"You shouldn't be alive!"
"Go to hell!"
"You insolent child! I wish you never born if you put me in a shame like this!"
"I hate you."
"Go die."
"NOOOOOO!"
"E-Eri-chan?! H-hey! Get a grip of yourself!"
"NO! I'M SORRY! PLEASE DON'T HATE ME!"
"You should just go die in an endless pit…"
"NO! I'M SORRY! Please… don't hurt me anymore…"
"ERI! OI! WAKE UP!"
As soon as I could, I opened my eyes, releasing me from the darkness into the blaring light. I saw Luffy's face full of worry and tensed. My eyes watered and hugged him, burying my face on his chest as my shoulder shook wildly. He hugged me back tight and he whispered that everything's gonna be alright and he's here right now.
"L-Luffy…" I sobbed, "Please don't hate me… please don't leave me… I don't want to be alone anymore… please… don't leave me…" I chanted as I kept cried, tighten my arms around him.
"Its okay, Eri, I'm here, I won't leave you. I never hate you, it's alright, I'm right here with you." He replied as he put his big hand on my head, stroking my hair softly. I kept sobbing until I cried myself to sleep, my arms still around Luffy tightly.
XXX
"Hey… is everything alright, Luffy?" Nami asked softly to Luffy in worry.
"She's been tossing and turning back and forth when she was sleeping until she screamed a moment ago…" Vivi added.
Luffy didn't answer them immediately but he carried Erica up and about to walk out from the room before stopping for a moment to tell the girls something. "She's sleeping with me tonight." He told them and walked out from the room and closed the batch.
He walked back to the Boys Quarter and laid Erica down to the sofa and he lay down too next to her. The couch is too cramped for them, of course, but better be patient except he wants his little sister got another nightmare. He hugged her tight and stroked her hair until her breathings getting calmer than before. He smiled and closed his eyes, going to sleep.
XXX
I woke up with stiff neck and I saw red. I just realized that I was sleeping hugging something and I looked up, only to saw Luffy sleeping soundly, wrapping his arms around me. I was staring at him before I brought up my left hand to his face, stroking it.
"Luffy… wake up." I said softly, but my voice was so hoarse and so dry. I coughed and it eventually woke him up.
"Eri, you okay? How do you feel? Did you get any nightmares again?" he asked in one breath frantically with his dark brown owlish eyes.
"Just go die already!"
"I'm… fine." I replied softly and tried to sit up slowly, my bangs shadowing my eyes. He sat up too and hugged me again, making circle on my back, which soothing me a bit. I hugged him back and closed my eyes, assuring myself that I got Luffy and the Strawhats now, and no one would haunt me anymore with those words.
Not anymore.
XXX
"Are you feeling alright now, Eri-chan?" I heard Sanji-san asked as he offered me a drink, which I received it gratefully.
"Yeah… better than last night… Thank you." I replied and sipped on the drink, "This is great like usual, Sanji-san." I said and smiled weakly, which was earning a noodle dance from him with hearty eyes.
I just smiled at it, got no energy to beat the crap outta him when he does that to me and sipped back the cold drink. I was staring at the sea while Vivi-chan was telling the others about Grand Line further and got pissed off when the boys didn't pay attention to whatever she's saying, as I'm still not feeling good from last night.
"Are you sure things will be fine like this!?" Vivi-chan exclaimed as she pointed at the boys.
"It'll be fine. They'll work hard when we come across rough seas. It's not like they want to die or anything. Here." Nami replied as she gives another drink to Vivi-chan.
"That's… true… but at this rate, we might be caught unaware." Vivi sighed as she took the drink from Nami's hand.
I smiled, "But being on this ship, sure makes you lose the will to even worry, doesn't it?" I asked to Vivi
She was surprised by my statement before feeling the breeze and watching the boys, smiling a bit. "Yes… it is quite relaxing…" she replied. I smiled at it softly and sipped down the drink until its empty.
"Hey Look! It's a dolphin!" Sanji-san informed as he saw a dolphin.
"Oh, it's so cu…"
But then the others were just realized that the said dolphin is a big-ass dolphin.
"IT'S FREAKIN' HUGE!" I was laughing and took a picture as the dolphin was leaped out, maybe about to eat us whole.
"Let's run away!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Aye-aye, Cap'n!"
I was watching the others calmly while they were so frantic and excited about it. Thankfully, after a few minutes of getting away, we finally got away and we're finally sailing in calm again. I was starting to doze off until Nami announced that she saw our destination.
I smiled a bit and I felt something was tied around me. I saw it was Luffy's arms as he clings on my back with his usual big grin of his.
"Come on, cheer up! We're going to an adventure! Cheer up, cheer up!" he told me, still with grin. I just smiled seeing his antics and nodded.
"Yeah! Adventure, here we come!" both Luffy and me exclaimed in sync with enthusiastic expression, making most of the Strawhats smiled in relieved that I'm back to my normal self.
Well, mostly…
XXX
"So this is Little Garden, eh?" Luffy pointed out as we got closer to the island, which revealing as an island with big ass 'garden'.
"Just from which view that it's 'little'?" Zoro said as he also pointed out my thoughts earlier.
"It doesn't look nearly as cute as its name…" Nami sighed, sounded disappointed.
"Took the words outta my mouth." I agreed as I put on my cap and wore my gladiator sandals, not taking off my eyes from the island full of jungle.
"T-this is like unexplored territory! An untamed jungle!" Usopp quivered out as he walked back a few steps.
"And we better explore it then!" I exclaimed after I finished tying my sandals and jumped up with excited expression. "You said it's unexplored, so then the first one that should explore it should be us! Right, Luffy?" I grinned as I turned my attention to Luffy.
"Yeah!" he agreed and we high-fived while Usopp was cowering out as he heard what Vivi-chan says about what Miss All-Sunday said a day ago.
"Oi! I saw a riverbank right there!" I heard Zoro exclaimed as he pointed to the said riverbank, which taking most of the Strawhats' attention to see the said riverbank.
We went through the jungle using the riverbank path and I can felt many livings here, which of course, only animals. But there are many plants I saw along the riverbank that I don't recognize, which probably extinct.
Then suddenly we heard loud screeching in the sky from distance, which scaring both Nami and Usopp. I just looked up in interest as I heard the screeching, ignoring Sanji-san in his love mode. Then I saw a huge bird was flying down toward Sanji-san, probably about to grab him. But I jumped up and kicked the bird in the head, knocking it cold.
"Welp, we got a bird. Sanji-san! Would you please cook it?" I asked as I grabbed the bird with its wings and plucked off one of its feathers that are pretty long one, you know for safekeeping.
"Haaaii Eri-chwan~~!"
Then suddenly smokes were covering our sightings, making both Weak Duo cowered in fear, assuming that this is not a normal jungle and stuff. I just rolled my eyes at their whining but didn't say anything in return. Seriously, this is Grand Line! There's no such thing as logical sense in this side of the sea! And it's just one of two sides of the Grand Line, which Paradise. New World is a far different matter. It's far more wild, dangerous, and unpredictable. That's why this side of the Grand Line Sea is called Paradise.
Then I felt something was approaching our ship and it revealed as a big tiger. Both Weak Duo scared and walked away from the right side of the ship railings to the left side. Luffy and me stared at it and saw that the tiger suddenly bleeding and fell down to the ground, dead, like something just attacked it.
"Well then, it's decided we are NOT stopping at this island!" Usopp decided out with bloodshot eyes.
"We'll just sit on the ship and quietly wait for the Log to set, and then we get out of here as fast as possible." Nami said, also scared, "We do have to hurry to Alabasta, right?"
I took my bo staff from Flame's mouth as he took it from the Girl's Quarter for me and Takao gave the bisento case, along with the belt. I bid them and thank you as I petted them and strapped them around my waist and slipped the bo staff in the belt.
"Sanji/-san, Bento!" Luffy and me exclaimed in sync as we trembled while we stare at the jungle.
"Bento?" he asked.
"Yeah, to recharge our power!" we said as we turned to look at him with meaningful grins, "A TON of meat and NO vegetables! A Kaizoku Bento!" we continued, "We smell adventures!" we added.
"Wait a second! Just where do you think you two are going?" Nami asked, probably trying to stop us.
"On an adventure!" we replied with sparkles around us and big grins, "Wanna come? Wanna come? Bouken! Bouken!" we chanted, still with innocent sparkles around us, which making Nami cried comically after she tried to punch us with her fist but finally gave up, probably gave up because of our innocent and excited auras.
"Sanji/-san! Bento!" we told him once more as he walked down to the lower deck to the kitchen.
"Yeah, I know, just gimme a moment." He replied and we giggled.
"Ne, is it alright if I come with you two?" Vivi asked to us.
"Yea, c'mon! Let's go!" Luffy allowed her, still with grin.
"More people, the merrier the adventure is!" I said, still with grin too.
"Chotto! Don't tell me you're going along with this!?" Nami protested at Vivi-chan's decision.
"Well, if I sit around here, I'll only get depressed." She replied, "So I may as well try to clear my head until the Log Pose finishes recording."
"But it's dangerous!"
"I'll be alright! Carue will be with me!" she replied back, which making the said over-sized duck shocked until it couldn't even quack.
"He's so surprised that he can't quack." Nami sighed as she looked at Carue.
"Well, Vivi-chan, I'll make another special love Bento for you!" Sanji-san said.
"Can you please make some of your drink from Carue, too?" Vivi asked.
"Of course!" he replied and closed the kitchen door, meaning that he's working.
After awhile, our lunchboxes are finished and my portions are in the orange colored bag on my back. Luffy and me were grinned at each other and we looked back at the jungle.
"Well, you're all set." Sanji-san said.
"Yup!" we replied in sync, not taking off our eyes from the jungle and we jumped off to the island.
"Well, we're off!" Vivi said as she bid at the rest of us on the ship.
"Oh, Takao, Flame! Please help and watch the others, K?" I told them and grinned. They nodded and I ran after Luffy, as he ran first.
"We'll be back soon!" Vivi added as Carue ran after us.
We kept running and took pictures of the plants here until we were in the middle of the jungle and we saw small pond in the middle. Luffy jumped in the pond and pointed at the things inside of the ponds.
"Hey look! It looks like a squid with a shell!" Luffy pointed out and took one to showed it to us, "A shell squid." He said.
"It looks just like an ammonite." Vivi said.
"It's a shell squid!" Luffy said once more.
"It's an ammonite!" I exclaimed as I took one from the pond too, "Woah! This is the first time I saw these rare specimens! I wonder if it's edible?" I wondered as I grinned and took a picture of the ammonite.
"Nani!? It's edible!? Let's take them for our meal!" Luffy said.
"Nah, maybe later after all of this is over. If we take it now, it would die when we're still in our adventure and it won't taste good anymore if it's not fresh." I told him and put back the ammonite in the water, which followed by the rubber-brain.
"What? So they won't taste great if we took them now?" he echoed back and I nodded.
Suddenly we heard loud and really heavy steps from distances, which taking our attention and Carue was got paled because of it. Then we ran after the loud steps just then and we saw bizarre things that cause the loud and real heavy steps just then.
"Why is there a Sea King walking on land?" Luffy asked as he saw the said Sea King walking on land.
"A DINOSAUR!" Vivi exclaimed, looked shocked at it.
"A DINOSAUR!" Luffy and me exclaimed with excited expressions and I took a picture of the dinosaur with sparkle eyes.
"Then… this must be one of the prehistoric islands!" Vivi exclaimed, "This Island is still back in the age of the dinosaurs! Because of the difficulty of navigating the islands of the Grand Line, the different islands seldom mingle with each other; each island has been left to develop in its own unique way."
"Therefore there are islands that contain civilizations that have advanced beyond compare, and there are islands that have remained isolated for tens of thousands of years retaining their original state!" Vivi continued, "The unpredictable climates of the Grand Line make this possible!" she added.
"This island really is still in the age of the dinosaurs!" she finished.
But as she finished her words, both Luffy and me launched toward the dinosaur's neck and we were clinging on the neck. Wow, this is the first time I saw a real dinosaur, not in some movies! And their skin is kind of rough and they smelled bad, typical wild animals.
"DON'T CLIMB IT!" I heard Vivi yelled at us.
We looked around and exclaimed in sync, "What a great view!" then Luffy turned at me and said, "This would be a great place to eat our lunch!" I nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, that would be awesome!" I exclaimed and took some pictures of the surroundings and I saw pterosaurs were flying around on the sky.
"How can you two being so carefree!?" Vivi exclaimed in disbelief.
"Nah, we'll be fine, Vivi-chan! We're strong!" I laughed it up while Vivi looked so desperate about our carefree nature.
"So there really are mountains here!" Luffy pointed out and I took a picture of it, "And there's a huge holey mountain over there!" he pointed out again and I took a picture of it.
"You two, hurry up and get down now!" Vivi yelled at us.
"Eh, but it's only eating grass right?" Luffy asked, "I don't think its mind for awhile." I added.
"Even though it's docile now, it's still a dinosaur!" she replied/yelled back at us.
"It's okay, he doesn't mind!" Luffy exclaimed.
Then again, I think I really should stop and just do what Vivi said. So I jumped down from the dinosaur's head to the ground, which making Vivi and Carue shocked about it and quite hysterical about it. I just rolled my eyes and using Haki on my legs and I landed on the ground, hard.
Oh, and deep too.
"Dang it, I'm stuck deep in the ground." I cursed and turned to Vivi and her over-sized duck, "Sorry but would you please help me up?" I asked them a help, which gifted by a hit in the head.
"That hurt! Why did you do that!?" I yelled at her, shark-teethed and my hands on my bruised head.
"For scaring me to death!" she yelled back, shark-teethed. "Honestly, you're as reckless as Luffy-san! Stop scaring me to death like that!" she told me.
I just stuck out my tongue and said, "Just help me out."
She and Carue managed to help me out and after I'm out from the ground, I saw that Luffy managed made himself get eaten by the said dinosaur, which unknown to us, got increased by many.
I was not in the mood of being in sense, so I was staring blankly at the sight, making the sand kingdom's princess was the one who screamed in shock until something huge loomed over us and the dinosaurs, and cut the dinosaur, who swallowed my baby big brother whole, right in the neck, making my brother slide off from the dinosaur's throat and landed on the giant's figure.
Well, literally, it is a freakin' giant, so doesn't surprise me.
"Cool. There's a giant here~" I sang as I took a picture of the said giant, who was having a conversation with Luffy.
"How can you be so calm about this, Eri-chan!?" Vivi scolded me.
"Eh? Why should I being frantic like two certain person?" I asked her with 'are-you-an-idiot' look to her.
XXX
On a certain ship…
"GYAAAAAA!"
"KYAAAAAA!"
XXX
"But at least show some concern!" she continued.
"Yea, yea, sorry about that." I finally gave up to whatever she said and turned back my attention to the said giant.
"Let me invite you folks to my place!" I heard the giant boomed as he looked down at us.
"Agh! He spotted us…" Vivi muttered while Carue looked shocked about that, even though he's already fainted with foams in his beaks.
I grinned at the giant, "Sure! Let's go then!" I replied and followed the giant, along with Vivi and Carue.
XXX
"GEGYAGYAGYA!"
"DAHAHAHAHA!"
"GEGYAGYAGYA!"
"DAHAHAHAHA!"
"This is really good, giant-ossan!"
"GEGYAGYAGYAGYA! And your little Kaizoku Bento is pretty good too! Though it is a little small!"
"You bet it is! I would've kicked your ass if you said it tasted bad!"
"GEGYAGYAGYA! Aren't you a funny little one!"
"They seem to be like great buddies from years ago that got reunited, eh?" I grinned as I ate the dinosaur meat from earlier happily, together with my Bento.
Vivi nodded, "T-they're getting along so well…" she agreed as she sweat-dropped.
"So why're ya living here along anyways?" Luffy asked as he took a bite from the meat, "Don't you have a village to live in?"
"I do. It's called Elbaf, a village for warriors. It's located somewhere on Grand Line…" the giant replied.
"It's located somewhere in Grand Line…" I trailed off as I chewing on my food and gulped it down, "I think it's in New World, right?" I asked and put in another meat into my mouth.
"Yeah, I guess so… it's already a long time so I forgot." He replied, "But my village has a certain law." He started.
"If a quarrel breaks out in my village and you can't settle it on your own, then we beseech our god Elbaf for his judgment." He said, "Elbaf is just and bestows divine protection on those in the right. He'll ensure the survival of the righteous."
"I've gotten involved in a quarrel myself, and so this island has served as the battleground between me and a certain other giant. The one who's in the right shall triumph and survive." He continued, "But it's been 100 years since! We just can't seem to settle our duel! GEGYAGYAGYAGYA!"
"You've been fighting for over a hundred years!?" Luffy exclaimed.
"It's nothing to be surprised about. Our life spans are three times your puny ones. GEGYAGYAGYA!" he replied.
"But even if you do live longer, how could you still want to fight after a hundred years! Is there any reason in continuing to fight!?" Vivi asked, slightly surprised, "You're trying to kill each other, aren't you!?"
Then suddenly the volcano erupted loudly.
"Whoa! It's a humongous volcanic explosion!" Luffy pointed out.
"And it's getting hotter here…" I said as I kept eating.
"Looks like it's about time…" the giant said and stood up, "Not sure when we exactly decided it, but the eruption of that middle volcano is the signal for battle." He told us as he glanced at the said volcano.
"So it's all about pride, eh?" I pointed out and huffed as I smiled, "Men, always the same." I shook my head and took the last bite of my bento and the meat. Seriously, dinosaur meat surely tasty! Even tastier than crocodile meat! And it's pretty rare meat one at that!
"AND I FORGOT THE REASON… AGES AGO!"
Then suddenly Luffy fell down to the ground on his back, making Vivi slightly surprised and asked him what's wrong.
"I'm beat. They're just soooo huge!" the only reply he says.
"Magnificent, isn't it?" I smiled and sipped on my drink from my water container, eyes not taking off from the fight, which is getting intense and the impact was so strong and incredible. Even I could feel it from distance.
But after ten minutes or more, the fight finished with a draw. And right when those two collided their shields to their perspective enemies, I took a picture of it, cause it looks so cool. Then he came back with some barrels in his hands and started talking to us again.
"GEGYAGYAGYA! Ah! Could his guest be your crewmates? He said his two guests were a long-nosed man and a woman." He told us.
"That must be Usopp and Nami." I replied with half-lidded eyes.
"What's with them? They made such a fuss about not leaving the ship, too! Maybe those two really do like adventures!" Luffy said and giggled.
"I don't think that's the right idea, Lu." I deadpanned at him.
"Then I guess I should be thanking you two as well for these drinks!" the giant thanked us.
"Sorry to change the topic, but earlier you said that it takes a year for the Log to finish recording on this island. Is that really true?" Vivi asked.
"Haven't you seen the skeletons of them little humans lying on the ground around these parts? Most humans who come here end up dying before their Log sets." The giant explained, "Some are eaten by the dinosaurs, others give in to heat or starvation. And some even try to attack us. Whatever the case, they all end up perishing on this island. Seems that spending even a single year on this island's just too long for you little humans." He finished with a toothy grin.
That answer was making Vivi even more depressed than before on the ship, as if we wait until the log to set for a year, Alabasta would be only a history in a book.
"Isn't there any other way, giant ossan?" both Luffy and me asked in sync.
"Well, I do have one Eternal Pose. But that only points towards my home Elbaf. In a way, you could say that Brogy and I are fighting over this Eternal Pose." The giant replied, "You want to try stealing it from us by force?" he asked.
"No, we're going to Alabasta, not Elbaf." I told him.
"Yeah, we're not trying to go to Elbaf, we just want to go on to the next island." Luffy said.
"Yes… if we veer off our current course to Alabasta, then there's no meaning in sailing at all." Vivi confirmed.
"GEGYAGYAGYAGYA! Then why don't you just test your luck and sail ahead!? If fate wills it, you'll reach your destination!" Dorry the giant exclaimed.
"DAHAHAHA! You think!? AHAHAHA! You know, it just might work!" Luffy agreed and laughed together with the giant.
I was biting my right thumb as I tried to remember something I eventually forgot while the others were preoccupied with their own business. "But this is bad… what did I forgot about, I wonder?" I muttered as I bit harder on my thumb, which unbeknownst to me starting to bleed. In the end, I couldn't find anything what I forgot and sighed in frustration, putting my chin on my right palm, turning back my attention back to the giant, who was currently pouring down the content of the barrel into his mouth and gulping it down.
Then it clicked in.
The bomb! Goddammit! How could I was forgot about that, damn it!
"Giant-ossan! Don't—" I tried to stop him and tell him to spill it out, but it was too late. It already exploded from right in his insides. I was staring at the sight wide eyes and in shock; unconsciously I clenched my hands so much that it bleed a bit.
"THE SAKE EXPLODED!?" Luffy yelled in shock, while the other two were quaked and staring in shock also. The giant fell down to his back after he coughed out bloods, making us become more frantic.
I quickly ran approaching him and called him, "Ossan! Ossan! This is bad! It exploded from inside his stomach!"
"What happened!? Why did the sake explode!? Isn't this sake from our ship!?" Luffy asked as he approaching the giant ossan.
"It exploded from inside his stomach! How horrible! Do you think that other giant could've possibly put something in the—" before Vivi could continue her words, both Luffy and me glared at her.
"Are you blind!? Why would two warriors who've been—"I started, "fighting each other for over a hundred years," Luffy continued, "Stoop to such a low act!?" we finished/yelled at her in sync, which making her flinched.
"Then who could it have been—" Vivi started, but cut off by a certain injured giant.
"It's you little runts…" I heard giant ossan growled as he stood up, which taking our attention.
I gritted my teeth hard, "It must be Baroque Works' doings…" I growled as I look down, clenching my hands hard until it bleed, "How dare them… they can't be forgiven…!" I glared down to the grass, not paying attention to my surroundings until something putting something on my head, on my hat. I looked up and saw that it was Luffy who put his straw hat on me as he didn't take off his eyes from the giant, who was suspecting us for being the one who making the sake explode.
"Sorry about this, ossan." Luffy started as he started stretching out and stood up, cracking up his fists, "But I'm gonna have to shut you up for a bit." He finished.
XXX
As those two males were fighting to each other, my eyes were shadowed by the rim of my cap and took Luffy's straw hat and gave it to Vivi.
"Hold on this carefully," I told her, "It's his treasure. I'm going to find the bastard who was responsible to this." I continued and walked toward the jungle before ran fast, which actually earning a confuse look from the princess.
I skidded to a stop and closed my eyes, focusing my haki to detect every movement around me, which kind of futile because I only detect the plants and the extinct animals around me, I cursed loudly before I suddenly detected someone was leaped out right above me and I quickly jumped backward before the person landed on me.
It appears the person is a young girl with DF, as her arms changed into some kind of scythe or whatever, but got green color, was pierced through the ground where it used to be my footrest.
"You dodged…" I heard the girl said and she pulled off her scythe-like arms from the ground before turned to me, staring at me with green dead fish-like eyes and pointed one of her arms at me.
"But I won't miss next time…" she said and she ran right at me. I quickly pulled my baton length bo staff and pushed the button, making it longer, and stopped her scythe-like arms before they slicing me up. as her scythe-like arms making contact with my staff, she gasped and the scythe-like arms changed into normal arms. She jumped backwards and staring at me with those dead fish-like eyes.
"That weapon… its kairoseki, isn't it?" she asked cautiously.
"Yeah it is. So what kind of DF did you eat?" I asked as I gripped my staff with both of my hands, not taking off my eyes from her.
"Zoan type… Mushi-Mushi no Mi, Model: Mantis." She replied as her arms changed back into scythe-shaped and leaped up to me. I swung my bo staff at her, but before it touched her, she disappeared without trace. I was kind of surprised about it, but knowing normal mantises are fast when they attack, I better be cautious.
But unfortunately, I was careless and I felt something slashed my back. I lost my balance and fell to the ground face first, my bo staff rolling away from me as my cap flew away from my head. Still not enough, another attack got me. Something pierced through both of my sides from the back. I widened my eyes as I screamed soundlessly; bloods started trickling down from the corners of my lips. The sharp things were pulled out from the punctures harshly before an impact kicked me away a few feet.
I was wheezing and coughed out bloods as I tried to sit up slowly. I could detect the girl was the one who tried to kill me just then. Now, I saw her expressionless face was staring down at me as if I'm just a worthless thrash, still with her scythe-like arms that now decorated by red liquids AKA my bloods.
"Now," she started as she walked approaching me and stopped right in front of me, "It's time for you to die." She finished and brought down her arms, about to cut me up. I couldn't react fast with my current condition, so the only fast reaction of mine is closed my eyes tight, waiting for the scythe-like arms cutting me up into pieces.
I was waiting, waiting, and waiting, but the attack never came. Out of curiosity, I opened one of my eyes slowly, checking the current situation. I quickly opened both of my eyes as I saw something astonishing before me.
Another girl—no, I think it's a young woman, as she has quite a body—with long jet black hair to the back, wearing some kind of dress with gray color and red rims, with separated sleeves with the same color and same rims' colors, and black gladiator sandals, was warding the scythe-like arms of the mantis girl with my bo staff.
I could recognized it cause it filled with grazes and it's already worn out, even though it's still study enough to ward off Zoro's weights that has who knows how many tons when I pissed him off when he was training. I could only stared at the scene before me with disbelieve look as the mantis girl leaped out as she glared at the young woman that protected me just then.
"Who… are you?" I heard the mantis girl asked, probably to the young woman.
"Me?" the young woman echoed back before laughing, "Well, is the world really that fast forgetting me? Younglings and their rudeness…" the young woman shook her head and brought up her right arm to the mantis girl.
"Now now, I won't let you kill my favorite descendant that easily." She said as some kind of blue aura spheres started gathering around her right palm that brought up. "So you better off now, before I take you soul away from your body. You don't want that pretty face of yours changed into some kind of rotten corpse, right?" she asked to the mantis girl, and I think she's smirking.
The mantis girl didn't really fazed up about the threat, but her arms changed back into human arms and she turned away before she disappeared without trace. There was silence around us before the young woman turned and crouched down, looking at me.
She sighed, "Now look at you, you're so pathetic that that mantis girl could immobilized you like a butterfly that perched on a flower and didn't realize there's a danger near it." she said and put my bo staff right next to me. Then she walked away to take my cap and walked back to me, putting the cap right next to the bo staff.
"S-shut up…!" I coughed out blood and wiped off the blood from around my lips, "Who the hell are you anyway?" I asked.
She just smiled and crouched down to my eye-level, revealing her pretty face with sharp blood-red eyes with thick black slits. Then she brought up her right index finger to her lips, indicating that it's a secret before she brought up her left palm to cover my eyes completely, and I suddenly blacked out. But before I blacked out completely, I heard she said,
"You'll know soon… in the future, my dear."
XXX
I woke up in the arms of someone and I felt this person was walking. I flinched as the injuries I got from the mantis girl were throbbing real bad and need treatments real soon. I coughed softly, which was taking the person's attention, which was revealed as Sanji-san carrying me bridal-style.
"Are you alright, Eri-chan? You got nasty injuries there. Don't worry, we're going to where everyone resides, just wait so we could treat your injuries sooner." He told me as I just realized that we're in the air and we were riding on Takao. I just nodded and then I just realized there's loud crying from distance, but it's hurting my ears badly so I decided to push myself to cover my ears.
Then we could see some kind of rainbow from distance and I told Takao to go there fast. He obeyed and he flew faster to the said rainbow. He stopped as we saw the said rainbow was caused by Broggy's tears that like a waterfall and we also saw everybody else there.
"Ugh… Takao, hurry go there before the waterfall tears were over." I told him as I kept covering my ears. He nodded and he went down to the ground fast and he slowed down by flapping his wings and we landed on the ground safely. I put on my earplugs and jumped down from Sanji-san's arms and Takao to the ground, but I lost my balance and fell to my knees. I shook my head and stood up, looking up to the other giant who was crying out loud to his giant friend.
I chuckled softly and took out my camera and took a picture of the waterfall tears, along with the Strawhats, the giants, and the rainbow above them all. But then suddenly Dorry the giant sat up, shocking all of them until their eyes bulged out real far. I took the hilarious scene and laughed loudly internally.
"Geshishishishi, you all sure look energetic, aren't you guys?" I said and chuckled, which was taking the Strawhats' attentions.
"ERIIII!" and as fast as the sound, Luffy tackled me to the ground real far, making my back skidded to the ground below us, which making me hissed because of the injuries on my back. "Where the hell are you!? I-I thought you've gone back to the ship because of things!" he exclaimed.
"I-I'm not…!" I replied as I pushed him off and hissed as the injuries were throbbing, which taking Luffy's attention more.
"Oi, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" he asked and then he pat my back, making me pinched his cheek hard cause it hurts. He yelped it hurts before he brought up his hand that pat my back and stared at it, which covered with blood.
"Nah, just a scratch…. Just don't worry about me, I'll be fine." I replied and ruffled his jet black hair.
"No it's not! You're hurt! We better off to the ship right now!" he exclaimed. Great, his overprotective self started resurfacing, like Ace and Sabo long time ago when one day I'm off to the High Town to steal wallets by my own, resulting a quite beaten up me as I came home to the Dadan's house.
But I still got many wallets with quite a money! So it's kind of worth it!
…
Shut up, I'm satisfying my kleptomaniac self that time, so be quiet.
"But you're hurt!" he told me once more and he stuck out his lower lip as he pout at me. Freaking goddammit! Stop making cute faces like that damn it! Not fair! How dare he makes those kinds of faces and showed it to me!
"Grrr… fine! Just wait until we get to ship! So, STOP MAKING THOSE KIND OF FACES DAMN IT!" I yelled at him, shark-teeth as I hit his head with haki infused fist.
"THAT HURT!" he yelled and I stood up, making him rolled off from my body and I dusted off all the dusts from my clothes, not minding the throbbing pain on the back and my sides. Then I walked toward the other Strawhats as they were calling us and we stopped at one of the holey mountain to treat giant-ossan's and my injuries.
"We want to repay you for saving our lives." The fat giant-ossan said.
"GEGYAGYAGYA! We've completely forgot that we're still wanted by the government." Giant-ossan said.
"Because of me, those people are coming to this island…" Vivi said as she looked down, which making both Nami pinched her cheek. "Ouch!"
"Stop speaking nonsense." Nami sighed.
"That's right Vivi. Why are you worrying about that?" Usopp asked as he, Luffy, Carue, and me were eating senbei*.
"Here," I started as I offered them a bag of senbei, "Do you want some senbei?" Luffy continued/asked as he kept eating on the rice crackers.
"Where did you get that from?" Nami asked as the girls were sweat-dropping before she turned her attention back to Vivi. "There must be someone mad about you."
"Hey, let's have a senbei party!" both Luffy and me exclaimed in sync.
"Hey, Nami! Can you take off more clothe?" Usopp asked, which earning a whack in the head by Nami.
"But we need a year to record the log, that's no kidding." Zoro said.
"That's right. It's not a joke at all." Nami agreed.
"Can't you do anything, ossan?" Luffy asked while I ate all of the senbei in the bag without anyone notice.
"Don't be silly, that is the only thing we can't control." Dorry ossan replied.
"Now that you mention it," Sanji-san piped in and he reached in his pocket, "I'm actually got this thing." He finished as he showed us an Eternal Pose to Alabasta, which making almost all of the Strawhats gaped really far, almost to the ground. "Eh? What's wrong?"
"The Eternal Pose to Alabasta!" "Great!" "Let's have a Senbei party!"
"Finally, we can get out of here!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Luffy! The senbeis are gone! All of them!" Usopp announced.
"NANI!? We can't have a senbei party without senbei!" Luffy yelled out before he turned to me, who was currently eating the last senbei of the bag and put it into my mouth as it's already half of it.
"AH! THE LAST SENBEI!" Luffy yelled out as he pointed his index finger at me, "GIVE THAT BACK!" he yelled and tackled me to the ground.
"THAT HURT YOU STUPID RUBBER-BRAIN!" I yelled at him as I pulled his cheeks apart far.
"IF YOU DIDN'T EAT ALL THE SENBEI, THEN I WILL FORGIVE YOU!" he yelled back as he pulled my hair hard.
"STOP IT!" BONK!
Both Luffy and me were still grumbling and cursing at each other quietly as Nami was scolding us for being like children. I stuck out my tongue at him while he also did the same, which earning another hit in our heads.
Then I felt something was put on my head and I saw that it's my cap. I looked up, only to see Sanji-san was the one who put my cap back to my head and he smiled. I smiled back and muttering thanks at him, which earning a grin from him.
"Then, it's time to say goodbye," Luffy started as he put on his hat back and stood up, "We wish both of you luck!" I finished to the giants as we grinned at them.
"Oh! You must be in a hurry." Broggy-san said.
"That's too bad, but we won't stop you. I wish that you could save your country." Dorry-san said.
"Thank you." Vivi replied and we turned and we walked toward the jungle while some of the boys who were a fan of the giants were telling them things before we went through the jungle. I was riding on Takao while Flame right beside Carue, who knows talking what but they seems like good buddies that finally reunited after years didn't see each other.
"Ne Eri-chan," I heard Vivi called, I hummed and turned to look at her, "Where did you get that injuries? It's like some kind of slashing and stabbing wounds." She asked.
"Well, I was kind of met a girl with Zoan type DF, which a mantis." I told her, "Did you know something about her?" I asked back.
"Mantis…?" Vivi muttered and she started thinking, "Now that you mention it, I just remember there's another pair of agents that still not known among of the other agents of the Baroque Works…" she confirmed, "I heard their codenames are… Mr. 0.5 and Ms. Half Day."
"Mr. 0.5 and… Ms. Half Day…" I echoed back with low voice.
Vivi nodded, "Yeah, I heard they're pretty strong, even a little bit stronger than the Mr. 1's pair. But for unknown reason, they couldn't be shown to the public of the Baroque Works' diagram members." She confirmed as we finally arrived at our destination.
I just hummed and shrugged it off, "Meh, whatever. I'll just need to beat them up, right?" I said and grinned at her as Takao flew up and landed on the deck. I got off of Takao and walked toward the railings beside Luffy as the two idiots were arguing at which one is the bigger dinosaur.
"How long are you going to fight? We can't carry the whole thing anyway. Just cut the parts that we can bring and let's go." Nami said.
"Yes, Nami-swan~"
"Don't you think I'm winning Usopp?"
"Huh? I don't want to decide."
"Can't you call it a draw?"
"There's no draw in competition."
XXX
"If we are heading straight, we can go out of the west sea." Nami said.
"Can't we bring more meat?" both Luffy and me exclaimed in sync.
"Don't be silly, we can't take anymore meat! Are you two trying to sink the ship?" Nami scolded us.
"Hey! Thos are giant ossans!" Luffy pointed out as we were getting closer to the west sea.
"They're coming to send us!" Usopp said.
We were watching at them as they were talking things, like telling something to let us through or whatever.
"You have protected our honor with your lives." Dorry-san started, "So, no matter what will come…" Broggy-san continued.
"We won't let anything happen to your flag." Dorry-san said.
"Trust in us, no matter what happen, we want you to keep heading straight!" Broggy-san said.
"We got it!" both Luffy and me replied in sync, "We will head straight!"
"We shall meet again…"
"…someday."
Right we were in the west sea, we saw something really incredible.
"IT'S A GIANT GOLDFISH!"
"KEEP HEADING STRAIGHT!" I shouted at the others were started to panic. "And it's the giant goldfish that Usopp kept telling in his tall tales, ya' know." I added and grinned before took a picture of it.
"Hurry up and change course or we'll be eaten!" Nami exclaimed, "Hurry up, Usopp!"
"NO!" Usopp replied, "We will head straight! Isn't that right, Luffy?" he asked back.
"Yep! Absolutely!" Luffy replied with confidence.
An right what Nami said, we were heading straight to the fish's stomach, like about how we got eaten by Laboon back then.
"Don't be silly! This is different from Laboon!" Nami yelled.
"We know. Why don't you stay calm? Here, I'll give you the last piece of senbei I saved up." I told her as I showed her the' said last senbei.
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT! WHY DON'T WE CHAGE THE SHIP'S COURSE FIRST!?"
"Nami, I think you'd better give up." Zoro said.
"Luffy, are you sure that we can trust those giants?" Sanji-san asked.
"Yep." Luffy replied.
And right, we were got eaten whole by the giant goldfish.
"ISN'T THIS EXCITING!?" I exclaimed loudly, which was earning a punch in the head by Nami cause of my carefree nature. I just cursed softly as the area was so really dark that I even could see my own hands.
For who knows how long while the other Strawhats were panicking and stuffs, I felt something like an impact coming straight at us, even though we're in the stomach of a fish right now. And I quickly grabbed the railings and hugged it for my dear life as the impact reached our ship and blasted our ship, and also making holes to both sides of the fish, so we eventually got blasted off straight ahead.
"DON'T LOOK BACK! WE'RE GOING FORWARD ONLY!" I exclaimed with big smile.
"Great! This is so great!" Luffy said with big grin.
"They can cut even the ocean…! This is the power of Elbaf's warriors!" Usopp cried out, "THEY'RE THE BEST!"
"HEADING STRAIGHT!"
A/N: HEYA EVERYONE! How are you guys? I'm great thanks! Not much to say except that this chapter is a little bit rushed because of things, and school still sucks.
For my reviewers… yes, Marco's fiancé, Rein. And there's a hint in this chapter of this Rein girl~ and this chapter is also an answer of Eri-chan's doubts in last chapter! Thank you for the virtual hug! Really El-kun? Sorry! It's kinda hard to figure out other's characters' personalities! And sorry OP-kun, there no fighting scene in here, as I was thinking of Eri-chan's enemies later in Alabasta, so I decided to skip the scene where the Strawhats that got turned into candles statues, or Luffy's fight. Sorry everyone! And yes, to them, puberties are just bullshit. XD especially to Luffy, cause Luffy is still a four year old in a young teen body! And she probably will be with Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp, let's just wait for it, K? (p.s and I really look forward to it too you know! Just wait for it, K?). And yes, she's actually a little bit smarter. If compare to Luffy, really far smarter, only sometimes she's too easy to get fooled and easily trusting, so I guess it's almost the same as Luffy, if in personality traits. AcexEri and MarcoxEri? Hmm… can't promise you but I dunno… I like MarcoxEri, but I love AcexEri! Beside, Marco already engaged to someone else, ya know~
And thank you very much for the reviews, favs/follows, you guys! LOVE YA! *virtual hugs*
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW/FAV/FOLLOW! TELL ME HOW YOU THINK ABOUT THIS STORY, K?
Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ONE PIECE! I ONLY OWN THIS STORY! ONE PIECE IS ODACCHI'S!
ThiefofStealth
