Chapter 6
The cloud followed her until she got back inside, where it dissipated from the cool, dry air. She sighed and sat back down beside Chopper at the end of the table. She resisted shaking like a wet dog and settled with trying to wring out her braid.
"I didn't see any rain..." Chopper looked out of the window again for confirmation.
"It's hard to tell anything here." Nami mumbled and put a mug up to her lips. Usually she could tell the clouds and the tides and a storm coming miles away, but the whole island didn't make any sense.
Sen sighed. "The weather on Shunran Island is extremely unpredictable. It could storm across the street and people on this side wouldn't notice. You get used to it."
Once she couldn't get any more water out of her hair, she focused on her drinks, 3 large mugs of rich, dark ale. After her little breakdown in the alley, she figured she'd better take it easy and only took two. Luffy was happy to take the third.
"Can whoever's the doctor undo this band? My arm feels better, and I'm right handed. I can't do much if it's taped to my side." Sen's left hand had a beer mug in it, but it was easy to see that it didn't feel right to her.
"Maybe, but you'll have to go easy with it." Chopper hopped out of his chair and pulled at the knot in the center of her back.
She uncurled her finger from her glass and pointed at the little reindeer. "You're the doctor?!"
"Doctor Tony Tony Chopper at your service!" He grinned from ear to ear.
"I thought you were the mascot or a pet or something." She snickered into her beer.
"I'M NOBODY'S PET!" Chopper-chan turned into Chopper-kun and towered over her.
The restaurant froze and anyone close to their table was immediately across the room. Sen bit through the rim of her glass and crushed the rest.
Nami put her hand over her forehead. "Chopper, calm down!"
Sen quickly spit out the shard of glass and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry Chopper. Please forgive me. And thank you for fixing my arm." She lowered her head and turned away from him. 'Crap... I'm starving now...'
Chopper gave her a funny look and sat down.
Sanji spoke up. "Don't worry about it. The furball is actually the emergency food supply."
"I am not!"
Sen remained quiet until the food came. Everyone ordered something different, and they had gotten her just what she wanted. Nami stared in disbelief at the large, deep-fried, and overall heart-stopping chicken that arrived in front of Sen.
"...That's a chicken?!"
"Yes." Sen ripped a leg off and cleaned the bone the same way Luffy had cleaned his shish-kebab skewers.
Luffy clapped for her and pointed to her meal. "Hey, Sanji, you have to buy a couple of these birds!" Sen tossed him the other leg and thigh for him to taste. "Oh YEAH. We have to have this. Oh man, it's crunchy and juicy at the same time!!!"
"And you expect to finish that...?" Usopp's eyebrow went up. "You're a bit small- I mean that thing is half your size!"
She peeled the fried skin off of one side, cracked the whole chicken in half, and then bit it into quarters. "Perfect metabolism. What of it?"
Chopper scooted over a little. The way she ate, she might have taken the emergency food supply joke too seriously.
'How can she eat that much? She's as bad as the guys are!' Nami tried not to stare, and focused on her own plate, which was a large salad, but nowhere near as much food as a chicken that was about the same size as Chopper. At least skipping breakfast left a little extra room.
About half-way through her meal, Sen perked up a bit and turned chatty towards her rescuers and asked what in the world they were doing on the Grand Line.
"I made a promise to someone; to prove my skills as the world's greatest swordsman. Zoro, of the Santoryu Style!"
"I need to see the world, and become a famous cartographer as a promise to my family."
"To be a brave warrior of the sea and someday have a crew of my own!"
"To find All-Blue and be the greatest chef."
"I've found my nakama, so now I only want to see the world and have the pirate's heart that my teacher did."
"And I will be the Pirate King!" Luffy gave a hearty laugh.
"...Okay. Everyone needs a hobby, I guess. You become king of the thugs, I write and -."
"Hey, now. I was likin' you until you said that. It's not becoming a thug. It's more than whatever you people have been hearing about pirates. We're in it for the adventure. For One Piece!"
"Explorers, travelers, adventurers, and merchants come to this island every day. My father is one of them. He's a respected merchant and has done a lot for this island, and he always has stories to tell when he gets back. It's pirates who have to come in, act stupid, wreck the place, and the next thing you know, you have to start sinking ships to preserve your way of life. We don't like having to do that, and if you're really like you say, your reputation has been ruined." Sen picked her teeth with one of the bird's ribs and then ate that too.
Sanji's eye went wide. "What the hell...?"
"Umm... There are good minerals and nutrients in the bones." Sen realized what her nervousness was doing to her and put her hands in her lap. She resisted picking the bones of her meal and tried to think of something else. "I can pay for all of you. Food here isn't very expensive, and it's the least I can do for you saving me. Then I can show you where you can get your supplies."
He decided to let it go.
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Illian sat quietly at the edge of the dock and stared up at the Going Merry.
"Which will it be? Somehow convince them to take the girl off our hands? Banish her? Or outright kill her? I wouldn't mind just killing her. It would make me feel better that your stupid little plan failed." Vandis paced back and forth behind him.
"We might not have to kill her after all. Now that these pirates are here, that opens up our choices. She's still my sister, but with that foolish mistake she made, it won't be long until I lose that too."
"Tell me, why didn't we just destroy the ship? Or at least send them away?" Vandis was already making a plan of his own. He wanted this whole ordeal to be done with as soon as possible.
"Her powers are still weak, but someone still would've still heard her song. Our people are the only ones on the Grand Line who can do what we do. You were outvoted. She didn't mean any of this. It was an accident. We can't kill her over an accident."
"You're hesitating. You're almost as delusional as she is. She thinks she can keep control of herself. You saw how she threatened us. That's not your sister anymore." He shivered.
"How was she supposed to know!? I don't even see why we should be afraid of her! We just have to figure out how to help her."
"You've haven't touched her since the incident. She's cold. She was never very happy before, but now, she's always angry. She lies. She lied to me. She hides from us. And if we can control her, why is there still a fog up there?!" Vandis seemed especially bitter about her lying to him...
"It still sounds like she's a Siren to me. And she hides from everyone, after what you did to her. The fog... is your fault."
"So you want to let it go? Just wait for it, Illian. I think those pirates are what's finally going to set her off. They don't look it, but they're as dangerous as us, and the girl with them would've given them an advantage if Sen weren't fouling everything up in the area." Vandis snapped his finger and a lightning bolt crackled into a black tower at the center of the port.
"Are you sure didn't share it with her? This isn't the friend I've known since the first drizzle..." Illian looked into the water at their reflection.
"I just can't stand what she did to me. Remember those memories, Illian. Because I can't." A cloud gathered over him, but it didn't rain, it just turned black.