Guess who forgot to post yesterday like she said she would~

This this chapter is shorter than the last two, I think... I had to cut it in half. The way it was before bothered me. But, I just really wanted to give Tabi Island a little more history, okaaay? I freaking love this place. It's my most favorite fictional place I've ever created. Like, ever.

Gwenyth had lost complete track of time. All she knew was that the sun had yet to rise and that she was sick of fighting. Even with all the shape she had gotten into living on the island, Gwenyth still wasn't able to handle these harsh conditions very well. Fighting like this was both physically and mentally draining, and she had a few new cuts and bruises as a result of her tired body's clumsy movements.

She slumped against a wall. Deep breaths, don't fall asleep, she told herself. Though there was nothing she wanted more than to ease into slumber. Close her eyes for the night and wake up in a warm bed come morning.

That wasn't likely, however. A number of cowardly pirates had seen her fighting their crewmates and ran in the other direction. She had no doubt that the majority of the enemy's crew knew what she looked like at this point and that they would kill her the moment they saw her so unguarded.

She had pretty much stayed in the same area the entire night; the streets around the blacksmith's workshop and Maaya and Katsuya's shop. Gwenyth hadn't run into anyone but pirates since Nami had coaxed that one group away earlier. Despite this, she was deeply thankful. Of all the bodies she had seen littering the streets of Toguchi, not one of them belonged to an islander. The same could probably not be said about the frontline, but Gwen would take what luck she could get.

Maybe she could get just a small ounce of shut eye? Gwenyth's eyes were drooping dangerously low and her head kept bobbing down. It was soooo heavy. And sleep would be soooo nice right now.

A high, pompous laugh rang out from down the street and woke her quickly. The ornate cannon was no longer just a cane for show. The feather capped captain really needed it in order to walk forward, awkwardly attempting to stroll with a limp. His clothes were muddy and tattered, and his feather looked more like a string with fluff at the end.

"Rrrrratherrrr rrrrrambunctious grrrrroup of islanderrrrrs, arrrrren't you?"

"I'm gonna cut your tongue out in a minute, asshole." She grumbled. He giggled annoyingly.

"You and what arrrrrrmy? I admit that strrrrrrrraw hat boy was a fearrrrful crrreaturrre, but my men have cerrrrtainly disposed of him by now."

Gwenyth glared daggers at him. Not only was he insulting Luffy verbally, but he didn't even have the balls to face her friend dead on. He had hid behind his men and ran off before the fight was even over. To her, that was twice the insult. Add that to the fact that he was the captain of the crew that had possibly killed Maaya and Katsuya? Oh, if only she had some of that energy left over from earlier.

"A cowardly captain makes for a cowardly crew. Do you have any idea how many of your so-called 'men' ran from me with their tails between their legs? Rather pathetic bunch, if ya ask me. In fact, I'm kind of embarrassed I ever considered ya'll a threat in the first place." With every sentence a blood vessel seemed to throb larger and larger on the poofy pirate captain's head.

"THAT'S ENOUGH OF YOURRRR INSOLENCE, GIRRRRL!"

"Gurrrrl, don't joo be callin' me gurrrrrrrl, I ain't yo gurrrrrl. Homie be trippin'." Gwenyth mocked with her best 'ghetto' accent.

"I was only going to kill you forrr what you've done to my crrrrew, but now I'LL HAVE YOURRRR BLEEDING HEAD ABOVE MY MANTLE!" He shouted aiming his hand-held cannon at Gwenyth's head. She screamed and attempted to jump out of the way, but her arm was caught by the blast. She was propelled outwards and thrown to the ground.

Her arm was scorched and bleeding. A thick reeking of gunpowder and burning flesh lingered in the air. Red hot and festering, crimson mixed with a black residue pooled easily into the cracks of the cobblestone street. The pain was indescribable. Stinging blood, boiling skin, exposed tissue. Breathing wasn't an option. Breathing made her body move. Any movement opened the floodgates of more torment. But her insides began to scream. Not only was her arm in pain, but her lungs as well. She gasped for air, every nerve shrieking alive, but her body could taste no oxygen. She wanted to try again, but couldn't bring herself to release the breath.

Just as she was slowly regaining the ability to breathe, a heeled boot stomped down onto her bloody arm. A high pitched scream resounded throughout the island. The more force the captain exerted, the more animalistic the screams became. As did the girl's body movements. She shoved, hit, and clawed at his ankle with no use. Finally she chomped down on his leg and he shot his limb away in an attempt to get her off. But she simply bit down harder. He hit the top of her head with the end of his cane-cannon, shouting at her to let go.

Keeping her jaw locked, Gwenyth managed to pull herself onto her knees. She unsheathed her hunting knife. It felt so wrong to be holding it with her right hand, but she hardly had the time to complain. She released her jaw. Before the pirate captain had time to react, Gwenyth tore through the back of his knee with her blade's jagged edge. The man instantly fell, crying out in pain. He crawled away from her using his other three limbs as quickly as possible. Gwenyth let him. Mostly because she was barely able to sit up straight.

"MY LEG! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY FUCKING LEG?!"

Gwenyth looked up at the hysterical captain. He was franticly attempting to move his leg, sitting in a pool of his own blood. Nothing below his knee appeared to be reacting. The girl smiled before her own pain caught back up with her. She fell to her side, no longer able to support herself. At some point her eyes had decided to close.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?" The man shouted. He sounded further away than she knew him to be.

"But I cut some cord... and I shouldn't of done that... An' it wont forgive me... after all these years..." Gwenyth mumbled halfheartedly. There were light vibrations coming from the earth around her. People were shouting, but she could barely hear them. She could hardly hear the murmured lyrics she pushed past her lips.

"I'm not paralyzed... but I seem to be struck by yoooou..." Something lifted her up by her shoulders and tried to shake her awake. She felt her head bobble around before landing forward. It was too heavy to be held up on its own.

"Well, it's a bittersweet..." A pair of hands left her shoulders and lifted her head for her. "Symphony..." She peeled her eyes to open and squinted outward. All she could make out was the color red. A person. Possibly a face. And a pale hat on top. "This life..."

Uh oh. Gwenyth knew this ceiling. She had stared up at it once before when she first came to this island. Glancing around, she pushed herself up with her good arm. Morning light streaming in softly from the adjacent window. Her left arm wrapped and held by a sling, Gwenyth pushed the covers off with one hand. She tried to pull her legs to the edge of the bed, finding it strange how difficult it was to move when one of her limbs was out of commission. She stood and made her way to the exit. Putting an ear to the door, Gwenyth attempted to listen for anyone who might have been moving around on the other side. It was of course at that moment when someone decided to swing it open.

"MOTHER FUCKING FUCK!" She howled, cradling her forehead from her place on the floor.

"Hi, Gwen!" Luffy shouted happily. Gwenyth glared daggers at him from behind her hand and his face fell. "Hey, what's wrong? What are you doing on the floor?"

"What's it look like, dumb-ass?"

"Hmmm..." He crouched down to her level, squinting and studying her with his 'serious' face on. She stared back unamused, yet slightly embarrassed at how close he was. He broke out into a sudden smile. "I have no idea!" He said before laughing.

"Life is just one big ride to you, isn't it?" She grumbled to herself rubbing her right temple. It was way to early for this. Gwenyth blinked. Early? She spun her head back to the window. Light. Morning. Daytime.

"LUFFY!" She shouted clutching the sleeve of his vest and pulling him towards her. "What happened last night?! Did we win? Are the pirates gone?"

Luffy nodded 'seriously'. "We won."

She pulled him closer in disbelief. "And they're gone?"

"They're gone."

"For good?"

"Yep."

"You're sure?"

"Yep!" He grinned. Gwenyth felt the corners of her lips pull upward as a shining light entered her eyes. She squealed out of joy before throwing her arm around the boy.

"Ohmygod, ohmygod! We won, we won, we won!" She quickly let go and stood up, clearing her throat to regain composure. Luffy followed her up. He continued to smile as Gwen bounced in place like a small child at christmas. Fighting her tears of joy and excitement, she finally gave in and squealed, hugging him once again. This time bouncing.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh my gosh, we did it! We won! I could just kiss you! We won! We won! Thank you!" Luckily, he didn't seem to think she was crazy. He just laughed the way he did and returned the giddy embrace.

"So you'll join my crew now, right?"

Gwenyth nodded frantically. "Of course! I said I would, didn't I? Or, wait... Did I? I think Nami might have decided it for me... But, whatever, I'd love to join your crew!" Now it was his turn to be ecstatic. Jumping up and down while shouting and hugging her. Gwenyth laughed along with his celebration before settling down. Her eyes turned downward. There was still something she needed to do.

"What's wrong, Gwen? You were happy a minute ago..." Luffy asked scrutinizing her face up close again. She pulled a smile on for the sake of her new captain and took a step back.

"It's... nothing. Um, have they started searching the other villages yet? For survivors?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Mayor Clumpy Hair said something about the hurt people here."

"So they're helping everyone who was wounded last night first? That makes sense. Is that why Doctor Yamata isn't here?

He nodded. "Dr. Clumpy Hair told me to make sure you didn't die."

Gwenyth sweat-dropped. "I'm sure he didn't say it like that... Um, I'm gonna go to Unmei now, so..." She moved around Luffy and made her way to the front door of the small clinic. "I'll be back soon."

"Can I come, too?" He asked innocently once the door handle was in her grasp. Gwenyth turned to face him and thought for a moment. Maybe it would be easier to find them if she had help. She was still recovering from last night. Should she just wait for the rest of the villagers? No, she had waited long enough. She wanted- no- needed to know what had happened to them. Get it all over with so she could move on with her life. Though it might be easier to deal with the inevitable if she had a shoulder to cry on...

"Okay. But let's be quick about it." She said opening the door and stepping outside. Luffy nodded in agreement and followed the girl.

The walk out of Toguchi was not as quiet as Gwen would have liked. Luffy kept poking her arm (her bad arm) and asking questions. Gwenyth would lightly slap his hand away and answer as simply as she could. Reassuring him that Unmei wasn't very far every single time he asked. Once they passed the last store, which sold manure and Luffy absolutely had to comment on, she offered to tell him a story to shut him- er, that is, to pass the time. He happily agreed.

"As you have no doubt noticed, Tabi Island is a very small island."

"I haven't noticed at all!"

"QUIET! THAT'S JUST HOW THE STORY STARTS! Anyway, Tabi Island is a very small island. The six villages so small and well connected, they may as well be one. And at a time, they were.

"Toguchi, much smaller than it is today, was the sole settlement of this land. Family homes doubled as shops, and shops doubled as homes. Children played as their parents worked. Five children in particular were always the talk of the town: Benjirou, Dale, Kaija, Zaara, and Unmei."

"How do you remember their names?"

"I said be quiet. They were the best of friends and incredibly competitive. They would have contests to see who was the village's number one.

"When they were small, it was simple things. Like, who could collect the most apples, who's room was the cleanest, who could best predict tomorrow's weather, who had the most money for sweets, etc. The older they were, the more difficult and spread out the contests became: who could chop the most trees down in a day, who could build the best boat, who could get a kiss from their dream person by the next week, who was the strongest, fastest, and so on.

"For the larger, more singular tasks, the group of friends needed a lot of space where they wouldn't be disturbed. So they made their own little hideaways, spread throughout the island; hidden from one another. They became older still. Their games were even further spread out, and were a different nature than before. Who would marry first, who could build the best house, who could have the most children.

"They chose to build their houses where their old hideouts had once been, and gladly raised their children there. Their own children, which largely helped with populating the island, built their houses close to their parents, as did their children and their children's children.

"Soon, the once hideaways were large and bustling with families. Many islanders who's forefathers lived and worked in Toguchi spread out to the smaller settlements. Choosing to live away from their work. The settlements were named after the children who had founded them: Benjirou the best writer, Dale the best carpenter, Kaija the best with animals and who birthed seventeen children, Zaara the best at growing crops, and Unmei who was the best at predicting life's outcomes.

"The main path of each small village leads straight back to the heart of Toguchi, symbolizing the connection between the people here. No matter how far we go, Toguchi will always be there. As it was the village that started it all." Gwenyth finished poetically.

"So how do you remember their names?" Luffy asked again.

"THEY'RE THE NAMES OF THE FIVE VILLAGES, DUMB-ASS! WEREN'T YOU LISTENING?"

"Not really."

"Go to fucking hell, asshole."

I love it when people and places have names with meaning. For example: Toguchi means "Doorway", Tabi means "Journey" and Unmei means "Fate/Destiny". It was Gwenyth's destiny to find a doorway and have a journey in another world. Get it? Geeeet itttt? Do you even care? Probably not. But I'm the writer. No fucks are given.

For those who care: Benjirou means "Son of two speeches", Dale means "Valley", Kaija means "Pure", and Zaara means "Beautiful Flower".