Disclaimer- I don't own any of this except for Reia
---Chapter Thirteen---
Usopp looked up from his hand. Things were going well…Chopper would fold, give up...yes, and Luffy pouring more Belli onto the growing pile…
"Read 'em and weep!" Usopp crowed as he laid his cards down. He moved the money to himself and cackled gleefully. Chopper looked at Usopp's cards in shock, and Luffy pouted.
"Why do I always lose?"Luffy whined. He brightened when he noticed Reia on top of the wooden part of the sail.
"Oy, Reia! You wanna play with us?" he called out. Reia grinned and jumped off. Chopper gasped and Usopp glimpsed a startled Zoro by the trees. As she plummeted, she flickered near the bottom of her descent. She stepped lightly to the group's spot near the bow, Chopper looking over her body in worry.
"Wow! That was AWESOMe!!" Luffy whooped. Reia laughed, then grew serious as she turned to Chopper.
"Chopper, can I get another bandage for my shoulder?" Reia asked as she gestured to her wound. Luffy dropped his cards in horror, Usopp not even glancing down this time. Chopper rushed to the lounge.
"Uh, it's shaped like a 'z'!" Usopp murmured. He inhaled sharply and glanced at Zoro over by the trees. Zoro scowled and looked away.
Why was he looking over here anyways? Usopp wondered. Chopper returned and kept busy with Reia's shoulder. "'Z' for Zoro, eh…"
"Really?!" Luffy burst out. He scampered over to Reia's side and peered closely at the procedure. Chopper snipped the bandage and Reia smiled. The ocean breeze smelled slightly salty and it ruffled each of the Straw Hats' hair. Reia looked around in slight interest and saw the pile Usopp won. She looked up at him, blue eyes twinkling mischieviously, a grin playing on her lips. Her blue bag floated towards her, and it emptied some more Belli onto the pile.
"I'll play you for all of that."
"Oooo, I wanna!!"
"But you've got no Belli, Luffy."
"Soo?"
"Hmmm…you ever played this game before, Reiaf?"
"Saw you from the mast. I bet I could."
"Let's hope you betted right," Usopp said. He chuckled softly as he shuffled the cards, then he offered the deck to Reia to cutit in half.She did, and Usopp dealt the cards to Chopper, Luffy, and Reia. Everyone looked at their hands, and they began to play. A few moments later…
"Two of a kind!"
"Lots of cool card…"
"A flush!" Usopp exclaimed. They all looked at Reia. She looked at Usopp square in the eye. Suddenly, she looked away and began to bite her lip furiously, flushing.
"Read 'em and weep," she said quietly before bursting out with laughter. The others stared at her hand, a full house. As she gathered the Belli, someone did start to weep.
"MY ORANGES!!!" Nami screeched in horror. Everyone looked her way. She knelt just outside the lounge door entrance, cradling a rotten orange. Reia let go of the Belli and ran down the stairs and up again to crouch next to Nami. Usopp sighed with relief and took the Belli.
"Nami, what's wrong?!" Reia askedworriedly. Nami looked up, eyes shining with unshed tears.
"My oranges…the tree…They're all dying! I don't even recognize the disease…" Nami sobbed for a few moments. Reia patted Nami's back in sympathy and floated up to the trees, inspecting them. Only one tree was affected, yet half of it was rotting away, dying. Reia examined closely one of the leaves, and she gasped. She held her hand out, and in a few seconds a couple warai fruit floated into it. She grinded them with her powers, catching every single drop of juice. She backed up, and Zoro moved out of her way. Nami sniffed sadly and stopped to watch. Zoro scooted over and looked at Reia.
Reia backed up, spread her fingers out, the palms facing the trees. The drops fell from her hand, even the peel, and started to float. She closed her eyes and pushed her hands forward. The result was dazzling.
Zoro's eyes widened and Nami gasped as the iridescent drops of warai sprayed all over the tree. The sun caught every drop and the drops glittered with happiness at the attention. The display was like a bunch of fireworks, except a smaller version.
Reia opened her eyes and her hands rested at her side. She smiled at the result, which had every branch dripping with the juice. She turned around smartly and hopped down to an awe-struck Nami.
"W-what…what'd you do?" Nami asked. Reia smiled indulgently and took off her warai necklace, the fruit having been hardened by the moon already. Nami inhaled sharply.
"You still have it?"
"Of course. Most of my powers are derived from it," Reia told her. "On Chinshima, there were lots of diseases that plagued the orchards. The disease only existed in the Grand Line, of course. You used to have an orchard, right?"
"Still do."
"That disease was airborne. The bacteria multiply rapidly, and warai have good...let's just say, 'plant antibodies'."
"Is it normal to know all of this on Chinshima?"
"Uh…not really. I had to take tests and such…." Reia tied her necklace back on, and Nami looked at the orange trees, then back to Reia.
"I think we have a botantist here…" Nami said, looking slyly at Reia. Reia looked back at her in mock shock.
"Me? Botanist?! You must be kidding!" Reia denied playfully. The girls burst out laughing. Their heads suddenly turned to the bow.
"Oy, it's the island!" Usopp yelled. Sanji stepped out right into Reia and Nami.
"Nami-san! Reia!" Sanji threw his arms over the two girls' shoulders. They looked at each other and laughed uncomfortably as Sanji continued.
"We can eat on the beach now. I'll make a special meal just for you two!" Sanji said enthusiastically. The two girls nodded and shrugged off Sanji's arms as they walked down the stairs, chatting about oranges and fruit diseases. After a few minutes, the ship slowed.
"Zoro! Drop the anchor! Sanji, Luffy, tie up the sails!" Nami ordered. Luffy snapped up and started pulling. Zoro started awake.
"Wha--?!"
"Already done," Reia told him. She flicked her slender fingers and the anchor fell off with a loud splash. Nami took her tools and raised a hand into the air.
"Let's go!" As they waded ashore, Reia floating Chopper and Luffy snapping forward, they noticed that the island was still in summer. The palm fronds waved in the wind, and the Straw Hats were content.
"I'm going to go look for some food and water," Sanji told the group. Chopper raised his hoof.
"I can smell water from here, I'll find it," Chopper told the cook. Sanji nodded, and Reia walked over to Chopper.
"Can I come along?" Chopper nodded. Nami looked at them all and adjusted her grip on her backpack.
"I'll be mapping the island. Don't get into any trouble, all right?!" she warned them. With a smile she entered the forest. Reia and Chopper waved good bye and walked in, Chopper's nose twitching. Luffy made excited noises as he peered at a lumbering hermit crab on the beach, Usopp building sandcastles. As Sanji readied the fire, he stopped to look at Zoro, who was about ten feet away and lying under a palm tree.
"Stupid swordsman, all you do is sleep," Sanji growled. Zoro opened one eye menacingly.
"What else is there to do, Lusty Cook?"
"I bet you can't haul that lazy ass of yours and find any food."
"Like you could find more?"
"Yeah, I could."
"Oh yeah?"
"Damn right. Thirty minutes."
"You're on." The two guys rushed into the forest, and Luffy jumped up from the crab he was poking at and ran after them.
---Ten minutes later---
"Here's the water---hey, where'd everyone go?" Reia called out. Behind her was a trail of glistening water floating in the air. She spotted the barrels and dumpedit in, Chopper rushing over to Usopp.
"Wow! What're you doing?" Chopper asked while staring in awe at the sculptures. Usopp stood up and brushed the sand off his pants. He pointed to a large sculpture.
"That's us! Cool, isn't it?" Usoppasked him. A sand Luffy in a loincloth pointed to the horizon, while the sand Sanji, also in loincloth, held a stick with meat on the tip. Nami and Reia with skimpy animal skins on were frozen in the middle of a conversation while sitting, Chopper also sitting next to Luffy. Zoro was back to back with Reia, leaning on her and snoozing. The sand Usopp was stuck in a triumphant pose, grinning.
"Wow, that's nice Usopp!" Nami complimented as she walked out from the forest. She ran a hand through her orange hair.
"This island's pretty small," she said disappointedly. Reia smiled supportively at her, and asked Nami what she found. As they talked, Chopper and Usopp resumed their sculpting contest.
---Fifteen minutes later---
Zoro jumped out of the forest. As he dumped the food near the unlit fire, the others gawked at all the stuff he found which overflowed the baskets.
"Where's Sanji?" Zoro asked in confusion. Nami and Reia shrugged as they sorted through the huge pile, talking excitedly over certain fruits that twinkled temptingly in the setting light.
"It's only been twenty-five minutes, Zoro," Usopp called over his shoulder. He turned back and added under his breath, "It's a wonder you found you way back at all, let alone be early."
Chopper clip-clopped over and examined one fruit, then the next vegetable. He brightened and set one in his basket. Suddenly, he dropped a red one. It hit the sand, and Chopper squeaked, "Zoro! Half of the stuff you have is inedible, poisonous!" Zoro turned sharply with a scowl.
"…huh?"
---Five minutes later---
"Soo, I won?"
"Humph. Stupid reindeer."
"No, it's a draw, Sanji."
"WHAT?!" Two voices sounded in unison. Sanji and Zoro glared daggers at each other. Nami smiled as Reia levitated the inedible part of Zoro's pile and moved it near her, her palm facing the sky. The sun was setting, and Usopp and Chopper tried for another fish as Zoro settled under a palm tree to sleep. Sanji sliced the fish, and the bonfire was lit.
Hmm….what to do with all this stuff? Reia pondered as she looked at the pile. Her eyes widened and she hastily took out her red book from her blue bag. Nami sat at a folding table with her mapping supplies. Reia laid down on her belly on the soft, white sand, her feet in the air as she read her book by the fire.
The crickets started chirping as soon as the sun disappeared,. The waves lapping the shore gave the Straw Hats a peaceful mood. Reia turned over and sat up on the sand a few minutes later, looking at the fruit about seven feet away. She stood and raised some of the pile up, separating each. Then she lifted her arm, as if in giving a blessing, and stretched her fingers.
"Spirit Arrows!" The fruit in the air started to explode, red gunk falling to the sand. Reia grinned as the last fruit exploded. She walked over to the remaning pile and held six in her hands, then started to do some juggling with them, without using her hands, of course. She looked up into the sky and gritted her teeth. Higher…higher…why wouldn't they go higher?
"I can see you moving them," Zoro said in a slightlyawed voice behind her. She shrugged.
"Of course you can." He shook his head.
"I meant…y'know, the energy." The fruit dropped.
"Really?!" Reia turned sharply and stared at him incredulously. "How?"
"I think I've been around you too long." Reialaughed softlyand walked overnext to him and sat, her head leaning on the palm tree's trunk. She lifted her arm in front of her, fingers apart. After a few moments of tracing the air, she looked at him.
"What does that say?" she asked. Zoro squinted. To Reia, the message in the air was a glowing blue substance, and floated nearby. I wonder if Zoro's just joshing me…
"Um…" He coughed. "…I love Zoro?" Reia laughed weakly and quickly erased the glowing message.
"Wow, that's creepy…" Reia murmured. She turned to her left and looked at Zoro, eyebrows together in thought. Zoro looked at her, their faces merely a foot apart, and then reached up to brush some sand off her shoulder. She gazed at him questioningly. He brought his face closer to hers, closed his eyes, and dropped his head onto her shoulder, snoring quietly. Reia sighed with slight embarrassment and blushed a bit, running a hand through her hair. She adjusted his head.
"This is even creepier," Reia muttered. She took her right hand and ran it through Zoro's green hair, almost like combing it with her fingers. Why couldn't I go higher? Is my power limited to what I can see…or do I need to "train" it? Aaahh….
Sanji walked over to the two and gawked, then kicked Zoro's leg, whobolted awake and also started to blush slightly.
"I thought I told you to share," Sanji growled. Zoro shrugged nonchalantly, looking at Reia out of the corner of his eyes, grinning.
"I didn't do nothing. Just sleeping," Zoro replied. Sanji scowled, then brightened when he turned back to Reia.
"The fish's cooked. It's time to eat!" Reia stood up and brushed the sand off her pants. As she walked away, Zoro stood up and also started to brush sand off, except there wasn't a grain of sand on him. He looked up to see Reia sitting by the fire on a log, also looking at him. She winked, and then greeted Nami. He smiled slightly and sauntered over to another log.
The bonfire's smoky smell lingered with the aroma of cooked fish. After giving up, Usopp and Chopper scurried over to Sanji and nagged him about something. He turned away from them in annoyance, plates in his hands with steaming food. He suddenly noticed the edges glowing blue, and then all the plates in his hands started hovering. With a surprised noise, he looked up at Reia, whose nose was in her book. She glanced up and started sending the food to the appropriate Straw Hat. Sanji shook his head in wonder.
"Oy, Reia, how can I see the energy all of a sudden?"
"I dunno. Maybe you've been around me too long."
"I can never be aroundyou too long!!"
"AAA!! My plate! It's glowing blue and it's moving---Oh, it's you, Reia!" Nami said in relief. She stood up and joined the others in eating. Suddenly, Reia stopped eating. She raised an eyebrow.
"Has anybody seen Luffy?" A wild yell echoed in the forest.
A/n: I'm sorry this was unusually long. I already have the idea ready for the next story. Don't worry, I'm not starting over. Thank you very much for all your support! I think I need to go out and support others too….get into the Christmas spirit! …wait a sec. Ack, never mind.