Chapter 30
The Last Log

First Day

Weather : Clear blue sky, and smooth sea.
Mood : Angry

This morning, Sanji announced to us that Luffy (probably with the help of some accomplices) raided the food supplies last night.
There is nothing left, and Vivi can't tell us when we'll reach Alabasta.

For all I know, we might all die...

So, to whoever finds this book :
BUY A LOCK FOR YOUR REFRIGERATOR !

"Tell me how the food I saved up until we'd reach Alabasta has disappeared in the middle of the night, Luffy ?" Sanji asked, looking at the young captain with accusing eyes.

"I don't see what you're talking about," Luffy replied hesitantly, looking away and sweating heavily.

The boy couldn't lie, that was a fact. He never could. No matter how threatening his interrogator might be, he just couldn't look at them straight in the eyes and lie. That was... cute, yet dangerous, especially for him.

"Hey !" Sanji's eyes narrowed as he bent to look at Luffy's face closer. "There's something around your mouth !"

"Crap, leftovers !" Luffy sputtered, wiping his face frantically.

"IT WAS YOU !" The angry cook kicked Luffy hard enough to send him flying on the other side of the ship.

When Eli walked slowly to her young captain still lying on the floor. Ace was already giving him a lecture with the black eyebrows' angry frown just like when he was a kid. Who could guess, seeing them like that, that the little and sheepish one was actually the captain...

"Luffy ?" Eli called out softly. "Is it true ? Did you eat all the food ?"

The boy evaded her inquisitive gaze.

"Luffy..." She crouched down next to him. "How could you... raid the fridge... entirely... without ME !" Her voice rose into a shout as she stretched the boy's cheeks as far apart as she could.

"Sorry..." the boy said, embarrassed.

Eli sighed heavily and sat next to the boy. "I'd better start saving up my stamina... You know, you're really pushing your luck with poor Sanji. First, he has to save us from the water, and now this..." She glared at him and slapped him on the head. "Glutton..."

Second Day

Weather : Clear, boring, blue sky.
Mood : Hungry.

The only sounds heard are the growls from our empty stomachs.
Our captain has eaten the all of our bait, so the thin chances to catch a fish are now reduced to smithereens.

The need to kick Luffy's rubbery ass is hard to fight...

"Ace is asleep !" Luffy cried out, running toward Usopp, Chopper, and Eli.

Usopp and Eli smirked mischievously, but Chopper looked a bit confused. After all, what was so exciting about a narcoleptic asleep ? He was new to the crew and didn't know all theirs habits and customs yet, so the pranksters explained to the little doctor that whenever Ace fell asleep, and they were really bored, they would change his sleeping location just to see his confused look when he woke up.

"Where do we take him this time ?" Usopp asked, grabbing Ace's arm.

Once Eli grabbed his other arm and Luffy his legs, they slowly lifted his heavy body off the floor and Chopper dashed under to support his dropping head.

"Bathtub done... Refrigerator done... Head in the cannon done..." Eli listed thoughtfully.

"We could do the railing once more," Luffy proposed, carefully stepping down the stairs. "That was fun !"

"Not sure..." Usopp said.

Yeah... probably not a good idea... Last time, he rolled during his sleep and Zoro had to fish him out, and then the three of them had to endure a painful lecture from Nami... Oh ! Eli's lips curled up into a small and wicked smirk.

"What about..." Eli began, waiting to get the boys' attention, "Nami's bed !"

After tucking Ace into the redhead's bed, the four pranksters hid up the stairs. Watching the sleeping young man, they couldn't help but giggle seeing him hugging and drooling on Nami's pillow, until... they heard someone clearing their throat above them.

"Oh, hi Nami," Eli said casually. "What's up ?"

"Yo."

Eli raised her head from her book and watched as Ace jumped into the crow's nest to join her.

"Hey Freckles," the chronicler said monotonously, returning her attention to her book. "Did you sleep well ?"

"As a matter of fact, I did." He sat close to her, awfully close, actually. "What are you doing ?"

"Oh, gosh... I have no idea..." She sounded slightly annoyed, while shifting a bit further to create distance between them. "But, I do have my book and I do hold a pen..."

Ace smirked, his eyes lit with amusement. He suddenly grabbed her waist and pulled her against his chest.

Eli sighed. She was starting to get used to it by now. Apparently, one of his new games to annoy the hell out of her since the cavern incident was to make physical contact, like... all the time, and it was always a complete success. The harassed girl couldn't wait to be in Alabasta to have some more space than the little Merry had to offer... and not to mention to EAT. But until then, she had to endure Ace's new pastime.

Being the really mature and composed girl she was... Okay, no one would believe that. Truth was, Eli was tired, and apparently the kicking, the yelling, the punching, the glaring, the threatening, the hiding... only seemed to encourage the young man to keep on with this little torture of his. Instead, she decided to try another approach this time... the I-don't-feel-a-thing-take-that-in-your-face-sucker... ing.

Eli concentrated on her breathing, closing her eyes to make her mind go blank. She pictured the air slowly traveling from her nose to her lungs and back again. And it worked... kinda. She could almost set aside his gentle warmth, his breath caressing her skin, his broad arms now wrapped around her waist... Almost...

Try as she might, though, the images of their stupid night together started flickering in her mind...

That wasn't fair ! Even if that night was long forgotten for him, it didn't mean that was the case for her as well. And playing with her friend like that was just... wrong. Ace could probably have all the girls he wanted, yet he teased her... his friend, even though he knew how important this friendship was to her.

"Why are you doing this...?" Eli asked quietly, her blushing face drooped.

Ace tightened his warm embrace a little bit more. "Oh, gosh... I have no idea..."

Third Day

Weather : Same as before...
Mood : Empty.

A strange man came to release us from boredom today...

Eli was lying on the deck gazing lazily at the sky above her. She was so empty that her stomach couldn't growl anymore. The weary girl slowly rolled onto her side to watch Luffy and Usopp fishing, using Caru as bait.

"Anything, guys ?"

They shook their heads in dismay.

"Hey, is that cotton candy ?" Luffy asked, looking in the direction the boat was heading.

Cotton candy ? Eli weakly lifted herself up using her arms for support. There was a large curtain of smoke not too far from the ship, clearly not cotton candy... Disappointed, she let herself fall on her back.

"It's just steam," Nami explained. "Magma from underwater volcanoes must be coming out down below us. In several thousand years, there will be a new island."

The crew smiled happily at the idea of the birth of a new island. As they entered the smoke, they covered their noses and mouths on the spot. It smelled like sulfur, not to mention it was really hot, too. Once they got out of the steam, they inhaled the clean air frenetically.

"Hey !" Luffy and Usopp yelled in unison. "We caught a drag queen !"

A drag queen ? Eli crawled to the railing.

A man was hanging on the boys' bait, a.k.a. Caru. This must have been a shock for him since he let go of the big duck and fell back in the ocean with a loud, high-pitched scream.

"Thank you very much." The drag queen bowed politely before the crew. "You saved my life and I won't forget that !"

He was a bit taller than Eli and wore the strangest outfit: ballerina pumps, a blue shirt, and an extremely round blue pair of shorts. He also had a pink overcoat with two big swans attached on his back and heavy makeup on his face. Over all, it was quite comical.

"Well, aren't you just a cutie," the man said, winking naughtily at a quite disgusted Vivi.

"Hehe." Luffy grinned. "You can't swim either."

"Yes, I ate a devil fruit." The drag queen smiled proudly.

Usopp looked surprised. "Really ? What kind ?"

"Well, I have to wait for my ship to come and pick me up..." the man began, "sooooo I might as well put on a show !"

Without further warning, he struck Luffy's face forcefully with the palm of his hand. "LUFFY !" the pirates yelled, watching their captain fly across the ship. They jumped up taking fighting stances at once.

"Wait ! Waiiit !" the man said with an awfully familiar voice. "This is my show !"

When he gracefully turned around, the pirates gawked seeing the showman's face. Well it wasn't his face anymore... it was Luffy's.

"Surprised ? Surprised ?" The Luffy-man laughed, dancing around. "This is the power of my Mane Mane Fruit."

Then he touched Usopp, Eli, Zoro, Chopper, and Nami's faces with his right hand. He would probably have touched the entire crew's if the rest of them weren't observing the scene attentively from upstairs.

"If I touch your face..." Bringing his hand to his face, it changed to Usopp's. "...with my right hand..." Then Eli's, "I can imitate anyone." Zoro's, "Just like this !" and Chopper's.

And finally Nami's. "And your bodies, too !" He opened his shirt revealing an eyeful of the navigator's huge breasts, earning a gasp from the crew, especially the male ones. Eli, on the other side, was completely shocked. She whirled to look at Nami with wide watery eyes and started scrambling toward the redhead mumbling unintelligible words.

Nami frowned angrily and jolted the showman on the head. "Stop THAT !"

But Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp wanted more and begged him to continue his show while Eli curled into a tight ball in a corner of the ship, still mumbling and whimpering.

"Veeeeeeeeeeery weeeeeeell !" The man beamed proudly, swirling on his toe. "I've also got a perfect memory." He changed his face into several different strangers' appearances.

"So coooooool !" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper clapped their hands and started singing and dancing with him as if they were best friends. "Stoooop joking aroooouuund ! Stoooooop joking arooooouuuund !"

"Hey, there's a ship !" Nami looked more than happy spotting a ship coming their way. "Is it yours ?"

The drag queen jumped gracefully onto the railing on the spot. "It is already time for me to go !" he said solemnly.

"Awwww..." The boys started crying.

"Do not be sad, my friends ! I shall never forget you !" Before leaving, he looked back with tears in the corners of his heavily made up eyes and a wide grin on his face. "Time means nothing to true friendship."

The boys waved their friend good-bye, tears of emotion in their eyes.

He gave them the thumbs up, and jumped on his ship. "Let's go, lovies !"

"Yes, sir ! Mr. 2 Bon Clay, sir !"

The pirates gawked looking back at the already too far ship. They had an officer agent of Baroque Works on their ship without knowing, and even worse, they had fun with him.

"That was... Mr. 2 Bon Clay..." Vivi looked horrified. "One of those past faces he showed was my father's..." she muttered. "What will he do with my father's face...?"

Baroque Works had the power to imitate the ruler of Alabasta's face, and that fact was really scary... but what was even scarier was the fact that now he could turn into almost any one of the Strawhat pirates.

"We won't be able to trust each other..." Nami said gravely.

"I think it's a good thing we met him." Zoro smirked. "Now we can take counter measures."

The crew was tying bandages around their forearms.

"Tie them on tight !" Zoro said, tying his own bandage with his teeth.

"As long as we can see these, we won't doubt one another," Nami said, smiling.

"Okay !" Luffy pointed his arm forward. "From now on, this left hand is the proof of our friendship !"

The rest of the crew joined him, beaming proudly.

Fourth Day

Weather : ...
Mood : Dying...

Sleeping is the only thing we can do.

"Is she still alive ?" Usopp inquired, poking Eli on the arm.

"She's very weak," Chopper said gravely. "Unlike us, her body can't seem to stack up energy."

Eli opened her eyes and glared at Usopp still poking her. When she swiftly grabbed his nose, a squeak of surprise escaped his mouth.

"Your nose..." Eli said quietly, her lips slowly curling up into an evil smirk. "How much... do you need it ?" She licked her lips hungrily.

"Ahhhh !" Usopp yelled in fear, scrambling backwards frantically under Luffy's laugh.

Eli used her remaining strength to climb up the to the crow's nest. It was her favorite spot on the Merry, especially when she wanted some time alone. She lay on the floor and fell asleep lulled by the sound of the wind gently fluttering their Jolly Roger...

to be continued

Betaed by Iwin Ulose.

Some one ordered some fluff ?
Well, there you are.

Hoped you liked it :)