Thanks you, guys, you always blow me away with your kind reviews :) To answer a few questions I've seen lately, there are still 2 more chapters before we get to Drum, and Sunny isn't necessarily going to evolve in these next few chapters. Just trust me when I say I have some exciting things planned for Drum and Alabasta ;)
The island itself was larger than Nami's was and was dense with massive, thick trees easily higher than Merry's mast. Sunny wondered what the view at the top of the highest one would look like. Maybe like Reverse Mountain's view? Was this one of the distant islands they'd seen at the top?
The crew worked to dock the ship and in no time at all, Sanji was passing each group a tied cloth filled with snacks.
"Alright, the plan is to explore the area and complete your individual tasks. Let's meet back here in four hours if we haven't run into each other by then," Nami announced. "Usopp and Sunny will be closest to the ship so if you run into trouble they won't be hard to find."
"Please don't find us," Usopp interjected.
"Right..." Nami intoned. "And Vivi-are you really sure you want to go with Luffy? He's going to be..." She mimed the 'cuckoo' with a finger to her head.
Vivi looked at the excited pirate captain, half hanging off the railing and gave Nami a determined look. "It's fine, I want too. I'll keep him out of trouble."
Nami put a hand on her shoulder and somberly said, "Vivi, no one believes that."
Soon after Zoro and Sanji sprinted off to see which of them could bring more meat back, leaving Nami, Usopp, and Sunny still standing on the Merry.
"Nami, what are you going to be doing?" Usopp asked.
She worried a rolled up map in her hands. "Well, I'm going to be watching the Merry of course, and I need to chart this island. So, I'll stay safe-I mean, I'll stay and finish mapping. You're doing the most important task on the island though, so don't mess up."
Sunny had never seen Nami map an island from the ship. How would she know how to draw the shape? Or size? But charting wasn't exactly something he knew how to do so he let it slide.
"You just don't want to meet what beat up that massive tiger!" Usopp protested. But he was coerced quickly enough with more embellishment and threats in equal measure.
Finally, Usopp grabbed his bags and pulled a cloth-wrapped item out, handing it to Nami. "It's that project you requested a couple of weeks ago. It was a challenge, but nothing a master tinkerer like myself couldn't manage!"
Nami looked down at the wrapped item with stars in her eyes and jumped to hug Usopp. "You're the best! Thank you-thank you-thank you!"
Sunny and Usopp walked next to the coast for a few minutes, getting an idea of the island. It was no less monstrous from the beach, Sunny marveled.
"S-Sunny-do you think you hear a monstrous wail just now?" Usopp was clutching his slingshot, his knees knocked together slightly. "I think I just heard the dying screams of an animal in there. I-I think we should stay on the beach and wait until the others get back."
Sunny remembered Nami had trusted them with the most important task; he couldn't be convinced by Usopp's scary words. He could only hear cicadas in the forest anyway.
"Nami is trusting us to bring back wood to fix the Merry, we can't turn around now," the cyndaquil started.
"Are you lecturing me? Why do I get the feeling you're lecturing me?" Usopp asked. "The truth is healthy caution is one of the greatest weapons a warrior can possess!"
Sunny rolled his hidden eyes and pointed to a tree in the forest.
"We can't find wood on the beach!"
"Supplies? B-but we can find driftwood here so I'm just being strategic..." Usopp said lamely as sweat gathered on his forehead.
Sunny sighed before turning back to the forest. Usopp hadn't left him with any choice-he bolted into the shaded forest by himself, running through the soft, springy undergrowth that tickled his nose and made him glad of his lidded eyes. After a little while, he stopped, stood up to see over the grass and waited for Usopp to appear.
It didn't take long.
"Sunny wh-where are you little buddy? You didn't get e-eaten yet, did you?"
"I'm fine, Usopp!" Sunny called, running back up to meet him. "And you are too." Sunny gave him a pleased smile.
Usopp crossed his arms. "You need to stay close to me so I can protect you. A-anyway as I was saying, let's go further into the forest!"
Usopp led the way for a little while, tensing at the loud owls screeching in the dim light below the massive canopy. He collected a few sticks as they went.
Then Sunny felt something move in the underbrush in front of them and he froze in place. Usopp peaked out from behind a tree he'd scrambled to.
A rodent-like furry head poked out of the grass, whiskers twitching, fifty feet ahead of them. The creature had almond eyes and big teeth and light brown fur. The long, thin furred tail raised in caution. The rodent saw Sunny and tensed, mirroring exactly the same action Sunny had taken a second before.
It looked like this world's version of him, almost. The gerbil-like creature, while not a pokemon, was ten times the size it should have been. Sunny almost felt a twinge of comradeship well up inside of him.
At that moment, before the giant gerbil could sense or run, it was snapped up, devoured, and swallowed by a massive maw of a massive t-rex, who made quick work of the meal before setting its cold brown eyes on Sunny.
This world's me was just eaten! Sunny's fear sent him keeling over onto his back in a dead faint.
Sunny woke up again, shortly after, tucked under Usopp's arm as they sprinted through the forest, Usopp wailing as the t-rex roared a distance behind them. Sunny jumped down and immediately struggled to keep up with Usopp's panicked sprint.
Eventually, the primal roars ceased and Usopp stopped, Sunny panting on the ground.
"T-that thing was so big," Sunny gasped into wakefulness. He was not having fun exploring the jungle anymore. He wanted to go back. Luckily, he was with Usopp, who wouldn't take much convincing. Nami would be harder to deal with when they returned empty-handed, but he was starting to think she didn't want to come into the forest in the first place. Hopefully, she would just be grateful Sunny wasn't gobbled up by the Jurassic creature, right? At least they'd tried.
"Wait, which way do we go?"
Usopp looked around with a start, guessing what Sunny was asking or simply thinking the same thing. "Wait, are we lost in this dinosaur jungle?"
"GYAAAAAAAA!"
"QUUUUILLLLL!"
Their new plan was to find the others as they trekked through the jungle, Usopp following close behind. Both tried to stay as silent as possible. If there was one extinct animal, there could be others and Sunny knew that at least one of them had a taste for large rodents.
Usopp found the thickest tree around them and climbed up to get a better view of the ocean, hoping to find their ship.
A few minutes after he went up, Sunny's back tingled where he sat, looking up at the tree. He set his front paws back on the ground, extending his senses. Heavy, lumbering movement, the same as before. Sunny scrambled for the tree after Usopp in panic but he couldn't do more than clutch onto the side of the trunk after his jump. He hopped down, looking frantically as the steps got closer. His eyes caught something. A nest of very large, blue eggs at a time.
Acting on impulse as the steps got closer and Usopp still wasn't coming down the tree, Sunny dove into the nest and curled up in a ball, praying the dinosaur wouldn't notice the extra occupant. Sunny was curled up, back facing the clearing so he was able to just barely see over his rolled-up side as another dinosaur, this one blue but otherwise similar in appearance, stalked out of the clearing, sniffing the air before approaching the nest. Sunny went stone-stiff when the dinosaur began nudging each egg to check them over. He barely resisted hyperventilating but forced himself to hold his breath.
Eggs don't breathe!
When the dinosaur nudged his back, he rolled slightly, but he was curled tightly enough his legs or head didn't show.
The T-rex didn't seem to notice the new occupant but instead startled and held her massive tail protectively over the eggs as steps so massive Sunny must have mistaken them for the volcano or an earthquake moved just behind a cover of trees. He heard a shrill scream well above him. He couldn't suppress a shiver as its steps faded from sound, then feeling.
Usopp hadn't come back and that creature had walked by his tree, and the high-pitched squeal was a scream, a familiar one. His heart thudded uncomfortably against his tucked cheek. Was he hurt? Part of him thought it was impossible that he could be dead.
But Sunny knew better than that.
Those grim realities may have seemed so far away on the ship with Luffy and the others, where they would protect him from a stray sword or bat, but he could never forget how it really was. To be a pirate was to have your life on the line-only somewhat more than if he was alone in the dangerous world. Even Luffy could...he gulped.
Safety was not a privilege, it was earned. It had to be earned every day. His mind pulled him back to the ring of gunshots. Or lost. And in the wild, his own life was as uncertain as that giant gerbil's. He was out here, he was just part of the food chain. Only with more evolved natural defenses. But Usopp was an exception. He was the most like a mouse in his instincts. And it had been Sunny to force him to go into the jungle. The thought weighed heavily on his stomach, even more unbearable than the hot breath coming from the t-rex's snout as she settled. Just as she began to sit on her haunches to lie down, Sunny was moving, propelled by nervous energy, rolled off the nest, continuing the backward roll off a slight outcropping. On landing, he uncurled, turned on a dime, and charged in the direction the massive footsteps had disappeared.
Sunny was all too aware of the dinosaur clambering to her feet with a groan of surprise. By the time she was on her feet, Sunny was racing away as fast as his legs could move, a sprint he could only maintain for a few seconds as he moved faster than he should be able to. The t-rex saw him bounding down the grassy knoll and roared in anger and confusion, not pursuing.
Sunny had to slow down to a walk when he found himself going back into the denser part of the forest, which was a stagnant marsh.
Sunny sniffed in distaste but continued on, looking for signs of whatever had taken Usopp. He wasn't a tracker, so he wasn't sure what he was looking for, and the half-dried mud offered him no reading of motion. Sunny carefully made his way through, hoping desperately that he was still going the right direction, that Usopp wasn't hurt, that Nami was alright on her own.
The worst part of the marsh, Sunny decided, were the pests. His fur had attracted some burrs in the forest and he had to stop every once and a while to gnaw one off his paws and legs. Mosquitoes and flies were drawn to his body temperature like a beacon but a quick spout of fire took care of most of them.
Finally, he came across a massive footprint, one that looked like a human's except that it was over fifteen times larger than Sunny from toe to heel.
Did it have Usopp? Looking around, he could see dozens of broken trees and on further investigation, some of these swampy ponds looked to be made by something about the same size. The trees could certainly be the giant being's doing, was the marsh the same? Sunny's heart fluttered in his chest like a butterfree. Maybe he'd been too hasty, he should have looked for the others-
A distance away a booming gurgle chased smoke into the air. The volcano? If you had asked Sunny before, he would have thought the idea of volcanoes was genius. Now, he was stuck between very worried and severely irritated.
The footsteps came back, fast, and two-fold. Two giant human warriors rushed from either direction, sword and shield clashing in the destroyed marsh with a resonance so loud it turned Sunny's balance on its side, stumbling back until he gathered himself, even then the vibrations across the ground were leaving him helplessly confused. He meant to move back but he wasn't sure he was, with the clashing weapons, rumbling yells, and stomping feet it was worse than a confuse ray.
The giants only seemed to get bigger and he really needed to watch their feet as he was the size of one of their pinky toes.
Better said than done-colors stole past like the world was on a new axis and he was sure the liquid in his inner ear was boiling.
Each step was enough he was soundly pulled off his feet. He just did his best to move away and not in circles as the titans clashed. Eventually, one yelled out and fell back. Sunny could only sit down and watch the giant's shadow color his vision as he fell toward him. A massive slam sent him into the air and sprawling on his back in strangely long, straw-colored ground. It was a moment before he regained his sense enough to realize he was laying on one of the giant's hair and squirming to right himself.
A low groan came from the creature, a large grin on his face despite the blood, wearing a viking hat and a beard.
Sunny was lifted in the air between two fingers before he could escape. The pressure squeezed his ribs and he couldn't move an inch. His back fire blazed instinctually, spluttered out under his thumb, then blazed again before flickering out.
Sunny didn't dare struggle in the giant's grip after his attempt at fire. He couldn't move an inch, not even his head, his cheeks smushed between the tops of his fingers.
"GABABABA!" The giant rumbled. Blood trickled out of his mouth and nose. Sunny was almost glad his ears were covered to muffle the sound. "A small little mouse I've found! Funny, strange creature!"
The giant's fingers twitched slightly and Sunny had a moment to panic and for his life to flash in front of his eyes as he prepared to be crushed. He'd never expected to end like this, he wished suddenly, foolishly, that the last time he'd seen the crew, he'd known. That he could have given Luffy another hug, or eat another meal with the crew, or-
He took as deep a breath as he could manage in the tight hold. He exhaled. His was still held in the air, as he distantly saw the ground moving farther away. The giant was standing up, walking, with him still in his hold. He suddenly was ten feet from the giant's eye as he was inspected.
"My fingers hurt. Did you burn me? That sounds familiar," the giant said, eyebrows furrowing in thought.
He started walking, Sunny along for the ride.
The distance must have been considerable but it only took the giant, still maintaining an impressively gentle grip, a few minutes to stop in a clearing and sit on a massive felled tree with a grunt.
Then came what Sunny was least expecting, that is, after being nearly eaten by a t-rex and abducted by a giant.
"Brogy? Are you alright? What was that?" If Sunny had had ears, they would have pricked up in reaction to the familiar voice. He couldn't move his head at all, but at this point, Sunny was sure he could recognize her voice just about anywhere.
"Cynnn!"
It went both ways.
"Sunny?" She sounded surprised.
"GABABABABA! You said you were looking for a burning mouse, young warrior?"
Sunny felt himself momentarily upside down before he was placed on the ground in front of Nami and Usopp. It took him a moment to gather his wits, and after he had, he launched himself at Usopp's stomach, clinging onto his overalls, just to make sure he was really alive.
Usopp laughed jovially, patting Sunny on the head affectionately. "I was worried about you, too. When I climbed that tree, I climbed so high, Brogy saw me. He instantly knew I was a fellow warrior and brought me to his base to help him." Sunny knew better to believe that one-he'd heard Usopp's scream of terror. He turned to Nmai.
"Qu?"
"I was on the ship...charting and Brogy saw me there and grabbed me too." She gave him a scolding look. "He's got a bad habit of taking people, even if he doesn't mean to any harm. You could have gotten hurt too, you know!"
Sunny knew she was thinking about Zoro because he was too.
Brogy extended his pointer finger palm up to the pirates. "I know, ouch," he grumbled. The skin of his finger was a red and angry color that was likely going to peel in the next few days. Nami couldn't quite bite back a satisfied smile.
"Exactly like that," she said, even as she pulled out her canteen to soothe the burn.
Meanwhile, Usopp filled Sunny in on what had happened. There were two giants on Little Garden from an island called Elbaf. They both warriors, who had come to the island to settle a conflict between groups, and they'd been here, fighting, for 100 years. Every time the volcano erupted.
So that's who the other giant was, Sunny realized. A lot of the island was suddenly making sense to Sunny, but it still didn't help that the rest of the group was still out there.
As Usopp handed Brogy a comically large handkerchief to wipe the blood off his face, Sunny examined the giant's clearing. Brogy seemed to never have settled down, almost like he still expected to win soon after all this time, or maybe be just lived one day at a time, like Luffy.
Brogy reached for a barrel, one of the only items in the clearing. Sunny had a moment to wonder where he'd gotten it before the scent wafted past him. Smell was his second sharpest sense, but maybe human's weakest one.
Sunny didn't know very much about what Zoro called 'booze'. Sunny had learned at sea it could smell sharp, fruity, bitter, bright, sweet, or even spicy. He had never smelled a drink that landed on his palate sour and sulfurous. Sunny tensed, mouth opening uncertainty, the relaxed atmosphere he had enjoyed a second ago seemed ominous. Even over the natural ash on the volcanic island, it unnerved him. Like claws of Typlosion, squeezing his heart-not threatening, but as his inner self, Instinct. Instinct's deep red eyes opened.
The barrel rose up to Brogy's face, an orange circle painted at the bottom of the barrel-Sunny was already responding to Instinct's call.
He acted just a little too late.
"STOP!"
The giant lowered the barrel from his lips at the sudden cry. A burst of fire snapped up from the bottom of the barrel for a brief second before the barrel exploded into tiny pieces in every direction.
Usopp is probably up there with Luffy on how well he can understand Sunny. Luffy instinctually/with his unique haki, and Usopp because he listens well. Around the others, Sunny sometimes forgoes verbal communication entirely (which doesn't help them learn either).
Let me know what you think!