That's just what the sisters did. Arm in arm, they went to find Captain Shanks again. Shanks was expecting them at any moment so he wasn't surprised to see them wandering around below him. "Just wait a minute, I'll be right with ya!" he called to them from his perch in the crow's nest. He finished the task he'd been working on, then...instead of climbing down the ladder...leaped down from the crow's nest, much to Melia and Bara's horror. He didn't notice their looks, and wiping his hands on his jeans and catching his breath, he inquired, "What can I do for ya?"
Bara found her voice first. "We wanted to go ashore if we can."
"Ah! Of course, of course." Shanks mumbled to himself for a moment. "Well, will you be alright on your own or should I send someone with ya? I'd come myself but I'm busy. I'll be out there later though."
"We'll be fine, we don't want to bother anybody! Besides, we're pretty good at finding our way around. When you work on a cruise ship you kinda hafta figure those things out." Melia had finally found her voice. She laughed lightly.
"Alright, if you're sure." Shanks nodded and let the gangplank down for them. "Oh, wait a moment. Wait right here." He ran off and returned a minute later with a handful of berri-bills in his hand. He quickly divided it between them and gave them each their own handful, despite both of their objections to the money, then pushed them out onto the gangplank. "Off with you. You're not allowed back on 'til you have some new clothes on."
Finding themselves kicked off the ship, the two girls looked at each other, shrugged, and went off into the town hand-in-hand. Within what couldn't have been more than a couple hours they'd found a couple of pretty but practical new outfits. A little tired from their shopping expedition, they sat down on a bench and talked for about 10 minutes about their plans for the day.
"Onii-sama said he'd be joining us a bit later, but…I don't know when that is," Melia frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know if we should go back to the ship and let him know we're still alive, or hang out here.
"Well, I don't care about that. But since you do, I'll come with you wherever you decide. I can't help with the decision, though," Bara replied with a laugh. "Do whatever you want."
"Well, personally, I think you should stay here and wait for him," a familiar voice from behind them joined the conversation with its own opinion. The two girls turned around to see Shanks leaning against their bench, a handful of his crew with him.
"Oh! You're here already! That was quick!" Melia said. Shanks blinked at her.
"Already? Quick? What are you talking about?" he asked, puzzled. "You girls have been out here all day."
"W…we have…?" Melia and Bara exchanged surprised looks. "Guess time really flies when you're having fun."
"I've heard a lot of women say that after a shopping trip," Shanks said jokingly, shaking his head as if they were hopeless cases.
"Pfft, come on, Cap'n. You don't even KNOW a lot of women," Lucky Roux called over from the tree he was sitting in, inciting a round of raucous laughter. Forgetting that they were in the company of two young ladies, Shanks almost gave him a rather rude gesture, but he managed to refrain from doing so and turned back to Melia and Bara.
"Hmph. Good, you got new clothes." He nodded approvingly then stood up straight. "Some of my crew and I planned on camping out on the island tonight. Wanna come with us? Don't feel obligated to, I'll more than understand if camping isn't your cup of tea. But we'll be roasting Lucky Roux over the fire, in case you are interested."
"Camping? But…where would we camp?" Melia inquired. She hadn't seen any good places for camping so far.
"Yeah, let's see the camping ground first," Bara said warily.
Shanks grinned merrily. "Actually, I was hoping you'd say that. Follow me." He started off with those of his crew that had come with him, and Melia and Bara jumped up and darted after them.
After no more than 15 minutes of walking, they came out of a dense forest, which the more delicate members of the party (which actually included only the two young ladies) had to be helped to push through. Shanks suddenly made an opening in a bush in front of him to get a view of what lay on the other side of it. "Aha!" he said and, grinning happily, led them out into the open and they all blinked painfully from the sudden sunlight. Once their eyes adjusted, they looked around.
What lay before them was the sweetest-smelling, cleanest, prettiest field that Melia and Bara had ever seen, and as for the others, it was definitely in their top ten. Shanks began calling out orders then glanced behind him to make sure the girls were even still there.
"This place hasn't changed a bit. That's one reason I like it. I like change and all, but a little stability every now and then is nice. But don't tell anyone I said that," He laughed. "You stayin' for the night with us?"
"Oh, yes, yes, of course, yes!" Melia exclaimed at once, and Bara nodded quietly.
"Yes, we will. You'll have to forgive Melia though if she doesn't stop rolling around in the flowers." Bara pinched her sister's side playfully. Melia stuck out her tongue in response.
"Naw, that just means more room for us if she stays out here," Shanks said jokingly. "Oh, that reminds me...I do need to warn you, we don't sleep in tents when we come here. We sleep in there." He turned and pointed to a mid-sized, clean-looking cave. "It's actually a lot better than staying in tents," he continued."That way we can control the temperature better and it's easier to see if there are any wild animals to worry about. Don't worry, we keep a fire going all night."
"I've never done that before. That sounds fun," Melia said brightly, skipping over to the cave's entrance and peering inside. "Hey, I hear bats!" she exclaimed.
"What? Bats? Oh…yeah. Sorry, forgot to mention that. Um, that probably scares you back to the ship all in itself, huh?" Shanks laughed guiltily.
"What?! Of course not! I love bats!" Melia jumped up and down with excitement. "And so does Bara! Isn't that right, Bara?!"
"Mm-hmm. They're cute," Bara smiled back at Melia and nodded icily to Shanks, who stared at them in disbelief.
"And I thought my head was screwed up BEFORE..." If it hadn't been, it probably was now,since he hadstarted to bang his forehead against a tree with surprising aggression.
"Calm down, Onii-san," Melia scolded, skipping back over. "It's not unusual for girls to think
weird things are cute."
"Mm…you have a point there. At least you seem to be in a great mood now." He laughed at her inability to stay still.
"Yes, I can't wait til twilight. That's when the bats come out!" she said happily, then began to run around the field, picking flowers. Bara joined her.
The early evening came around soon enough, and found everyone enjoying themselves (though admittedly, some needed the assistance of alcohol). Bara, although she was having fun with Melia, couldn't shake the feeling that Shanks was staring at her.
Finally she found a moment where Melia was preoccupied with something else (to be specific, a daisy chain) and went over to him and confronted him. "'Scuse me, sir, s'there something I can HELP you with?" she inquired, irritated.
Shanks stared off into the distance for a moment and laughed. "Naw…sorry if it seems like I'm staring. You just look...a lot like someone I know and it makes me do a double take every time I see you."
Bara began to feel awkward. "Someone…you…know…?" she repeated slowly. Then, not really wanting to hear the explanation, she shrugged and turned to skip off.
"He'll be here soon, you know," Shanks called after her with a slight smirk. She turned to look at him. His eyes were closed with relaxation; one arm was behind his head, and the smirk was still there. She narrowed her eyes and went back over to him.
"WHO will be here soon? What are you talking about?" She snapped irritably. Her eye twitched angrily when his only response was a nonchalant shrug and the widening of his smirk. She growled angrily under her breath and stomped back off to help Melia with her daisy chains.