Ah... family parties! They rock!
Chapter 23
The weather was nippy and freezing. Wind was gale force and ice cold. It snowed.
"Why is it s-s-s-so cold!" Zoro yelled.
"It's November." Ia said. She was use to this, she lived in it every year.
"SO! We're in the ocean! It's suppose to be warm!"
"So? It's like we're on..." she faded off, looking up from her book she was reading. She slowly got up and sprinted out of the room to the dock. She stared at the water.
"What's the matter?" Nami asked, looking up from her map. Everybody on deck was wearing a heavy coat.
"We're in no ocean." she said.
"I was wondering why my map didn't line up... where are we?" she asked.
"NAMI! YOU'RE OUR NAVIGATOR!" Luffy yelled.
"I know." Ia said.
"Where?" Chey, Skie, Luffy, Usopp, Nami, Sanji, and Zoro asked.
"Superior... Lake Superior." she said.
Luffy, Sanji, Nami, Usopp, and Zoro gave each other weird looks but Skie and Chey looked happy.
"WE'RE HOME!" Skie screamed.
"HAVEN'T YOU HEARD THE SONG!?" Ia screamed.
"What song?"
"Edmund FitzGearld." she whispered.
"Ah..."
"All you need is the first line. The legend lives on from the Chippawa on down to the big lake they call Gitche Gumee! The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy."
"Sad song." Luffy said.
"Which way are we headed?" Ia asked Nami.
"West, why?"
"We'll hit Isle Royal if we continue... TURN SOUTH!" she screamed suddenly and Nami turned the wheel.
"Where are we going?"
"Land, better yet, Marquette." she said.
"Why Market?" Luffy asked.
"Marquette, that's the town next to the town Chey, Skie and I live in." she said.
"Oh."
"I just hope the winds don't pick up." she said.
P-E-A-N-U-T-S
That night, everybody slept like a baby (I wonder why?). Near three AM, waves crashed upon the boat, hard.
"WHAT'S GOING ON!?" Nami screamed at Ia as she tried to keep the wheel steady. Ia and Sanji were trying to get the sails up, Skie, Usopp, Chey, and Zoro were taking up the other sails, and Luffy was pulling in the weapons.
"NOVEMBER STORM! NOVEMBER STORM!" Ia screamed back at her.
She caught sight of Chey, sliding down the mast ahead of her. Zoro just jumped down and they both ran inside. Their sail was being stubborn by catching a lot of wind and rain. Ia took out her sword and finaly cut the rope as Sanji took out a knife and cut his. They pulled it up and Sanji slid down the mast. Ia tried to follow, but a huge gust of wind blew her off and cut her lifeline.
Sanji watched in horror as Ia flew through the air and landed on a wave, seven feet out.
Tying his lifeline tighter around his waist, he jumped in after her.
Swimming down into the semi-warm water, he took a grab hold on her wrist that was just about to fall into the darkness when he felt a jerk on the rope.
Hitting the surface of the water, he saw Zoro, Chey, Skie, Nami, Luffy, and Usopp pulling his rope up. He looked down at Ia, her head was hung and he knew that she was unconscious.
S-E-I-N-F-E-I-L-D
He placed her on the couch and picked up a towel that Nami had got him.
"Fierce wind." Zoro said.
"Is my Zoro-Kun ok?" Chey asked.
"I'm fine." he snapped.
"Odd, this water wasn't cold?" Sanji said.
"Well ya? It soaks up the warm during the summer and during the winter, it sucks up the cold. It's cold in the summer and warm in the winter. Marquette is cooler in summer than Negaunee and is warmer in the winter than Negaunee." Chey said.
"Oh."
"LAND!" Usopp yelled from ouside.
Everybody ran outside and sure enough, on the horizon was a small sliver of land. They would reach it in a day.