The last few days had been an adventure.
It had started in the storm--which was right, since didn't so many of Usopp's stories begin, "It was a dark and stormy night"? And it had been dark indeed, so dark that he hadn't been able to see anything, when the wave crashed over the ship. The salt blinded his eyes, and under the stress of the slippery water he lost his grip, had reached as fast as he could to grab on again before the wave took him away.
He found something, wrapped his fingers around it and whipped himself into the air, up from the sea before it could sap his strength, but by the time he realized that the something he had grabbed was not part of the Going Merry, his ship was tossed away by the waves. Through the sheeting rain he saw its mast tilting wildly as it bobbed back and forth. He thought he heard his name shouted, and then the whatever-it-was that he was holding onto yanked him under--it was too cold for swimming, but he couldn't swim anyway; as always when submerged he could barely move, and the water was black and heavy as iron, dragging him down.
Then he was engulfed in a different darkness. He wasn't sure if he had fainted or just closed his eyes. There was water in his lungs and it hurt to cough it up, and he was tired, the way he always was after he had been pulled from the sea. Only he hadn't been rescued. It was still pitch black, he couldn't see the smallest spark of anything, and he was still surrounded, lying on his stomach pressed into a narrow space. The spongy surface under him was firmer than water, however, and the ridged ceiling pushing him down still left a gap for air. It was damp and dark but he could breathe, and move, a little. Not enough to shove up the roof and break free of this place, though, and when he tried, the surface under him rocked alarmingly, rippling up and down.
He tried very hard to think, and finally recalled seeing something in the water, moving under the ship, right as it jolted up. That must be what he had grabbed, and if it were moving, then it probably was something alive, though it had felt as solid as wood. If it were a living thing, however...
Darn it, thought Luffy, I've been eaten.
That was no good. No pirate that he knew of had made their reputation from inside a sea monster. And it was very moist in here. "Let me out!" he yelled, or tried to, as best he could when lying flattened on his belly. "I don't want to be food!" He tried to kick, but couldn't get any leverage, and the tongue under him moved again.
Luffy decided eating was vastly more fun than being eaten. Especially by something that wasn't smart enough to swallow. Unless he tasted so good that the monster wanted to suck on him like a hard candy, which would be a very disgusting and not at all pirate-like way to die.
Well, he wasn't candy. And besides, eating rubber was probably bad for you. He had been told as a child that if he swallowed chewing gum it would sit in his stomach forever; rubber was enough like gum that he might end up stuck in this monster's stomach forever, were he swallowed.
Carefully he snaked one arm down his side, reached out and kept stretching, until he felt a squishiness in the back of the enormous throat. He ran his fingers across it, scratching lightly with his nails. The tongue under him heaved up and pressed him against the roof of the mouth, squeezing out the last air, but he held his breath and kept tickling. Then the whole mouth convulsed, and with an explosive crash, he was coughed out.
As he spun up through the water and into the air, he twisted around, looked down and saw the whatever it was. It wasn't a sea monster after all; it was a turtle. A gigantic sea turtle, with a shell as broad as the Going Merry's main deck and a head as large as the figurehead, swimming with slow, steady strokes of its massive flat fins.
The night sky was still dark and cloud-filled, but the storm had passed and the water was calm. Luffy stretched his arms down as he flew through the air, took hold of the shell and pulled himself onto it. The turtle was swimming low in the water, so just the bulging scales on the shell's peak were out of water.
He stood atop it, pushed his wet hair out of his face and peered in all directions, but there was no sign of the Going Merry. The turtle was still swimming steadily, ignoring its passenger, but Luffy doubted it was going the right way.
"Excuse me," he said, and knocked politely on the shell. "Thanks for saving me, Mr. Turtle, but I need to find my ship."
The turtle simply kept swimming, the shell rocking regularly as its fins' strokes pulled it forward.
"Mr. Turtle," Luffy asked, "Could we go there?" and he pointed arbitrarily to their left. The sky was lighter over there. "You saw my ship, right, you almost knocked us over--I need to get back to it. We're going to the Grand Line. If it wouldn't be any trouble."
The turtle didn't change direction.
Luffy sighed and sat down cross legged on the turtle's shell, sulkily planted his chin on his fist and stared ahead at the waves. Later on he dozed; the shell wasn't nearly as comfortable as his favorite perch on the figurehead, but the gentle rise and fall as it swam was relaxing.
When he woke up, the sun had risen, but the Going Merry was still nowhere in sight, and the turtle was still swimming. He tried rapping on the shell again. "Mr. Turtle, if you're not too busy..." But apparently it was.
He hoped everyone else was all right, and the storm hadn't wrecked the ship. He hoped they wouldn't be too angry with him for falling overboard--Nami especially might yell at him.
He wondered what Sanji was making for breakfast. "I'm hungry," he announced, and flopped back on the shell. The turtle had no comment.
He hoped they had found his hat, too. It had blown off in the storm--unless the turtle had swallowed it. But it hadn't swallowed him. Luffy decided it probably hadn't been trying to eat him after all, considering it made no effort to now; it had been keeping him safe in its mouth. A turtle didn't have any hands to catch him, so it probably hadn't had much choice. If only it would take him back to the Going Merry...
Instead it brought him to an island, a green and gold half-circle on the blue sea. He cheered to see on the horizon--islands had food, after all. The turtle headed directly toward it, and they were beached by mid-afternoon, the turtle dragging itself up on the sand in fitful humps. Luffy hopped off the shell and helped pull it up onto the island; sea turtles seemed more suited to the water, but this one was determined to make it onto the beach. Maybe it just wanted to sun itself. Could turtles get tans?
Once it was above the tide line, the turtle started to dig, flapping its flippers to ineffectually brush the sand back. "You're not much good on land, are you, Mr. Turtle," Luffy noted, and helped it dig, scooping up sand and flinging it over his shoulder.
They stopped digging when the hole was as deep as his waist, and he scrambled out of it as the turtle backed in, lowering its tail down, then settled on the sand. Luffy wiped sweat and sand from his face, plunked himself down before the turtle's massive head and tried to meet its round black eyes. "So now you're here," he said. "Maybe tomorrow we can go look for the Going Merry?"
The turtle didn't reply.
While it sunned itself, Luffy explored the beach, and then further. A little beyond where the trees started growing there was a fresh spring, and he drank the sweet water, which was delicious, though it didn't stop his stomach from growling.
There were animals on the island, rabbits and birds and small deer, none very shy. But all the wood he found was wet from the storm and he didn't have matches to make fire anyway, and eating things uncooked hurt Sanji's pride. He had made Luffy promise not to eat raw meat, and with his cook's honor on the line, Luffy couldn't very well betray that. So he made do with coconuts and berries, and just drooled while watching the grazing deer, hoping that his crew would turn up soon.
He climbed to the top of the ridge, but saw nothing on any of the ocean's horizons but more clouds. As evening fell, he ended up back on the beach, and found the turtle digging again, flipping sand into the air to rain down on the hole. When Luffy looked, he found the hole was already full of a couple dozen round white balls, each as big as his head.
"Oh," Luffy laughed, "sorry--you're not a Mister after all, Ms. Turtle!" He crouched and poked one of the balls. The leathery surface gave a little under his finger and sprang back to shape when he pulled away. "Hmm, I wonder how turtle eggs taste..." The turtle's giant head swung around to fix one black eye on him. Luffy grinned. "I'm kidding! I won't eat any of them, Ms. Turtle." He helped cover the eggs with sand, after which the turtle began humping her way back down the beach.
"Hey," Luffy protested. "What about your eggs?"
The turtle did not deign to reply, dragging herself toward the water, closer now that the tide had come in.
"Someone else could eat them, even if I won't," Luffy reminded her, but the turtle gave a final heave and slid into the sea.
Then she brought up her head on the end of her long neck and twisted it around to look at him. He looked back, at last nodded. "All right," he said. "I won't let anyone get them."
The turtle dipped her head down and up in an answering nod, then ducked it under the waves and swam away. Luffy sat on the sand over the eggs, ran the coarse grains through his fingers and waved until the turtle's shell dwindled and disappeared over the horizon.
He wondered if this island were on one of Nami's maps. If it weren't, she could put it there, but then she might not know to come at all. And then he would have to wait for another ship to find him, and then he would have to find his ship, and that might take a while. Especially if they had entered the Grand Line already. It would be very frustrating.
He hoped they were taking care of his hat. Not that he didn't trust them with it, but if they didn't dry it out in the sun it might get moldy, and Shanks wouldn't appreciate it being stained green. Unless perhaps he dyed it a really striking shade.
If only at least one of his crew were on this island with him. Sanji could cook them food if he were here, or Nami could map the island--she would want to know just how tall that ridge was, and would make him run around with a line to find out. Usopp would have a story about being on an island like it and how he got off. Or Zoro, who would probably be very bored--Zoro tended not to appreciate adventures that didn't involve things trying to kill him, but they could have played tag and hide and seek in the trees.
It was an adventure, but one of the things about having nakama was that adventures were always more fun with them.
Besides, they all tended to get annoyed if he went on adventures without them. He didn't blame them; it was no fun to be left out. Even Usopp, who could seem a little reluctant about some of the bigger expeditions, still yelled if Luffy went on too long a one without him.
By the next day, he was bored with chasing the deer and rabbits; they seemed to know he wasn't going to eat them, so would only make a token flight before lying still and letting him catch them. Since their meat was off-limits anyway, he just patted their soft fur and let them go.
The turtle's eggs remained under the sand. He watched them, but there were no rats or ferrets on the island to try to dig them up, and the gulls didn't know they were hidden. Watching eggs was especially dull; he kept falling asleep. He also couldn't help but wonder what turtle eggs did taste like. Sanji would know; he reminded himself to ask the cook. He couldn't try these eggs, obviously, since he had promised the turtle.
The day after that he hiked up the ridge, where he found if he climbed the palm trees there he could watch the beach with the eggs and also look out around the island for any ships. But looking for ships when there weren't any was almost as boring. It was more fun to explore the island. There were plants he had never seen before, with drooping petals as long as his arm, or short bristly thorns. He brushed aside a leaf and stirred a cloud of tiny red butterflies, laughed when they spiraled up in fluttering confusion at the disturbance.
That night he found a flower in the treetops that glowed, the same greenish shimmer as plankton on the night seas. It slowly unfurled more buds as the night progressed, and he stayed watching, fascinated as each new shine appeared, like stars coming out.
By dawn the flowers all were wilting. Luffy yawned, curled up in a ball in the crook of the tree's branches, and fell asleep.
When he woke up, his stomach was growling, and it was already sunset. Leaping down, he first went to the beach to make sure the eggs weren't disturbed, then shimmied up a palm to knock down a few coconuts for dinner. As he clung to the trunk, the tree swaying gently, he noticed through the razor-leafed fronds something poking up behind the stony ridge, too straight to be a tree. And waving from that point was a black flag, painted with a skull and crossbones bright enough to be visible in the twilight--and he knew the hat that Jolly Roger was wearing.
Whooping, Luffy let go of the trunk, dropped from the tree and hit the sand running. Rather than make his way through the forestation, he dashed down the beach, kicking up a crest of sand as he circled around the island, until the Going Merry came into view, first the mast over the treetops, and then the sheep's head, undamaged and looking as perfect a seat as could ever be found. Panting, he stopped to beam fondly at his ship, then continued on along the moonlit beach, until he saw the dancing orange gleam of fire, and three figures behind it.
They were standing with their backs to him, and with the tide coming in the surf was louder than his approach. He would have shouted out, except before he did, he noticed that there were bowls piled around the fire, not all of which were empty, and the delectable scent drifting to his nose told him that Sanji must have prepared them. Meat! And if they weren't eating now, he might be able to get what was left.
Nami was speaking as he got closer, saying something that sounded like, "We shouldn't forget him, even if we could," and Usopp answered, "We won't," and Sanji said, "Never--"
Then Luffy had the stew pot, and carefully, silently lifted the lid, but there was a wooden spoon inside and it clanged against the pot, damnably loud. Before the others could react and reclaim their share, he grabbed the largest hock, stuffed it in his mouth and then looked up.
They had all turned around to face him, but they weren't trying to take back their food. They weren't moving at all, in fact, just staring at him across the fire. Hastily Luffy chewed, swallowed, and grinned at them. "Hi! Did you get here this afternoon? I didn't see the Going Merry last night."
They only stared, as motionless and blank as the wooden figurehead. Sanji's cigarette fell out of his mouth and was extinguished in the damp sand. Luffy frowned at his crew inquisitively and cocked his head, and all three of them mirrored the motion, their heads tilting in synch.
He was about to try a more complicated motion to see if they would follow that, too, when Usopp said, in a strange strangled voice, "Luffy?"
"Yup," Luffy nodded, and didn't get any more out before Usopp and Sanji charged him, one from either side. They collided in front of him, shoving one other in a momentary struggle for first hug rights before compromising and tackling him together, throwing their arms around him and each other. Luffy shrugged, beamed, and extended his own arms to wrap around both of them.
"You idiot!" Usopp said, his voice muffled with his face pressed to Luffy's shirt, "you are such an idiot!" And Sanji was mumbling, "You stupid bastard--gonna--I oughta--you made--" but wasn't finishing anything.
Sanji started to pull away first, disrupting Usopp, and then they both let go, leaned back and grinned, looking as satisfied as if they had just finished a seven course meal with three desserts, except Usopp's long nose was dripping and Sanji had to drag his sleeve across his eye before he would look up. "You want any more?" the cook asked, indicating the dishes, his voice a little husky, like he had smoked too much. "There's more meat, wouldn't take long to barbecue it."
"That would be great!!" Luffy cried, and Usopp shouted, "I'll get it!" and dashed for the Going Merry, scrambling up the side of the ship like a squirrel.
"Luffy," said Nami, quietly, and Sanji turned and saw her and courteously stepped aside. Or maybe it was out of self-preservation, because Nami had that particular tone that even Sanji wasn't oblivious to.
Luffy wasn't quite sure why she would be mad at him, however. She never made much of a fuss about him stealing food, as long as he didn't smear grease on her maps. "Nami?"
"You--" she began, "you--" and he got ready to duck a slap, but instead she put her hands on his shoulders and shook him, as if he were an almost empty bottle of ketchup. "You idiot!" she cried, rattling him so hard his head bounced back and forth, "you went overboard, we thought you'd drowned, we thought you were dead, you idiot!!!"
"I--I--sor--Na--Nami--I'm--dizzy--"
"IDIOT!" she shouted, punctuating it with a final shake, and then she dragged him into a hug, squeezing so hard he would have had trouble breathing, had his rubber lungs not been as compressible as the rest of him.
Usopp was back with a platter of venison, which Sanji expertly speared on long skewers and hooked over the fire at just the right height. Luffy crouched to take a whiff of the sizzling meat and laughed. Then he stood, and watched his crew straighten up with him. They could sense he was more serious. There were more important things than meat--not many, but two, at least. "Where's Zoro? And where's my hat?"
Usopp's smile died. "Zoro--Zoro's got it."
Sanji lit another cigarette, tossed the match into the fire, where it sparked and faded. "Up there," he said, and pointed with the lit end to the ridge above them, a dark shadow against the night sky.
"Luffy," Nami said, but faltered when he looked at her, curious at her tone. He didn't know why she should sound so hesitant. It was all right as long as one of them had the hat, and especially if it were Zoro; he could defend it better than anyone.
Nami shook her head. "Never mind. Just go see him fast, okay?"
"Okay," Luffy grinned, and then shot out his arms, all the way up to the pair of palms he had climbed a couple days before. Grabbing onto the trunks, he propelled himself into the air, rocketing up to the ridge. His feet planted on the ground just in time to see the straw hat, tossed in the wind, and Zoro--there was something wrong about Zoro, he could tell by the set of the swordsman's back, the rigidity of his stance. Even though the black bandana was still tied around his arm, Zoro was well and truly angry, though there was absolutely nothing here to make him mad.
It was also wrong how he had his katana in hand, and though Luffy was sure he must be mistaken, it really looked like he was preparing to attack the innocent hat. Especially when he started to bring the sword down, in a swift, deadly strike.
Luffy reached out his hand, grabbing Zoro's arm to drag him back. "What are you doing, Zoro!?"
to be concluded...
Much as I love to break chars, I wouldn't want to drive any readers insane. So here you go. ^_^
I've said as much before, but all you reviewers rock--so many thoughtful and insightful comments, you've made posting this story almost as much fun as writing it. Ais - the anti-angst fruit? Heh! (I want the smarm-smarm fruit myself--would grant the ability to make any two chars hug.) Sholio, I can sympathize, these guys are not easy to write. Tho' of them I actually find Zoro the easiest (--might be 'cause "Seven Deaths" is entirely Zoro's POV, so I'm getting plenty of practice with him; he's interesting to write because he doesn't think, just observes and acts and reacts). Luffy, on the other hand...if Zoro isn't my favorite (the jury's still out on this one) then Luffy is (I've been forced to conclude that I really like *dumb* chars), but good grief, trying to write him...just impossible. And Shayera, nope, sadly don't have any of them locked in my closet. Though I want Sanji. I could use a cook, and he does dishes, too!
