Chapter 6 - Clothes and Information
Toot! Toot!
The sea train chugged along the underwater rails and pulled into the station. Rei stood on the platform with the rest of the crew members. Robin was holding Rei and Nami's hand in each of her own. Robin looked down at Rei when the train stopped in front of them. "Is this your first time on a Sea Train, Rei?"
Rei nodded solemnly but her eyes were shining with excitement. They filed into the train one by one with Nami leading the way. Sanji made sure to block the men so the ladies could get first choice on the seats. Chopper and Rei looked out into the sea as they leaned over the window's edge together, not even bothering to sit down. Robin stood behind them like a school teacher supervising a field trip. Zoro couldn't help but grin a little at the Know It All's child-like wonder as her eyes widened at they approached the island. He caught Robin looking at him and his smile immediately turned into a scowl, which in turn caused Robin to chuckle softly and knowingly.
"Luffy, Marimo, and Bones, you guys are strange and attract needless attention. Leave it to us and we'll gather the information," Sanji ordered as he stretched his legs out while leaning back on the seat next to Nami. He turned to Nami, "Isn't that right, Nami-swan, Robin-chwan, Rei-chan?"
"You're strange too, Sanji," Nami said, instantly breaking his heart, "We will gather information. You guys go somewhere and lay low."
"No," Sanji whined, "I wanted to go with you…"
"Let's enjoy the hot springs. How about we rest before the battle?" Zoro suggested. "You too, Know It All."
"Me?" Rei was surprised at the notion and turned away from the window, "Shouldn't I go with the others? Am I strange?"
"Hot springs have healing powers," Zoro said, "And you're the most wounded out of all of us."
Chopper immediately raised his hand out to get Zoro's attention. "Her stitches are still fresh. She can't get her bandages wet! Besides, I'll stay close to her in case anything should happen."
"You just want to sneak a peek at the Know It All taking a bath, don't you?" Sanji hissed at Zoro.
"DON'T PUT ME IN THE SAME VEIN AS YOU!" Zoro thundered back.
"Leave the new clothes to me," Brook volunteered, "I'll take care of them."
"I won't be much help picking out clothes," Rei said before Zoro could say anything, "So don't try to get me to do that either."
"I wasn't going to," Zoro scoffed. Fine. That is the one time I butt into the Know It All's affairs. Not going to do it for the rest of the day.
When the Sea Train pulled into the station and the Straw Hats dispersed, Chopper and Rei decided to pretend to be shoe shiners near a bar where marines frequented. They saw a couple of kids wearing a funny orange hat and shining shoes near the train station. When Rei asked where they could get a position, the shoe shiners were more than happy to introduce them to their boss, who was even happier to get two new recruits. Inside the bar, Usopp pretended to be a manager for a dancer, Robin, while Nami worked as a waitress.
Chopper and Rei took turns shining the shoes of different men. The first few were not marines and were from out of town so weren't of any interest to them. Finally, a marine sat down in the chair. He was a slightly chubby man with brown hair and a round nose. He gave a crisp bill to Rei before setting his feet on the stand.
Rei took out the brush and scrubbed off all the dust and debris on his shoes. She noticed that it was full of volcanic ash. "Were you walking near the volcano, sir?"
"What?" the man asked confused. He looked down at his shoes and laughed, "Oh yes but that ash is only from active volcanos. The one on this island is dormant so no need to be alarmed. You have good eyes if you can tell that it's volcanic ash."
"My dad taught me," Rei said, thinking quickly on her feet, "He used to teach me a lot of things before he left."
"Where did he go?"
"He's part of the G5 now," Rei responded.
"Ooh, which unit? I might know him," the marine said.
Chopper started to sweat but Rei did not even bat an eye. "I don't know. He hasn't written to us since he reported to the Marine Headquarters. My mom is sure he's just been too busy to write but I bet something happened to him." She scrunched up her face to look like she was about to cry.
"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," the marine hurried to reassure Rei, "Headquarters has been pretty busy lately, what with all the latest events."
"Events?" Rei asked.
"You must've noticed with your keen eye," the marine said, "What with so many marines being on this island recently."
"Is the island in danger, sir?" Rei pressed, "I have an aunt that lives in a neighboring island. I've been trying to get my mom and I to go live with her for a bit but my mom doesn't think there's anything wrong. I know if I told her that a marine said the island was in danger, she'd listen."
"I'm not at liberty to say," the marine said with a frown.
Rei decided to press her luck, "I saw an old man with a bunch of people with him. I had never seen him on this island before. He had purple hair and he looked pretty dangerous to me, especially his left arm. The next day a lot of marines showed up here. Is he dangerous?"
"What? You saw him?!" the marine said as he jumped up from the seat, "Where did you see him go?"
"I saw him at the docks," Rei lied," and he was heading into town. I was shining shoes by the pier so I couldn't move from my station. I don't know where he was trying to get to. I'm sorry I can't be of much help, sir."
"That's quite alright," the marine said and gave Rei a pat on her head, "You're not a marine. It's not your job to find him."
"So you're looking for him now?" Rei asked, "Is that why you're here?"
"Ah, you caught me," the marine said with a nervous laugh, "Yes, I'm here to catch him. He's a dangerous man. If you see him again, go find a marine and tell him. He stole something from the Navy and that makes him a very, very bad man."
"What did he steal?" Rei asked, "And what does that have to do with this island?"
"Edwin!" a voice called from behind him and the marine immediately jumped to his feet to salute his superior officer, "This is no time to be shining your shoes. We need to be on the lookout."
"Sorry, sir," the marine said. He gave Rei another bill and patted her on the head before rushing off.
"Damn it," Rei said as she handed the two bills to Chopper, who was placed them in a neat little stack, "I almost had him."
"What do you think he stole?" Chopper asked.
"Whatever it is," Rei said, "It must be very bad for this many marines to be here."
"Pssst!" came a voice from the backdoor of the bar.
Rei and Chopper glanced over and saw Usopp's head poking out. "Come over here." Usopp came out from the doorway and sat on the stoop. Nami was right behind him and she sat down on the top step. "Did you guys find out anything?"
"Z is definitely on this island," Rei reported, "And the marines are here to look for him. He's got something that belongs to the Navy and they are eager to get it back."
"Do we know what he took or what he's going to do with it?" Nami asked.
Rei shook her head. She then realized something and looked over at Usopp, "Where's Robin?"
"She's still dancing," Usopp announced proudly, "She's in high demand now. Look how much money I got just by being her manager."
He pulled out a wad of bellis and showed the stack to Rei and Chopper. Chopper immediately took out his stack, which only held a pitiful amount of notes compared to Usopp. With one swoop, Nami had both stacks in her hand. She licked her thumbs and quickly calculated the sum.
She stuffed the money into her pocket. "Well, you guys have done your parts so now it's time to do mine."
"What are you going to do?" Rei asked.
Nami grinned, "Just leave it to me. You and Chopper can take a break now."
Chopper and Rei sat with Usopp on the second level of the bar, looking down at the stage and patrons below. Robin was very beautiful dancer and she gave a little wink when she spotted Chopper and Rei up in the balcony.
"Robin is quite popular," Chopper remarked with awe.
"Yeah, and because I'm her manager, I get all these perks!" Usopp said as he helped himself to a plate of steak that the bar's owner had generously given to him.
Rei glanced down at Nami, who was busy serving two marines another round of drinks. They were red in the face and looked slightly drunk but Rei could've sworn they came into the bar the same time her and Chopper did. Nami must've given them some heavier stuff, she thought to herself.
The marines were saying something to Nami that made her jump back in fright. Whatever they were saying to her was not good news. Suddenly, a man approached them from behind with a marine coat draped over his shoulders. The two men jumped to their feet to greet the officer.
"Not good," Rei said as she grabbed Usopp's steak knife out of his hand.
"Hey, I was using that," he complained, "If you want a piece just ask!"
"Nami's in trouble," Rei hissed. They looked down at Nami just in time to see her point at Usopp to the marine.
"Crap!" Usopp shrieked, "Nami threw the blame on us!'
"Should we run for it?" Chopper asked.
"It's really a shame," Usopp said sadly as he pierced his fork in the steak to take along with him, "but it's enough disguising myself as a manager."
They started to run away but then Rei noticed that the officer had grabbed Nami by the arm and was not letting her go. Robin saw it too from the stage and she crossed her arms. No! Rei thought, Don't blow your cover!
Thwack! Rei threw the steak knife at the man and it lodged right in the back of his hand. He yelled in reaction and let go of Nami in the process.
"Let's go!" Rei shouted down. Robin nodded up at Rei and jumped off the stage. She grabbed Nami and they ran off. Rei hurried down the steps as well to meet up with them. She was surprised to see Chopper at the bottom of the stairwell in his walking point. "Dr. Reindeer!"
"Get on," Chopper said, "You're still my patient and I don't want to sew you up for a third time."
Rei nodded and hopped onto his back. They joined Nami, Chopper, and Usopp at the back door and they all sprinted down the street.
"Ugh," Usopp complained as a group of marines chased after them, "Even so well of a disguise, we still ended up creating a huge conflict."
"But we got the information we needed!" Nami said confidently, "We've confirmed that Z is on this island even though we are still not too sure what he's planning on doing."
Usopp skidded to a halt and aimed his Kabuto at their pursuers. "Go on ahead!" he yelled to his friends.
He placed a pop green and pulled back his sling shot. "Sure Kill! Midori Boshi: Devil!" He unleashed the pod and out came multiple large venus fly traps. It caught many of the marines at the front.
The Straw Hats continued to run and soon they could see the big afro and bony arms of Brook waving to them from the distance. Zoro was wearing a grey suit and glasses while both Luffy and Sanji were in leather jackets. Brook was wearing a grey blazer with blue pants. Luffy walked out from among the group towards them. He had his hat lowered over his eyes and a frown on his lips.
"Luffy, we'll leave this to you!" Usopp cheered as they raced past their captain.
Rei looked back at Luffy just in time to see him unleash his Conqueror's Haki. All the marines got knocked back and fell unconscious save one, the one that she threw the knife at.
Luffy slowly walked up to him. "Where is Z?" he asked.
"He's on the other side of the island," the marine admitted, "My squad should be chasing him now."
"Yosh," Luffy said, "Sanji, Zoro, Usopp, let's go."
"What?! Why me?!" Usopp demanded.
Rei immediately lept off of Chopper and jumped onto Usopp's back. "You heard the captain. Go."
"Wait, why am I carrying you?!"
"I need to see Ain," Rei said, "If Z is there, so is she."
Suddenly, Rei was lifted off of Usopp's back and placed on Zoro's. Both the swordsman and Rei looked back in surprise as Sanji withdrew his hands from Rei's waist.
"If you want to deal with that Ain lady, then you better stick with either me or the shitty swordsman," Sanji said. He threw his cigarette on the floor and put it out with his foot. He then leaned over as if to whisper to Rei but he said it loud enough for Zoro to hear, "It's also better for him to have you to steer him so that he doesn't wander off."
"Are you calling me a horse?!" Zoro yelled.
"More like an ass," Sanji replied and gave Rei a pat on the head.
Rei nodded solemnly. "I'll make sure he follows you."
"I will drop you," Zoro threatened through clenched teeth but Rei did not respond. She did notice that he smelled like sandalwood from the hot springs and that his hair was still partially wet.
"Luffy," Nami called out as she waved good-bye to their group, "We'll meet you guys at the Sea Train."
"Yosh," Luffy said, thrusting a fist in the air. "Let's go kick some ass!"