as they walked under the desert sun. By the time their captain came to, Zoro and Chopper had already swapped hands three times and he was slung over the reindeer's shoulders.
"Are you finally sane again?" Zoro grumbled as Luffy rubbed his head, "God, you're such a nuisance."
"Huh? Wha? Huh?" Luffy asked and then he spotted Emmy up ahead, "Oh! Emmy! Can I have some water?! It's hot."
"No," was all Emmy could bring herself to say.
"Stingy," Luffy pouted and then he took a better look at his surroundings, "Eh? Where are the others?"
"Dunno," Zoro said.
"Huh? You don't know?" Luffy asked.
"I'm not sure, to be more precise," Zoro said.
"Don't be joking at a time like this," Luffy lectured.
The corner of Zoro's lip and left eye began to twitch. "Heh. Heh. Heh."
"This is no time to be laughing," Luffy sighed.
Zoro's face darkened. "I know."
Luffy frowned. "Don't tell me we're lost," he complained.
"WHOSE FAULT DO YOU THINK THAT IS?!" Chopper and Zoro seethed.
"Eh? Mine?" Luffy asked innocently.
Zoro willed himself not to reach for his katanas and slice and dice the captain. Then a thought occurred to him and he smiled maliciously at the boy. "Oy, Luffy...you know what you did?"
"What? What did I do?"
"You knocked out Emmy."
Luffy frowned again and this time his brows knitted together. "That's really not funny, Zoro."
"I'm not joking, Luffy. Just ask Emmy and be honest, Emmy! He needs to know what he did."
Luffy looked expectantly at his first mate but then his jaw dropped when she very hesitantly gave a nod.
"Yeah...it's true," she said very quietly. If they were anywhere else, Luffy might not have heard her but they weren't. They were stuck in the middle of nothing, "But it wasn't really your fault you-"
Before she could even attempt to make him feel better, Luffy's entire body deflated and he sank to his knees. "Nooooooooooo," he moaned, "I am so so so so sorry."
Emmy hurried over to Luffy while the other two continued on their way. She helped him to his feet and dusted off his clothes. "It's okay. I'm fine now. It wasn't entirely your fault. I got in the way of the punch, you see. You were hallucinating and you thought Zoro was Crocodile and-"
Luffy snapped to attention and he raised a fist. "Zoro is Crocodile?!'
"HOW BIG OF AN IDIOT ARE YOU?!" Zoro and Chopper shouted.
They continued on their way with Emmy explaining to a very downtrodden Luffy what had happened. She tried to break it to him as gently as possible but he was still a ball of guilt even after she finished recapping everything. Zoro and Chopper were discussing something up ahead but Emmy couldn't make out what they were saying since Luffy was trying to apologize as best as he could in the desert heat.
"Geeeeeeeaaaahhhh'm so sorrryyyyyyyeeeaahhhh geeehhhhh," Luffy moaned, "Geeeeooow can I make this up to youooooahhh gehhhh?"
"It's really okay. Let's just focus on getting back to the others," Emmy tried again.
"Geeehhhhhh," Luffy moaned.
"Oh look!" Emmy said with a smile as she pointed up ahead towards a large boulder that protruded more on the top and created a deep shadow at it's base, "I think there's shade up ahead."
"You want shade?! Yosh! LET'S GO TO THE SHAAAADE!" Luffy shouted, suddenly full of energy with such an achievable goal, "Gum-gum-"
His two arms shot forward, around Emmy, past Zoro and Chopper, whose faces turned pale when they realized what Luffy was doing, and his hands grabbed onto the rocks, "Rocket!"
"AHHHHHH!" Emmy, Zoro, and Chopper screamed as they were sling shotted with their captain forward and crash landed right under the shade.
"SHishishishishi! Yay! We're in the shade. It's so nice and cool! What else do you want, Emmy? Let me know!" Luffy laughed as he perched himself up on the part of the rock.
Emmy and Zoro immediately leapt to their feet with the first mate trying to hold the swordsman back. Zoro's malicious intent was just as thick as the sweat pouring down his face as he held tightly onto two of his katanas. "I outta chop you into pieces!"
"Oh! My bad! My bad!" Luffy laughed, "Huh? Where's Chopper?"
He looked around from his seat and saw Chopper's backpack poking out from the sand, a few feet away from them and directly under the sun. "Oooh, what's he doing out there? Is he trying to act funny?"
"Just a small cut, Emmy. Just give me a pinky or a toe. He doesn't need all 10 toes," Zoro growled.
"Luffy!" Emmy shouted sternly over her shoulder while holding tightly onto Zoro's wrists.
Luffy quickly changed his tune and got down on his knees. "Right. It was my fault. I sincerely apologize," he said and gave a deep bow.
"God!" Zoro sighed as he released his grip on his katanas and pulled away from Emmy, "This guy…"
He sat himself down on a nearby rock and rested his elbows on his knees. "I- Whaaa!"
Without warning, the ground broke and Zoro fell straight down with sand pouring over him.
"Zoro! Are you okay?!" Emmy gasped as she ran over towards the hole. It was so deep that she couldn't see anything even when she leaned right over the edge.
"Dammit! That hurts!" Zoro cursed, "What is this place?"
"You're hurt?" Emmy gasped as she leapt over the edge, "Here. Let me take a look!"
"What?! No. Don't come down here!" Zoro cried out and instinctively held out his arms when he saw the first mate falling right at him, "Oof! Why are you down here?!"
"You said you were hurt," Emmy said and then she frowned, "Should I not have come down?"
"Well, it's too late now," Zoro sighed and he tilted her forward so that she could stand up on her own. His eyes adjusted to the light and he saw a corner of a large stone tablet jutting out from the sand amongst broken pillars and crumbling stone walls, "What's that?"
Emmy and him walked over towards it. As they got closer, they could see that the tablet was actually a cube and they had engravings on all sides of them. Emmy reached out to touch the markings and she looked over at Zoro. "I'm not very good with reading so I can't tell if these are letters or...pictures?'
Zoro shook his head. "I can't read it either. The more important question is what's something like this-"
"Doing underground?" Luffy finished.
"Exactly," Zoro said and then he stiffened
"Luffy?!" Zoro and Emmy gasped as they turned to face the rubber boy.
"What the hell are you doing down here?" Zoro demanded.
"Well, you were down here and so was Emmy," Luffy said.
"That's not a good reason!" Zoro shouted.
"Luffy, with you down here, we might get separated from Chopper! It's bad enough we're separated from Vivi-sama and the others," Emmy sighed.
"Oh, don't worry about that," Luffy grinned, "Cause when I came down, I saw Chopper was falling down too."
"What?"
"AHHHHHH!" Another part of the underground ceiling broke and the reindeer came crashing down right behind the cube.
"Dr. Chopper! Are you okay?" Emmy asked as she ran over to the reindeer and helped him to his feet.
"Owww," Chopper moaned, "What is this place?"
"No idea, but whatever it is. It's definitely underground," Zoro said as he and Luffy came around to join them, "Have your eyes adjusted to the darkness?"
Chopper squinted his eyes and then closed one, then the other. "Not quite."
"Mine have," Emmy said and she leaned back so she could see right to the top, where Zoro had fallen. With the skylight he had created she was able to see walls arching up from all sides, "It looks like we're inside a giant dome."
"Ah," Zoro said, "Manmade too. There's no way rocks could form so perfectly."
"These are probably ancient ruins or something," Chopper said as he sniffed the air. Then he noticed the engraved cube and he stepped closer to it, "These picture-like writings...I saw it in a book or something before. These are ancient letters."
"Who cares about that stuff?" Luffy sighed as he rolled around in the sand, "It's so nice and cold down here. Feels nice!"
"Now, do you think this place was built underground or did it get buried after it was built?" Emmy asked, ignoring the captain's antics.
"I don't know why, but I get the feeling they were trying to hide this building," Chopper said.
"Whoever made this put in a lot of work…" Zoro sighed, "But we need to see if they worked on a ladder or something because we need to get the hell out of here. Right, Captain?"
He turned to see that Luffy was still rolling around in the cold sand.
"Noooo! Let's stay here a little longer. It's hot outside," Luffy whined.
"One pinky toe. That's all I ask!" Zoro begged again with Emmy back to preventing him to draw out his swords.
"LUFFY!" Emmy shouted.
Luffy leapt to his feet. "Okay. Time to get outta here. We gotta meet up with the others! Gum-Gum...Pistol!"
He shot his arm out towards the Zoro-made hole and grabbed onto the side only to have it break off and fall right back down on him.
"What are you doing?" Zoro demanded, "Stop playing around!"
"I'll get it this time!" Luffy shouted as he threw out his arm again, "Gum-Gum Pistol!"
Again, he grabbed on to the edge but again it broke off and came crumbling down on top of him.
"Ugh! This is so annoying!" Luffy said and started to throw both his fists up into the air, "Gum-Gum Gatling!"
"EH?!"
Chopper, Zoro, and Emmy ran for cover as Luffy enlarged the hole exponentially. The entire boulder that had served as their shade was broken into pieces and it all came straight down on where the pirates once stood.
"Alright, all better!" Luffy said with a grin.
"Are you crazy?! What are you gonna grab on to now that you broke that boulder?!" Zoro seethed.
Emmy followed Luffy's eyeline towards a stone pillar that stood about twenty feet tall and broken at the tip. "Oh dear…" she said as Luffy walked over towards it.
"Chopper, you should probably turn little for this," Luffy advised and then wrapped both his arms around the pillar at least ten times, "Grab on, guys!"
"So it's come to this, huh?" Zoro sighed, "Alright, guys. No use fighting it. Let's just give up."
"Huh?" Chopper asked as he watched Emmy link her arms under Luffy's and clung tightly to his back.
"Come on, Chopper," Zoro said as he grabbed onto Luffy's right arm.
Chopper turned back to his normal self and he jumped up to grab onto Luffy's left, "Are...are you sure about this?"
"Here goes!" Luffy shouted, "Gum-Gum Spring!"
He kicked up off the ground and they circled around and around the pillar before the rubber boy let go and they came hurtling out the dome and into the burning desert sky.
"AHHHHHHH!" Chopper and Emmy screamed with their cheeks blowing out from the force.
"How are we supposed to land?!" Chopper exclaimed when he saw they were still going at an upward trajectory.
"That's why I said to just give it up!" Zoro shouted.
"You don't mean…" Chopper whimpered as they began to descend.
"Hang on," Emmy advised, "It'll be over before you know it."
"I want this whole day to be over!" Zoro grunted.
"Brace yourself!" Chopper yelled as they plummeted back down on the sand.
Kaboom!
"Yahahahhaha," Luffy cheered when it was all over and the sand cloud settled back down onto the ground, "Successful escape! Hey? Where is everyone?"
"I...I think I chose the wrong ship to join…" Chopper groaned with his two hooves twitching towards the sun.
"You must've read my mind," Zoro grunted with only his head above the sand.
"At...at least the sun is setting," Emmy said while lying face down in the sand, "The sand feels cooler than before."
"Way to stay positive, Emmy," Zoro sighed.
"Somebody has to…"
