To answer a few reviews...
polw: Hahaha, most people would just assume it was deadly poison, but...
Griever5: I wouldn't just end it there. I hope you like the newest installment!
Starfire-hime: Well, I guess it's almost Pictionary... but Luffy-style.
imjuzakyd: I'm glad this caught your interest. I'm a fan of Peter Pan myself.
And thanks to Leo's Starlight! On with the show...
Continued...
In Which There Is a Dark Converstaion
Nami groaned and sat up. Or at least, she tried to. Something held her down... was that concrete? Yup. Her wrists and feet were stuck. Thick,- around six inches- and very solid. Wonderful. Wait. Was she upright or laid flat? Come to think of it, was she on the ceiling or the walls or the floor, or maybe suspended in the air? And why couldn't her eyes seem to open? That was kind of anoying. Oh well. She wasn't really awake yet anyway, so... back to sleep.
Hold it. Voices? From behind her, (or was it in front? or above? or-) two voices, seemingly in conversation. Strikingly familiar voices, too, but... too sleepy to remember. Oh well. Just sit and listen.
"So you never tried goza fish before?"
"No, I grew up in East Blue, so I never really got the chance. Isn't the goza fish a Northern?"
"Yeah. Even though I was on the Baratie for a long time, I was born in the North Blue. "
"Wow... Yeah, It's an interesting dish, though, the goza fish with bluerice noodles."
"You've never tried it before, huh? So, did you like it?"
"Oh, definitley. Lunch was really good- it always is, you're one of the best cooks I've ever come across- but I mean for my personal taste, it's one of my favorites."
"Thanks..."
"Where'd you get the bluerice, though? Isn't that also a North Blue plant?"
"Oh, they had some at Kokoyashi, Nami-san's village. They have some quality food there, let me tell you. Especially the fruit..."
"Yeah, I tried some. Ah, Kokoyashi... I hope they have a good sword shop at the next island, Rougetown. They should, you know, with all the fame the island has."
"New swords, huh... You know, I've always kind of wondered..."
"Hmm?"
"About your fighting style, you know. With the three swords and all. What was it again, Santeri..."
"Santouryuu?"
"Yeah. I mean, why three? Obviously you can fight the best with three swords now..."
"Right."
"...but why did you decide to start with three in the first place? I've always kind of wondered."
"Well, it goes a while back, ever since I started in the dojo I went to as a little kid. I used to practice with only two. My sword, the white one, actually belonged to a girl in the dojo, Kuina. Her father was the sensei."
"Was she any good?"
"Haha! Hell yeah. She was the only person I- Well, I could beat everyone in the dojo, right. Even people twenty years older than me. But not her. You know when things like that happen, right?"
"Yeah, all the time. I get that. But did you ever beat her?"
"Nah... the morning after our two-thousand-and-first battle... she died falling down the stairs. Even if she was a great swordsmaster, she was still just a kid."
"I'm sorry. So that's her sword, right? The white one you put in your mouth?"
"Yeah. ... And now you know. But hey. Something important like that happens to everyone, right? It's kind of like the rock, isn't it."
"It's just like that! Exactly like that."
"Almost a hundred days, huh?"
"Yeah. I still can't belive we survived that..."
Okay. Nami was definitley awake now. Zoro and Sanji, talking, those were their voices, but... they were having a calm discussion, a friendly chat even, with no fighting or insulting! Okay then. Whatever.
"...Guys? Is that you, guys?"
"Nami-swan! We're right here!"
"Nami are you alright?"
"Ah, I'm so glad it's you... I can't see, guys... where are you?"
"I think we're above you, Nami, but I'm not sure."
Nami had to laugh, even though she didn't know either.
"Hey. How should I know?" She could hear the frown in Zoro's voice.
"But he's right, we're somewhere above you, Nami-san. We can't see either, it's pitch black in here."
"How long have you boys been awake?"
"I dunno... couple hours...?"
"Sounds about right."
"So how come you're not fighting with each other?"
"We got bored," they replied in unison.
"...And I can't kick him," Sanji added as an afterthought.
"We would've been out of here by now if we were free enough to fight, anyway."
"Have you heard from Luffy or Usopp?"
"Nah. I think they're in another room," replied Zoro, "It's only the three of us in here. It's actually not too big of a room, just average cube-shaped prison or whatever. There's no door though, and the walls are like ten feet thick."
"Whoah, Zoro," said Nami, suprised, "How do you know all that?"
"Echo-location," he said calmly.
Both Nami and Sanji cracked up laughing.
"I have very sharp ears," he continued, a smile tugging at the edge of his voice. They only burst into renewed peals of laughter, which did in fact echo.
After a moment, they quieted down and the three of them sat- or was it stood, or hung, or laid?- in silence.
"Zoro... Zoro..."
"Hmm? Yeah Nami?"
"I didn't say anything, Zoro."
"Hey Sanji, you say something?"
"Nope, sorry."
"Zoro... Zoro... Zoro..."
"Whoever's doing that, cut it out!"
"What are you talking about, you shitty swordsman, stop trying to scare us!"
"Zoro..."
"Someone keeps saying my name!"
"I said, stop it! You're just trying to creep me out because you have nothing better to do!"
"Would you guys just-"
"STOP SAYING MY NAME!" the three of them shouted in unison.
"MY NAME... my name... name... name... ame... me..." the echo resounded over and over, leaving the crew mates slightly edgy and jumpy.
"You two okay?" muttered Sanji. "'M sorry about that... I thought I heard my name being called over and over again."
"I did too, I don't think it was a coincidence."
"I'm not saying I didn't," mused Nami, "But sometimes in a situation like this, people start to hallucinate. It's most likely just your imagination."
"Maybe..."
"Nami-swan is so smart!"
Zoro sighed. "This is getting ridiculous. We should try to get out of here."
"We already did, remember?"
"Yeah, well..." He did still ache from the first half an hour since waking up. "There is one thing we should figure out, at least."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"Which way is up."
"Got any ideas?"
"Well..." He frowned in concentration. "You're about... four feet away, Sanji, and Nami... is some eight feet in front of me. You guys know the way you're facing?"
"We're both facing you, I think. Or maybe we're all facing something in the middle."
"That's about right."
"So... What now?"
"No idea. We're stuck."
"Well, great." Sanji said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Hey Zoro..." Nami's voice was almost timid.
"Hmm? What is it, Nami?"
"You weren't kidding when you said you had echo-location, were you? And when you said that there was ten foot thick walls and no openings?"
"No, I wasn't. But we'll be fine! ...Right Sanji?"
"Huh? ... Oh, definitly! Don't worry, Nami-san, we're gonna get out of here in no time!"
"Alright," she smiled, and yawned. "I'm going back to sleep. Maybe you guys can figure something out."
She settled back against the- she supposed it was a wall, for simplicity's sake- and closed her eyes, falling into a deep slumber.
"You know..."
"Hmm?"
"I'm probably going to go to sleep, too, Sanji. That gas really got me good."
"Ah, go ahead," the cook sulked, " I'll just sit here by myself in the darkness alone, waiting possibly for hours by myself for you to wake up. Alone. In the dark." Sanji would never admit it, but he was slightly frightened at the prospect. Very slightly.
Zoro chuckled softly, closing his eyes, not knowing why he had them open in the first place. "You do that."
"From the bay, all ships must sail, if only for today." The swordsman's low voice muttered a tune that rumbled around the almost heavy air.
"Across the sky a seagull flies to somewhere far away... While the small boat sails away from town and the fish in the ocean carry the sound to a secret place that can't be found past farthest bay... set sail, set sail, and never stray from your dreams, and where the ocean meets the sky is closer than it seems... Sleep, sleep, and dream of adventures old and new, sail away to the sky and don't come home until you've stolen the moon."
Sanji had almost found himself humming along to the melody. It was an old song, from pirates long ago, and through generations and generations, the song had changed and been added to. Almost everyone had their own version to sing.
You know, now that he thought about it, Sanji was getting kind of sleepy, too.
The last thing he could speculate upon before he drifted off to Neverland was, maybe Zoro sang the lullaby on purpose to get him to sleep.
To Be Continued