This chapter is half the reason this part took so long. The narrative of the manga, as well as the anime, isn't fit for the written word. Also, because I'm adding details to flesh out characters and their roles within their own narrative... well am I stupid or ambitious? Still, this chapter fought me every. step. of. the. way. And I hate it. I don't like the giants, I don't like Mr 5 and his partner. I hate Mr 3 and has ANYONE seen Miss Goldenweek? Where is she? I swear, she's so non-existant I really don't know if she appears in this chapter or not...
Oh, enough of my complaints. Enjoy this chapter and make sure to review. Constructive criticism welcome.
Part 4; A Candle for a Giant
Chapter 2/6; Hearts beating with Pride and Honour
Vivi had to admit; Ruffy was special. They kept a fairly fast pace with Ruffy mostly running circles around Carue pointing out flowers and insects that caught her attention. Vivi was born a princess so she was no stranger to beautiful flowers, but she struggled to remember the last time she'd stopped to appreciate them. And here was Ruffy, pointing out little white ones hiding under leaves like they were treasures, as well as ones that she said resembled to sausages. Vivi thought they looked more like red banana peels, with stigmas instead of bananas in them.
Ruffy also picked mushrooms she'd never seen before and put them in a bag to bring back to Sanji.
"Oh, this smells so nice!" Ruffy called and showed a leaf to Vivi.
"Mm, it does," she agreed. "Almost like thyme."
"Thyme? Can you eat it?"
"It's a kind of spice."
Ruffy happily packed a few of the leaves with the mushrooms and then ran straight into a shallow stream with a call of; "Look at this!" She picked up one of the rocks, but as soon as she showed it to Vivi, the princess realized it wasn't a rock.
"That looks like… an ammonite?" Vivi was by no means a historian, but she'd once asked about the shells that appeared in the tiles of the castle, so she remembered the strange-looking creature Pell had showed her a picture of. Chakra had called it a forefather of the hermit crabs.
"Like an armoured squid!" Ruffy grinned, then smiled at the wiggling creature, put it back where she found it and moved on. Vivi saw a lot of smaller ones around the one Ruffy had shown her. A mother?
Carue moved without Vivi steering him, seeming content on simply following Ruffy around. Every noise that startled him, Ruffy ran to investigate. Since giant spot-billed ducks were desert dwellers, it stood to reason he didn't like the jungle environment. Vivi realized this quite belatedly, but wondered why Carue would ignore her signals just to stay in close peremiters of Ruffy. He couldn't like her that much, could he?
"Oh! Oh! What are those? Fruits?"
Vivi shook her head and looked up, following where Ruffy pointed, and her gaze continued upwards. Ruffy also blinked when something moved above the tree where she'd spotted something that looked like ornage coconuts. She backed up.
"Hey, what's a sea king doing on land?" she asked, perplexed.
Carue had also seen it and was tensing for flight under Vivi, who was more astonished than anything.
"It's a dinosaur."
"A dinosaur? Like an alligator cousin?"
Ruffy really was funny, Vivi thought distantly, to make such a strange comment at a time like this. The princess still couldn't take her eyes off the creature of which they could only see the long, snake-like neck and head. It had to be enormous to reach so high above the trees.
"This means… this is a prehistoric island, stuck in the age of the dinosaurs. You see, because the islands of Grand Line are separated from each other and the magnetic fields make travel difficult, each island has developed depending on the climate of the magnetism. While some islands have developed intricate and futuristic civilisations, others, like this one, hasn't developed at all since the age of…"
A small figure running up the neck of the dinosaur suddenly caught Vivi's attention. Her eyes widened.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Hadn't Ruffy been right beside her? Who had she been talking to? "Oh, these stupid colourful plants! Ruffy! Get off that thing!"
But Ruffy couldn't hear her. In fact, she had stopped listening when her question was ignored.
The heartbeat of this land-walking alligator cousin was soothing. It was a female, a grandmother in her golden years, at ease and fearless. With her head so high above the trees, she had an undisturbed view of her surroundings. Ruffy liked that very much too.
"What a great view! I could eat my lunch up here!"
The head she stood on moved leisurely, so the girl pirate had no problems keeping her footing. The birds above didn't look like birds or bats, having neither feathers nor fur. Their naked bodies came in a variety of sizes, colours and patterns, and they all had long beaks full of saw-like teeth, perfect for tearing rough skin and hard flesh.
The trees were all shades of green mixed with brown. Here and there she could spot the brightly coloured flowers as the wind moved large leaves aside. From here she could also spot eight volcanoes, white mist and black smoke moving in the light breeze and the air smelled a dizzying mix of the sulphur, smoke and lava from the volcanoes that blended with fresh scents of the trees. On either side of the island were white, hollow mountains.
And behind her…
Ruffy gasped in surprise, and just then the head she stood on made a jerking move, flicking her into the open air. She saw teeth and a tongue.
Her mind went blank as the nightmare swallowed her whole.
Below, Vivi saw the dinosaur Ruffy had climbed jerk its head and snatch the girl in its mouth. Vivi promptly ignored that she'd tried to learn that exact trick as a child, but with dates. Instead she had a second to think a thousand thoughts of how to save Ruffy and what to tell the others. Then, high, high above, an enormous blade sliced through the air and cut the dinosaur's neck clean off.
Ruffy's tiny figure fell from the offed head of the reptile and Vivi saw a shield the size of a ship reach out to catch the pirate. Carue fainted. Vivi felt quite weak to her knees as well when she saw exactly what had caught her.
Ruffy landed on something warm and rough, and the heartbeat of it overwhelmed her terror to the point she almost instantly forgot about it. The lingering tremors of her limbs and the receding shadows in the edge of her vision the only reminders.
She looked up at the owner of the heartbeat with wonder in her eyes.
"Here's a lively human. We haven't had guests in a while," the person whose palm she sat on chuckled.
Ruffy stared. He looked like a human man wearing a helmet of iron that circled his eyes and followed the length of his nose, a long, brown beard flowed from his face to his belly and a blue cape draped his shoulders. In his other hand was a sword that he rested on his shoulder. The metal was old and loved, but thin in comparison to everything else about this man.
"Your heartbeat is huge! Are you a human?"
The other laughed heartily. "I see you've never met a giant before. I am Dorry! The mightiest warrior in all of Elbaf! And the two of you are invited to my home."
"Oh, thanks!" Ruffy said and laughed along. She had no choice since the giant's heartbeat was so joyous. He was an easy-going and proud person, with only a few shades of loneliness at the edges of his heartbeat. So he was genuinely happy to have some company.
On ground level, a couple of trees away from the giant's foot, Vivi was trembling while trying to shake Carue awake. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the bizarre scene above, and she feared for all of their lives now. Vivi had heard about giants before, but never seen one in reality. And this one was from Elbaf; the land of the warriors. What could he be doing way out here?
And just how did he see Vivi on the ground?!
Brogy had seen a small ship out on the sea earlier and had happily awaited the travellers. He'd taken up carving lately to occupy his hands, so he finished his piece and looked up again. When he couldn't see the ship, he went in search of it along the river. Luckily the ship was only a few steps upstream and the crew had not had the time to hide it yet.
"Do you have ale?"
On the little boat was two little humans, one male and one female, and from the looks on their faces, Brogy could tell they'd never seen a giant before. Not that it surprised him, they looked quite young, even for their race. Figuring he'd surprised them with his grand appearance, since both of them were gaping too much to answer, Brogy kneeled beside the little boat and spoke again, making sure to speak slowly and clearly.
"I asked; do you have ale?"
"We… we have… a little," the female answered at last, her voice quite small, like a mosquito.
The giant smiled his best toothy grin. "So you do have ale."
Brogy was just about to invite the little humans, explain how long it was since he last had a good swig of alcohol, when he suddenly felt a bite in his rear and cried out in surprise. Looking over his shoulder, it was one of those pesky dinosaurs. A teen, by the looks of it. Perfect, their meat had just the right tenderness to it.
The giant gripped his trusty axe, turned and beheaded the lizard with an agility and speed that had often surprised his peers. After all; Brogy had quite the stocky build.
Taking the dinosaur's head in his free hand, the giant lifted his axe and declared: "I am Brogy! The mightiest warrior in all of Elbaf! And now I have meat. Let us feast, my guests."
Once again he was met by silence, save from the calls of animals in the jungle. Brogy stared at the tiny humans on the boat, flabbergasted. They had fainted. Well, that wasn't good. The ale wasn't stored on deck as far as Brogy could see, and cracking the little boat open to find it was just plain rude. Both of his parents had been very strict on discipline, and Brogy could still almost feel his mother's glare at the back of his head for even letting such a thought cross his mind. Either way, making enemies of the tiny humans would be counterproductive.
Scratching his neatly trimmed beard awkwardly, Brogy sat down and waited. A bird hovered above the boat, and squawked indignantly when Brogy waved it away.
"Being unconscious in this jungle is dangerous, you know," he told the tiny humans. "The predators here don't rest."
Brogy turned around and stretched his neck, looking in the direction of the central volcano anxiously. It would be just his luck if it erupted now of all times, after being silent for several weeks. Hopefully the tiny humans would wake up soon and he'd have company for a while. The loneliness was starting to crawl under his skin, making him restless no matter what he tried to occupy himself with. A hundred years was a long time after all. Oh, it had probably been more than a hundred years now.
Happily enough, when Brogy turned back to the ship, one of the tiny humans were stirring.
"Oh, you're up. You said you had ale."
Mr 3 liked to view himself as thorough and practical. At times he was even generous. He'd known for some time there were a couple of giants on Little Garden; the island got its name because of them after all, but it had never concerned him before. Now that he had a mission on Little Garden, he had looked into the giants more thoroughly. What he found was that the island's two inhabitants had been pirates once, and they were still wanted after a hundred years, their combined value adding up to two hundred million beli. It was a pleasant surprise, though Mr 3 could also easily figure out why nobody had bothered to capture them before. The giants of Elbaf were notoriously hard to deal with, and that didn't count the island itself. For someone like him though, he could take them both down with minimal effort and on his own. So now their targets were the princess of Alabasta, three young pirates and two giants. Since the D girl had a bounty, Mr 3 guessed she was the captain, despite her appearance. From the reports from Whiskey Peak, which Mr 3 read with a pinch of salt since it had been sent by Miss All-Sunday who had been spying from afar, the girl with the straw hat was small, making it hard to pin her age, but seems to have eaten a devil fruit. What power she wielded was unknown. The swordsman however, was only human. Skilled with katana, he had fought all of Whiskey Peak's bounty hunters alone. Mr 3 found it curious how such a talented swordsman answered to a girl. Not that it mattered. Having strength and skill was no use against a more cunning hunter.
The princess was the only one he thought could cause any kind of stir. Slipping under the radar and joining Baroque Works, even making it quite far into the rankings, Mr 3 felt she deserved at least some due respect.
Arriving to Little Garden, Mr 3 swiftly created a small house with his devil fruit power and set up his comfortable little camp. His partner went straight inside and went to sleep.
"Travelling is tiering," she'd said, as if she'd moved a single muscle during the journey on a boat that Mr 3 handled by himself.
"You truly are incomparably lazy," Mr 3 had commented and left to reconnoitre. At least the girl would be safe from dinosaurs and other dangerous critter. He himself wanted to scout the island and get a feel of the climate and find the best way to approach and capture his targets.
His map over the island said there were a total of three rivers, but the targets had arrived straight from Whiskey Peak, so by that logic, Mr 3 quickly found the ship.
"What kind of pirate leaves their ship unattended? What if I were a marine!" Mr 3 muttered when he found the silly boat was actually abandoned. How had these pirates not been captured by the marines yet if this was how they normally did things?! It was outrageous.
Mr 3 muttered to himself, considered setting a trap, but ultimately decided against it. The targets were Monkey D. Rayla and two of her crewmates, not the whole crew.
There were also fewer dinosaurs by the coast; the majority of them apparently residing near the centre of the island. Only the birds were near the sea. The dinosaurs Mr 3 did encounter were all young or weak. If Mr 3 had been a botanist or cared about wildlife, he might have been excited. But he was a city boy through and through, and the environment mostly disgusted him.
Using old reports of the island, Mr 3 managed to locate the camp of one of the giants.
"So this is where they are," Mr 3 whispered as he spotted two youngsters before the giant, recognizing one of them as a target. Then the other three should be at the other camp.
One of the volcanos erupted, and Mr 3 smirked when the giant explained what that meant. This would be so easy.
Dorry the giant was a generous host, and Ruffy was a good guest. The girl pirate was a little sad to give up her lunchbox as a gift for saving her, but it was worth it. Dorry served her a piece of meat that was about half the size of Going Merry, cooked to perfection inside a palm-leaf-wrap near the fire.
Dorry graciously picked up pieces from Ruffy's lunchbox with a needle made from some sort of bone.
"This dino-meat is so good, Dorry-giant," Ruffy said as she wiped her chin. "Really juicy."
"Your lunchbox ain't so bad either," the giant chuckled. "Not very filling, though."
"Of course it's good. I'll knock you out if you say otherwise," Ruffy answered and puffed out her chest.
Dorry threw his head back and barked out a laugh at the hilariousness of the comment. "Such an interesting lass. I like you a lot."
Ruffy laughed along.
Below them, at a safe distance, sat Vivi and Carue, both having declined the offer of food. None of them could comprehend how Ruffy could be so calm in the face of someone who could crush them in his sleep, even talking to the giant as if he was an old friend and they were just catching up. Had Ruffy not seen the heaps of human skeletons stacked against the mountain? The giant was definitely not as hospitable as he appeared.
"Don't trust anyone," Igaram's voice warned her again and again in her mind. But she couldn't just abandon Ruffy either. She was the captain, and Vivi wasn't so sure the rest of the crew would be so willing to take her to Alabasta if she sacrificed the girl pirate to this giant.
It wasn't in her nature to abandon anyone either, so Vivi stayed put without saying anything, waiting for a chance to grab Ruffy and run.
"So why are you here alone?" Ruffy suddenly asked. "Why aren't you with the other giant?"
"Oh, so you saw Brogy?"
"Nope. I can hear his heartbeat."
Dorry leaned forward and stared curiously at the little human. "You really are interesting. Well, to start with; we're both from Elbaf, a village of giant warriors."
His gaze drifted towards where Brogy lived, and then towards the volcano that had been silent long enough for anxiousness to start crawling under his skin.
"The reason we are here is because of the laws of our village. When there is a dispute, and neither side will budge, the God of Elbaf decides the matter in a fight to the death. Our God protects the one who is right and lets him live."
Ruffy picked up the bone-knife Dorry had given her and cut off another piece of meat while listening intently. Dorry smiled a bit at her, appreciating how the girl used the knife and not her sword. It showed her respect to the weapon, and that was something Dorry would always value. He could see himself telling stories to this girl for days while she tried to finish the food.
"Brogy and I started a fight, and now we're here. The one of us who is right will survive and go home victorious." Unable to hold it, Dorry started laughing again. "Now we've been here for a hundred years, and it's still not settled!"
The irony. Both he and Brogy had realized it long ago, but law is law, and they would probably be here until they both perished.
Ruffy wiped her chin and smiled. With how loud the giant's heartbeat was, she couldn't help but understand.
However, Vivi didn't. "A hundred years! How can you have been fighting for a hundred years?!"
"It's nothing," Dorry said with a shrug. "Our lifespan is around three times that of yours."
"Even so! Shouldn't your passion lose its edge? What's even the point anymore?!"
Her trial was cut short when one of the volcanoes suddenly erupted, throwing red-hot lava and black smoke high into the heavens while red rivers overflowed the mouth, setting the nearby trees on fire.
Ruffy heard the relief, the excitement and anticipation in the heart of a giant.
"I better be going," Dorry said and reached for his sword and shield.
"Have fun!" Ruffy called.
Dorry sent her a surprised glance, but smiled back regardless.
"Where are you going?" Vivi demanded.
"It's our signal. When the central volcano erupts, that is when we face off."
"WHY?" Vivi screeched. "Why are you fighting? How can you hate each other so…"
"You're wrong, Vivi! It's not about why!"
"Listen to your friend," Dorry called as he ran to meet another giant that came towards him. The two collided with a sound that almost drowned out that of the volcano.
Ruffy had jumped off from where she'd been seated on the meat. Her eyes were clear and her face happy.
"What do you mean?" the princess demanded.
The pirate was shivering, her knees suddenly giving in. Still, she explained breathlessly. "They aren't fighting an enemy. The other is the only person they don't have to hold back against. Why doesn't matter. The freedom they feel now is the best feeling in the world, even if they are too proud to admit it."
"What? I don't understand."
But Ruffy finally collapsed, holding her chest with eyes that had gone blind and golden. "So huge! Too much!"
The duel started with the sound of laugher and weapons clashing. Usopp stared at the battling giants with his mouth hanging open in equal parts wonder and horror. Every single blow between them was against vital points, each hit fatal if the opponent lacked the skill and confidence to block and dodge. None of them holding back. None of them giving an inch.
The ground shook like it was about to break apart.
"And they've been at it like this for a hundred years," Nami said, weak in her knees, and not only because of the ground shaking.
"Incredible," Usopp muttered.
Brogy's words echoed in his mind.
"We've been battling for over a hundred years. We forgot what the quarrel was even about."
The giant had laughed, and even though Usopp couldn't understand the joke, he knew somehow that to Brogy, living like this wasn't a burden. He was a proud warrior, and with the way he fought against the other, it was like he suddenly came alive.
"Now's our chance," Nami said and pulled at Usopp's arm. "Let's get out of here and regroup with the others." And hope that Brogy had been lying when he said the log pose took a whole damn year to set. It had to be a lie and the giant was just trying to make them lose hope so they'd be easy meals for him once he'd fattened them up.
"I want to keep watching," Usopp said.
Nami shook her head at her friend's sudden craziness. Usually he'd be running for the hills as soon as the danger turned its back. "Why? It's just a couple idiots fighting over exactly nothing."
But Usopp indignantly puffed his chest up. "What do you know! This is a fight between real men!"
Nami had so little interest in the feelings of men that she was immediately bored by Usopp's nonsensical triad. Not that he noticed.
"It's like each of them has a warrior's flag inside their hearts, and that flag is more important than their very lives. They refuse to let that flag be torn away, that's why they've been doing this for a hundred years. To protect their value as true warriors!"
"How dumb. I'm out of here," Nami sighed with a dismissive wave of her hand, but Usopp went on as if she wasn't even there.
"This is it. This is what I've been looking for! This is what it means to be a brave warrior of the sea that I want to become!"
At that, the thief knew she was defeated. She didn't care about warriors and pride or whatever, but she did care about Usopp. Not that she would ever say that out loud. So she sat back down on the old log Brogy clearly had placed there for the human guests that had come before them. Nami glanced at the heaps of bones and ignored the thought.
"So you want to be a giant?" she asked, because defeated or not, she'd never admit it.
"HAVE YOU LISTENED TO A WORD I SAID?!" Usopp demanded furiously, but the feeling was mixed with too much excitement, so he looked right back at the fight. "If there truly is a whole village of warriors like them, I want to go there and meet with them."
Just then, Brogy's axe head took to the skies in an arch while the sword of the other was embedded in the earth, the giants wobbled, and then went for the last strike.
Everything stilled.
Usopp jumped up and down, his heart racing with anticipation. "Who won?!"
"Who cares?" Nami muttered. Because if they'd been fighting like that for a hundred years there was no chance of this duel to have a winner.
Both giants slowly fell away from each other, and the earth trembled when they hit the ground. Then the air filled with their laugher.
Usopp heaved a sigh of relief. None of the warriors had lost their flag! This duel would go on.
A few minutes later, Brogy returned, and grabbed a couple of the barrels of ale Usopp and Nami had given him.
"You don't mind me sharing with an old friend, do you?" Brogy asked politely.
"Of course not!" Usopp beamed. In his heart he was glad. The two giants weren't enemies. Of course they weren't! How could soulmates be enemies? Wait. Was 'soulmate' the right word?
Brogy threw the barrels towards the other giant, who caught it and made a friendly gesture towards Nami and Usopp before leaving.
No one noticed the shadow that slipped back into the shadows of the jungle.
Brogy sat back in his seat with a sigh. He was bruised and battered, but his smile looked different, relaxed and content.
Before, Usopp hadn't even dared look at the giant aside from his first impression of nothing but giant teeth and his own childish conclusion that he'd be eaten by this monster. Looking at him now, Brogy looked human. He was enormous, sure, with a humanoid body, but he shone with the pride that came with being a warrior and the wisdom that came with age. Usopp couldn't compare him with anybody he'd grown up with, not even with the heroes of the stories he'd loved growing up. After all; Brogy was much more than a fantasy hero.
"Mister Brogy, you are a true brave warrior of the sea!"
The giant blinked down at him. "What's that?"
"It's what you guys are!" Usopp clarified. "I want to be just like you!"
Brogy kept blinking. "A giant?"
"NO!" the teen hollered and ignored Nami sticking her tongue out and laughing beside him. "I want live as gloriously and bravely as a warrior of Elbaf!"
Brogy threw his head back and laughed. The world of the young was indeed inspiring. "Is that so?" he chuckled before becoming serious. He hadn't thought of his values in a way that could be put to words. He'd been the youngest son in the family and only had sisters. Strangely, when Brogy thought of a brave lifestyle, he first thought of his mother and her bone-hard discipline in running the household. After all, his father had for a long time only been a hero in the stories his older sisters told him. He remembered his vow to his greatest rival, that he'd become the greatest warrior in all of Elbaf so that his sisters could tell their father of him.
Back then, Dorry had laughed and argued that he would become the greatest warrior, and make his grandfather proud.
"Your grandfather is a legless useless!"
"He lost both legs in battle and kept on fighting!" Dorry had yelled back.
Oh yeah, Dorry's grandfather. Thinking back, Brogy thought he'd totally deserved both the beating from his mother and then the old legless warrior. It was that old man who had taught Brogy the values of a warrior and the greatness of God Elbaf.
Brogy looked down at the tiny human before him, knowing how young he was and the differences between them.
"Well, you see, nothing is more valuable to a giant than an honourable death. After all, we live long lives. Death is always something distant but constant, lurking there at the end like a shadow. It's a reminder that riches have no value since you can't take them with you. Life loses meaning when you know it has to end. But life is a test, and Elbaf rewards those who fight until the end. For the warriors of Elbaf it is a glorious death to die without losing honour. That honour is the eternal treasure of our homeland."
"So honour is a treasure," Usopp repeated with a shining face and understanding expression.
Nami yawned beside him.
"I got some ale, guests," Dorry greeted the tiny humans when he returned to his hearth. The girl with the straw hat looked ill, but smiled back at him.
"Does the other giant make ale?" she asked.
"I wish," Dorry chuckled and sat down. "If he could I'd definitely be making my own as well. No, Brogy had a couple tiny human guests. A girl with bright hair and a tan boy with a long nose.
"Huh? That sounds like Nami and Usopp. Man, and they said they didn't want to leave the ship! I guess they couldn't ignore the call of adventure after all."
"So Brogy's guests are friends of yours?" Dorry quired. "Then this ale is yours? Hope you don't mind."
"'course not! Nami and Usopp shared with your friend, so we'll definitely share with you too."
"How generous of you," Dorry laughed. Today was a good day.
The other girl, the one with long, light hair, suddenly stood. "Excuse me, Mister Dorry. I want to ask about the log pose. How long does it take to set?"
"One year," Dorry said and opened a barrel of ale. It was so long ago he had alcohol. It smelled of good times. It was a pity he was alone and kept away from Brogy. He missed home and partying with his old crew and friends.
"Y-year!?" the long-haired girl cried. "Does it really take a year?"
Dorry made a small gesture around him. "Didn't you see them. The bones of little humans like yourselves are scattered around. The layer is so thick the time it takes for the log to reset gets longer and longer. Most tiny humans die long before the log resets."
The straw hat girl looked around and then walked up to a heap of human bones. Dorry watched her curiously as she put a hand behind her ear and turned her head, as if she heard something from the skulls.
"It's really faint, but I think they were killed by the dinosaurs?"
"Some of them," Dorry agreed with a surprised blink and a short laugh. "The bones tell you? You a shaman or ate a devil fruit?"
"I don't know. I ate a devil fruit, but mother made me wear these sea stone beads, so I don't know what my powers are."
Now Dorry was really curious. He lowered his hand and urged the small girl onto his palm. Lifting her up to his face, he saw that there was indeed a band of beads around her neck. One she seems to have been pulling at so much her neck had scarred.
"Must admit, that's the first time I hear a devil fruit user wear sea stone willingly." He put the girl back down. "Well, no matter. You just take it easy and be careful, and you'll probably survive until the log pose resets."
"But I can't wait a year!" the long-haired girl cried with her head in her hands. "What should I do? Even if I survive it will be too late! What will become of my kingdom?!"
The straw hat rubbed her forehead. "Yeah, I don't think I'd make it through a year. Is there no other way, ossan?"
Dorry shrugged. "Well, you could try to steal the eternal pose, but the one we have is set to Elbaf. It's what we're fighting over, you see."
"No, we're not headed to Elbaf right now, just the next island," the little girl said. She hadn't even batted an eye, but still looked slightly ill. Maybe she had poor health?
Dorry looked at her for a second, then burst out laughing. "Then just set sail! With a bit of luck you'll find your way."
The girls blinked, their wide eyes, and the straw-hatted one laughed along with Dorry.
"Yeah, what if we did that! We might actually get there!"
Vivi couldn't understand what was so funny, but the sound of laughter at least eased her anxiousness.
Until Dorry took a deep swig of the ale.
