Ch4:
The Singing Isle

A/N: Alright , I'm sorry it's taken me a while to update my story, but I... really don't have an excuse... without further adue, we have a story in which nothing really happens... just... wow. I've seen ficlets in which more happens in 1 shot than has happened in 4 chapters of my story... Oh well... I still enjoy telling it.

Interesting fact: Perhaps the hardest (and yet easiest) character to write is Luffy. I think Strawhat knows at least a bit more than he lets on.

Anyway... to all my adoring fans (...that may even number as high as three) we have chapter 4!

All too slowly the mysterious island grew in the sight of the Mugiwaras. While they were all anxious to get there, and off of their well loved boat that had almost become their very own well loved coffin; there was no one who could match the excitement of their captain.
"Hey look, a town!" Luffy cried excitedly as he bounded into his favorite seat upon the figurehead of the Merry Go, anticipation to get to their next goal plainly written on his honest face. "I hope there's something to eat there!"

"Luffy, are you still hungry?" asked an exasperated Nami. "We just finished off that enormous pot of food an hour ago."

"Well, yeah! Aren't you?"

"…Actually…" Nami said, not wanting to admit the fact that she was still hungry. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you need to stay where you are, no wandering off, ok?"

"But…"

"OK?"

"…ok…" Luffy said, entirely unhappy about the whole deal. He didn't want to be patient. He didn't want to sit there all day while the ship made it's way to the new island. He wanted meat, and he wanted it now!

"Promise me that you're not going to try to go to that island by yourself." Nami demanded with a tone of exasperation in her voice directed at her captain, her hands on her hips.

"Oh, come on Nami, haven't I already?" Whined Luffy, who sure as hell didn't want to make that promise.

"Just say it!"

"…"

Luffy knew that there was no reasoning with Nami when she got this way. He didn't care, because he really didn't know how to reason with someone all that well, but he knew. Grinning, he turned to her "I don't wanna."

"Luffy!" Nami screeched. Maybe Zoro was right… maybe she was a harpy. Luffy didn't let that thought bother him too long. Nami was still right in front of him, and she still looked mad. "I want you to swear you won't go to that island alone."

"No!"

"If you don't, I'll tell Sanji to not give you any meat ever again!"

That simple statement froze Luffy in his tracks. No meat? What would he do without meat? I mean… vegetables and fruits were all well and good, but they weren't meat. Meat was everything, the driving force behind his existence. Sure, he had the dream to be pirate king, and that was a driving force behind him. But meat was… the purpose of his life! "You wouldn't!"

"Try me." Nami replied with a small grin. She had him, and she knew it.

"…Fine!" Luffy huffed. "I promise that I'm not going to try to go to the island by my self. Happy?"

"Ecstatic." Nami said in agreement. Satisfied that Luffy wasn't going to do anything stupid, she turned her attention to other things, and left her captain sitting alone.

An hour later Luffy was bored and frustrated. He was hungry and the island was literally within his reach. The only thing stopping him from leaving the ship was the promise Nami had forcibly extracted from him. But wait, if he was to take someone with him he wouldn't be alone, and he wouldn't break his promise, and he wouldn't loose his precious precious meat. But who to take?

Nami was definitely out of the question. Sanji… nah! He'd just tell Nami. Zoro was asleep, and Luffy didn't want to bother him… he got mean when he was bothered.

"Captain-san?" Robin asked, interrupting Luffy's thoughts.

Slowly a grin crept across his face. Of course! Robin was the perfect choice to go with him. "Robin, let's go to the island!"

"That's where we're headed." Robin said with a smile.

"But I mean now!"

"And how will we get there? You can't use the waiver, and I don't know how."

"Like this!" Luffy laughed. Casting his hand back as far as it could stretch, he launched it towards the island. Snagging a handhold his smile only increased. "Gomu gomu no Umi crossing!"

An instant before he shot forward he snagged Robin about the waist. The sea crossing was very short, and very brutal. If Robin had been anyone else a blood-curdling scream would have escaped her lips. As it was she merely smiled and looked at her captain as she dismissed the myriad of hands she had used to catch herself with.

Luffy was busily trying to extract his head from the newly formed crevasse of a boulder. As he struggled she patiently waited, taking in her surroundings. The beach seemed normal. Normal sand, normal trees, normal rocks… with poneglyph symbols etched into them.

Robin's breath caught in her throat as a feeling of excitement washed over her. this couldn't be the Rio poneglyph that was with one piece but any chance to learn was an exciting prospect for her. dusting off her hands, she went to work gathering the stones.

"Why are you so sad, Nami?" chopper asked as he to a spot on the rail next to the young navigator. With a bit of effort he pulled himself on top of the railing.

"Hmm?" she replied absently. "Oh, I'm not sad, just thinking."

"About what?"

"A lot of things… Mainly about this. Take a look." Nami said, holding the lockpose up so that Chopper could see it easily.

Chopper had no idea what he was looking at, and said so. "Nami, I'm a doctor, not a navigator."

"Oh, yeah… Well, you see this needle here?" She asked.

"Yeah…"

"The red half of it always points to the next island on our route through the Grandline."

"…Ok… What's the problem?" Chopper wondered.

"It's not pointing towards this island." Explained Nami. Sure enough, the red half of the needle was pointing far out to sea.

"Why is it doing that?"

"I don't know Chopper, I don't know…"

Back on the island, Luffy had finally managed to pull his head free from its stone prison just as Robin finished arranging the stone fragments in a rough order.

"Oi, Robin, what'cha got there?" Luffy asked as he walked over.

"Hmm?"

Seeing that she was bent over rocks in study, he figured that it had something to do with arch… archi… historian stuff. With a frown he saw that the rocks had those weird markings on them that only Robin could read. "Well, what's it say?"

"…Welcome to Solstin, the singing… isle?" she said, looking up. "I think it says isle, but I'm not sure… the stone is so worn here that it could be a handful of words. It's hard to tell."

"The Singing Isle?" Exclaimed Luffy, stars in his eyes. "Cool! Come on, let's find someone to tell us more!"

Before Robin could protest Luffy had her by the arm, and was dragging her through the forest. As she followed her captain a smile crept, unnoticed by her, upon her face.

Unseen by either, the cloaked figure watched them from the underbrush.

"…Ah yes… Everything is going according to plan…"

A/N: Hmm... perhaps the claoked figure isn't an angel, but what's it's angle?

And I noticed that in Ch. 3 I had Robin call Luffy by his real name... Horribly OOC I know. Hopefully Ch. 5 takes less than a week to write up.

Sa'avryn

P.S. My favorite part in this chapter is Chopper quoting Dr. Hank 'Bones' McCoy