SailorStar9: With Chapter 183 uploaded, I present Chapter 184 this fic. For everyone who put this fic on your favorited and followed lists and/or story alerts, thank you, but remember everyone, a lot of authors (myself included) sustain on readers' reviews.
Pairings: Ace/Sasha, sibling Luffy/Sasha and Sabo/Sasha, Background Protector!Law/Sasha
Disclaimers: One Piece belongs to Oda EiichirÅ-sensei. Me, on the other hand, own absolutely nothing, except my OC, the pairing and the fic idea.
Chapter 184: Arc 13: Arriving! A Burning Island - Punk Hazard!
"What's that?" Zoro asked, tending to the sails.
"What?" Nami gasped as the ship sailed closer to Punk Hazard. "Impossible."
"A red sea?" Robin mused, seeing the poison coloring the ocean.
"Look, a volcanic eruption." Luffy pointed to the erupting volcano. "Let's drop anchor on that island."
"What?" everyone else chorused.
"Wait, Luffy!" Nami shouted and looked at her Log Pose. I knew it. None of the Log Poses' needles point to that island.
"Let's go to that island!" Luffy declared.
"I told you, wait!" Nami snapped.
"What're you talking about?" Luffy argued. "Those are volcanoes! Doesn't it look fun? Why shouldn't we go?"
"Listen up, Luffy." Nami chided. "None of the three compass needles point to that island. It's an abnormality, even in the abnormal New World."
"Another eruption." Luffy ignored her. "We can see it right there. Who cares about the needles? We're dropping anchor, no matter what you say."
"No way!" Nami protested. "We can't get any closer than this. I mean, it's a sea of fire! I don't get you!"
"It's only a matter of time before the ship catches fire." Usopp pointed out as the Thousand Sunny sailed closer.
"No," Franky corrected. "The Sunny is super-fireproof!"
"Even if it shouldn't burn, there's something wrong with this sea." Nami noted. "Look, the fish are nothing but bones!"
"What's that?" Usopp gaped when the Den Den Mushi in the dining room started wailing.
"The Den Den Mushi is crying." Sasha blinked.
"That's an emergency signal." Sanji supplied. "Someone is calling for help."
"Wait, Sasha." Robin stopped the younger girl from picking up the call. "Less than fifty percent of emergency calls are real. The Navy uses this kind of trap all the time, so that's probably what this is. If you pick it up and they've got the line bugged, then they'll know we're in the area."
"Hello, my name is Monkey D. Luffy!" Luffy snatched the receiver.
"Please help me!" the person over the other end of the Den Den Mushi wailed. "It's freezing... is that you, boss? My companions keep getting cut down. The samurai's gonna kill us all!"
"Samurai?" Zoro echoed.
"Hey, what is your name?" Luffy pressed. "Where are you?"
"It's doesn't matter who I am, just save me." the man on the line begged. "I'm on Punk Hazard!"
"He was killed!" Usopp and Chopper screamed in horror as the line went dead and the Den Den Mushi coughed blood.
"He could be acting." Robin noted after Luffy put down the receiver. "It might be a trap."
"He said samurai, Brook." Zoro reminded.
"Yes, it must be one of those samurai: the name of the swordsmen from the Wano Kingdom." Brook agreed. "The Wano Kingdom is an isolated nation which never let outsiders enter. It doesn't even have ties to the World Government. Apparently, the swordsmen called samurai are so strong that even the Navy won't approach them."
"But he said he is on Punk Hazard, not the Wano Kingdom." Franky pointed out. "Did he mean that flaming island?"
"If he was using a Den Den Mushi, then that island is the only one within range." Robin reasoned.
"Alright, let's go save that guy." Luffy declared.
"So, who's going on that island?" Sanji posted the question. "As long as we have doubts that what we heard on the Den Den Mushi is real, we shouldn't leave the ship."
"Franky, send out the Mini Merry." Luffy instructed.
"Wait a second!" Nami protested. "Are you planning on going alone?"
"Okay then." Sanji nodded. "We'll need someone other that Little Lost Swordies here to accompany him."
"And what does that mean?" Zoro snapped. "I'm gonna slice you up, Perverted Cook!"
"Accompany him?" Franky echoed. "I'm in."
"It sounds fun." Robin agreed.
"Guess there's no choice." Sasha sighed, pieces of wood with colored tips were already in her hand. "Let's just pick straws to decide."
"That settles it." Sanji looked at the uncolored tip of his wooden stick. "The ones who'll go are..."
"Us." Zoro grinned, showing his colored tip.
"How exciting." Robin beamed, holding up her wooden lot with a colored tip.
"Milky Road!" Nami ejected a cloud path from her Sorcery Clima-Tact. "It's just clouds, so you'd better cross it while it's still stable."
"Trade places with me!" Usopp wailed, as the Mini Merry traveled along the cloud path and over the flaming sea.
"Nami, do the cloud reach all the way to the island?" Sasha wondered.
"I don't know." Nami shrugged. "But I'm sure Luffy will manage somehow."
"I can't stand the heat." Chopper moaned.
"I couldn't let him go alone, after all." Nami tied her hair back in a ponytail. "They'll come back once they see there's nothing there."
SailorStar9: Any OOC-nes is regretted. *Sighs* Don't you just hate plot bunnies sometimes? Reviews are much appreciated.
