Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece
I hope everyone who is reading this knows a chapter a day is enough reading and to be reading because you did a hard day's work. Reading is a privilege not a right.
XXX
They followed her through the deciduous forest, but the area was dark, no sunbeam could break through the treetops. Despite the darkness, that girl could pass without stumbling. The only member of the crew who could see in the dark was Sherry with her cat eyes.
"Hold hands, I'll be everyone's eyes, but don't touch my… Nyaaaa."
A cat-like scream was so loud that the girl heard it.
"A cat? Come, come without fear. I'll take you to town later, I'm too tired. I have to get to the guard."
"Please, let me be your guard in this forest."
Everyone was watching how close Sherry and Fletcher were being...him with his swings out and her with her tail in an upright position. Everyone knows a cat with a straight tail is an excited cat.
"Who is there?"
Silence is the only thing that could save them or try to deceive.
"Very well. Have it your way."
When one of them was going to leave, a bird came out near them, that calmed the girl down and she said more relaxed.
"A bird, thank goodness. I'm not here to talk or fight right now."
She turned and continued walking. Sherry said quietly.
"Do it again and you'll get a scratch."
Her attention went from her to the humble smiling face of Fletcher back to the growling fangs of Sherry.
Following her was easy but Sherry and they knew why no one explored the area, it's covered by a fine sea mist, the girl raised a hand and made a hole to pass easily, Fletcher copied her after waiting a while. On the other side stood the Ancient Tree, so large that they had seen it from the ship earlier. They saw a good distance to where it is going, a hole at the base of the tree. Near a spring. Now he had to decide how to approach her without scaring her or angering her.
He ran around the tree hoping she could see his blur.
There was no movement inside the hole and warn the others. So much silence worried them and Sherry decided to enter as she was the most silent. When she came out she just silenced them.
"She's sleeping, she must be pretty tired. Let's keep quiet. What do we do now?"
"Well, I think we can talk to one another until she wakes up. I have some questions I want to ask her," said Christopher.
It didn't take long as they began to hear screams inside the tree, they just peeked out and saw that she was having a nightmare.
She was writhing around while flailing her arms around, rolling around covering herself in dirt.
"It hurts. Why are you doing this to me Mira? I'm just... Aaaaah. Fenrir help me."
Tears fall from her closed eyes, some could not bear the pain of her and said Sherry.
"We have to wake her up."
Christopher acted fast sticking out his tongue before salivating some spittle from his very long tongue. The girl woke up and a strong wind pushed them away from the entrance, when she relaxed and saw them she just said.
"Damn it, what do I do now?"
Fletcher tried to relax her by showing her his hands.
"We won't hurt you. I promise."
The girl looked at them, she didn't seem relaxed and she even recognized some of them. She looked at Sherry and said.
"Are you OK?"
Sherry flinched being asked that question. She spun her right arm around, bend her arm in so she waws showing off her elbow, and even whacked it hard against a tree. In the end, her arm looked perfectly fine.
"It's pretty hard for a cat to have broken bones and I'm part cat."
"That's not what I meant but fine. And now, what are they doing on this part of the island? Damn it, I had a nightmare again."
She shook the earth from her body and even subtly used the wind to avoid suspicion.
The only one whose nostrils assailed with this wind was Fletcher. He could smell almost everyone when a strong windstorm blew, and right now he could smell the cordite coming from the fueled vehicles in the sea. There seemed to be more coming to the island-and right now everyone was under suspicion.
He wasn't the only one, when she finished removing the dirt, the girl sniffed the air and began to climb the giant tree.
She climbed better than Sherry and she was part cat. When she got up she looked out in the horizon seeing a ship vessel sailing towards the island.
"More people? I have to see Rouge."
She came down from the tree barely making a sound when she did, she told them.
"If you want to go to town, he accompanied you, it is better not to be here at night."
"The mayor requisitioned our boat. We can't rest or leave."
What Dorobu said stopped her before she could start walking.
"Mira, again. And why are you here?"
Everyone looked around wondering who she was talking to. It was obvious to know why Dorobou was there, he was both interested in finding money and didn't have many choices.
"Okay, okay. I said so. We're here first for the money and to hunt that giant wolf, but then Fletcher and Nautilus said they didn't want to and still didn't say why. But a voice led us to this great chest, When the mayoress returned, she told all of us hunters that we couldn't leave unless we got her bloody and filthy skin. One of the villagers told us about Captain Rouge and in turn gave us this sack and to look for Fenrir. But not instead from that we find you that by the way you act as if you have been attacked."
Everyone was amazed since he told everything or relatively everything. The girl sighed and said.
"And what do you want from the Fenrir?"
For a moment that question took him by surprise. No one had asked him what he'd want from a beast.
"No one said that."
"Yes, you did. Captain Rouge told you. 'Look for the Fenrir' That's how you explained it. Nobody ever comes here. Nobody, therefore..."
Christopher was wondering what they were trailing off for. It was like one of those once in a lifetime epiphanies a kind of genius has like making an invention.
Nautilus laughed at everything and decided to be a little funny.
"Come on, a girl in the middle of the forest alone, with no trace of an animal living around here. Has anyone come to a real conclusion?"
The girl seemed to know what she was saying since her face, before having fun, now showed fear. But Nautilus, being the smartass who pointed it out to everyone, was at risking of incurring her wrath. He could already feel the gales of wind blow in his face caused by this girl.
Yokai just said moving closer to her.
"I don't know what's going on here but it's true a beauty like you shouldn't be in the wild."
Christopher had dejavu.
He elongated his tongue and coiled it around his neck, or rather his trapezius so he could drag him away from the girl. Once he found a good hole to throw him in (making sure it wasn't too deep that it would kill him first of course) he walked back to her and looked at her less like a flirt and more like a stern brother.
"If you hurt him, at least accept that he may hurt you back. Humans are nothing if not defensive over their bodies and their egos. There is another thing you can do, talk to someone about the audacity people like him let out. I don't care much about people's lives but I am good at giving opinions."
Seeing him stand so stolid and brave not caring if he was hit by her powerful wind blast and speaking so earnestly...it made her feel a little flustered over him.
"Do you really want to know why I'm here alone? The betrayal of my blood, that's all. Whatever you want, I'm always alone even if Captain Rouge told me to get close to people. I only serve as a shield against those who really need me, I am always alone and always will be."
A single lonely tear almost escaped. She climbed the tree and stayed there without saying or doing anything.
She didn't get to stay alone for long. With Christopher's limber legs being inhumanly strong he quickly jumped to her peak without any hesitation. He didn't do much of anything; he just laid down on a spindly branch. He tipped over a little, but he crossed his legs around the sturdier part of the branch keeping him still.
"Why are you here?" She asked brusquely.
"My mother told me never to leave a girl alone when she's crying-'don't say anything, just show you are sympathetic to their sorrow'. Or maybe I was dreaming a beautiful, kind older woman was giving me advice. When you spend your life chasing after people it's hard to remember who you were...all you can know is you always have to look in every direction because there's always someone upset about someone dying."
"Okay, I'll fall for it. What are you really looking for now?"
"I guess I'm looking for what everyone else is: something to happen in my life that comes right out of a storybook. Marriage is something that is a goal people want; find happiness in it since I'm not so fickle I'll fall in love with any girl...or man. Maybe from this point on I'll never have to kill anyone again. But most of all...I want to become a good chef."
"I just want the truth to be known, the lie behind a person's greed. I want to be free from the curse of the past. Everything else... Doesn't matter."
"I see." Christopher's eyes darted down to the bottom of the tree where all his nakama looked like ants. They were standing around waving to him as if he were some celebrity. With a deep breath, his nostrils assailing with the barley closeby, he stood up prepared to jump. "Greed, it always starts with ambition. Do you think before you can show the world her greed you have to show her she wasn't born someone who wanted to do anything to fulfill her own needs?"
"I guess now you want the truth or one of your companions just wants to see the Fenrir."
She smiled and climbed down from the tree as if she were part of it.
She seemed to have a filial relationship with that Fenrir. It was almost as if he were her father and looking after her. Christopher knew when he died he was going to Hell but he had an inner orison for her.
Upon reaching the ground she said.
"First you should know that the legend of Fenrir, the giant wolf, resides on this island. But what is happening now started exactly 9 years ago. First of all let me introduce myself. My name is Lycain Aedoni and what I am going to tell you will cause chaos to what you think and know so far."
No one understood what was happening but they attended carefully.
"Mayor Relius Mira and her twin sister weren't very close, but she never caused her any anger, but she always wants to get what she wants no matter how she gets it. You've already seen that. Nine years ago Mira gave her a strange fruit for the sake of it. birthday for both, a gift. When trying the first bite, a mortal pain suffered throughout his being, at the end of that pain a silver fur covered his body and he stopped being human to be a kind of big wolf, he tried to escape and look for his parents outside, but everyone saw her. Mira made a simple request "I want that silver fur." No one made a move but if someone said that that wolf was a Fenrir cub, she still demanded the fur, picked up a gun and fired against his sister, hit him in the right front leg. Now, what do you think about what is happening?"
Aedoni clutched at her right arm, but each drew their own conclusion.
Fletcher just wanted to hear another story like the one she told them, Sherry felt angry with Mayor Relius Mira, and Dorobou just wanted to know where that gun was.
"I know it's silly to ask this question but I think for the first time I can trust someone other than Rouge. Where do you think the Fenrir is now? Everyone's opinion please and what's your name?"
"Are you asking for each of our names?" Christopher asked.
"I've introduced myself, but I didn't hear any of yours. Even I know that's rude."
"Well I'm Christopher. The one with the coins in his eyes is Dorobou. The monk is Yokai. Our only female and feisty member is Sherry. Our drifter is Nautilus. And the one who is standing next to you is Fletcher."