AN: Spoiler warning for ep 2? is this even a necessary warning?
Chapter 1 - Obviously I have gone insane
I'm shark bait... I thought sadly, the gentle tilting of the water I was currently floating in seemed to increase my melancholy mood. I've always hated the feeling of floating in deep water, I suppose it reminds me of free falling, the difference being instead of falling quickly and smashing into the ground, you just hover until something eats you. If only I could see the bottom.
Swimming itself wasn't usually an issue and I was capable of floating for hours on end if need be. Not long after realising my predicament I decided to remove my soaked clothing and (thank god for the plastic bag in my back pack) store them away. I had quickly discovered though that broken ribs are not fun to swim with and after only an hour of side stroke I had decided to just float on my back. I also discovered that my backpack was very buoyant, so I decided to rest the bag under my thighs to help myself keep afloat with even less effort.
Wet skinny jeans are the worst to take off, I thought, remembering the five minute struggle to pull the purple demons off of my legs. I wonder what I'd look like to a random stranger, just some random blonde girl floating in the middle of the ocean in her underwear. That would be soooo embarrassing. I shivered at the thought. My right side was not a picture of health either, it was swollen, purple and not to mention, sore. I also felt the overwhelming urge to poke at the massive bruise, but I'm not that stupid... well...
You're gunna get eaten by a jellyfish! What the hell brain! Don't think things like that! Fine. You're gunna get eaten by an octopus. I inwardly sighed, I'm going insane.
"I'm so bored!" I shrieked to myself, tilting my head to watch my long tendrils of hair drift slowly around in the water.
"Me too." a voice said, drifting over the ocean from my left.
What in the? I turned to face the voice, it came from a small boat, which was about 50 metres away. From what I could see there was no motor powering the wooden ship.
"What?" another voice replied.
"I'm bored too."
"I didn't say I was bored..."
As I listened to the two voices float over the ocean I began to slowly swim towards them. Thank god for that, I thought.
"Please help me," I called to them, "I've been floating around in this ocean for hours."
Two heads popped over the side of the ship, two familiar heads... two fictional character head. I've lost the fucking plot... I stopped boobing in the water for a moment, a shiver passing through my spine as I suddenly remembered where I was. crazy or not, I want out of this water. I swam forward again, a little more desperate this time.
I reached the boat and a Luffy leaned down and grasped my right hand , dragging me up and into the boat.
"WHAT THE HELL, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I'M INJURED!" I shrieked in pain, clutching my rib cage. I'm definitely in a Coma... How else could Luffy and Coby be standing here, staring at me... OH MY GOD! I'M HALF NAKED!.
"Well don't stare at me!" I yelped pulling my bag in front of my mostly naked form and blushing profusely. They stared at me, obviously unsure as to where exactly they should be looking.
"Turn around..." I suggested flatly.
"Turn around where?" Luffy asked spinning in a circle, "I don't see anything."
My face twitched a mixture of amusement and annoyance washing over me.
"What a moron..." I said under my breath.
Crouching down and choosing to ignore the boys and hope they figure it out for themselves, I fished through my back pack. I had three sets of clothes, my work clothes, my smelly gym clothes and my wet casual clothes. Work clothes it is, I sighed and pulled the dreadful navy blue polo shirt and high waisted skirt out of my bag. Usually I wore stockings underneath but I couldn't really be bothered with that at the moment.
I was short, about 5'3 and fairly curvy. I was also well muscled, though, to my annoyance I had a 'lovely' soft layer over my muscles, something I've hated since I was a teenager. I was very aware of how much attention my high waisted skirt called to my large, rounded hips, and there wasn't much I could do about being well endowed in my upper region.
I sighed and pulled my wet clothes out of the plastic bag I had stuffed them in, before turning to face the two boys. Coby seemed to have explained to Luffy what I meant and they were now turned, looking over the front of the ship.
"S'alright now, I'm decent." They turned and looked at me, both with curious expressions. I gently laid my clothes over the side of the ship, letting the sea breeze dry them for me. None of us seemed sure what to say (Luffy probably couldn't figure out which question he wanted to ask first)
"So how far away is the island you're heading to?" I asked breaking the awkward silence.
"It isn't too far now, we should reach it in a couple of hours. " I looked in the direction Coby had waved and nodded, noting the land mass that was beginning to form.
"How did you get all the way out here?" Coby asked.
"I don't really know," I grinned, "All I remember is being struck by a big metal box of death on wheels, then I was in the ocean. I've been floating around all morning."
"WOW! That sounds so cool! I want a big metal box of death!" Luffy exclaimed. Of course he does, I thought to myself. A mischievous grin crossed my face, even if I've gone crazy I'm going to enjoy myself a bit. I thought gleefully.
"I'm.." Coby started.
"You're Coby and he's Luffy. I already know." I waved dismissively, pleasure washing through my system when the two boys jaws nearly left there face. "I'm Taylor" I grinned at them.
"H-H-H-How...?"Coby spluttered
"I'm intuitive," I said flicking my hair over my shoulder but the effect was ruined by the ungraceful flop the soaked locks made.
"What does that mean?" Luffy asked
"ummm... I know things."
"Do it again! Do it again!" Luffy demanded.
I've made a terrible mistake, I thought. Maybe I should be all mysterious, he'd enjoy that more, though I've never been good at making riddles. I'll have to work on that, for now though...
"Zoro's a cool guy, you should definitely let him on your pirate crew Luffy." I grinned.
"YOU KNOW HIM?" The two boys both shouted, though one wore a face of horror and the other a face of glee.
I giggled, clutching my aching ribs as I did. "No more than I know Luffy." I smirked at them.
"Do we know each other?"
I cocked an eyebrow. He has to ask? "You don't know me." I answered simply, Luffy accepted this answer but Coby seemed worried by it. "Luffy, may I ask a favour?"
"Sure."
"Can I tag along with you for a while? Just until we get to a more suitable island." I asked, if I was stuck here I want to be with the Straw hats.
"Sure."
For the next couple of hours the three of us talked, getting to know each other. I was only half heartedly involved in the conversation as my thoughts were elsewhere. Mostly on how I got here. If I'm in a coma how do I wake up? What if the only way to wake up is to die? But that's too risky, what if when I die here I die back home too? I wonder how Emily and Tommy are taking it.
When we reached the harbour, I wrenched myself out of my melancholy thoughts and followed the boys to the Marine base, taking note of the path we took. My sense of direction was, admittedly, terrible. However I was capable of retracing my steps if I paid attention to landmarks.
Luffy stopped at a small stall in the middle of what seemed to be a market place, I caught a glint of gold when he flicked a coin to the owner. Oh my god! I'm broke! The sudden realisation caught me off guard. I had no money for this world, how was I supposed to buy necessary things, I needed to get more clothes especially since I only had two pairs of underwear. Not to mention I needed some sort of weapon to defend myself, just a simple knife would suffice.
My mini panic attack was brought to a standstill when we reached the Marine head quarters fence. Coby stopped by the gate and began blabbering about this being goodbye, whilst Luffy completely ignored him and dragged himself up onto the very tall brick wall. I eyed the offensive obstacle in my path. Maybe if I was healthy and I got a run up I'd be able to drag myself up with my fingertips... Well that ain't happening with these ribs.
"Oi, Luffy. Give an injured midget a lift would you." I called up to the straw hat wearing boy. I instantly regretted my wish as I felt my feet leave the ground and watched as the wall approached my body quickly. The wall and my rib cage collided and I was momentarily dazed by the agonizing riples that radiated from my injury.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" I shouted.
"You asked me for a lift."
"YOU MORON, I HAVE BROKEN RIBS! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK THOSE BRUISES WERE!"
My angry words seemed to bounce right off the rubber boys skin as he turned to face the man tied to a pole in the middle of the yard. Luffy had picked me up by the back of my shirt and he still had a firm grip on my collar, somehow his brain must have figured out i wasn't capable of relly clinging to the wall properly.
"Hey Luffy, can you put me back down, I have some things I need to do."
I plummeted for a millisecond, and landed awkwardly on the ground, my legs giving out but still absorbing some of the impact so I didn't injure myself further. Grumbling to myself, I dusted the dirt off of myself and stalked back to town. Note to self be more specific.
AN: Hey guys, sorry for the wait. I was working and then I was sick and then I wasn't happy with it. I also changed my mind about soooo many things. Sorry this took so long, the next update should be soonish. Really sorry that this chapter is a bit boring :/
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