Disclaimer: I Do Not Own One Piece or Axe

Chapter 35: Captain or First Mate IV

"Axe, what's it like over thre?" Aro called to him, rubbing Kit's back lightly while she was still glued to her as she tried to walk to him.

"Well, there's two ways we can go. Forward or left."

"And back." Kit added under her breath so only Aro could hear her.

"Well, what's straight ahead?" Aro asked with a sigh.

"Looks like swampy grounds."

"And to the left?" Axe didn't answer her. "And-To-The-Left?" She asked, pushing her frustration into each syllable.

"A slope that goes into a green river."

"Green river?" Kit asked.

"Most likely algae being flipped from the bottom to the top." Aro answered.

"That's only for lakes, I believe." Kit muttered. Aro blushed slightly and looked to the side. Aro cleared her throat and Kit giggled, let go of her, but held to her hand.

"Which looks the safest?"

"Neither."

"Neither?"

"Are you a parrot?"

"Apparently. What do you mean neither?"

"There is not a 'safest' path. You and I could sink in a heartbeat in either. Kit can't seem to do well on her own, so what good would either do for us? So the answer is neither."

"Well, we've got to pick a path soon because we can't win by standing here in the icky gooey guts of a monstrous—but dead—spider."

"Why not?" Axe asked, looking at her fully now.

"Because."

"Give me a good reason."

"What are you trying to do?"

"Aren't you afraid?"

"No—yes…" She crossed her arms and looked to the side, "That all you wanted?"

"I'm still waiting for my question to be answer: why not?"

"Because the smell is killing my nose…" Aro snorted, and started forward. "The sooner we leave the better."

Kit fell in step, and Axe walked beside her. "Mr. Axe, did you do that to see how mad Ms. Aro would get?"

"I did it to annoy her is all."

"I see." She didn't speak after that, but just followed Aro as they started into the swamp-like corridor.

"I heard that." Aro said, her eye twitching as she jumped to the first stone in the swampy grounds. She paused and looked around. Large trees stood out of the water like spears and towered over them as if they were giants looking down at them. Aro swallowed, and jumped to the next stone. Here, she looked at the water. It was thick and brown, like thin melted chocolate. The thought made her hungry. Thoughts of chocolate treats slowly swam across her mind and it made her stomach tighten with hunger. How long had it been sense I had a good meal? She asked herself. Too long, she finally decided. She let her shoulders drop slightly, and thought about boiling chocolate before pouring it over a grand dessert of whipped-cream, ice cream and cake with some cherries on the side for dipping in the sweet mix of toppings. She licked her lips. Just the thought of it made the water seem thicker and made it bubble as if it was being boiled down to the perfect liquid-y goodness for the food. She reached out, "I'm so hungry…" She muttered.

The water started to thin out and raise up slowly. "Aro?" Someone spoke, but she didn't hear the voice, so much as feel the words. She did hesitate though. She quickly regretted her choice of action.

A large jaw shot out of the water at her. The water spilled out around it, making a sort of collar for the thing. Her mind didn't have time to process what the thing was. All she got was a wide mouth, sharp teeth, and bad breath. Her body reacted faster, and she kicked off to jump back. Just as her body registered danger her body registered trapped! She looked down at the thick water and had just enough time to think: Oh, I'm gonna drown. Cool and brown water suddenly wrapped around her, throwing her senses all into hell as far as uses go.

She kicked her legs, trying to keep to the surface as best as she could. Her hands broke through the thick liquid surface a few times, only to feel herself sinking deeper. She should have been panicked, but for some reason, she was only registering pointless things. This is much too deep to be a swamp…

Aro stilled and closed her eyes tight. Her arms stretched outward and her legs came calmly together. Ah, well, it was fun while it lasted. Time for the next adventurers. I wonder if they'll be in heaven or hell?

---

"Axe! Axe!" Kit jumped to the slick rock where Aro had just been standing, looking down into the mess of water as the last ripple died. "What do we do!"

"What was that thing?" He looked around him carefully, keeping his guard WAY up.

"Aren't you worried about Aro?!" Kit turned to him, eyes showing too much white. She was frightened.

"If I try to save her, you're on your own. If you try to save her, what good will that do for us if two people are gone and left one person alone to fight these…" He searched for a name to give to the creatures in the water, but failed, "things?"

Kit looked at the water, "But we can't just leave her there."

"We're not."

She looked back at him, "What do you mean? You just said—"

"We have to get rid of the threat to save the victim. Basic order of operations when this kind of situation comes up."

Kit stared at him, unsure of what to say. The water near her started to bubble and she looked at it. "Axe—" She jumped to the next rock as the jaw shot out of the water and clamped on the air. Kit looked past the thick water collar that the sudden attack made and looked at the attacker. "Human?" she shifted her stance, ready for another attack. "Axe! Their human!"

"How can that thing be human?" He was staring at it as it stood on the rock. The thing had wide lips, and a strong jaw. The body was slick, smooth, and glistening with the water that was clinging to its body. It has shorts on but left the rest bare. That made it official. It had to be a guy or a sex-changed girl. The latter wasn't impossible, but improbable. The thing turned large, frog-like blue eyes to Axe, and then jerked its head to look at Kit. Axe opened his mouth to say something, but stopped in mid-action as the skin of the thing started to open up large holes, sucking the water off the body to leave it nice and dry. The holes left and the body shined perfect and smooth once more. "Ok, that was a little odd…"

"Ew…" Kit muttered, jumping back a stone, but never turning her back to the thing. "What are you…."

"Pretty." It answered. Kit frowned, Axe resisted a smile.

"No… that's the LAST thing I think you are…" Kit slowly started to turn green. Axe paled slightly. Both of them had a hand over their noses in the blink of an eye. "You reek!"

"And I thought I was bad…" Axe muttered.

"I'm Pretty." The thing repeated.

"No you are not, you're ugly." Kit said, and gagged.

"No, Ugly is my brother."

"Wait, you're name is Pretty?"

"That's right."

"Who would name their children Pretty and Ugly…"

"My brother and I weren't born as you humans are. We don't normally have names."

"Then I was wrong: you're not human…"

"The opposite."

"Inhuman isn't really an answer to what you are."

"I'm not living, how's that?"

"You're an undead?" Axe asked this time. The thing looked to him.

"I am as alive as the dead can be."

"My head hurts…" Kit muttered.

"Why did you attack us?" Axe asked.

"That's what we were ordered to do. Besides, you attacked us first."

"How?"

"Coming on our lands."

"If we knew, we wouldn't have come this way."

"Both ways are our lands. Ugly heads the other path."

"If you would give Aro back to us, we'll be on our way…"

"Who?"

"Kitty." Kit said, looking at the water, "You attacked her and she… jumped in."

"You mean she wasn't a human sacrifice to quiet the spirits ahead?"

"NO!" Both Axe and Kit answered.

"Aro would NEVER sacrifice one of us, so we won't EVER even THINK of sacrificing her! Right Axe?" Kit looked around Pretty at Axe, who pretended to think about it. "Axe…"

"Not unless she was my enemy, no."

"Then why send her in front?" Pretty looked at Kit.

"Cause she was wanting to lead." She answered.

"And not the man?" Pretty looked at Axe.

"A bit of a sexist person, aren't you?" Axe said, cocking an eyebrow.

Kit shook her head, "We need Aro back before she's dead! She promised me…"

---

The dice stilled on the table, and Guzen blinked. "… Cap…" He said, staring at the odd symbols on the dice. He sat in the Galley of the ship, dice scattered everywhere with odd symbols and letters. The only ones he was staring at where the two wooden one's he rolled. Cap turned from the stove near by, cleaning off his hands as a skillet on the stove began to pop from the grease.

"What is it, Guzen?" He looked over his shoulder at the dice. "Something wrong with the Fate Dice?" He remembered Guzen once using them for navigation on the old crew, when Cap was the captain, not Aro.

Guzen nodded, and moved the dice slightly, showing they were the same symbol.

"Interesting, but what is it saying?"

Guzen shifted them again, and Cap's face slacked, eyes slightly wider. "They look like cat ears… is that suppose to represent Aro?"

Guzen nodded and shifted them again. "Do you know what that is?"

"No, what is it?"

"My old master, the one who made me Fate, taught me The Old Text."

"You say that as if it should ring a bell."

"It should, and yet it shouldn't. The Old Test is a rare belief in foreseeing the future. Only a few are able to read the writing theses days."

"And you are one of them."

Guzen nodded, "It is what destroys 'Hope' in a person, and leaves them to wander the lands with no aid of belief."

"Depressing."

"Very. These symbols, when rolled, tossed, drawn—however you practice the prediction—mean 'death' or 'curse'."

"Well… which is it?"

Guzen seemed to think about it, head tilted to one side like a bird. "I don't know. I don't know if it even is truly telling of Aro, but somewhere ahead, there is a death or a curse waiting for someone."

"Does it tell us what direction to sail to find her?" Ezerial asked, coming down the stairs to join them. Guzen looked at him, and didn't answer. "Well?" He raised an eyebrow.

"… I shall cast them again, and see if we get the same destiny. Who knows, it could be talking about a first mate that ran the captain of a ship off to a—"

"I get it, you don't like me. Can we move on?" Ezerial sat across from Guzen.

"… Guzen, cast them again. I'll finish dinner." Cap turned from them and returned to the stove where the skillet had grown quiet.

Guzen picked up the two dice and grabbed two small silver ones. He rolled the four and looked them over. "No, it's not Aro's fate, but it is death or a curse to someone where Aro is."

"There could be a lot of deaths. It's a competition based on it." Ezerial pointed out.

"True, but the word that it spelled out was Fear." Guzen looked at Ezerial, just in time to catch the man grow tense. "That is your bounty name, is it not?"

"How can only six letters, possibly twelve, spell out anyone's name?"

"The symbols change according to the fate reading."

"Then I'm fated to be cursed or killed, right?"

"On the island, yes."

"Then if I don't go on land…"

"No one can escape fate, not even Fear." His voice was bitter as he picked up the four dice.

"Is there any way to find out which it is?"

"Yes, there is."

Ezerial waited. Guzen shook the dice in his hands and let them fall on the table, one by one. He looked the dice over while Ezerial watched him. "Hmm, odd."

"What?"

"It says we're having vegetables for dinner instead of fish." He looked back at Cap. Ezerial put his head on the table a little two hard, making some of the dice jump. "Did you burn it?"

"Talking to you, yeah." Cap said as he dumped a stir-fried mix of fish and rice on a plate; all of it browned and blacked. "If anyone wants to eat it, feel free."

"JANE WILL!" Kise ran down the stairs, stole the plate, and ran back up the stairs. The three were left blinking.