Chapter 1- Exploration
One Piece © Eiichiro Oda
William Henley and Flora © HatOnFire/Me
The Thousand Sunny has docked on the beach-side of the island. The reason for this was to not attract much attention.
"Alright!" Nami shouted, garnering everyone's attention to her. "We have to be cautious here since we're getting closer to the first half of the Red Line. There could be some marines patrolling the island, after all."
"Understood, Ms. Nami," Brook responded. "I'll keep a tight lip, though I don't have one anymore! Yo-Ho-Ho-Ho~!"
Nami groaned at the pun. 'Well, at least he isn't asking me to show anything this time,' she thought.
"By the way, could you please tell me the color of your-"
*SMACK!* Brook attempted to ask Nami something, only to get kicked from the back of his head by an angry Sanji, of course.
"What is the matter with you, dammit?!" Sanji roared. "Why do you keep asking that question?!"
"Really, Brook," Usopp chimed in. "Give it up, it's never gonna happen."
"But I must try," Brook said, attempting to pick himself up and rubbing the bruise mark made by the cook. "It's a great mystery that constantly plagues my mind!"
"Mystery?" Luffy questioned. "It doesn't sound like a mystery, though. Is it really important?"
"Well, if you think ab-"
*SMACK!* *SMACK!* Brook attempted to continue, but he got kicked again by Sanji. Unfortunately for Luffy, he too wasn't safe from the lovesick man.
"Don't encourage him, idiot!" Sanji shouted again. "And you, don't even think about following him either! Rubber-brained jackass!"
Nami could only sweat-drop at the scene that unfolded before her. She then cleared her throat to get back everyone's attention.
*AHEM!* "Anyway, as I was saying," she spoke again. "We have to keep a low profile, so I think it's best if we stay in small groups and alternate going into town at different times."
"But Big Sis," Franky interjected. "We already have more than enough supplies to last us three weeks. We don't need to get any more than we already have."
"That's true, Franky," Robin responded. "However, considering that anything can happen in the Grand Line, maybe it would be best to pick up some extra accessories, in case of an emergency."
"Oh yeah," the cyborg sheepishly grinned.
"Well, I could use some more weights," Zoro said.
"Maybe I can buy an extra barrel of gunpowder," Usopp muttered to himself. "Or two. Maybe even three."
"I could buy some more ingredients," Sanji thought.
"Remember Chopper," Zoro says, "When the Dartboard says ingredients, he means rat poison that he can put in our food. Whatever you do, beware of his hazardous cuisine."
"Okay, I'll be careful," Chopper replied.
"What do you think you're doing, Moss-head?!" Sanji yelled, and boy, did something get under his skin.
"Just trying to keep him from becoming the emergency food supply, Pirate A!" Zoro snapped back.
"Are you still on THAT?! I have a bounty too, jackass!"
"Oh right, I almost forgot about that poster with your 'real' face on it," the swordsman then sneered.
"THAT IS NOT MY REAL FACE! IT IS NOT ME!" It was in this moment where fire started enveloping Sanji and fused with his very being. He was ready to fight Zoro again, but before the two could exchange blows...
*BAM!* Both of their head got bashed in together by Nami, clearly tired of their quarreling. She took a deep breath until Luffy spoke up, after having a bandage put on his swelling bump.
"Not that I care or anything, but who's going to town first?" He asked.
"I think me and Robin will go first," Nami responded. "There's no way that you guys can avoid trouble for ten seconds."
"In their defense," Robin spoke up. "Trouble always manages to find them as well as us."
"Thank you, Robin," Usopp said, then grinned. "You can't really blame us for having targets on our backs. I mean, with what happened with Shiki, there's no chance for us to avoid trouble here."
Luffy's face then turned blue. He walked over to the railing and saw the jungle in front of him.
'Shiki,' he thought, glaring into emptiness.
"Yeah!" Chopper smiled. "Looking back, the place was frightening, Luffy knocking Shiki down was so awesome!"
"Chopper, could you do me a favor and never talk about him again?"
The reindeer looked behind him to see who said that. It was Luffy, with his hat masking his eyes, though anyone could tell he was anything but happy.
"Huh?" Chopper questioned.
"Just don't. I don't ever want to hear that name again."
"Umm... Okay."
The crew was silent. That adventure must have taken its toll on the captain. How could it not?
"Well," Nami broke the silence, making that all too familiar smile. "No point thinking about anything trivial."
This made Zoro frown. 'How does telling Luffy that you believed in him despite getting wrecked by Shiki count as trivial?' He thought to himself. 'When she gets back from her trip, I'll give it to her straight, that halfhearted woman.' He knows that she's grateful to Luffy for saving her, even though what she said on that tone dial hurt his feelings. Why won't she admit it?
"Shall we go then, Ms. Navigator?" Robin asked, referring back to her title.
"Sure, but one more thing," the navigator responded back, turning to the guys. "If you want to check out the jungle, that's fine, but get back to the ship if you see anyone with a blue anchor on their shirts, got it?"
"Okay, so we don't fight the marines if we find them here, right?" Franky questioned. "It's a bummer, but you ain't wrong about this. We can't have anybody stumbling onto our ship after what we've been through."
"Don't worry," Usopp said. "We'll be careful. Nothing in that place is gonna bother us. Not as long as 'The Great Captain Usopp' is here to protect you!"
"I feel safe," Brook snidely remarked.
"Well then, Usopp," Sanji smiled. "I can count on you to give Zoro and Luffy their baby bottles in case something scares the crap out of them."
"SCREW YOU, CURLY-BROW!" Luffy and Zoro shouted angrily.
The crew became surprised afterward. They expected Zoro to insult Sanji with that name, but Luffy too? When did he develop a temper? Besides that, Zoro looked more perplexed than the others over this. It felt like a minute passed since that double outburst until Luffy sheepishly spoke.
"This is awkward," he said. It didn't take long, but the captain put on a grin as he climbed on the railing. Then, he jumped off and landed into the sand. He ran across the beach, until he stopped, looked back to the ship, and shouted back to his crew.
"Usopp! Chopper! Brook!" He yelled. "You guys want to tag along?!"
The three he called out did a double-take when they realized Luffy was asking for them. They immediately went up to the railing and prepared to jump. After all, they didn't want to make him angry.
"We're coming!" Usopp and Chopper both cried. They both jumped off the railing as well and landed on the beach. Well, Chopper landed on his feet, while Usopp face-planted into the sand.
"So am I!" Brook yelled. "High time I stretch these bones!" He then jumped high into the air and landed on his feet.
"Hey, Luffy!" Nami shouted. "Make sure you get back before it gets dark! I'm not going in that place to find you if you get lost!"
"Don't sweat it!" He responded. "We might get back before you do!"
Nami made a smirk. 'That'll be the day,' she thought. 'The day that idiot gets here before me is the day all hell breaks loose.' Franky set up the gangplanks for the girls to walk down.
"I guess this means we stay here and guard the ship," Zoro said.
"We won't be gone long," Robin said as she and Nami walked down the planks.
"See you later, my sweet beauties~!" Sanji swooned yet again, hearts flying.
Luffy then lifted up his hat to reveal a pair of sparkling eyes.
"Okay~! I'll see you soon~!" he shouted, sounding like a girl just to piss off Sanji. It worked and managed to earn some laughs from the others.
"THAT'S NOT FUNNY, RUBBER ASS! I WAS TALKING TO MY LADIES!" That only made everyone laugh harder, especially the women.
"Oh Wow!" Nami laughed. "He actually went there!"
"Nice one, 'Luffyko'!" Usopp laughed, with tears in his eyes.
"Shi-Shi-Shi-Shi!" Luffy just beamed. 'Maybe this day won't be such a drag after all,' he thought.
"See you guys later!" He shouted to everyone, as he, Usopp, Chopper, and Brook went into the jungle, oblivious to what they will find.
XXX
"Look! A golden beetle!"
Usopp pointed in the group's general direction, specifically a tree in front of them. Clinging to the tree, there was a golden Hercules beetle. The bug then flew off into another part of the jungle. The Childish Quartet admired the flying beetle, then moved on.
"There are great sights to behold here!" Brook exclaimed. "But I don't have eyes, so I can't behold them! Yo-Ho-Ho-Ho~!"
"Yo-Ho-Ho-Ho!" Chopper chortled, laughing and grinning.
"Shi-Shi-Shi-Shi!" Luffy laughed. Then, he had a thought. "Ooh-Ooh! Maybe we'll get to see some animals here too! I'm hoping to see some lions!"
"ACK!" Usopp cried. "Luffy, please don't say that! I don't wanna be lion food!"
"I thought you would protect us, Mr. Usopp," Brook remarked, quoting what the sniper said before entering the jungle.
"W-W-Well, y-y-ye-yeah!" Usopp stammered. "I did say something like that." He nervously chuckled as he said that.
"Maybe Sanji mixed up who he thought needed a baby bottle," Luffy joked.
"Come on, Luffy," Usopp said with comical tears. "You're really hurting my ego here."
Something was moving behind them, however. They took to the trees to avoid detection.
"Mr. Luffy," Brook asked. "You have never been more quick-witted until today. Did something happen?"
"No," Luffy simply said. "I'm the same as I was. Why?"
"Just asking. I thought you've changed since the incident with Roger's rival."
"Huh? Uhh... Who?"
"You know, that man you fought. Shi-"
"Brook!" Chopper yelled. He then switched to Heavy Point to try and whisper into Brook's ear. His bone ear, since he doesn't have an ear. (Skull Joke!)
"What did you want to say, Mr. Chopper?" The skeleton lowered himself so Chopper could whisper to him.
"You shouldn't talk about Shiki around Luffy anymore," he whispered.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to hear any mention of him," Luffy said, clearly tired of repeating himself.
"I'm sorry," Brook said softly, frowning.
"It's alright, Brook," the captain spoke again. "I'm just sick of him, especially after what he did. I hate him."
Of course he was sick of this. He even dreamed of his fight against the 'Flying Pirate.' Long story short, Shiki takes Nami, which leads to Luffy defeating him, and then falling into a void. It's been like this for a few days now, and he hated every moment of it.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Usopp asked, concerned for the captain.
"What's there to talk about? He's down. He won't come after us again. It's over."
"Captain," Brook interjected with interest. "There are many memories, such as fights, which can stay with you for a lifetime. I think it would be best-"
"WHO GIVES A DAMN WHAT YOU THINK?!"
The group was shocked by the captain's outburst. Brook was sweating, fearing for his 'second' life. Usopp was so surprised, he could barely speak. In fact, he couldn't speak. As for the youngest, Chopper, he looked like he was about to cry. He knew Luffy would have a temper around people who annoyed him, but never thought he would be on the other end. It took only a sniffle from him for Luffy to realize his mistake.
"Chopper, guys," Luffy solemnly began to apologize. "I'm really sorry. I just... I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm getting torn apart just thinking about it."
"*Sniffle* Luffy," Chopper's eyes were starting to well up. Luffy quickly picked up the toddler-sized reindeer and hugged him close.
"We're sorry too, Luffy," Usopp spoke up. "We only wanted to help you."
"I know," the captain said. "I just want this to end already."
*GROWL* A sound came from around the whole group.
"Luffy, please tell me that was your stomach," Usopp whispered, starting to grow fearful.
"Nope, it wasn't."
"Is it a predator?" Brook spoke, suddenly regretting going into the jungle.
At that moment, several black blurs appeared from the treetops, hopping down from branch to branch, until reaching ground level. They were black panthers, vicious ones, at that. If one had time, the group could notice that they would look to be as tall as Brook, maybe taller. An odd thing about them is that they all have quills on their backs. These animals were simply called:
PANTHERPINES.
(A/N: Panthers with porcupine quills. Lazy title, but gets the point across, no pun intended.)
They started to display their fangs, saliva dripping from their tongues as they licked their chops.
"I think there is more than one!" Chopper exclaimed, quickly getting over his crying fit, now completely worried.
"What gave it away?!" Usopp screeched, looking like he was ready to soil himself out of fear.
"Wow! So cool!" Luffy shouted. He looked at the beasts with stars in his eyes. Until the panthers turned around and fired their quills at the group.
"EEP!" The cowardly sniper squeaked. "This is it, we're all dead. We survived up to this point, but we're all dead!"
"No! I don't wanna die!" Chopper cried out.
"I can't die!" Brook exclaimed. "Besides, I'm already dead! What good will dying again do?"
"Usopp! Chopper! Brook! Get behind me!" Luffy commanded. The three did just that, quickly too. Luffy counted the panthers. There looked to be seven of them, or nine, or twenty. He just realized that he isn't so good at numbers, but now wasn't the best time to worry about that!
"Guys," the Straw Hat softly, "As soon as I have their attention, run like hell. I'll hold them off as long as I can."
"Huh?!" the group replied.
"But, Mr. Luffy...!" Brook attempted to speak against this, but...
"Brook!" Luffy seethed, jerking his head back behind him. "Take Usopp and Chopper with you and run back to the ship! Protect each other in whatever way you can! Captain's orders!"
The gentleman became silent. 'Captain's orders'. It wasn't the first time he heard that phrase, let alone use them. He knew that the moment the captain spoke those commanding words, the decision was final. Luffy then cracked a surefire grin to his group.
"Don't worry, I won't die. Not as long as I have a dream and people to go back to."
In this moment, Brook felt his worries slip off his shoulders. He became certain that his new captain would get through this.
"Alright," he said. I'll do that. I'll come back with Zoro and Sanji, they can help."
"Who knows?" The captain answered back. "Maybe there won't be anything left of these guys to fight when you show up!"
With that, Brook darted off in a direction, with Usopp running behind. Chopper switched to Walk Point, got into a sprinting stance, but looked back to Luffy.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Luffy."
And just like that, the reindeer took off like a shot from a cannon. The pantherpines attempted to give chase, but Luffy made sure some of those spiny hairballs wouldn't go anywhere.
"Gum-Gum Whip!" Luffy twirled on his right leg as his left stretched out, letting his foot strike one of the big cats across the face. This was able to knock him off his feet and send him crashing into some of his group, but more were on the way. A cluster of them attempted to rush the kid and maul him, but...
"Gum-Gum Gatling!" Luffy then launched his fists at a rapid rate, jamming them into their faces snarling faces.
While that worked, a few of the panthers were able to circumvent the captain and ran out into the jungle, possibly after the ones who ran away.
'Crap!' the captain cursed in his head. 'I can't play around with these guys! I have to take them down now!" While thinking, he jumped back as one of the felines pounced to slash him and missed. Then, on his left, two of them have turned around and launched some of their quills in his direction. He dodged, but one of them hit his right side. As expected, he seethed at the pain as he pulled it out.
"This is why I hate needles," he said. It was like that one time Nami poked him in the eye with one, on the day they first met, no doubt. 'Why am I thinking about something that happened, like, years ago?' He didn't know why, but before he could ponder further...
*HISS!* The pantherpines fired their quills again, and Luffy jumped and rolled, all without a single spine puncturing his skin this time.
"Gum-Gum...!" Luffy stretched his arm forward, looking like he was going to hit a panther, and then...
"PISTOL SHOTGUN!" He grabbed his extending arm, and twanged it like a guitar string, allowing his fist to strike the big cats multiple times. Three of them came from the heavens and surrounded Luffy. They should have known they were no match for him.
"Gum-Gum Stamp! Gum-Gum Pistol! Gum-Gum Battle Axe!" First came a foot, then it was a fist, then it was the heel of the other foot, and the three challengers simply fell to the ground. He ran to a random direction, thinking it was the way back to the ship.
"Brook probably led Usopp and Chopper back to the ship already, so I should finish up here and go!" He not only didn't know where he was going, but he had some company too, as he was being stalked by the big spiny cats. "Can't you just leave me alone?!" He shouted. He sent a fist at one of them, knocking him off his feet.
Luffy looked behind him as he was running. There were four left. Not a problem.
XXX
A murky green liquid was poured into a test tube.
"Almost done," Henley said. "The perfect cure that will save you, Flora." He looked to a strange device, which looked like a pocket watch. The long hand is pointing to ten, but the shorter one is on the three. There is also a small circle replacing the six, with an arrow pointing to the circle and writing saying; 'daily ailments remaining'. The needle was pointing to the three.
"Thirty left for her to use 'til the worst comes," He said. "Not much time, but I can make the cure the minute before death. No pressure." He slightly chuckled after saying that, like he faced slim odds before. But the truth was, he was unsure of whether he can beat the clock and get back to this person he is risking his life for. And that thought scared him worse than the hell he was subjugated to over the years. And he worked hard to face his fears, or rather, BECOME the fear.
And now, he will do anything to accomplish his mission here. Even if he has to put anyone in the worst scenario he can conjure and bring to fruition.
TO BE CONTINUED...