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¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸ Okashi Shima¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸
¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸Chapter Thirteen - Tension Everywhere¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸
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~ Somewhere in Town ~
With the morning brought absolute distraught for a certain couple of siblings. Things had been going good...until Kiala found out her brother had been fraternizing with the enemy. Speaking of...
"Ezie, how could you do this to me? Your own sister!" She sniffled as a tear slid from her eye. "I thought you were on my side!" She made wild hand gestures to show how utterly angry she was. "And you're going to escort her to the ball! I can't BELIEVE you!"
"Look," Eziekiel said calmly, "you're my favorite little sister in the whole world-"
"I'm your ONLY little sister in the whole world!" She interrupted.
"However," Ezekiel continued, not in the slightest irritated at the interruption, "in order to win at the end to show you that nothing will change, I must ensure that I win."
"By cheating?" She ground out.
"No, by simply adding myself to the game," he said with a mocking grin, "I love to play with my toys just as much as you do. I simply don't want to see three men at their knees with the thought of losing a girl, and after that-"
"You'll go and break her heart," Kiala said with a roll of her eyes, "yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before. It doesn't matter, however, because I will prove to you that can, and will, have the last say in it all. When this is all over, those three are going to be head over heels for her."
"You don't mean to tell me that you actually-"
"Oh, yes," Kiala said darkly, "those candies? Yeah, I lied. They're a hormone inducer to the highest. And the certain hormone that they induced would be the one that affects the attraction. Combined with the dreams, one of the three will pounce the girl before she can even refuse."
"I forget," Ezekiel said suddenly, "why are you playing with someone's sex lives again?"
"Because the newspaper bores me these days and I need some fun," Kiala said, "that, and the last couple ended up committing suicide because they couldn't get a decent night's sleep. I figured one more experiment was in order. Let us see how well our plans work out."
Ezekiel shook his head and reclined on the couch with his arms propped behind his head. "Ne, Kiala?" He asked, "Who are you taking to the ball?"
"Well," Kiala said, "I would've gone with you as my escort, but I can see that things are going to be heated up a bit. You say you're adding yourself to the game. I think I will make myself known as well." She grinned maniacally at her brother as he sat up on the couch abruptly. He was clearly upset with the turn of events as he stormed about their home before slamming the door on his way out. "Serves him right - trying to mess with my game."
~ At the Sunny with Sanji, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Chopper ~
"It's a hormone inducer," Chopper said as-a-matter-of-factly. They were sitting around the dining table and discussing what was going on. Robin had taken Ussop, Franky, and Brooke to the square in hopes of finding suitable outfits for the ball in a couple of days while the rest of them, a.k.a. Sanji, Zoro, Chopper, Luffy, and Nami, stayed behind to "guard" the ship.
"So...all the dreams are fake and will go back to normal?" Luffy asked, not quite sure he understood.
"It's...not that simple," Chopper said sadly, "the hormone inducer was made to create feelings based off of the natural strand. It was to enhance your feelings of sexual awareness, but apparently it's to only one person in particular."
Four pairs of eyes glided over to Nami who sat quietly on the end of the table. "What? I have nothing to do with this. I don't even understand why it's me in the first place or why it even happened to begin with." Nami turned her attention back to Chopper, "Chopper...this is temporary...right?"
"I'm afraid not," Chopper said with a shake of his head, "the feelings are real. That much is certain, they've just been heightened to their maximum degree. They won't go away until something is done about it. I can't make any chemicals to counteract the hormone inducer, but I can make something to at least knock you three out for an entire night to get some rest."
"That'll make our lives much easier,"Zoro muttered. Ever since yesterday, he hadn't quite been able to meet Nami's eyes. And when he did, he had to immediately look as though he were bored and nothing was out of the ordinary. Luffy and Sanji seemed oblivious to this exchange, of course, because they were much too focused on their own feelings of Nami to care about Zoro's discomfort.
Nami stood from the table. It had gotten awkward since they had all come to terms with everything. She was absolutely lost as to what to do. In fact, she was almost positive that things were only going to complicated from here on out. And then...a thought popped into her head. "Ne, Chopper," she said, catching their attention again, "did you figure out the source of it? I wonder who it is that would want to drug you guys up like that."
"Hai!" Chopper said with a smile, "It came from this candy wrapper that was in Zoro's pocket! It was hard to find the trace because his pants had gone through the wash already, but I managed."
"That's great, but," Nami said, grabbing hold of the wrapper in question, "where did it come from?"
"Luffy gave it to me," Zoro said, "shit, Captain you drugged me?"
"And me?" Sanji asked with surprise.
"No I didn't," Luffy said with furrowed brows, "I got it from this girl in town."
Nami cocked her head to the side at that. "What girl?" She asked.
"It was...I don't know who she is. She had blonde hair that was in two ponytails on the side of her head, and she wore all black and purple. I think it was a dress she was wearing," Luffy explained, "it was the first day we got here I think."
"I don't remember any girl," Zoro huffed, "we were with you the whole time - how come I didn't see this girl?"
Nami thought for a moment - everyone there in the town was either a blue-eyed red-head, or a golden-eyed brunette. Blonde hair didn't match the description of the people...Then...her eyes widened a moment. "Holy cow," Nami said, "I think I know who it is."
They all looked over at her in surprise. "Nami-san," Sanji said with a soft smile, "there's no one like that here in the town. Everyone's either-"
"A brunette or a red-head, I know," Nami said with a shake of her head, "but not Ezekiel."
"That guy you were with," Luffy said darkly. Even Sanji's and Zoro's moods darkened. Chopper seemed to sense it and felt like shrinking to hide the tension in the air.
"But what does that guy have anything to do with it?" Zoro asked, "Luffy said it was some girl."
"Exactly," Nami said, "Ezie said he has a younger sister. That could have been who gave you the candy. She'll be at the ball tomorrow night - I can confront her then. Ezekiel was planning on introducing her to me anyway."
Luffy frowned at her but looked at the others to see what their opinions were. It was as good a plan as any, and they all knew that Nami could take care of herself, but it was tough to let her go in alone. "I'm going to the dance, too," Luffy said finally.
Sanji burst out laughing, "With what clothes, Captain?" Zoro glared at Sanji - not because of what he said, but because he was laughing right in his ear and his head was killing him from lack of sleep already.
"I'll just use the money that Nami gave me!" He said with a huff and crossed his arm. He was pouting now.
"What money, Captain?" Zoro asked, deciding that if you can't beat them, join them. "You spent it on candy, remember?"
Luffy pouted even further and looked to Nami. "Yes, Luffy," Nami sighed, "I already have money set aside for you three. After all...I had been planning on taking you with me anyway. I'm not about to have fun without my crew." Nami stood and stretched, her shirt riding up her form and giving them a pretty good look at her well-toned stomach. "I guess we have shopping to do. But...I have something to do today. I will see you later."
"Where are you going?" Chopper asked curiously.
"I have a date with a stranger today," Nami said with a sigh. "It would be rude to keep him waiting just for me."
"That guy again," Zoro ground out, "when are you going to dump him anyway?"
"Hey, it's not like we're going out or anything," Nami said with a glare, "I'm actually just getting what I want from him instead of having to use my own berries. The way I see it, if someone's going to offer, might as well make the most of it."
Surprisingly, the three felt better after hearing that from her. They had honestly thought that their navigator was beginning to fall for a total stranger. It wouldn't have been good. Not because they currently held feelings for the girl, but because she was the navigator. If she suddenly decided to settle down with someone outside the ship - they would have no navigator. It wouldn't be good for those on the ship either if she were to fall for one of the crew members. For some reason, the thought of one of the crew members being her one and only was a bit unsettling.
Chopper cooked up the perfect chemical for the three of them, and deciding that they were long overdue for a good rest, they took it and promptly knocked out in their quarters.
~ Nami ~
She crossed her legs. Ezekiel had decided to step things up a bit and they were going to meet at a fancy restaurant. Nami didn't really have anything fancy to wear - after all, she was a pirate. But even a pirate could cook something up pretty quickly. In the end, she decided to wear her red gown that had a split at the hip and dipped low on the neck line. She had pulled her hair up into a pretty bun and wore diamond earrings with a matching necklace and bracelet.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting," Ezekiel said as he took a seat across from her. "I got stuck having to chide my sister into cleaning her room for once."
Nami let a soft laugh escape her lips as she lifted the wine glass to her lips. "Tell me, Ezie," Nami said, watching his facial expression carefully, "what is your sister like? How old is she?"
"She'll be nineteen next month," Ezekiel said, "she's a bit of a... sadistic creature. She always black and rarely ever wears any other color. She has a very weird sense of humor. Why do you ask?"
"No reason," Nami said, "I figure if I am going to be meeting her tomorrow night, I may as well get to know her even the tiniest bit."
"By the way," Ezekiel said, "how long are you planning on staying on the island?"
"Not for much longer," Nami replied, setting her glass down.
"What can I get to drink for you, sir?" The waitress came up to the table, handing him a menu.
"Water with lemon," he said with a charming smile. The woman blushed and said she will be back.
"Water with lemon?" Nami asked. "A fancy restaurant and only water with lemon. How interesting."
"I'm not much of a drunkard," Ezekiel said a bit bashfully, "I know how to drink. I won't deny that, but being the more responsible sibling, I have to set some sort of image for my sister, right?"
"We'll be here until the day after the ball - meaning, we'll be leaving in two days from tonight," Nami said with a smile.
"That's...too bad," Ezekiel said with a sad smile, "I had been hoping for some more time with you."
She wanted to say something sarcastic, she really did. But the fact of knowing that his sister was the one who drugged three of her crew mates without her knowing was a bit...unsettling. She should have been paying more attention. She should have asked more questions - maybe all of this awkwardness could have been spared at least. She wished that the three had gone to Chopper before she had gotten involved. But of course, those three are as stubborn as she was. If there was nothing physically wrong with you, than there was no reason to seek professional help - at least, that's how they saw it.
"So, I guess it all ends tomorrow night," Ezekiel said with a sigh. "Why won't you stay any longer?"
"My captain isn't exactly the most patient person on the planet," Nami laughed, "trying to get him to agree to something is like talking to a parrot. You can't get much out of him except 'let's go here' or 'we're headed to the next island' or 'onward for another adventure'. It's always the same for him, but I don't think I would change him for the world."
Just then, the waitress came back with his water and lemon and asked if they were ready to order. They gave her their orders, dismissing her fluidly and continued with their chat.
"You sound as if you are overly fond of your captain," Ezekiel said with a suspicious glare.
"What?" Nami stuttered out, "Of course not! I'm only saying that I know him."
"Nami...do you have affections for someone other than me? I've always heard you talk about your crew - we're rarely ever talking about anything else."
"Of course not," Nami repeated herself, than, her eyes widened, "no wait...I know what that's implying. Listen, I'm a pirate and-"
"I know what you are," Ezekiel said, "but that doesn't mean that your captain can hold you against what you want most."
"It's not like that in the least," Nami said, her mood darkening, "I'm simply saying that I hold no affections for anyone."
"Who are you trying to convince? You or me?" He asked just as the food was placed in front of them. They began eating, a little tensely. "You say you hold no affections for anyone, but why do you always come back to me? Or are you trying to make those three men jealous?"
"What three men?" Nami asked, placing a slice of pork in her mouth.
"What were their names? Sano, Zomo, and Tuffy? Your captain, the cook, and the swordsman."
"That's Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy," Nami corrected, "and no. I'm not trying to make anyone jealous."
"Then you truly do like me," Ezekiel said with a smirk.
"Yes, and I truly do like them," Nami said, trying to make a point. "You're on the same level as my friends."
"I have a feeling that they tip the scale a bit more," Ezekiel said. They ate in silence for a bit before changing the subject finally. "It's going to be nice tomorrow night."
"Why do you say that?" Nami asked as she drank some more wine.
"Have you never been to a ball?" Ezekiel asked incredulously.
"Guilty as charged," Nami said sheepishly. "I've never had time to go to one. And when I was kid...well...let's just say I was robbed of the chance to go to one in my teenage years."
"Then tomorrow will be the most fantastic night of your life," Ezekiel said, "I guarantee it."
"How can you guarantee my night will be perfect?" She asked curiously.
"Because a night with me," he said, looking directly into her eyes, "is a night you can never forget."
For some reason, she was suspicious of his words. She had no choice but to understand that he had something in store for her. She would be bringing her clima-tact along with her tomorrow night - and she had been hoping she wouldn't have to, too. But then again...he could mean something entirely different. Better safe than sorry, right?
Okay, I wanted to make this chapter a little longer than usual. I'm actually dying for something to happen myself. And to answer one of the reviews I received: I honestly have no idea where this story is going either! So..we'll have to have fun with where it is going.
On another note...you guys, I just realized there is a new button on my account. I saw the Image Manager forever ago, but now there's a Reviews button. I apparently had the thing enabled and I had no idea I was getting reviews that I had to approve. I think I kinda like this feature. Lol! Anyway...
Review please!
