Chapter 4

"Zolo! What are you doing!"

Zolo opened his eyes to see Sanji staring at him with horror in his eyes. He blinked a few times so his eyes could adjust to the morning sunlight. He looked over to his side to see Adella. His right leg was stuck in between Adella's legs, his right arm was numb because Adella's head was resting on it, and his left hand was positioned on her hips. "Oh shit!" Zolo jumped away from her, causing her head to hit the floor of the crow's nest.

"Ow! What the fuck?" Adella sat up and rubbed her head. She looked at the red faced Zolo. "Zolo, the hell is your problem! That hurt!"

"Are you alright Adella?" asked Sanji.

"For the time being." She winced at the pain stinging her head.

"You're not bleeding are you?" asked the concerned Sanji.

"I don't think so. My head just hurts like crazy!" She glared at Zolo.

"Here, why don't you come down with me to the kitchen and I'll get you an ice pack?"

"Okay, thanks." She watched as Sanji descended the crow's nest.

"It…It was an accident…" explained Zolo.

"Yeah sure." She climbed down from the crow's nest and followed Sanji into the kitchen. "I wonder why Zolo did that."

Sanji searched through the refrigerator. "Did he tell you that it was an accident?"

"…It…was?" She was shocked. And after she had yelled at him! "I yelled at him…What kind of friend am I?"

"It was an honest mistake." Sanji threw her the ice pack. "Here."

"Thanks." She placed it on her head.

"So what was Zolo doing up there with you?"

"Oh, he came last night to keep me company."

"Did…anything else happen?"

"No…Why?"

Sanji tried to hide his blush. "No reason." I probably shouldn't tell her about the hold Zolo had her in…

Adella looked down, then at the table. "Oh! My flute! I forgot it in the crow's nest! I'll be back." She opened the door and was about to run out when she bumped into Zolo. "Z-Zolo!"

"You forgot your flute." Zolo handed her the black case.

"Oh, thank you. And I'm sorry for yelling at you." She took the case and bowed.

"It's alright!" He smiled at her and left.

She took her case and sat down. "There's something in this case that's very important to me…Besides my flute of course." She opened it and pulled out a sapphire pendant.

"Wow, that looks expensive," said Sanji.

"It was. My father bought it for me when I was just a little girl. I've cherished it since. If anything were to happen to this, I don't know what I would do." She put it on. "I don't love it because it was very expensive. I love it because it has sentimental value…Like my flute…"

"Well, it looks beautiful on you," said Sanji with a romantic look.

"Oh," she blushed. "Why thank you Sanji."

"Adella!" Luffy burst into the kitchen. "There you are! I've been looking all over for you! Come on outside and play your flute!"

"Okay, sure thing Luffy." She turned back to Sanji. "Come on Sanji!" They walked outside together.

"Alright everyone!" shouted Luffy. "After our last big fight, I know that we're still pretty tired, so Adella's here to give some musical energy to us!"

"Yeah, why don't you show us what you can do with that flute of yours?" asked Zolo with a grin. "You're the ship's instrumentalist after all."

Adella blushed and nodded shyly. "Okay." She set her case down and put her flute together. She began to play beautifully.

"Cool! Let's dance!" Luffy jumped up and began to dance about in a strange fashion. Chopper and Usopp suddenly joined him.

"Why don't you three dance? The rest of us will sit this one out," chuckled Zolo. Suddenly, as if in a trance, Chopper made one circle around Adella and sat at her side. Zolo stopped laughing and looked. "Huh?" The ocean water began to get very choppy, and the Merry Go tilted from one side to the other.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked Vivi. Out of nowhere, a giant sea cow popped out of the water.

Usopp stopped dancing and screamed as he saw the cow. "AHHHH! It's a sea monster!" He dove under a deck chair.

"Hey Luffy, doesn't that look like that sea cow from Arlong Park?" asked Sanji.

"Yep, sure does," responded Luffy. "Hey! I wonder if he remembers me. Hey cow!" The monster looked down at Luffy and it began to cry. It quickly turned and swam away, but not before causing a giant wave.

"Oh no! Hold onto something!" shouted Nami. Everyone grabbed onto something.

Adella held onto the pole of the crow's nest as the boat was tossed. She held her flute as tight as she could between her teeth. The boat took one more violent jerk before everything was over. Just when it ended, Adella's necklace came off and soared towards the railing of the boat. "My pendant!" She scrambled after it, but it went overboard. "No!" She was going to jump when someone grabbed her arm.

"Adella, what're you doing! That's dangerous!" shouted Sanji.

"No! You don't understand! My-" Zolo dove into the water with such grace. Adella wriggled out of Sanji's grasp and looked over the side. "Zolo!"

"Where's Zolo!" asked Luffy.

"I don't know! Huh?" Adella looked down at her blade to see a bit of blood dripping from the tip. Where did that come from? She tried to think back. Sanji grabbed me, then Zolo dove into the water. He brushed up against me when he…So that means that…! Zolo's bleeding! "Zolo's wounded!"

"W-What!" asked Vivi.

"What do you mean!" asked Nami.

Chopper snapped out of his daze and ran up behind Adella. "What's going on!"

"Zolo, what's taking so long!" shouted Sanji.

"Screw this!" She jumped into the water. W-Where's Zolo? She began to swim deeper. Please Zolo, be alive! Be alive! As she kept swimming, a stream of red water mingled with the rest of the seawater. No, that can't be… Zolo suddenly came into view, as did a shark. Damn! Zolo, you're not gonna die on me! She pulled out her blades and swam at full force. When she was close enough, she rammed both blades into the shark. The dead shark carcass drifted off into the dark depths of the ocean. She grabbed Zolo and brought him back to the surface. They both broke through with a gasp.

"Adella!" shouted Sanji. He pulled her up, then Zolo.

"You're both insane!" screamed Usopp.

"Yeah!" added Sanji. "What's the big idea jumping into the water like that! Are you both out of your minds!"

Adella panted and huffed as she sat with her head down. Her wet hair draped over her entire body like a veil. She looked up at a blue thing in her face. "What is--! My pendant!"

Zolo held it out. "Here."

She took it. "Zolo…Why did you do that?"

"Because I know how much that means to you."

She almost felt like crying into his arms. "Thank you…" Her eyes drifted to his arm. "Zolo your arm!"

He looked at his right arm. "Oh…So what?"

"You're bleeding!"

"So?"

"Don't you care about anything! Blood is supposed to stay in the body!"

"Let me take a look at that." Chopper, being the cute little medic he is, rushed to Zolo's side and checked the injury. "It's just a minor gash. Just a bit of disinfectant and a bandage, and Zolo will be good as new!"

"Adella, are you alright?" asked Sanji.

"Sanji, I'm fine."

"I'm glad you are." He hugged her.

Huh? S-Sanji?

"But you shouldn't have done something so reckless. You should have let me go in after Zolo."

Sanji's so…warm… She closed her eyes, but didn't hug back. He cares about me, and so does Zolo. But Sanji shows it more often…

"I'm so sorry everyone," announced Adella.

"Why?" asked Usopp. "You didn't do anything."

"Yes I did. You see, when I play my flute, animals become enticed with the songs and follow me everywhere. The monster probably heard my song. Chopper, that's what happened to you. I'm really sorry."

"You didn't do it on purpose. It was an accident," explained Zolo. He reached out for her hand. "Don't worry, we've been through worse anyways."

Adella smiled, then put down her head. "Thank you, everyone…"