Sorry for the schedule slip again, guys, but I at least have sort of an excuse: another story I'd been planning for a while. I guess I let myself get caught up in it, heh. Time to finally get to the setting of this arc!
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"So, Ryoga," Brandy drawled as he leaned over the railing, looking bored out of his mind, "how close are we to that prison, exactly? I got time for a you-know-what?"
The Petty Officer frowned. "We should be arriving there in a few hours by evening at the latest, sir…" He sighed. "So go right ahead, I suppose; it's not like you ever fail to shake it off when you're meeting someone besides us, anyway."
"Not my fault if you don't want to take it as a compliment." Brandy shot back. "So, how's the ship doing? About time for our cargo's heaping of daytime gruel, isn't it?"
Ryoga nodded. "I sent one of the men down there to give it to them a moment ago, sir. It's a shame I couldn't find anything more deserving inside the cargo hold, but I guess even rats have some standards."
Brandy patted him on the shoulder. "Don't let it get to you. Remember, we're only treating them well so they'll be conscious enough to appreciate how horrible prison actually is. If there were some psychic punishment we had, I wouldn't do even this much, heh heh."
His subordinate raised an eyebrow. "Probably a good thing we don't, then."
"Exactly."
Pondering at this odd use of logic, Ryoga heard footsteps coming up the stairs to the lower quarters. "Um, Ryoga, honey?" came Jade's voice.
'Don't call me honey, please, Inspector', died on the martial artist's lips when he felt the oppressive air that had gathered, and the minute yet hesitant way his crewmates were stepping back. He turned around.
"Ah, such a nice day, isn't it?" Helsing said with a wide smile. Behind him, Wez held a knife to the young woman's throat.
Ryoga resisted the urge to charge. As fast as he was, he wouldn't bet Jade's life on being quicker than the blade. "Helsing, you dirty-"
The disgraced captain waved a hand at the accusation, as though shooing it away. "I don't need to hear a former pirate calling me dirty."
That might have sent the young man's fists flying if Brandy hadn't laid a firm hand on his shoulder. "So, what's this then, Helsing?" he called over. "Holding the beautiful maiden hostage to escape scot-free? You gonna find some sea-train tracks to tie her down to next? At least the extortion racket was a little original."
"I prefer to go with what works," Helsing murmured, his smile growing, "I apologize if that isn't worthy of publication here. Now then, we will need your finest boat, some provisions, Wez's claws," he held up his hands, "oh yes, and the key to these damnable cuffs, if you please."
Wez snickered. "They look good on you, boss."
Helsing cast him a glare, before somehow managing to snap his fingers. "Chop chop, now."
Growling, Ryoga took a step forward, but the larger man twitched the knife a little bit closer, making Jade wince. "Hang on there, kid. If you keep making a face like that, I might accidentally flinch, get my drift?"
His smaller associate rolled his eyes. "Very subtle, Wez." He shrugged. "Well, he made it fairly clear. Do it, or she dies."
A few of the men moved carefully toward the hold. Brandy's gaze snapped toward them. "Did I give you guys an order? Stop right there."
Helsing frowned as they did just that. "Oh? I wouldn't have pegged you as that cold a man, Captain…or are you? Wez, give the Inspector a little beauty mark just below her chin, will you?"
"You're not going to do that." Brandy said.
"Oh?" Helsing raised an eyebrow. "That didn't take very long. Admirable, I su-"
Brandy shook his head. "No, no. I mean-"
The Captain was standing at the bow of the ship, while Helsing and Wez were near the stairs, in about the center of the deck. This put at least ten feet between the two groups, and at least a handful of that for every other crewmate. It would take someone who could move like the wind to reach Wez before he cut Jade's windpipe.
And that was exactly what Brandy did.
Ryoga stared as Wez's bulk went sailing back several foot without slowing down, only stopping when he smashed helmet-first into the mess hall wall (thoroughly ruining several marines' lunches, unfortunately). Jade was now standing behind Brandy, blinking in surprise at her sudden shift in position. The knife was in the Captain's hand, and as Helsing stared wide-eyed at it, his gaze landed on him. Stuttering some explanation, he stepped backward once, and that was all the time it took for Brandy to hurl the knife at him. It hit Helsing right between the eyes hilt-first, dropping him in an instant.
Both Ryoga and Jade could only stare.
Brandy turned to the latter quickly. "Jade, you alright?"
"Uh…yes, I think so."
"Good." he said, and glared at the unconscious men. "Somebody get these pieces of trash back to the brig."
The Marines didn't ever move faster for an order than then.
One Piece: The Skull Pirates
Chapter Twenty: Where No Pirate Has Gone Before! Enter the Rainbow Archipelago!
"…ugh…what the hell hit me, a tidal wave or a three day bender?"
Slowly, Jack opened his eyes, immediately betting his chips on the latter (nevermind that he hadn't touched the stuff in years), as he sat up, head pounding like a drum. Holding it tight, he looked around wearily, all the other moments when he'd woken up like this passing in front of his mind's eye. To his credit, it took him much shorter than usual to remember why.
"GUYS!" Jack shouted, leaping straight up and whirling around. His voice reached nothing – he was completely alone. The pirate currently found himself on the far side of a wide clearing, trees and other vegetation he'd never seen before everywhere. That nearly included the sky, too; many of them reached straight over his head, looking more like mountains to someone whose main idea of flora was driftwood. The clearing itself seemed free of them, though: the only ones inside the circle were four trees in the center, arranged in a square. In-between them was what looked like a boulder from this distance.
The pirate got to his feet when another memory suddenly trickled back up. He felt his back quickly, and sure enough, felt wetness there – but with no pain to go with it. Bringing his hand back, he saw it was covered with odd-looking leaves, pleasant to the smell and sticky to the touch. Reallysticky: gritting his teeth in annoyance, he waved his hand wildly until they stuck to each-other instead. Well, that explained part two of why he was still alive, but the jury was still out for part one.
With a shrug, he walked over to the square of trees. After all, nothing reallybad had happened the last, oh, four times he'd done similarly, right?
When he got closer, Jack saw that the rock apparently represented a bit more than a rock to some people. It was covered in sketches of animals, crude ones, but that special kind of crude you got when people put their all into a drawing, even when there was no actual talent to go around. There had sure been enough people; the red and black beasts very nearly, but not quite, overlapped in many places.
The stone itself was wide and set at about chest height, the top of it smooth and painted over with strange symbols. Most four-legged animals wouldn't find it much of a chore to reach up there. Scattered between the trees and rock was a carpet of sticks, all broken into several pieces.
"So, some kind of ancient tribal hoo-hah, I guess."Jack rubbed his chin, and then shrugged. "Eh, fair enough."What people did on their own islands wasn't really any of his business, and if 'civilized' people could be so touchy about this kind of thing, he didn't intend to bring it up to natives of a lost world.
Assuming this really wasthe Archipelago and not just some island that had been nearby. Sitting down on the altar (it couldn't be sacrilege if there was no-one around to call him on it), he thought. If this sort of sacrifice was annual, then if he stayed here, he'd run into people eventually. On the flipside, if he stayed here, he'd run into people eventually, and his appearance would probably mix as well with fervent belief as ink and water.
Besides, he had a crew to locate. He didn't doubt for a moment that they were all fine. They hadto be.
"Pretty quiet island, though," he muttered as he walked off in the direction that felt right, "haven't heard a single animal yet. You'd think they'd want to hang around a free meal ticket like this."
As soon as the pirate's footfalls had vanished, one of the drawings – a far more detailed one despite its size – glinted, wavered like a mirage, and slowly faded into the altar's stone surface.
Then, what could only be described as linesappeared in the air, each growing and tracing itself around a vague shape, which quickly began to become more distinguished…
…and larger - muchlarger.
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"Ah, Mary, wherever did you go astray? I only wanted to get out, see the mondiale…ah, and then you met him. And then him, too…"
Mary looked around at her surroundings and sighed. "It isn't any fault of mine, really. Who could imagine that the second destination they'd travel to with a crew would be a deserted stretch of islands no-one has visited in decades. I'm not psychic, after all."
She wondered if whatever was following her really cared. She didn't wonder if there really was something following her. You couldn't be a pirate, even a 'lady' one, without gaining some survival instincts; more than a few earnest admirers had tried what whoever-this-was was trying, although with considerably less subtlety (and, naturally, success).
It seemed to prefer travelling through the underbrush, and was very adept within its chosen territory. Every so often, there came the sound of a twig not quitebeing broken, the whish of a tree branch or bush trying to be swept aside stealthily. Mary wasn't an animal expert, but it wasn't hard to imagine that something that couldn't quite manage to be subtle in the wilderness was probably quite large. But if it came to that, so had been several of her admirers. It hadn't helped them much at all.
As she walked, limbs prepared to sprout thorns at a moment's sign of trouble, Mary couldn't help but begin to muse. She had no doubt in her mind that she was the first – one ofthe first, she chastised herself – to set foot on this island in a long, long while; she hadn't seen a single one of these plants in any of Martin's books. Once she had met up with the rest of the crew, there would certainly be some time made for researching.
It was strange, though. While plants were almost battling for territory (and there were more than a few she'd read of that would, given half an excuse), not a single animal had appeared in her path since she'd woken up. Why could that be? It wasn't like she was scary, was she?
"I wonder what Jack would say about that?"Mary thought, stopping for a moment. She folded her arms and shrugged. "Well, it's not like he's aneprouve source on it anyway."
She continued, the thought making her smile as she walked.
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"Er…oh dear."
Saying that didn't really make Frank's situation any better, but it made him feel relieved all the same as something he could do. At the moment, with thick vines ensnaring him from the tips of his toes to his mask, that category didn't seem very big. He couldn't budge his body an inch. It was a slight blessing he was alone – if any of the cadets from the village saw him now, they'd surely laugh at him.
Sighing, he looked around at the vines. They were about as thick around as the average human's arm, and lined everywhere with far deadlier looking thorns than Mary-san's. Anyone clothed thinner than him would have been rendered unconscious long ago by the pain, rather than the deeply unpleasant prickling he was currently experiencing. So, that was two things to be grateful for. Frank concentrated on them…for a few moments.
"Any of them would have been free hours ago. No, what am I saying? They wouldn't have ever gotten caught in the first place."
He had been careless, there was no denying that. The plant's predatory reaction was painfully simple: if it heard a noise, it would slowly, carefully, silently slither toward it, its vines spreading out to surround and engulf the prey. At least, that was what Frank assumed – it had certainly happened to him easily enough.
Anyone else would have seen it coming, Frank cursed to himself. Raven-san, Asakura-san, Reika-san…any one of them would have found this child's play. But not him. He was stuck here until one of the others found him. At least, if they ever did.
Frank wondered how long it would take something like this to consume a human. …well, he had a bit of time, then…hopefully.
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"Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to certain danger we go…"
As someone might have surmised from his little ditty, Gerald wasn't much worried about the prospects of possible hazards on this island. Which was the key factor, really: it wasn't a prospect if you knew it was going to happen, eh? He'd only been with Jack for a few conquests (if you could call them that, really), but he already knew what to expect from being in the Skull Pirates' presence. People like him attracted trouble.
Which was fine, for Gerald. Other people might not have seen it his way, but to him, knowing you were going to be thrust into danger was far more desirable than having it sneak up on you. Within reason, of course, he added. "Some things you don't want following you, hidden or plain."
His thoughts were broken up by the sounds of what was probably a latter case approaching from ahead. With so many twigs scattered on the ground, it was impossible to walk around without announcing your presence for a few feet in all directions. Quickly Gerald ducked behind a tree as the sounds approached.
Soon enough, the people making them came into view. He raised an eyebrow: it was Ahab, and a contingent of his rabid merman. Not that he had an idea of who they were, of course, and wasn't keen on finding out. People with hooks nearly as big around as his entire waist and metal bolted to their bodies could walk where they pleased, in his view. "Under surveillance, that is."
One thing was clear: the man didn't look happy. Sweeping his gaze around at the surrounding greenery like he held a grudge for it, he swung his hook wildly at the surrounding greenery. "Damn it, I can't stand this place! There's nothing but weeds everywhere, and," he sucked in a loud, rasping breath and spat, "that disgusting smell is everywhere!" He turned and sneered. "Maybe once I actually find what's on this map, I'll have you torch the place. Would you like that?"
Gerald raised an eyebrow, keeping himself out of sight of the wavering, bloodshot eye. "A map? To what, I wonder?"
He had his suspicions about who this fellow was – you typically didn't get more than one crew going to a location of legend at the same time, so three would be really be out of the question – but there wasn't much he could do about them now. As Ahab continued stomping forward through the trees, Gerald followed, careful to make less noise than the cyborg. Not that that was hard.
"I'll tell you all one thing," Ahab growled to his minions and the forest at large, "Johnson better have that girl at the spot by the time I arrive, or I might rethink how useful he is to me. Huh, slippery bastard probably will, though."
"He's certainly not very tight-lipped." Gerald thought bemusedly as he edged his way around a particularly large specimen. "It's just lucky for him that I have
no idea what any of this means, or he'd definitely be in a mountain of trouble!"
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Drake's eyes snapped open at the sensation of someone's warm hands on his body. Rising to the sound of a surprised gasp, he reached down and snatched hold of their hands. Part of Stevens' training had been to prepare him for any possible sneak attack – several styles specialized in such cowardice, including the one he had trained to fight.
But the merman released his grip almost instant when he realized the hand he held was several times smaller than his own. Blinking the sight of a possible assailant away, he saw a little girl staring at him fearfully, clutching her hand.
Clapping his hands together, he bowed. "I'm sorry if I frightened you. Are you alright?"
She stepped back a bit from his gaze. Drake looked her over. The girl was about the same age as Lyn, actually, and even about the same height. Funny. She had short brown hair and blue eyes, the latter crowned by a circlet of colorful flowers. Her clothes were far more fanciful than the mergirl's, however; Drake didn't know much about religions, but the colorful patterns reminded him of Steven's tapestry.
When Drake swung his legs to the ground off the bed, she backed away even further. He held up his hands reassuringly. "Don't worry. I'm not sure if you've heard any stories about evil mermen, but I promise I'm not one of them. You don't have to be." His voice was as gentle as possible: humans in the villages he'd passed through always tended to be a bit skittish around him, even after he'd helped them with their troubles.
Finally her nervousness seemed to subside, and she gave the merman a long once over. "Are you a merman?"
Drake blinked. He'd heard his race called by their name in a number of ways, but never in one quite as solemn as that. "Yes, I am," he said gently, "a shark merman, to be exact. I hope that isn't a problem, is it?"
As he spoke, his eyes stole glimpses of the surrounding area. It appeared to be a clearing, seemingly not man-made, surrounded on all sides by a lush, vast forest. Some of the trees seemed to go up for miles. In addition to the cot he'd woken up on, there was a small table nearby set low to the ground, and a little ways beyond that, near the trees, was an odd-looking rock formation.
"Yes, of course it is." said the girl, now smiling. "I merely wished to make certain." He could tell from the way she spoke that she was trying to sound older than she actually was.
A moment passed, and then Drake asked, "So, may I ask for your name?" He paused briefly before adding, "I don't suppose you know what island this is, also?"
For a moment, the girl looked very uncomfortable, fidgeting in the spot she occupied. "I am Emelia," she said after a short while, "and you are on Crete, one of three islands in this Archipelago."
"The Rainbow Archipelago?" the merman asked.
Emelia fidgeted a bit before replying. "I do not know of that title, but this is the archipelago."
Before Drake could ask more, she turned and began walking down a path further into the forest. "Please, come with me."
"But-" he began, but suddenly felt something strange in his head. It was like something was, very subtly, suggesting that going along with her was definitely a good idea. Eerie – if his mind hadn't been quite as honed, he might not have noticed it at all.
Trying to keep his mood straight, Drake nodded. "Alright, if you say so."
Without a further word, he followed Emelia, both of them silent. He tried to avoid looking around at his surroundings, or thinking about it in any overt way, but that wasn't necessary to confirm what he felt at the moment: something was definitely in the air around this area. Something very powerful.
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"The islands in the south…are warm…"
If there had been any birds present to listen to Jack's 'singing', the noise of them relocating to halfway across the island probably would have been heard, well, from halfway across the island. Funny how that worked. Of course, that was part of the pirate's plan. If any of the guys were around, they'd find him just to make it stop. Hopefully it wasn't Mary, though.
Raising his head high as he walked, hands on the back of his neck, Jack continued the verse. "Their heads get really hot…and they're all idioooooots!"
The leaves on the trees all around him rustled slightly. "Too bad none of them have ears," he mused, "they're missing out on a great show." Clearing his throat noisily, he began the second verse. "The islands in the north…are cold…"
He stopped suddenly, tapping his foot. "Cold…how did that next one go?" Jack folded his arms, trying to remember. "You'd think a song I made up would be easy to memorize."
Absent-mindedly, he flung up his leg, smashing apart the trunk of a falling tree that had been about to land on him. Amidst the splinters that flew into the air from the shattered wood, Jack slowly turned and fixed what had caused the collapse with an ugly look. "And it sure is hard to remember a stupid song you thought up to pass the time when somebody's tearing up the forest behind you. I could barely hear myself…think…"
The massive boar, each of its tusks as long as the tree's branches and nearly twice as wide, returned the glare (given the average boar's default expression, this wasn't very hard) as it pawed the ground slowly. It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell what it had in mind, especially when you saw the bloodshot look in its eyes.
Jack gulped, holding up his hands. The boar was bigger than some bears he'd seen. "Now, just hang on a sec. Couldn't we talk about this? Nice giant boa-"
Trying to sweet talk a giant, angry pig went about as well as you might expect. Letting out a fierce bellow, the boar charged, tusks lowered to gore holes in Jack's non-existent flesh. Big though it was, the thing was fast; letting out a rather unpiratelike yelp, Jack would have turned to run, but it was on him far too quickly. Flinging out his hands, he grasped hold of the only spots available – the boar's tusks.
Grunting as it abruptly found a moving skeleton draped across its nose, the animal grunted, beginning to snap and headbutt away at the annoying obstruction. For his part, Jack kicked out with his legs, trying to keep its jaws away from, well, any part of him really. The pig definitely wasn't going to give up that easily, though: even getting a kick right in the neck or eye wouldn't make it budge.
And all the while, the boar carried them both down the path with its charge. Jack risked a look behind him, and gulped. "Oh, crap!" In the center of the path ahead was a massive boulder, jagged at the front. Slamming into it at this speed would be…messy.
Quickly Jack began to struggle a bit, but his position was way too precarious to get out of without getting gored, bitten or trampled. After a few moments of this, he realized something that almost made him slap his forehead. "Gee, it's too bad I can't just separate or anything. Dumbass."
Jack proceeded to do just that, the boar's eyes widening as the man split apart and flew out of its path, heading back behind the boar. First his hands grabbed a hold of the animal's tiny tail, producing a high squeal from it with his super strength grip. His torso and legs came next, the latter digging deeply into the dirt. Gradually, the boar's pace slowed down until it came to a stop near the boulder, struggling to escape from the Skull Pirate's grasp.
"Well, now," he said as his head came down and reconnected, "I guess I better take that as a no, huh? Hope you don't mind doing it the hard way, then – I sure don't!"
Strengthening his grip, Jack tensed himself before throwing his arms up, lifting the boar by the tail and hurling it overhead and into the ground behind him. To its credit, the boar stirred mere seconds after colliding with the earth, but unfortunately, it was still in the captain's grasp. "And now…" Jack began to spin slowly, sliding the boar across the ground for a moment before it rose into the air, picking up speed.
"…here you go AGAIN!" he cried, throwing the boar directly at the boulder. Amazingly, the mammal's tusks won out against the rock's spikes, smashing it to chunks on impact. This blow seemed to have succeeded in stunning it, fortunately, as Jack walked around it. It was just beginning to stir, letting out a low groan, when he leaned down into its eyes.
Jack grinned. "So," he pulled back his fist, "ever hear of the Rule of Three?" With that, he punched the boar hard, causing it to explode.
…er. "Wait, what?" Without the safety net of alcohol to explain it, he was forced to admit that what he was seeing was true. Looking around, he stared at the bright symbols that had scattered from the space the animal had occupied until just now. For the next few moments, rather than panicking, Jack went over a few concrete facts. One, although assuming so would certainly be flattering to his ego, he doubted he could accidentally punch animal hard enough to make it explode. Two, although he didn't have an first-hand evidence, he imagined that animals, upon being punched hard enough to explode, would probably do so into blood and guts and whatnot, instead of neon alphabet soup.
And third, it was way too early after waking up to run into something like this.
Finally, he shrugged, realizing point four: he was currently on a mysterious island shrouded in myth that he had wanted to come to because it was shrouded in myth. Why was he questioning this stuff?
Putting aside the singing plan for some high-pitched whistling, Jack begun his stride again, walking further into the trees. Behind him, the leaves rustled in a way some might have called aggressive.
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"My my, you certainly are determined little punaises, aren't you?"
Mary had never really understood why some girls were afraid of bugs. Honestly, even she had at least four feet on even the largest ones, and the worst most of the ones around civilized islands could do was make your skin swollen. Hm, maybe that was why; some of the girls back home had always been a bit vain. Anyway, most insects were tiny, and harmless.
These ones apparently hadn't got the memo, though. Circling around the gardener was a swarm of mantises, mosquitos, and beetles, no two quite the same but each roughly half the size of the average human. They buzzed angrily, and the way they held their pincers, scythes and other assorted appendages made it clear there was only one way this standoff could end.
Brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes, Mary gestured toward her. "This petit psyche-out trick isn't going to work on me, I'm afraid, so you may as well – oh."
Quickly she sprang away from where she had been standing as most of the swarm rushed toward her. The key word being 'most'; the remainder quickly flew toward her, jaws snapping. In reply, Mary smiled daintily.
"Navigant Broche!"
Each and every one of the girl's limbs became vines, whipping around with graceful, deadly power in all directions. The insects buzzed in pain as they were scattered away by the thorn-tipped appendages, allowing Mary a safe landing. She then spun on one leg, sending a leg as a curved vine lashing straight through the middle of the other group.
Dazed though they were by the blows, the insects weren't yet down for the count, and quickly circled her again, this time from the top as well. If she was such a slippery opponent, the best way to kill her was giving her no room to escape, correct? That was a reasonable assumption, certainly, and it might have worked out for the swarm if Mary wasn't…well, Mary.
She sighed a little as she squatted low to the ground. "I hate using this one. It's so unladylike."
Mary's legs and hands sank freely into the dirt beneath them, leaving the rest of her body sprouting above it like a human-shaped flower. Unperturbed by the odd movement, the bugs continued, heedless of the slight shifting going on in the ground.
"Sauvage," she said, and then took in a deep breath, tensing her body, "JARDIN!"
There came a chorus of noises almost like gunshots, followed by a series of meaty thunks or crunches. Opening her eyes, Mary looked around. The vines that had burst up from the ground, multiplied from her those of her limbs, stood poised to the sky like small tree-tops, impaling some of the insects on their tips or smashing them apart entirely. Thorns had also erupted from enough parts of her body that could be done without unduly endangering her clothes, taking out the rest. Despite her lack of fear toward insects, she had to twitch her nose a little at their twitching corpses being so close.
She didn't have to put up with it for long, though; after a moment the bugs all burst into the same glowing symbols Jack had encountered. Mary stared at them for a few seconds before sighing, retracting the thorns and returning her limbs to their normal state. Rather than getting up, she sat on the ground, catching her breath: that technique was rather impractical as far as stamina was concerned.
While recovering, Mary thought on what she had just seen. Those bugs were the only animals she had seen on the island so far, and they'd disappeared like that…there was definitely something strange going on in this island, to state the obvious.
Getting back up, the girl exited the clearing she was in; as soon as she found the others they were going to get to the bottom of this, she decided.
Behind her, another breeze came and went.
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"Oh…dear."
Frank had to admit, and not for the first time (something he would also admit), that he had been wrong about something: in this case, plants. Specifically, this plant and how it ate. As it turned out, it wasn't nearly as patient in its methods as he had thought.
Looking down at the massive, teeth-lined bud that had sprouted up from the ground underneath him, the various vines leading off from it, the shinobi gulped. The vines' pull had increased quite a bit since it had appeared, and it certainly looked as hungry as a plant possibly could. "And I suppose convincing it I would only be stringy is quite out of the question…"
He looked back up, at the branch he was dangling from. The burst of adrenaline from the terr – surprise he had felt when the bud appeared had been enough to carry him up to it, if not free him from the vines. His fingers currently held onto it like a vice, and fortunately it seemed to be quite sturdy.
Suddenly, a blur of brown darted through the sea of green, stopping on the branch to reveal itself as a short, skinny monkey. It leaned over the branch and stared down at the shinobi, looking quite pleased with itself.
Frank smiled. "Oh, hello there, monkey-san." He chuckled. "I suppose I must look quite strange now, don't – oh. D-don't do that, please…"
Still smiling, the monkey had begun his hands inspecting with somewhat worrying intensity. After a moment of prodding the fingers on one with its own, it opened its mouth, revealing a surprising number of pointed teeth.
"Um, bad monkey-san," Frank murmured, "please get away from – ow!" He flinched as the monkey bit down on his fingers, but didn't let go of the branch. That would be…bad. But the little troublemaker wasn't content to leave him be after just one mouthful; it continued snapping its jaws down on the masked man's gloved fingers, quickly staining them red. Eventually the hand couldn't take it any longer and slipped away, leaving Frank dangling by just one. He doubled his grip there, but the monkey, chattering in a very mocking way, moved to the other quickly and grinned at him.
Naturally, Frank's arm was quickly snared by the vines before he could reaffirm his grip with it, leaving him in an even worse place than before. A normal person would have been a little surprised to see that such an event were even possible, but Frank simply frowned. He had been in quite a few undesirable situations before and escaped, so there was no real need to panic.
"Although I must admit, this does not look very good…" he was forced to ponder as the monkey began nibbling and scratching on his other hand. As though sensing its hunger would soon be sated, the bud began to slowly snap upward. Unconsciously Frank drew his legs up as much as possible, even though he was still too far for it to reach.
The biting went on while he thought wildly for some path of escape, but there was nothing he could find. Slowly, finger by finger, he began to lose his grip…
Snap. The biting stopped - along with the pressure on his legs - when what felt like a miniature sonic boom swept through the area, snapping the vines easily and spooking the monkey. It looked around, chattering in a frightened way, when it was suddenly smashed off the branch and sent flailing into a tree trunk. It too burst into the glowing symbols that quickly vanished, but Frank was more interested in what had landed on the branch in its place.
His eyes grew wide with grateful surprise. "Shitei, it's you!"
Standing perched on the branch was a keen-eyed, dark-furred eagle, staring down at him with the usual uninterested stare avians had for things too large to eat. Tied around its neck was a small scarf, a leaf symbol drawn upon it, and within its beak was a bag it lowered down toward Frank.
"Ah, my supplies!" Frank reached up and grabbed the bag with his freed hand, nodding thankfully to the bird. "Please give my thanks to the rest of the family! I appreciate it very much!"
Shitei gave him an impassive look as the shinobi tried to juggle his grip and the bag, until Frank held up the bad hopefully. "Er, I'd be even more thankful if you would-"
Rolling his eyes, the eagle dug its beak into the bag and rooted around for a moment before producing a Firestorm scroll. Lifting up its wing and chirping what were probably a few sentences, it dropped it straight into the waiting maw of the bud.
The plant unwittingly snapped up the paper bomb, shutting its mouth right over it a moment before the flame burst up. The bud quickly flailed in pain as they released their victim, its tentacles smashing off the bark on nearby trees and causing other such destruction before it finally collapsed, body blackened. This time Frank couldn't help but notice the explosion. "What on earth?"
Dropping to the ground, he stared at the slightly mesmerizing sight before nodding sagely. "Of course; I had sensed that something was amiss all along!"
Above him, Shitei gave a cry that seemed to indicate he thought otherwise before taking wing, flying out of the forest as easily as he had come. Frank waved to him as he left, chuckling to himself. "I suppose I didn't have to worry after all, hm?" Putting the bag on the ground carefully (having a smoke bomb go off in your face was embarrassing even without anyone around), he sorted the supplies into his various pouches and belts before nodding decisively. "Alright, now I must find the others. Who knows what's happened to them if I was nearly killed here?" He paused. "W-well, probably not much…but still!"
With a hop and a bound, the shinobi was off hopping through the trees again, oblivious to the wind.
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The real nice thing about people hiring dumb muscle, Gerald mused as he followed the band, was that the kind of person who would hire lackeys so stupid often held some of the same personality traits they did. Crudeness, overconfidence, a general lack of subtlety, a tendency to go 'hurr hurr' and hit things…the list went on for a while, really, but the one most advantageous to him at the moment was loudness: as collectively loud as the cloaked men were, their leader trumped them all in noise. Every step he took was onto some branch or twig, and produced a metallic squeak all on its own. That would have been enough of a cloak for Gerald's movements easily, but Ahab took it one step forward by never, shutting, up.
"Who the hell could live in a place like this, anyway?" he asked, glaring around at the greenery. "It's disgusting! There's no hygiene anywhere with all these weeds around!"
The goons showed remarkable tact by not answering him, Gerald thought. Ahab continued, though, spreading his arms in a grandiose manner. "I can't even count how many times I caught something from backwater holes like this. They should all just get stripped for firewood: they'd at least be useful then."
Gerald rolled his eyes. "What is he, the villain of a bad environmental play?"
"But there is one good thing about this island!" Ahab suddenly cried with a wave of his hook. "I haven't seen any walking hairballs or annoying bugs like you usually find on-"
"Aaaaaand there we are." the Skull Pirate's first mate nodded as a large bear burst out of the surrounding trees and tackled him to the ground. "I'd be worried if this island didn't follow that rule; just because it's a mysterious island of frights doesn't mean you can just ignore these kinds of things."
Unfortunately, karma seemed like it would be losing this particular bout. Lashing out with his hook, Ahab gouged several holes into the bear's hide as they grappled, before the men quickly swarmed upon it, tearing with their bear hands. Gerald winced as…parts came off, before there was a bright bang of light. He covered his eyes and looked back just as Ahab started screaming
"What the hell was that! Bears don't just appear out of nowhere, last time I checked!" Absently, he kicked one of the cloaked minions in the head before they got to their feet collectively. "I told you something funny was going on in this shithole!"
From his position, Gerald winced slightly at the thump the whaler's foot made as it collided with the hapless minion. "I hope they're getting paid well, at least…"
"Kinda painful to watch, isn't it?" a sympathetic voice said from behind him.
Gerald nodded. "It certainly is. Nothing worse than an employer – oh."
The 'oh' came both because of the long rope he suddenly found wrapped around himself, and Micheals suddenly throwing him over one shoulder as easily as a bag of groceries. Walking out of the trees with Spider by his side, he waved to Ahab. "Ahoy there, Captain; glad I found you again! And look, I think I just wrangled an eavesdropper of you and your guys!" With that, he dumped Gerald onto the ground roughly.
Ahab turned around. "Eh? Oh, it's you two. Survived, huh?" He cast a beady eye onto Gerald. "Who the hell is this guy?"
"Happy to see you're so pleased, boss…" Micheals muttered under his breath.
The first mate found his head yanked around by the whaler's normal hand, letting out a grunt of pain at the strength it had. "Well?" the cyborg demanded. "I asked you a question, dandy. Not that I need to know the answer, really," he added with a sneer, "unless there were three ships out there that night, I'm guessing you're a member of that skeleton bastard's crew, ain't ya?"
Grinning, he motioned to one of the cloaked men, who picked Gerald back up with maximum roughness. "You'll be some good insurance in case he shows up." Ahab said with an evil grin. "An idiot like that around could be a major thorn in my plan; if he gets mad over some stupid whales, I wonder how he'll feel about his crewmate being in harm's way? Hah!"
"Well, I figured out something at least." Gerald thought dimly as the group started walking again. "I know I want Jack to punch this fellow in the face as hard as he can."
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"Excuse me, Emelia?"
The girl had been rather quiet since they had begun their walk, and took a moment before she look back at the merman. "Yes?"
Drake couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable when Emelia spoke, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. And that only made it more disconcerting. "Well," he began, "we've been walking for a while, haven't we? But I haven't seen signs of any villages, or even anyone around. Where exactly are we going?"
"You will know soon." the girl replied cryptically.
The shark frowned. "I take it there's no chance of me knowing now, then?"
Emelia said nothing.
"Alright." Drake said with a shrug. In lieu of any pertinent information, he looked around at the landscape. "This is a very beautiful island. I'm sure you must enjoy looking at it from day to day."
"It's…okay." Emelia said, dropping the formality for a moment. "You get used to it after a while." While she might have appeared quiet outwardly, though, in was another story.
Do not say unnecessary things. He is more perceptive than the rest. Making him suspicious will not help our goal.
"He is already suspicious." the girl thought back. "I do not know why Johnny can't-"
I have told you already; he is unworthy of such a task. Speak no more of him.
Emelia frowned deeply at that comment, but continued walking. Johnny would do it fine, she knew, and could never understand why he would always refuse.
Behind her, she heard the merman's footsteps suddenly stop. She turned around to see Drake looking around at the nearby trees, his eyes narrowed and fists raised. "I-is there something the matter?" the girl asked, the sudden movement making her a little nervous. He didn't answer, however, tensing himself as he finally focused on the right side of the woods, stepping in front of Emelia quickly.
A moment later, the shrubbery and leaves began to shift, shortly before something burst out with a crash.
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The good news: Jack had remembered how the lyrics went.
"The islands in the north…are COOOOOOOLD!"
The bad news: it had inspired him to sing louder.
"Their heads shiver, all AROUUUUUUUND! And they're AAAAAAALL IDIOhurk."
Mary stepped around to his line of sight, one hand clapped over an ear, the other no doubt the thorn vine wrapped around his mouth. "Jack, I'm so glad I found you! Thank goodness for that song of yours!" She smiled. "Never sing it again."
He nodded, and she let him go. Grunting in annoyance, Jack rubbed the area around his lips. "You know, Mary, one of these days I'm gonna-"
"Is there no-one else around?" she asked, ignoring him while looking around. "You'd think Gerald would be as eager to stop you as me."
Jack shrugged as he turned away, readjusting his hat. "Dunno; haven't seen hide or hair of anyone but you since I woke up. This island must be huge. And to make matters worse," he frowned, "nothing's happened at all other than-"
Snapping his fingers, he looked back to Mary. "Hey, just out of curiosity, have you been running into any weird animals here?"
"Depends what you mean by 'weird', Jack." she replied, putting a hand on her hip. "If you mean ordinarily weird animals, like a Hiking Bear or a Kung-Fu Dugong, then no. If you mean normal bêtes that explode into graffiti, on the other hand, then yes, I have as a matter of fact."
The captain nodded. "Guess I wasn't just seeing things, then. Did you get attacked by what you ran into?" When Mary nodded, he frowned. "In that case, I think it's safe to say someone on this island knows we're here – and they don't like it."
"Who?" the girl asked. It seemed the most obvious question. "This island is deserted; what could be here worth protecting so violently?"
A grin slowly made its way onto Jack's face. "If you ask me? Something expensive." Walking past Mary, he gestured for her to follow. "First we find Drake, Gerald and Frank. Then we find whatever it is."
Mary rolled her eyes as she followed. "You don't even know if something exists, and you already want to steal it. A proper Grand Line pirate, I suppose…"
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"Owwwwww!"
Drake frowned as he felt the nose. "I don't think it's broken, just bleeding. You don't have to be so dramatic about it."
"Dramatic?" the nose's owner whined. "You punch me in the nose right away, and you say I'm being dramatic? You j-j-ahhh!" He threw back his head and let out a wail.
'He' was an anglerfish merman, a fact Drake found somewhat problematic, as every few seconds he was forced to brush the light-tipped antenna away carefully, all while trying to reassure him that he was, in fact, not going to die. For obvious reasons this was a slow-going endeavor. "Could you be quiet for a moment, please? Your voice is a bit distracting."
The other merman's plump face screwed up in shock. "Huh? Are you – are you calling my voice annoying?" He turned to Emelia in dismay. "Emelia, did you hear that? What dirty trench did you meet this lout in?"
For his part, Drake wondered exactly how the girl had met this member of his race as well, but kept quiet. Closing his eyes, he applied a small dose of the ripple to ease the angler's pains, which had the thankful side effect of quieting him down. Thank goodness for small favors.
Releasing the appendage, he stood up. "Well, it should be fine as long as it doesn't get hit again very soon. Again, I'm very sorry about that." Reaching down, he tugged the tubby merman to his feet. "My name is Drake. I take it you're a friend of Emelia's?"
The anglerfish still sported a frown, but nodded. "Yeah, I'm Johnny." He extended a wet, clammy hand. "Me and Emelia how known each-other fer, uh, a while now I guess. Nice to meet ya, Drake."
"My pleasure." Drake said, shaking the hand; he couldn't help but notice how Johnny winced at the grip.
"So," Johnny said, rubbing his hand slightly, "what exactly are you doin' here? Not that I'd ask otherwise, but, well, this place is kinda – yowch!"
Emelia had pinched him in the arm, and now fervently shook her head. "Uh, I mean," he stammered, before looking away, "nevermind."
Drake looked between the two of them for a moment before clearing his throat carefully. "Well, me and my friends were sailing nearby when our vessel capsized, and I woke up here. I was going to go look for them, but apparently Emelia wants to meet someone first. I'm sure they'll be alright, though."
"Oh, I getcha." Johnny nodded. "Yeah, I understand." A dismayed look overtook his face, and he made to leave. "I'll just get outta your hair, then…"
The sharkman blinked. "You don't need to go just because-"
"Nope, I know when I'm not needed, and this is definitely one of those cases! I'll see you later, Emelia!"
Drake watched him blunder back through the trees where he had come. He looked back to the path. "So-"
Emelia was already walking again, shoulders hunched slightly. Although the merman couldn't see it, she had closed her eyes.
Blundering oaf! This will be difficult enough without him meddling in things. If he interferes again, I may have to-
The girl concentrated briefly.
…I…may have spoken out of turn. the voice admitted, tinged with…pain? In any case, he is away now. Please, continue.
Still with the melancholy expression on her face, Emelia continued leading Drake, who now had his own worries about this situation.
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Despite the fact that he was now held between two men who felt like they could rip him in half if they were so inclined, and was trying very hard not to call attention to himself because of that, Gerald had been able to pick up some information on the unruly band so far. You'd think someone would keep quiet about their secret plans while a stranger was around, but Ahab didn't seem to think he was anything of importance. Or he was a few crumpets short of a full tea tray. Probably both.
From what he'd managed to overhear from him talking to the big fellow, although the group didn't appear to have any path in mind, Ahab was looking for some contact of his that was on the island…somewhere. He didn't know exactly where, which was beginning to become a point of frustration for the whaler – remarkable, given the patience he had!
"If he doesn't show his face soon, I might just feel like giving him a taste of what you boys got to make you like this, eh?" he asked the rabid mermen following behind him. They said nothing, and he shrugged. "Like I expected an answer; maybe it's just my fault for working with such a flake."
Michaels' voice spoke up nearby. "So, what exactly did this guy do for you, Ahab? Sounds like he's more trouble than he's worth, the way you talk about him."
Ahab paused for a bit and then crooned, "Oh, I suppose I can tell ya now, Michaels. Y'see, I may have gotten this map to the island, but we'd never have been able to get near these islands without the info I got from him on the surroundings: every reef, every rock, everything." His tone grew less pleasant. "Everything but those damned storms, of course. If we didn't have that steam ship of yours, we'd have been sunk for sure."
"Glad it could be of use, Ahab. Uh, speaking of, how is it-"
"Where the hell is he!"
A voice came from the left. "Right here, Ahab. No need to wake up the whole jungle."
He seemed to turn, as did the thugs, including the one who held Gerald – giving him a nice view of the back of the coat of someone facing in that direction. He pricked up his ears nonetheless; this sounded important!
"I was wondering where your smelly hide had gotten to," Ahab said pleasantly (for him anyway), "it's nice to see my business partner in person after so long."
The other voice chuckled. "I'd say the same, but well, we both know I'd be lying." He came closer. "I'll get straight to the point: there are some other people on this island at the moment, and that girl is leading one of them to there. Doesn't really look like anything your crew won't be able to handle, but hurrying probably wouldn't hurt."
Ahab growled. "I knew that crew was going to be trouble just from seeing one of them!" He paused, and then barked, "Well? What the hell are you all just standing around for!" Then came the meaty thud that couldn't have been anything but him hitting whatever poor sap was near. The group began moving again afterward, with Gerald finding himself nearly bouncing from the increased pace. Not so much though, for him to miss the small spots of blood that littered the forest floor. He frowned in sympathy. "Some people just don't know how to treat their employees…"
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"What…on earth?"
Frank had seen many weird things travelling about the seas, and especially back in his home village – when you were a shinobi, a 'normal' childhood was a very relative thing. But even growing up on Konoha, he didn't think he had ever seen something like this. He was in the center of a wide clearing that, somehow, seemed to have several paths running to it, even the one he had taken through the trees. It gave off the unmistakable feeling of being the center of things.
And on the far side of the massive clearing was a wide cliff, cut smooth as it bisected the forest suddenly. In the center of the cliff was…a door. It was massive, easily taller than three of Drake, and wider than any two of the crew (well, maybe not Mary…) laying down head to toe. Strange markings unknown to the shinobi littered it, and even from his position he could see they weren't simply for show: a chill slowly ran down his spine from the aura it was giving off.
Unconsciously, he took a step backward, but slowly, as if something was scrutinizing him closely. "B-but that's ridiculous, of course…"
He couldn't help but doubt his own words. "Even so, though, a doorway like this wasn't made to imprison something. I'm sure it's a gateway…
But...to what?"
To be continued…
Next time, on One Piece: The Skull Pirates…
Jack: Looks like we have a good old-fashioned standoff here, eh?
Michaels: Aw man, I hate situations like this…
Frank: Um, I don't think starting a fight here is a good idea…
The Gated Power! What lurks in the Archipelago!
Ahab: Afraid you're not the only one with a trump card, 'friend'.
LordGambit508 – Things that usually work screwing up is kind of annoying, isn't it? Glad you liked the chapter, and sorry for the massive delay!
Until next time, see you guys.