Chapter 31:

Oh my goodness! It has been a long time since I updated. I hope people haven't gotten too bored of waiting. Not that this story might be the centre of someone's imagination, but I do like to pretend that those 'persons' who might be following this story would go Woopie! When they see the next chapter appear on their email news feed. Well that would be very unlikely, but an author is allowed to hope a little.

I've hardly had any time to myself. Whenever I go back to my parents' house I'm always surprised at how busy I can become and before I know it the whole day has gone by and I haven't look at the computer once. :( I'm not saying that I'm addicted to it, just that it is my place of peace where I come to write my fanfiction. And it is hard to write stories down when one is being constantly interrupted by inquisitive siblings that haven't a clue as to what you are doing and decides to nominate you as the extra player to their new game.

I do have a lovely family, but it can be difficult doing anything by yourself in such a large bunch. (Imagine Strawhat crew, but with a few manners... That is my family, ... and I'm a combo of Robin and Tashigi... let that sink in.)

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Tashigi's Heart: Cursed Island

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I was surprised when Smoker asked me to remain on his crew. Often a member of an original crew will be reassigned after a mission and designated to another ship and Captain, but Smoker had asked for me back. I had thought that after my failings at Alabasta he would have been glad to let me go. I know that despite what he told me, he was very disappointed in finding out I had let the Strawhats' go. I had done something that I thought was right and just, but to him it was to be seen as a sign of weakness. But in spite of all that he had still wanted me on his crew.

I almost forgot about what he said to me at the … event, and was only reminded when he prevented me from falling down the stairs onto the lower deck by catching me in an armful of smoke that suddenly appeared after another foolish trip. Afterwards however, he didn't seem to care about having done that one way or another. He deliberately went out of his way to avoid me and when I did get a chance to thank him for the save he shrugged my comment off as entirely unnecessary.

I don't understand men most of the time. Sometimes I think I do, and that I think they are in general far easier to talk to and get along with than women, but at others time they make no sense to me whatsoever. Acting aloof, and stiff-necked as if it's the proper way to behave, I tend to find this stupidity that abides in a lot of idiots really frustrating and unnecessary. I mean how hard can it be to simply accept someone's thanks with gratitude or simple acceptance rather than make it a big deal by pretending it didn't even happen.

Despite the many flaws people are able to find in one another, I am enjoying being back on the 'Smoker Marine'. I love waking up in the morning and seeing ripples of light that have reflected off the sea coming through my small window and scatter themselves across my ceiling. I love simply being and living in a place that has no set location. We ride the waves the seas wherever we have been commissioned to go, and this life is perfect for me.

Considering our most recent failure at capturing the Strawhat Pirates, Smoker has given us an order to investigate any local crime organizations that the Strawhats just might have engaged with or any Islands near by that they would have anchored.

After a few weeks of travelling to the Islands near the Alabasta Kingdom we found next to nothing about the strawhat pirates, but we did find that many of the citizens and traders of the neighbouring Islands of Jaya where reporting crime rates rising, shipments and storehouses being broken into and their goods stolen. But when Smoker had put in a request to headquarters to investigate these sightings of Pirates and their activities in and around Jaya we were told not to delve to deeply into those matters as they were apparently being taken care of.

Much later I found out that one of the Shichibukai (seven warlords of the sea), Doflamingo, had been to Jaya recently and was apparently dealing with some of the smaller pirate gangs there. It didn't come as much of a surprise as it might have done a few months back when I heard about Crocodile's so called heroic actions in Alabasta. It still made me feel sick at night just remembering how much the Alabasta Kingdom had lost to that cruel Warlord. Was this Warlord, Doflamingo?... the same or drastically different. I don't think I'll ever be as naive as I was before, to believe that a Pirate Warlord would really feel compassion towards helpless citizens, but there's always a side of me that still wants to retain hope in people and remain optimistic despite the odds.

'Once a Pirate always a Pirate.' Smoker's words to me in Alabasta have remained in my memory like a sailor's tattoo stays on his arm. Occasionally it would play back in my mind when I start doubting Marine intel or questioning why a certain pirate or two would ever need a bounty on their heads.

I am still trying to figure out why Monkey D. Luffy would go out of his way to ensure the safety of the Princess Vivi of Alabasta, unless of course they had formed a new alliance of some kind. The last thing the World Government needs is another Pirate alliance to start demanding land and goods and taking it from the people that can't afford it.

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So, we were denied access and right of passage to Jaya, but we were sent an eternal pose from HQ to Jandorlan, an Island far to the north-east on the Grand Line. We got orders to investigate Jandorlan as there where a couple of distress calls had been received near that location. We were told to head there and to avoid Jaya completely.

Smoker didn't seem at all to happy to receive these orders, but he obeyed and told the crew of our new destination. They all seemed to be enthusiastic about heading to Jandorlan, and I can see why after such a long time at sea. But despite all their enthusiasm I was a little bit curious as to what Jandorlan was like and why there had indeed been so many distress calls coming from there.

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The wind never failed to keep surprising us with its sudden gusts that picked up and would send our ship forward like a bullet fired from a gun. We managed to keep on course rather well in these conditions, but it was the breaks of calm in the weather that we found the most mind boggling. One moment the water would look like a mirror becoming absolutely still and then just a few minutes later you could see a cloud forming off in the west or east and then the ship would be hit with a horrid thunder and rain storm.

On the still nights the skies were crystal clear and the stars shone far brighter than I thought I had ever seen them before. If I allowed myself to focus on just one star for a long period of time it seemed to get brighter in my mind's eye and all the rest would fade away slightly from my vision. Then it would seem to change colour and look even further away than before, making me feel like I was buried deep down in a hole underground far far away from the surface looking up a tunnel or well of a sort at the only spot of light I could see high above me. It made me feel cold and aware of how small and tiny I really was in this ginormous world.

Some of the crew would try sleeping out on deck on nights like this and after they had had a small debate with Smoker he allowed them to. I wasn't at all surprised that they wanted to, and after a few nights I decided to join them outside.

I sat down wrapping myself up in a massive pullover and leaning against the portside board. Five of the usuals were out here and lying on the deck or sitting up in their makeshift seats looking out to sea. Their talk was idol and dull at first, but then became a bit more imaginative.

"So, I heard that Jandorlan is a summer Island, you got your summer uniforms ready yet." Merrel, being the tallest and maybe the most responsible one of the group told the rest of us.

"Don't be ridiculous!" a young man called Cantan kicked him for suggesting the extra work. "We are still no where near enough to do that shit." Cantan was lying on his back looking up at the stars apparently bored out of his wits as he didn't seem to be aware that he was repeatedly tying knots in a three meter coil rope that he kept on pulling on to tie extra knots in.

Jiro, one of the most talkative people you could ever meet spoke up. "I heard it was a hot Island too, but Merrel I don't think calling it a summer Island will give you any idea as to what you should be prepared for."

"Uh... what would you call it then Jiro?" Merrel questioned exhaling a tired sigh.

"It is a jungle … with every kind of man-eating creature alive on it..." Jiro was starting.

"Hey Ensign Tashigi?" Haru spoke up. "You were with the Commodore when we received the information about Jandorlan right?"

"Yes." I answered.

"What did you think might be the cause for the disappearances of many people from that area?" A few of the others turned around as if noticing me for the first time.

"Hum... well considering the high increase of pirate activity in this area, I think it would be safe to say that we will probably find pirates at the route of all this activity. However, it is never beneficial to assume something without weighing out all other possibilities." I spoke into the silence.

Haru started, "So, you think there's a strong connection..."

"It could be another outpost for the Baroque Works organization." Cantan interrupted. "I heard that many of the agents never arrived in Alabasta because the Marines were alerted to the threat and the cowards got wind of it."

"It could just be the sea kings having a mating dance." Varr muttered with a start having just woken up from a dosing slumber.

"Shut up Varr," Cantan groaned annoyed at the idea that Varr would suggest something so stupid. He stood up and started rolling Varr across the deck to the starboard side kicking him with his feet. We ignored them as they started arguing with each other. Telling the other why their idea had been the best.

Merrel shook his head, they ignored them. "I do wonder what it could possibly be that caused so many to have called for help."

I agreed with him. "All the messages of help that we received could hardly be identified. They were cut off half way or where all so bitty that they didn't make much sense at all." I shook my head in the darkness and gazed up at the stars. "I'm quite glad we have been sent to Jandorlan actually. If a small group of pirates are initiating these attacks then we will be able to take care of them quickly enough."

"Yeah." Haru started, "It's probably just a group of Pirates picking off people one by one just for their cargo. That is far more likely. Those barbarians will be taken down with no problem. The young man put on a brave face and lay down backwards onto the deck with forced confidence.

Do I look like that when I say things like that? It looks so forced and stupid.

"Did you know that Jandorlan used to be called the Cursed Coast?" Jiro said in a mysterious voice. "They say it still is in some places."

"Don't be ridiculous. That was way before the Marines were in this area!" Hast spoke up from his spot against the side.

"Shhhh!..." Jiro hushed Hast. "You want the Commodore coming out here because you woke him up?"

I smiled at the humorous fear that Jiro was trying to psych up in the younger marines. Smoker could be scary at times, but he did not tend to wake up at all during the night. I know this, because having walked by his room on tip – toe one time having done my very best not to make any sound whatsoever, I dropped a collection of polished tools that I had picked up from downstairs. They seemed to make an endless cacophony of noise and scattered everywhere, but he hadn't stirred one bit.

"What do you mean Hast?" Haru asked inquisitively.

Hast turned his head around and looked up at him. "Well in the past before certain navigational tools had been invented they used to avoid this Island altogether because to many ships were lost at the coast coming to this Island, or having said they had arrived but afterwards leaving no trace of the ship at all."

"I heard about that too." I agreed.

"So, what was done to recover them?" Merrel asked. "Do any of you know?"

"Many things actually," I explained. "But because of the lack of evidence for a wreckage most search parties would conclude that the ships were stolen."

"Stolen! Who would steal a ship from the World Government?" Haru shook his head as if the very idea was preposterous.

"A Pirate." I stated. "The problem with trying to discover missing ships in these waters is that a lot of search parties assumed at the time that they would be after pirates who would all need to breath oxygen and sale their stolen ships over the water."

A couple of them looked at me with a confused expression.

"You're talking about those sickly looking fishmen aren't you?" Cantan said coming up to join the group again.

"Not all of them are that bad." I pulled my overcoat closer to me to try and keep the cold air out and continued. "I was saved from drowning by a fishman once. Just imagine being able to breath under water and on land." I shook my head in amazement. "It really is incredible."

Merrel sighed. "It's too bad that so many of them only ever try attacking and stealing from us first before we can make any positive negotiations at all."

"What was the fishman like that you saw?" Haru asked inquisitively. "I haven't ever seen one."

"Well..." I thought back to my first meeting with Hachi. "He looked a lot like a breed of octopus that was becoming a man. He stood on two feet, but he had six arms."

"Sounds tasty." Hast said.

"You wouldn't really eat something that you could actually talk to would you?" Merrel asked.

"Of course he would." Varr rejoined the conversation. "He would probably be the first of us to become a cannibal one a deserted island as well."

"Anyway, he saved my life and I was very grateful for it." I ended my short tale.

"Fishmen have been rumoured to save many human lives from drowning before, but it has also been said that once a fishman has saved your life you can never be to far from the sea. Those who did travel far became sick and would have to abandon everything to get back to it again." Jiro started up again.

Haru laughed. "Where did you hear that?"

Jiro nodded. "Sometimes you just hear about these sort of things." he shook his head and pulled out his pack of cigs, lit one and started smoking breathing slowly in and out. "Fishmen are dangerous folk, you never know when they're in a good mood and feel like helping you, or if they want to drown you."

Varr added to Jiro's story. "I heard of a few rumours that Fishmen have been known to kill all the men of an island they land on and take all the women and children away into the depths of the sea. It's probably just a fictitious tale, but it has never been disproven." Varr looked back over to me.

"When this Fishman saved you... did you feel any … other discomfort at all?"

I gave him a blank stare. He wasn't going there... was he?

"Shut your gob Varr!" Cantan knocked the side of Varr's head with a fist making a thudding sound that didn't seem to have any affect on Varr.

"I'm just being concerned!" Varr retaliated, pushing Cantan's arm away from him. He rolled his eyes. "I'm sure that the rest of you would agree one doesn't want to wake up on a ship to find Fishmen Larvae lying about all over the place."

I felt my body closing up in disgust at the idea and the very mention of his words. Why was it that men always fancied the idea of meeting a mermaid out at sea, but seemed to make the idea of a woman and a merman or fishman meeting sound absolutely disgusting.

"So, has anyone else ever met a fishman or mermaid?" I asked looking around the group.

"I have!" Jiro exclaimed.

"This isn't going to be one of your crappy'I caught the largest and the most beautiful mermaid you could have ever imagined'stories now is it?" Hast said.

"No, no of course not, but it does have something some to do with..."

"Could you just tell us the story that you started off with? Haru picked off. "You know the one about the mystery of the disappearances on Jandorlan Island."

Jiro chuckled and the smoky haze that was surrounding him billowed outwards like a rolling cloud.

"Of course I can." he leaned back and breathed in a good amount of smog-like air and started to get comfortable.

"Many many years ago," he started. "Before the World Government had become a power put in place by the greatest kings of the world and before the lifesaving log post had been invented, there had been a wild bunch of explorers that roamed this section of the sea. They were fearless always challenging troubles head on and never backing down from the endless dangers of the sea. From where they had come from no one knows, but what we do know is that they navigated the seas not by using the four seas, common compass, but by keeping a bird at the bow of the ship. This bird seemed to be magical as it only ever pointed in one direction, homeward. So, no matter where the explorers went they could always find their way back home."

"Now one day just about the time when the sun was setting the explorers saw Jandorlan Island from a distance and set their minds to go there. It took them hours to get near enough to the shore line, but they decided not to go ashore as the captain of the ship said that they would be able to see their way in the dark. So they stayed aboard waiting until the morning sun would rise and light up their path."

Jiro shuddered from the cold and lit another cigarette before continuing. "The darkness of night closed in about them, and before long a thick mist has descended down onto the ship itself. Then... All of a sudden out of the darkness there came a cry for help. The crew of the ship all woke up with a start, lit many lanterns and looked around for the person in need but couldn't make anything out properly. It was so dark that their sense of direction had been lost. They didn't know whereabouts the voice had come from and their calls back out to the voice seemed to be sucked into the creeping fog."

"The lanterns that had been lit at either end of the boat were dull in the mist not creating much light at all." Jiro paused and looked up at us from under his cap. "Off in the distance, while looking for the person who had called to them, they could make out a little light. It wasn't bright or dull but it held a strange colour in it. While looking at this light one man called Eridor had a sudden urge to jump into the water and swim towards it. His friends and companions called to him to come back, but he wouldn't or maybe he couldn't. He arrived at the location where he thought he had first seen this light, which was on a splinter of rock sticking out of the Island's inlet, but it had moved away from him again just a bit further inland. He kept following the light until he had at last reached the shore where he collapsed from exhaustion. The following morning when Eridor woke up from his unconscious state and looked out to sea expecting to catch a site of the ship he had leapt off of the night earlier, but he saw nothing."

"What!?" Haru interrupted. "Wasn't there a fight? Was there any screaming to be heard? There is no way the company would have left him."

"Indeed, it is said that he searched the coast of the Island for his friends everyday for months on end, but still couldn't find any trace of his companions. Some have speculated that the only reason he survived is because he followed the lights that was his guardian angel. And in other places they say he doomed the ship by leaving it, that if he had stayed aboard then the rest of them would have surely lived. But the best one I heard is when people speak of the curse of Jandorlan Island. Once you have heard the scream and have been woken up in the middle of the night you are then trapped in the vortex of the twisting, evil mist, and if one can not escape it before the sun rises and burns it away then you too will disappear along with it."

"Good story." Hast nodded his head. "But it does seem like the sort of story you would hear in any children's fairy tail storybook. It sounds so forced."

"I thought it sounded rather good." I said. "You should write your own stories Jiro. I can assure you people would be interested in reading them."

"Your too kind, Ensign Tashigi."

Merrel stood up, "Well not that this isn't fun, but I think I'll be going back inside now to get some real sleep. I can't get any rest out here if you guys are going to be talking all night."

"Admit it." Cantan laughed at his back. "You've been spooked!"

"No," Merrel turned his back on us. "But the Commodore will want us all working hard when we approach Jandorlan tomorrow and I need my rest. Good night." he gave us a mock salute and headed back below deck.

I stayed out a little longer and then followed suit. I wasn't sure if it was because of the scary child's story or whether it had to do with being outside so long in the darkness, but my dreams where all filled with darkness, being in deep water, and searching for a light that always remained just out of my reach.

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Finally finished chapter 31. I can't believe how long it has taken me, but oh well. It is now finished. :D I hope you guys liked it.

Do leave me a review! I like to receive them.

:D