Well, this story is going places, namely Alabasta but anyway. Special thanks to all my reviewers so far. It's nice to know people care: 3
Zolo: -glares- that was lame.
Me: Shut up, you have no say.
Stealthy: Dude, just get on with the story. She don't own One Piece!
Chapter 5: Markings
I was so hot. It was like I was practically melting and my mouth was as dry as the sand itself. The sun was high in the sky and Chopper and Zolo walked in front of me, seemingly unfazed by any of it. Luffy, on the other hand, was groaning with each step, his tongue lolling from his mouth like a bizarre dog. Oh god was it hot!
"Chopper, can you smell anything? Anything at all?" Zolo asked form in front of me. I looked up, tilting my hat back slightly so I could see him properly. He glanced over his shoulder at me and then looked back at Chopper again.
"No. Nothing." Chopper replied. I sighed and felt like collapsing when the two paused and I walked headlong into Zolo's back and fell into the sand. Sitting up, I straightened my hat and looked up at Zolo, who had a weird smirk on his face.
"Gotta watch where you're going." he commented. I gave him a glare and he chuckled before raising his eyes to look at Luffy who was lagging way behind. So we waited. Finally Luffy caught up enough so we could move on, and I got up, brushing sand out of my hair and once again noting the strange colour of it. In the real world I had had brown hair. Hang on, if the colour of my hair had changed, did that mean my eyes had changed as well? That concept had never occurred to me before.
"Ah, Chopper, could I ask you a question?" I asked timidly. I still really wasn't used to talking to anime characters. The big reindeer looked around, his man-beast form kind of scaring me a little.
"Sure." he replied. Zolo turned his head a little, listening interestedly.
"Ah, this is going to sound like a weird question, but, what colour are my eyes?" I asked. Zolo sweat dropped and turned completely to look at me.
"You don't know what colour your eyes are?" he asked. I shook my head.
"I don't remember anything before the desert." I replied. Zolo narrowed his eyes and then stopped to look into my eyes. I couldn't help it. I had to blush, he was just so damn close.
"They're… odd." he said tilting his head to one side.
"You think my eyes are odd?" I asked softly. He tensed and shook his head.
"No. Just the colour. They're like, aqua I think." Zolo said. I thought a moment. Well, my eyes used to be blue, so, they hadn't really changed that much. That was good. I looked up and noticed Zolo was still watching me.
"Here." he said and held out my sword. I looked at him for a minute and then slowly took it.
"Thankyou. But, I… I don't how to use it." I muttered. He looked at me and then turned to Chopper who shrugged. Luffy caught up then and then he brightened. I looked at him. He seemed to be looking past us. Zolo stiffened.
"No… not that." he said holding out his hands. Luffy stretched his arms straight past. Chopper, Zolo and I all turned a weird shade of blue and then were flung forward as Luffy performed his gum-gum rocket towards a small piece of shade under a large rock. I screamed and then blacked out.
The next thing I heard was Luffy laughing. I opened my eyes and found I was lying in the sand near Luffy's feet. I coughed and looked up to see Zolo slide off of the rock. He hit the ground with a thud and I winced.
"Are you okay?" I asked. He looked up, spitting sand from his mouth.
"I'm used to it." and he got up. Luffy looked around.
"Chopper!" he called. "Chopppeeeeer!"
"He's over there." Zolo said as he brushed himself off and pointed out to the sand stretching past the little bit of shade we were in. Poor Chopper was lying face down in the sand, his legs stuck up in the air. I squeaked.
"Is he alright?" I asked. Zolo shrugged.
"He's pretty hardy. He should be okay." and he sat down on a large rock. There was a crunch and then Zolo disappeared, the rock crumbling under him. I screamed and ran to the edge.
"He shouldn'ta sat there." Luffy commented as he looked down past me.
"Thanks!" Zolo shouted back. Next thing I know, Luffy's got an arm around my waist and we're swinging down into the pit Zolo just fell in. I stood there stunned, and slightly freaked by how quickly we had got down here.
"What are you doing down here?" Zolo asked Luffy as the captain walked over. I looked up and then looked around. The place was huge. Like an underground cavern. Strange markings seemed to stick out on the walls and I found myself mesmerized by them.
Something was odd. It seemed to me like I had seen them before. I walked over to one of the walls and brushed a hand across the surface, dust making me cough as I gazed at the markings.
"It's hotter down here than outside!" Luffy cried. I turned slightly.
"There's no fresh air down here." I explained. Zolo nodded in agreement. I turned back to the wall. A trickle of sand came down on my hat and I looked up.
"Uh oh." I muttered as Chopper began falling through above me. Apparently the sand had decided it had had enough of hanging onto the big reindeer. I shrieked and jumped out of the way as Chopper came down and hit the ground with a thud.
"Are you okay?" I panicked grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the sand. Man, I was really starting to care a lot about these guys. Chopper seemed to be getting the worst of it so far though.
"It's so quiet." Chopper said as he got up rubbing his neck. I nodded.
"Why don't you sing again Stealthy?" Luffy asked. I stiffened.
"Down here?" I replied. Luffy nodded.
"Yeah. It'd echo and sound really cool."
"Leave her alone Luffy." Zolo muttered as he turned to look at the walls as well. I sighed.
"The captain ordered it." I said. I thought for a moment. I couldn't think of a song! At least, not a good one. Then I remembered the movie I had been watching before One Piece had come on. Moulin Rouge. One particular song stuck in my head, and it had been sung by Ewan Mcgregor.
"Okay, I have one." I said and was about to sing when Luffy interrupted.
"Does this one have a name?"
"Why?" Zolo asked, settling himself on the floor and looking up at the captain. Luffy shrugged.
"So next time I want to hear it, I can just ask the name." he replied matter of fact.
"You can't just order her to sing anytime you want." Zolo snapped. Luffy pouted.
"It's ok. I like singing." I interrupted, sensing that an argument was sure to come up soon. The two men looked at me. "Luffy, the song's name is Your Song. Ok?"
"Cool. I'll remember that." Luffy muttered before sitting down beside the swordsman. Chopper leaned against the wall and watched as well. This was a bit unnerving so I shut my eyes and thought of the tune.
My gift is my soul…
And this one's for you
And you can tell everybody…
That this is your song…
It may be quite simple but it's a start…
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind,
That I put down in words…
How wonderful life is,
Now you're in the world.
Sat on the roof,
And I kicked off to mars…
Well some of these first things well they've
Got me quite crossed…
But the sun's been kind…
While I wrote this song,
It's for people like you that,
Keep it turned on.
So excuse me forgetting,
Bout these things I do,
You see I've forgotten if the green or the blue,
Well the thing is,
That I do love you,
Yours are the sweetest stars,
I've ever seen!
And you can tell everybody,
This is your song,
It may be quite simple but it's done
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind,
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is,
Now you're in the world.
I hope you don't mind, Hope you don't mind,
That I put down in words…
How wonderful life is…
Now you're in the world!
And I finished, breathing heavily and then I opened my eyes and looked around. I wasn't in the cavern anymore. It was weird but it looked like I was standing in moonlight under the stars.
"S!" a voice called. "S! Come on!" and the picture faded, leaving me back in the hot cavern, my head pillowed on someone's lap and my chest heaving as though I had run a mile. My eyes snapped open and I sat up.
"Where?" and I panicked for a minute before I remembered where I was. I turned to see Luffy standing over me and Chopper rifling through his little medicine bag. So that meant that I had been leaning on… and I turned and saw Zolo watching me. I squeaked and jumped up, putting a hand to my head to find my hat was gone.
"Eek, where's my hat?" I asked, still panicking. I felt really scared for some reason. Being in that place when I had opened my eyes had really freaked me out.
"Here." Luffy said and handed it over. "What happened?" he asked. I paused, catching my breath.
"I-I don't know." and then the strange markings on the walls seemed to glow for a second and I winced. "Can we get out of here. I'm starting to get really scared." I said anxiously. Zolo got up from the floor, brushing the dust from his knees. He looked a little put out about something.
"Sure." Luffy replied before looking up. He threw one of his fists up, and smashed it into the side of the hole. I jumped back as a ton of dirt and sand fell from the roof.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Zolo muttered, putting a hand to his cheek. Luffy seemingly ignored him as he sent his fist up again. Once more, a heap of sand fell onto the boy.
"You're gonna hurt yourself." I squeaked. Luffy ignored me as well and growled.
"Gum-gum rapid fire!" he cried and then (A/n sorry about the dub names but they're the only ones I know.) it looked like he had a million fists, all of them pounding into the roof. It was
really quite amazing, until the roof broke and heaps of slabs of stone began falling. Zolo grabbed me and pulled me away. There was a crunching and then silence as the dust settled.
"You could have killed us!" Zolo yelled as he stepped out from our hiding place. Luffy grinned and put his fingers up in a peace symbol, happy with his triumph.
"Now. Let's get out of here." he said before walking over to a tall pillar that had had the top broken off ages ago. "Chopper, I can't carry you big. Mini size please." Luffy asked as he wound his arm about ten times around the pillar.
"What's he going to do?" I asked Zolo. The swordsman groaned in frustration.
"Just make sure you hold on." he replied before walking over and grabbing a hold of Luffy's shoulder and waist. Chopper grabbed onto Luffy's other side.
"On my back S." Luffy called, his voice a little strained under the effort of holding onto the pillar. I hurried over and put my arms around his neck, still wondering what was going to happen. It was then he let his arm swing us up and around.
"Gum gum spring!" he yelled and suddenly we were soaring through the air. I looked back and saw the hole disappearing at an alarming speed. I looked down and noticed how high we were. Chopper yelled beside me as we began to descend. Oh dear. Not again. And then we hit, the ground slamming into us like a bat. Luffy skidded a few more feet and then stopped, laughing as he dusted himself off. I groaned, having managed to at least stay conscious this time.
"Why did I agree to join this crew?" I muttered.
"I was just thinking the same thing." Zolo said beside me.
"Ditto." Chopper mumbled from under the sand. I laughed and pulled the little reindeer out of the sand. Zolo groaned and rubbed his neck as he got up as well.
"This day just keeps getting better." he mumbled before walking after Luffy. Chopper grew into his big form and followed as well. I hung back, turning to look back at the sand again. That cavern. What had happened down there?
"S!" Luffy called. "Chopper's picked up Nami's scent!" and he began running. I turned back, pushing the thoughts of the cavern to the back of my mind. I could worry about that when we stopped to camp that night. I ran after them, hurrying to catch up.
When we found Nami, Chopper, Zolo and I, were about ready to faint. Luffy had kept running, Chopper occasionally correcting the direction as we ran.
"Why did we run?" I puffed, hands on my knees as I tried to regain my breath.
"Because as soon as the sun goes down, Luffy turns into megaman." Zolo replied grumpily, puffing as well.
"Hey! Guys!" A voice called. All four of us looked up and we saw Usopp waving from beside the camel, Vivi was waving as well, Nami didn't look like she really care, and Sanji was floating around, trying to get Nami and Vivi to pay attention to him again. I smiled.
Finally, we could rest. We slid down the side of the dune to rejoin the group and began to set up camp before it got too dark to do anything. The fire was roaring, and the night was freezing when Nami pointed out something I hadn't noticed before.
"Hey S, where'd you get that necklace? It's really cool." Nami said to me. I looked down and there was a gold chain I hadn't noticed before. I pulled off of my neck and looked at it closely.
A strange marking was on the pendant. I was like a musical note, but with a snake curled around it. I peered at it for a while, and then the group announced it was time for sleep, and I put the pendant back around my neck. Something weird was happening, and I had to figure out what.
-sighs- well, there ya go. More plot bunnies for you all to feast your little brains on. And more are coming in the next chapter. XD