The sunlight shone through the many windows that surrounded the crow's nest, it felt nice and warm on Ariel's face, her pillow seemed so comfortable and smelled so good. Slowly opening her eyes, she finds Zoro's face right above her own, turning scarlet, and in a quick movement she is free from her position on his lap and has backed away to the other side on the room, as Zoro slowly wakes up he notices that she's on the other side of the room, face completely flustered; he starts to panic and rises to his feet.
"it's...not…what… it…you…fell asleep...and wouldn't let go so..." He tries to explain himself one word at a time.
"oh right…it's…ok…I understand." They both divert their gazes.
Abruptly they're both frightened when they hear voices.
"Ariel-chan where are you?" They stare at each other for a moment, then moving quickly Ariel flung open the doors of the balcony and walked out to the edge to see Nami and Chopper looking for her and calling out her name, Zoro follows behind her.
"Nami-san, Chopper! I'm up here" Ariel says waving.
"ahh Ariel good morning" Chopper says bouncing with happiness.
"Ariel-chan what are you doing up there with Zoro?" Nami asked; both Ariel and Zoro swallowed hard. They needed an excuse, luckily Ariel was quick to reply.
"ahh that's because he was the only one awake, so I asked him to take me on a tour of the ship" she replied smiling weakly.
"really Zoro?... a tour… he gets lost even with clear directions" Nami says with an exasperated look. Zoro, now irritated appears at the edge next to Ariel.
"SHUT UP Nami! I don't get lost, you're the ones who always get lost"
"yeah, whatever you couldn't even find your own way to the kitchen once" Nami says and then tries to ignore him.
"why you!" Zoro begins to boil, Nami sticks her tongue out at him. Ariel looks from one to the other, until Chopper interrupts the two arguing.
"Ariel wanna come have some breakfast? everyone's already eating we have to hurry"
"yeah before Luffy eats everything!" Nami says exasperated once more at the thought, Ariel smiles.
"alright I'll be right there" she backs away from the edge, and locks eyes with Zoro again.
"thank…you. For staying next to me…I didn't have any other nightmares"
Zoro blushes. Looking away he walks toward the door.
"no problem…now let's head down for breakfast."
She doesn't move to follow him so he turns to see what's wrong just in time to see her jump off the edge "ooii!….ehh?!" he runs to see if she's ok. She landed perfectly in between Nami and Chopper who are left amazed, he breathes a sigh of relief and heads for the stairs. "stupid woman doing something like that…cheh…what do I care".
The three of them start heading to the kitchen, when Nami suddenly comes to a halt. Ariel and Chopper turn to her to see what was wrong.
"Nami-san is everything alright? Why did you stop?" Ariel asked tilting her head to the side like she normally did.
"the air pressure..."
"air pressure?... What about I..t.!" Realizing it as well, both Ariel and Nami's expressions grew dark. Nami ran to the kitchen, Ariel followed picking Chopper up in her arms. Nami opened the door to the kitchen violently surprising the members inside.
"the air pressure has suddenly dropped we're heading into a big storm! everyone get ready to help out!"
All the members then got up from the table and headed out at Nami's orders, Ariel had just caught up when she saw Nami barking orders at the others with precision, Ariel looked at her in awe.
"Nami-san is amazing, she felt the pressure change even before I did" she said while turning to Chopper who she still had in her arms.
"yeah she is! Nami is the best navigator there is! and she's become stronger these past two years" he said proudly.
"mm! I can tell!" Ariel nodded in agreement.
Suddenly Zoro joined them from behind, confused at what was going on.
"ooii what's going on? did everyone piss Nami off or something?"
"oh Zoro-sa...Zoro Nami-san is amazing she noticed the air pressure change before I did, and predicted that we're heading towards a pretty bad storm, so everyone is helping out. We should go too right Chopper?"
"right!" He jumped out of Ariel's arms and went running towards Nami and suddenly transformed into a larger form. Ariel then turned to Zoro with a smile.
"you're coming too, right?"
Suddenly they heard Nami's voice calling them.
" Zoro! you stupid moss head hurry up and hold the sails steady! Ariel-chan, I need you to be my second sense come here please" Ariel giggled as she noticed Zoro's face turn sour with irritation at being called moss head. They both headed to their posts. In an instant, the storm appeared and hit them head on with an incredible force, the waves were huge, crashing and dangerous, streaks of lightening crossed the dark sky that engulfed the Sunny Go.
Everyone was at their stations listening to Nami's orders, Ariel stood next to her with her eyes closed concentrating, on finding a way through the storm, suddenly her eyes flew open and she turned to the west, and focused immensely in that direction.
"Nami-san! I sense that there is something really strong that way!" Nami glanced at her new wrist compass that Jimbe gave her after they defeated Hordy Jones, in fish man island, and saw the three needles going crazy, but none were pointing in the direction Ariel was indicating.
"the compass isn't pointing to anything in that direction are you sure Ariel-chan?!" Ariel nodded.
Soon an island was in site, however it was surrounded by even more menacing lightning and an ominous glow surrounded it.
"I'm sure, Nami-san there's a strong concentration over there! however, the island also feels dangerous"
At the mention of the word dangerous Luffy's ears pricked with interest as he slowly stretched his head and rapped it all around Nami to get a look at the compass.
"waaa! Let's go to that island, it sounds like fun! Shishishi!"
"are you stupid? We're trying to avoid the most dangerous islands that's why we have different options!" Nami shouted as she pointed to the other needles on the compass.
"eh but Ariel said it's the closest to us? right Ariel ?" Luffy made a good point, and looked to Ariel for confirmation.
"ah...eh... Yes, it is" with a wary smile as she could see Nami, Chopper, Usopp and Brook shake their arms frantically disapproving the thought. They all gave in as Ariel told him the truth.
"shishishi then this is an order, head for the closest island!" Luffy thrust his fists in the air.
"sigh why does he have to drag all of us with him on his crazy adventures" Nami face palmed herself, giving up.
" I'm..n..not scared...at...all...I..m ...a brave...warrior...of..the sea.., ah! I just caught the don't go to the scary, dangerous island that Ariel pointed out disease I might die if we go that way" Usopp said muttering.
"waaa! it's going to be scary" exclaimed Chopper as he hid behind Ariel's leg.
"indeed Chopper-san very scary!" said also Brook quivering behind Ariel.
"waa Nami-swwann you're so amazing at being a navigator, and Ariel-chuuwwann! You' re so cool!" Sanji said not the least bit concerned at the challenges ahead.
"pipe down you ero cook... this island sounds interesting" Zoro smiled with great interest.
"how amusing" Robin giggled away quite amused.
"Suuurrper! Let's go! the Sunny Go can handle anything!" says Franky in his signature pose.
Ariel looked at them with a caring smile, they all were so brave and cared for one another so much it was endearing, as Nami instructed Franky to turn west, Ariel faced the direction with a serious face.
"there's so much sadness in that direction, and an ominous power too... I wonder what sort of thing could be responsible for that... This island also looks familiar…like I've seen of it before…something familiar, but I can't put my finger on it". Ariel kept her full attention on the island, trying to figure out what was so familiar about it.
As the Sunny Go shot through the sky they all suddenly saw a sea of fire surrounding the island. They all looked at the island drenched in lava with both stones and the ground burning.
"a red sea?" Robin stated.
"hiiii! the sea is on fire! what kind of crazy island is this!" Usopp started to freak out.
"shishishi look a volcano erupted! that looks fun!" Luffy giggled away happily.
"I knew it, the log pose's needles don't even point to that island." Nami said worriedly, Ariel glanced over her shoulder to get a look at the log pose as well.
"let's go to that island come on!" Luffy declared once more.
"I'm telling you to wait!" Nami hissed angrily at him, but Luffy wasn't having it.
"But we decided to go, there are volcanos too! Volcanoes Nami! don't they look fun?".
"Like I said before, the needles don't point to that island which means it's an anomaly, normally you wouldn't go to an abnormal place wouldn't you?"
Another volcano erupted, Ariel looked to the island and focused once again.
"Nami-san its true the needles of your compass don't point to that island but I definitely feel something there... it is worth a look"
"see? another eruption?! we're dropping anchor no matter what you say shishishi" Luffy states happily as he leans over the side of the ship to get a look at the melting island.
"I don't get you at all! we can't get any closer if you haven't notices it's a sea of fire!" Nami yells exasperated at Luffy's antics.
Sanji then dropped a giant shellfish; which they had gotten from Panz Fry on to the deck. "since its a sea of fire it would be a waste not to take this chance to cook this in it" he says placing he foot on top of the large shell.
"how can you be so calm Sanji?!" Chopper exclaims frantically.
suddenly the wind began to blow sparks towards the ship, as the rough sea continues to rock them.
"the fire, It's getting closer" Robin states calmly, "won't it be a matter of time before the Sunny Go gets burnt?" Usopp says worriedly.
"No way, the Sunny Go is Suuuper! fire proof" Franky bellows as he handles the steering.
"even if it doesn't burn, there is definitely something wrong with this sea! the fish are nothing but bones! look see!" Nami says complaining.
"eh? did you call me?" Brook says in an effort to be amusing. Nami sighs, Ariel giggles.
"Nami-san is right though, we should be very careful around here, this place is weird and not the normal weird of the New world…" Ariel states, causing everyone to now be on alert when unexpectedly a loud voice rings out through their silence.
There's a sound of crying coming from the Den Den Mushi inside the dining room area. Everyone rushes inside to see what's going on.
"hey why is the Den Den Mushi crying?" Luffy asks approaching the crying snail phone. "hey what's wrong does your stomach hurt?" he asks the snail.
"Idiot, it's an emergency signal." Sanji states standing behind him.
"someone is calling for help" Ariel stared at the phone with a questionable look.
"So, if I pick up the phone we can talk to them?" Luffy asks.
"wait Luffy!" Robin interjects "less than 50% of emergency signals are real!" everyone turns towards her as she continues "the Navy uses theses as traps all the time, it could be like that now! if we pick up they'll know where we are!"
"good point Robin! listen Luffy we should think this through before…we..." it was too late, before Usopp could finish his sentence Luffy had picked up the phone.
"Hello! I'm Straw Hat Luffy, I'm going to be the Pirate King" he yells into the transmitter, Usopp slaps him across the head. "you picked it up way too early!"
The voice on the Den Den Mushi began wailing again, "AHHH! please help me!" Luffy and Usopp had crowded around the phone.
"what's wrong?"
"its freezing… is that you Boss?" the voice asks blubbering.
"no I'm not your Boss.. its freezing?" Luffy responds. The others stand by the door way listening as the trembling voice on the other side continues.
"my friends keep getting cut down, the samurai is going to kill us all!" Ariel felt Brook's and Zoro's QI spike a little, at the mention of a samurai the both looked more interested.
"Hey you! who are you? where are you?" Luffy asks frantically.
"it's doesn't matter who I am just save me!… I'm on... Punk Hazard!" the voice yells in reply, suddenly the voice screams in agony as the sound of a sword strikes him and the line goes dead.
"IIIYYYAAAAHHH!" both Usopp and Chopper scream in fright, "He was k...killed!".
"is this?" Brook exclaimed, Zoro looked at him questioningly, Ariel's gaze fell away from the phone and began searching her memories for any clue to where the word Punk Hazard had appeared. Luffy placed the mouthpiece down on the receiver, and brought his hand to his chin "I suspect foul play" he states as if he were a detective.
"of course its foul play! He was just murdered!" Usopp yells at him still frightened with Chopper in tow "Ahhh the New world is scary! Scary!"
"he could have been acting it might still be a trap?" Robin say as always keeping a cool head. Brook slides in emphasizing her composure with a little tune.
"He said samurai, Brook." Zoro mentions, Brook stops playing his shark guitar and puts on an air of seriousness, "yes…it must be one of those samurais, the ones from the Wano Kingdom, it's an isolated nation that doesn't let outsiders enter. It doesn't even have ties to the World Government. They say that these swordsmen called samurai are so strong, even the Navy won't go near them."
Zoro slides his hand to his sword Shuusui's handle as if impatient, remembering how it had gotten into his possession back on Thriller Bark when he had fought Gekko Moriah's samurai henchman.
"a kingdom like that exists?" Usopp asks breaking Zoro free from his thoughts.
"But he said he was in Punk Hazard not the Wano Kingdom" Franky added "did he mean that fire island?" Luffy suddenly turns to Ariel, she notices his gaze and speaks up, "the name Punk Hazard, I think I heard of it but I'm not sure I remember about what it looked like, either way I'm sure of two things. First that person didn't seem like he was acting it was too real, and second I know there are people on that island. I can't tell how many exactly or who they are but he could be one of them."
"If he was using a Den Den Mushi, then that island is the only one in range." Robin added, trying to be supportive.
"I think we stumbled on this frequency due to our range" Ariel added.
"Alright! Let's go save that guy!" Luffy exclaims.
"NO!" Nami, Chopper Usopp and Brook yell in protest. But it was too late no amount of sane words would change Luffy's mind, and so on they went towards the flaming sea. Ariel looked towards the island once again.
"that's strange, the people I feel…argh with this heat I can't concentrate at all…".
Meanwhile near the Lightning island a Navy ship appears riding the waves with a giant G-5 written across the front sail, the conversation Luffy and the stranger had was being replayed on board the ship.
"Smoker-san…wasn't that...?" it was Tashigi who said this, now a Navy Captain.
"did he say Punk Hazard?... damn, what route did they take?!" Smoker said upset he now was a Vice-Admiral. "first the incident on Fishman Island, then another uproar after that... if I calculate their route from that point…it should be… Punk Hazard it makes the most sense" he adds.
behind him came the painful crying of a pirate and the laughter of the sailors.
"stop torturing the pirate!" Tashigi yells at her subordinates. "Tashigi we're headed to Punk Hazard!" Smoker orders.
"but...! Punk Hazard has been uninhabited since it was sealed off after the incident 4 years ago!..." Tashigi adds, "it's strange people shouldn't be there!".
"it is true, there shouldn't been any single creature alive on that island, but it's worth a look" Smoker replies, "we're setting sail for Punk Hazard!" he exclaims to his crew.
"eh but Vice-Admiral Smoker-san, that place is forbidden? didn't ya know?" one of his member comments to which Smoker replies in a booming voice.
"Don't talk to me about rules, you scum!" his crew responds with an unaffected and flat "yes sir".
The closer the Sunny Go got to the Flaming waters the more Ariel felt dizzy, she couldn't handle to much heat, she preferred the cold.
"Ariel? are you alright? Chopper asked worried, Ariel sat down on the lawn and placed a hand on his fluffy hat. "yes I'm ok, it's just I don't like the heat too much, it makes it hard for me to concentrate on watching my surrounding so I get a little dizzy" she replies smiling.
"So who's going on the Island?" Sanji says gaining everyone's attention. "since we have doubts about what we heard on the Den Den Mushi we shouldn't all leave the ship."
"Franky send out the Mini Merry!" Luffy ordered.
"Sure thing!" Franky replied giving a thumbs up.
"wait a sec! you're planning on going by yourself?!' Name complained.
"what you got a problem with that?" Luffy asked nonchalantly.
"of course! we don't know what you'll run off and do if we leave you alone!"
"ahh? huh?" Luffy complains. "Alright then we need someone other than the little lost swords here to accompany him." Sanji proposes.
Zoro immediately gets in his face for the comment "and what's that supposed to mean?! I'm going to slice you up, ero cook!" he yells and the usual spout between the two commences as a spark runs between them.
"accompany Luffy? count me in!" Franky speaks up diverting the conversation away from Zoro and Sanji.
"It sounds fun" Robin adds happily, while Brook, Usopp and Chopper cower in fear. "is it ok if you count us out for this one?" Usopp asks while trembling.
"why don't we all draw straws? That would make it easy to decide fairly" Ariel says speaking up.
"there is no helping it then, let's use Ariel-chan's idea" Nami gathers 9 strips of paper and holds them out to the rest of the group.
"no complaints, right?"
Zoro however, is the first to complain "what a pain I'm going even if I draw a miss."
"Zoro if I win switch places with me!" Chopper says upset, Ariel pats him on the head as she gets to her feet.
"I'll go for you Chopper if you win, so don't worry too much" Ariel says as she picks a strip of paper as the others have.
"they say the last one has the best luck" Usopp says as he rubs his hands together and grabs a hold of the last strip. "I put all the luck of my entire life on this straw!" he yells as he pulls it free. Unfortunately, its end is red which per his face states that he lost.
"that settles it the ones who will go are.." Sanji says while holding a white sheet.
"Us" Zoro says with Robin giggling beside him, "how exciting" she says while Usopp stands next to her dejected.
"ohhhh you won? lucky you!" Sanji says to Usopp.
"no way! I lost! someone switch with me!" he yells, Ariel weakly tries to trade with him.
"Umm Usopp-san…if you want I can…" Sanji stops her before she can finish.
"Don't worry about him Ariel-chwan he lost fair and square, besides you don't look so good." he says placing a worried hand on her shoulder.
"I guess so…heat doesn't agree with me, it makes me feel dizzy" she says smiling weakly back.
"see! so don't worry about it, besides if you stay here I can take good care of…y" suddenly a swords hilt met Sanji's face before he could finish his sentence. Ariel turned around to see an uninterested Zoro looking in the opposite direction, when Sanji left Ariel's side to go and torment him for the hit he received, causing everyone to laugh except Usopp who still feared his fate.
"Here have my special giant shellfish bento" Sanji holds out a neatly packed lunch box wrapped in a handkerchief.
"ohhooo can't wait to taste it!" Luffy exclaims happily.
meanwhile Nami began twirling her batons near the side of the ship, as soon as she said "Milky Road" a white cloudy foam came out of one end and went over the side of the ship creating a sort of cloudy bridge over the flames.
"ohhhhh!" Luffy and Franky exclaimed in awe.
"wow Nami-san that looks so cool!" Ariel states while looking at the deed with fascination. "wow! It's a cloud road! you've learned how to make this stuff that they used on Sky Island?" Luffy asks impressed.
"hehe, their just clouds, so you'd better cross while their still stable." Nami replies with a satisfied grin.
The scouting group going ashore all climb into the Mini Merry and set off on the cloud bridge that Nami made.
"Alright here we go! Mini Merry we're counting on you!" Luffy exclaims with his mouth full of his packed lunch.
"good luck you guys" Chopper yells waving at them, "hang in there all of you."
"you're so lucky going a shore" Franky states. "we'll go later so don't worry" Sanji replies.
"yohohoho take care!" Brook says laughing.
"Usopp fight on!" Nami calls to him teasingly, while Usopp shrills in return "trade places with me!".