The Island of Angels: Chapter Five
Usopp was so busy running forward while looking over his shoulder he didn't notice a particular patch of soaked leaves.
The next thing Usopp knew he was performing something similar to ice-skating as he skid across wet undergrowth, yelping all the time before bashing into a tree and landing into the brambles placed conveniently next to the trunk, his long nose squishing into the thorns.
"Oww!"
He backed out, his eyes tearing from the stings, and furtively checked around the area.
The leaves were as purple as ever but the leaves were thinning out and a lot damper than earlier trail. But there was no sign of weird man anywhere. He sighed with relief.
"Phew! Hah! Knew no one could catch up with me!"
Usopp began to laugh a booming over-confident laugh he frequently used when proud but was frozen to the spot by the very definite sound of a gun cocking its trigger behind his ear.
"No one, eh?"
A horribly familiar voice mused. Usopp gave a weak and nervous chuckle as he felt the cold end of the gun barrel press against the back of his head.
"Eh, heh, heh,"
Usopp said, sweating like crazy as he slid his hand into his purse, and without warning, ducked down and kicked the shins of the man behind him. The gun shot cracked the air and the bullet embedded itself into tree bark as the man let out an grunt of pain and surprise, and Usopp twisted round quickly, pulling back the elastic on his slingshot as he cried,
"Lead Pel-- no wait, this isn't a Lead Pellet!!"
He looked, horrified at the thing in his hand, but the orange-haired man seemed to be recovering by now so he had no choice.
"Aaaghh!! Aww, hell with it-- Rotten Egg Shot!!"
SMACK.
The man got a faceful of the smelly yolk and white and let out a yell of horror. Cheering, Usopp began to run past as he called out,
"See ya!"
But suddenly slid on something on the ground that wasn't wet undergrowth. He landed on his rear, yelping, his head slapping against the soaked leaves. He groaned, stunned, when the white light above with its ring of tree-tops was suddenly intercepted with the man's silhouette.
"Awww,"
Usopp whined, and the man's gold hoops glinted as did his extraordinarily white teeth, widening into a very strange smile. Usopp couldn't tell if it was a smile or a frown.
"Name's Landorene,"
He said, still smiling,
"An official of the Glass Wings City Royal Council. I'm to take you to the king, sniper. He wishes to see you."
Usopp squinted up at him, partly from the light and partly from suspicion.
"Why does he want to see me?"
"Why don't you go and find out?"
"Why should I go and find out?"
"Because you want to know why he wishes to see you, do you not?"
"But why would I want to know in the first place?"
"Because you asked me!"
"So you should tell me!!"
"I'm telling you to go yourself, you stupid man!!!"
"I don't want to!!"
Usopp yelled.
"You should!!"
Landorene snapped back.
"Well, I don't want to, and--"
Hoisting himself up, Usopp kicked forwards, sending Landorene reeling backwards in a stumble as Usopp stood up quickly,
"--I won't!!"
He turned to run, but was suddenly drenched in a wave of some strange-smelling liquid. Coughing, Usopp spluttered as he coughed out some of the yellowish liquid.
"Bleh! Platooie! What the heck--?!"
As Usopp spun round (rather easily) to face his enemy, his eyes rounded. Landorene held up a gun, pointing it at Usopp's soaked chest.
"It's oil,"
The brightly orange-haired man said with a grin,
"And you should know this gun shoots flaming bullets."
"Where is Nami-saaaaan,"
Sanji whined. He had been so happy when Nami had been so worried about him, excited that she had finally grown attached enough to care about him, but she was certainly taking quite a while to get water.
"Maybe she ditched me,"
He mumbled,
"Not surprising, though..."
He glared at his foot, cursing inwardly to it, when a tanned and slender leg that ended in a small pink sandal stepped before him. His heart-shaped eye followed the leg up to a frilly pink skirt, and higher still to a tight-fitting top and finally a beautiful face that was smiling smugly at him amidst bright-pink curls and sparkling ruby eyes.
"Who ever abandoned you?"
She asked seductively, her pink lips enticing Sanji.
"Aaaa, divine and mysterious beauty of carnation-pink!"
He said slowly, his heart eye popping as he struggled to settle himself onto one knee before this pink-haired goddess,
"I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life!"
Then he paused as the pink hair seemed to be blinking orange before him.
"Well, I've seen someone else prettier, but you are close!"
He said without thinking, but quickly covered up by taking up a gloved hand and attempting to kiss it.
She slapped his face off sharply as she barked,
"What?! Just who could be prettier than me?!!"
She grabbed the front of Sanji's shirt as hearts popped around him and his eyes widened as she screeched, her ruby-eyes fiery and dark,
"Tell me pretty-boy!! Who the hell could be as beautiful or as cute as me?!!"
He sweatdropped.
"Erm, lady, please compose yourself..."
"TELL ME NOW!!!"
She screamed, Sanji's left eye almost visible from the way her breath blew it back.
"Hey, take it easy Sherine."
The pink-haired girl turned agressively back, her fingers still clutching Sanji's collar in a claw-like manner. The guy who had called her Sherine smirked arrogantly as he walked over to Sanji, tossing his green-ponytail back.
"Emerine,"
She seethed through her teeth,
"He said there's someone prettier than me."
Emerine glared at Sanji, who was simply sweatdropping throughout the entire ordeal.
"Listen, lady, I didn't mean to insult you or anything..."
Sanji began, when he heard Nami's voice cry,
"Sanji-kun, watch out!!"
His first reaction was to smile brightly at the familiar voice and sing out a greeting. Then the actual meaning of her words computed, and he noticed a tremor rising from beneath him. Sanji managed to jerk himself away from the tree just in time.
Rock burst out from the ground just in jagged spikes where Sanji had just been at. Sanji stared at the rock, startled, and turned his widened eyes to Emerine. The green-haired guy was gritting his teeth, a hand stretched out towards the tree.
"Damn it!"
Emerine snapped. He noticed Sanji staring at him in shock, and immediately switched to Villain Mode, narrowing his eyes and flashing the Evil Grin.
"Heh. You should take care of your lady more, shouldn't you?"
He sneered.
"You're missing a tooth."
Sanji noticed in surprise.
"G-G-GEEHHH??!!! DAMN YOU!!"
Emerine screeched, his face burning red, and Sherine patted his arm reassuringly. He retracted it and glared at her.
Nami's voice sounded once more,
"Becareful, this guy can control rock!!"
"Nami-san?! Where are you??"
Sanji cried out in confusion, looking around frantically for a flash of orange. The girl called Sherine was now beside Emerine, her smug smile back on again, and Emerine was glaring at the cook. Her voice had been somewhere at Emerine's direction, he was sure of it!
"Nami-san?!"
He called out again, his voice rising, when he heard her again,
"Don't ask!!"
"What do you mean?"
Emerine's face suddenly broke into a smirk again, and he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, behind him. Sanji blinked and peered over, squinting to focus a far-off outline, and gasped.
Nami was hanging off a tree branch awkwardly, helplessly clamped around the waist on with thick, chunky bonds of rock. She couldn't seem to get out of the belt of rock by the looks of it, so although she appeared to be unharmed, she looked very, very ticked off.
"Nami-san!! Are you alright?"
Sanji exclaimed, his concern getting the better of the fact that she did not exactly look very happy.
"Noooo, I'm just having the time of my life here, dangling off this stupid tree,"
Nami snapped, attempting to pull herself out of the rocky prison to demonstrate her situation.
"I'll have you out of there in no time, Na--"
The blonde began, but was rudely interrupted by jagged rock thrusting into his face, millimeters from skinning his nose. He turned angrily to face the green-head. What an arrogant smile! He thought irritatedly.
"That is no way to treat a wo--"
Sanji's words were forced to stop abruptly yet again because the ground beneath him suddenly shuddered violently. He took a quick step backwards to avoid the sharp piece of rock jutting upwards from the soil, but had no time to pause as a series of rocky spikes thrust towards the cook, following his hasty steps.
"Damn it!"
Emerine vented his frustration as the blonde's agillity was obviously getting the better of him,
"Sherine, grab the pirate down for me, will you?"
Sanji's eyes widened in surprise.
"How'd you--"
Spikes of rock caught Sanji off-guard and threw him off his feet, and he ended up stumbling straight into the pink-haired girl.
She grabbed his hair and pulled him to her, crushing him in a surprisingly powerful grip to her curves.
"Oh Emerine, don't be so harsh,"
She said sweetly, her ruby eyes glittering as she pressed Sanji closer to her,
"He seems just my type."
Emerine snorted. Sanji, however, was having a wonderful view of the girl's cleavage.
'I'm so happy...'
He thought dreamily as the girl cooed something to him that was drowned out by the rushing of blood to his nose. Then, from the confines of his head, the cook heard a frustrated and disappointed yell from a certain navigator:
"SANJI-KUN!!!"
Eyes flying open, Sanji hurriedly stepped away from the girl. It proved to be quite difficult - her grip nearly broke his neck. The girl's eyes widened in shock, then hardened angrily.
'Owww...'
Sanji winced, and a cold chill ran through his spine. He didn't know why, but there was something... almost... sinister about Sherine.
She was too powerful and her voice dripped with too much syrup.
Then he noticed something crusty against his ear. Sanji pressed his fingers to the back of his neck, and something came off onto his fingertips. The consistency felt strangely familiar...
Bringing his fingers to his eyes, he realised what it was. He ran his fingertips along his collar to fing a part of it missing below his ear, having somehow mysteriously melted away into...
"Sugar?!"
He exclaimed incredulously. Sherine scowled, all the cuteness dissipating at the expression.
"Yes, sugar,"
She snapped,
"That's my power."
"Devil's fruit,"
Emerine explained. Sherine glowered at his 'interruption'. He winced, but continued,
"Listen, blondie, we're servants of the king. We were told to escort your pirate crew back to his palace."
"Escort?"
Sanji repeated, his expression one of disbelief. The green-haired guy flicked his pony-tail back and laughed as he glanced back at the struggling Nami.
"Lack of co-operation,"
He said with a shrug.
"I'll have her down once you both realise you have no other choice but to follow us to the king."
"After all,"
Sherine said, her sweetness rushing back in full-force as she fluttered her long eyelashes at Sanji, leaning towards him and giving him a full view of her cleavage,
"We are both eaters of devil's fruits, and both have extremely powerful techniques... It's pointless to fight back, isn't it?"
Sanji nodded stupidly, his eyes rounding at the sight of her revealing top,
"Pointless to fight back against your beauty,"
Sanji answered, forgetting completely about her sinister aura as he kneeled gallantly on one knee to hold her hand. Emerine looked like he was going to be sick.
Nami blinked as she watched this exchange quite a distance away. For one thing, it was annoying her bits that she was starting to get cramps in her legs and arms and that she couldn't seem to get out of her prison, and for another, Sanji seemed to be totally forgetting about her everytime the pink-haired girl flicked on her charm.
She also found it weird that Emerine looked like he wanted to throw up at the sight of such sugariness.
'Oops, bad pun,'
she thought to herself. Then she shook her head sharply. That wasn't exactly the point here!
"Sanji-kun!!"
She shouted, and he seemed to remember her as he snapped out of his trance of staring at Sherine.
"I'm coming, Nami-san!"
"You're not going to co-operate?"
Emerine asked in alarm.
"After hurting Nami-san like that? I think not,"
Sanji replied easily, and turned to run towards Nami when something strange happened - the ground below his foot suddenly crumbled away - yelping, Sanji tripped, getting a faceful of dirt and dead twigs.
Spitting out leaves, Sanji turned to see, his eyes widening, a good portion of the leaves and twigs he had just been standing now crumbling away onto the ground as fine, sparkling sugar.
Then he let out an ear-splitting yell of pain as a sharp rock suddenly thrust through his left thigh, pain prickling through his entire body as he hurriedly back flipped away from the duo. Blood spattered and stained the white sugar red as he backed up against a tree trunk. He could've kicked himself for breathing so hard.
Then he noticed Sherine clutching her cheek tightly. Little bits of sugar fell to the ground as she held her cheek, then without warning, jerked her face towards his, her red eyes burning with hatred and anger as she glared at the cook.
"How dare you,"
She growled in a not very, er, beautiful voice.
"Chill Sherine, he didn't mean to kick you,"
Emerine tried to console his partner hastily to no avail.
"DIIIIIIIEEEEE----!!!!"
Sanji was suddenly faced with a horrible prospect of two very pained and shaky legs, being backed against a tree and a very beautiful lady rushing forwards in a blur of pink with a very high-pitched war-cry.