Chapter 3
Sen awoke with a start and sat up in her bed. Then she looked around and noticed that the décor was not of her familiar metal plates and scrolls. This was not her bed, or her room, or the island. A breathless curse escaped her lips and she swung her legs over the side of the bed. The porthole across the room had a little but not much light coming through it. Since she figured she'd been rescued a little before sunset, this must have been dawn. She felt incredibly refreshed like after a good night's sleep, and her arm and shoulder didn't even hurt that much. One of them had replaced her arm sling with inconvenient and tight bindings.
'Grr... I can't reach the knot... they did that on purpose... At least it doesn't hurt like it used to.' She hissed under her breath and took a look at the porthole. The scenery did look familiar, in fact, she knew the islands they were passing because they were the ones she saw from... her home window. 'Crap! How fast are they going?!'
The woman ran upstairs in hopes that someone would be awake. The only one she did find awake was a blonde boy looking slightly irritable and going into the kitchen. It didn't bother her, she could be just as grouchy if need be. She had every right to be. They didn't look all that tough in the first place. "Hey! You or somebody's gotta slow the ship down. My island isn't far from here!"
The boy looked her up and down. "I'm only the cook. I need to make breakfast before the captain wakes up and tries to make it himself. Go find someone else to do it." And nearly slammed the door in her face.
'Damn uppity pirates!' She ran back the other way, downstairs, and as she got to the sleeping quarters, she got a wicked idea. She tiptoed past the green haired man and went straight to the goofy kid in the straw hat. He didn't have sharp implements nearby.
"Mon capitan! I have a most urgent matter to discuss with you!" She said in a moderately loud voice.
He didn't stir. This was their captain? What if the bloody ship was sinking? He'd have to be able to hear the alarm all the way down here. If she got any louder, something might happen.
"CAPTAIN! SIR!" She whistled loudly. Nothing. In fact, none of them stirred. She remembered her original intent, and shrugged. "Well, if nobody wants Break-fa-st..."
She was almost thrown across the room as Usopp, Chopper-chan, and Luffy managed to get from their hammocks, to the doorway, and halfway up the stairs in a single, smooth, 2-second motion. The green haired man growled as he heard their footsteps echoing across the room and up the stairs.
"Well, that didn't work out as I hoped." She rolled her eyes and followed them up the stairs.
"You have a hell of a lot of guts coming down here and disturbing us like that..." Zoro mumbled and turned over slightly.
"It was important. If you want me off this ship and back on land, you'll cooperate. My island is just ahead and I needed them to slow the ship down." With that, she made her way upstairs to see if she could distract the captain from a breakfast that wasn't ready in the first place.
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"Whaddya mean breakfast isn't ready?!" Luffy pouted.
"Breakfast isn't ready, as in, I just BARELY GOT STARTED! GET OUT!"
"I have a feeling that lady tricked us." Usopp put his hand on his chin.
Sanji growled. "She came up to me saying something about her island coming close. Get her off the ship, if not to get her out of our hair, than to keep her from taking over."
"I guess we should weigh anchor then. We can get supplies. I think I know why Sanji's been all pissy the past couple of days." Usopp dragged himself out of the kitchen and took Chopper-chan with him.
They found the woman standing a few feet away from the railing, but was staring down an amazing sight that Chopper couldn't fathom and Usopp couldn't create in his wildest lies. A city. It took up the entire island, and was visible from miles away. It made the great Loguetown look like a backwater village. The island itself didn't fit into the archipelago they were travelling through, it was by far the largest they'd come upon in the area, but it looked like it was slightly sunken. The higher parts shone like glass, and reflected the morning sun, while the lower parts reflected the surrounding seas. Some buildings did not reflect at all, and instead absorbed the light around them. Instead of one lighthouse, there were 4. The sun rose from the center and looked like it balanced between all of them.
"I never get tired of seeing that." She smiled to herself and pushed the boys' jaws back up to the default closed position. "I also noticed we AREN'T SLOWING DOWN. C'mon! You can gawk all you want when we get there!"
"WHOOOOAAA-HOHOAAA!!!!!" Luffy finally got out of the kitchen and focused on what Sen, Chopper, and Usopp were so fixated on. His jaw dropped. All the way down to the floor. It made Sen jump back.
"WHAT THE HELL?!?!" Sen pointed to his tongue and jaw still on the ground.
"YAH CIIHY!!! IIHH SSOOOO OOOOLL!!!" Luffy didn't even hear her, he was completely mesmerized by the shiny buildings and the immensity of it all.
"Luffy's a rubber man. He can stretch himself." Usopp grabbed Chopper and Luffy so they could slow the ship and prepare to dock.
Sen halted for a moment. 'Oh that's just great. More lovely surprises.' She put her hand on her forehead and looked up. Then she saw it. "OH. SHIT. GUYS!! WAIT!! PLEASE!!"
Her voice rocked the ship slightly, but she wasn't concerned about that anymore. She ran up to Luffy and Usopp. "Captain, you've got to drop your anchor, flag, and the main sail. NOW!!!"
"What, your island doesn't like pirates or something? The flag's not coming down." Luffy kept working to turn the tiller a bit so they would steer closer to the island.
Sen grabbed Luffy by the vest and shook him wildly. "Okay, long story short, my people don't like pirates, and are more than willing and able to destroy the ship right here and NOW. THEY WILL KILL US ALL WHERE WE STAND!!! DROP THE DAMN ANCH-"
The strike of a lightning bolt pierced her thoughts and made her blood run cold. It also rocked the ship and threw them off balance. "That's them... You've got to believe me, Captain!"
Usopp went wide-eyed. "Caaaptaain... My 'Can't Get On This Island' Disease is acting up... I think we better do as she says..."
Downstairs, Nami jolted awake in a cold sweat, and Zoro frowned up. Nami's weather sense was tingling, and Zoro's general evil sense bothered him. As soon as they came upstairs, they immediately found the source of their nagging feelings. The city had now clouded over and the higher clouds seemed to stream straight toward the Going Merry. As they we're drawn closer, the sky turned from white, to grey, to jet black. A deadly cold wind blew past them and drained the blood from Nami's face. Zoro's frown got deeper.
"That storm... and that city..." She immediately turned to Sen who had a similar look except her dark red skin did not betray the full extent of her horror.
"I can stall them for a few minutes, but for god's sakes, DO AS I TOLD YOU!" Her voice sounded different from yesterday. Yesterday her voice was high pitched in panic and slightly quiet. Now it was a combination of horror and anger. Her pitch did not raise as much, even though she had to shout over the approaching winds.