Chapter 4
Contacting the Pirate Empress
"Sanji? You…are you sure you should be moving so soon?" Nami asked the cook, after laying witness to him appearing at the door to the Medical Ward. The last time she had seen him, he had been bleeding pretty heavily from his right leg, so the Navigator was not entirely sure whether he was in tip-top condition just yet.
The blonde man simply waved his free hand, while keeping the other one rested on his knee in order to steady his gait, before replying to the orange haired woman," It's okay, Nami-san. During the past two years I was able to strengthen my legs by quite some measure, so the bullet wasn't able to dig that deep into the skin. Still," he looked to his injured leg, trying to move it in order to get it used to moving," I must admit the pain is more than when I kicked Bartholomew Kuma on Thriller Bark two years ago."
The leg in question, at the moment, had been wrapped in a sizeable cast by the ship's doctor, Tony Tony Chopper. Once he had applied the necessary treatment to Sanji, the deer had told him that the leg would require some time to get back to 100% again, so for the time being Sanji would be able to walk normally but he should try his level best to avoid exerting strenuous activity on his leg.
"Thank God," Usopp said, wiping a nervous sweat off his brow. He was relieved that one of the ship's top fighters was not knocked out for good, but more importantly he was glad that his friend was out of harm's way. Still, there was something that the dark haired man needed to know, prompting him to ask the blonde man after his sigh of relief," What happened to the bullet that hit you?"
At that moment, the ship's doctor then appeared from behind the cook, a few beads of perspiration evident on his face. This was proof of the concentration and time he had needed to patch up Sanji earlier, and the crew were silently appreciative of his medical skills at that point more than ever. "Once I removed the bullet from Sanji's body, I had a look at it before placing it somewhere safe." Chopper exhaled a little before continuing, this time a pensive look etched on his eyes," The bullet itself certainly did not look ordinary, plus it was heavier than normal." Sanji listened to the doctor awhile, before chipping in himself, "If Luffy was hit by more than one of those-"
He opted not to finish the sentence, since he did not want to fill the rest of his friends with despair of what would have been the worst possible encounter from the onslaught on their Captain by the Navy earlier. It would not to do quell their spirits, just when they had resolved themselves to seek assistance in their attempts to save their captain. The blonde man organized his thoughts for a little, before continuing what he had said on his reappearance onto the deck earlier," Anyway, what we have to focus on right now is retrieving our captain."
The ship's archaeologist, Nico Robin, chimed in at that point," About that…earlier, you talked about Amazon Lily. Why did you suggest that?"
Sanji cleared his throat a little, before responding to the tanned woman," Ah, that's what I was about to explain next. You guys saw it too, didn't you?" A series of utterly confused and glazed looks were shot Sanji's way, prompting him to continue so as to shed light on their doubts. "Earlier, when we left the Archipelago with Luffy, Hancock helped us to get rid of the Marines that were about to intercept us en route. My guess is that, if it's for Luffy's sake, she's not afraid to go even against the Marines. To boot, she's one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, so that in turn gives us a very powerful ally."
The orange haired girl in the crew agreed to this notion from the cook, adding on," I'm all in agreement with what Sanji-kun says, but the thing is, Amazon Lily isn't exactly an island that is easy to navigate via normal means. Plus, I haven't the faintest idea where it is. How will we get there?"
Sanji nods in agreement to Nami's worries, bearing in mind that there was a chance the rest of the crew felt the same way as well. "Don't worry; I know exactly where it is." He replied in a calm voice. He then turned his back to the rest of the crew members, facing the entrance to the interior section of the ship. Placing one of his feet forward, he beckoned to the others," Come with me for a while guys. I want to show you something."
The rest of the crew, save for the green haired swordsman, followed suit after the blonde cook. Zoro decided to remain on helm to keep out watch, as they were still on unchartered waters and did not want to be caught off guard again by a Marine Ship like they had been with Onigumo and his men earlier. As the rest took leave of his company, however, Chopper promised to fill him in on the details once they were able to settle on a way forward.
Once they were inside the Map Room of the ship, where Nami kept most of her navigation equipment plus a map of the entire sea, consisting of islands they had sailed to, and even those they had not sailed to. The crew members gathered around the table with the map on it, Sanji standing in the midst of them all, where he would be able to have a clear view of the map. He pointed to a particular point on the large map with his free hand, and then marked it with a red X a few moments later in order to denote it for the others. "So this," he spoke after a few seconds of silence had elapsed," is where Amazon Lily is." The section in question that he had marked was oddly small, denoting the size of the island in question and making it clear why most people thought of the island as a myth.
"You sure know a lot about this island, Sanji-san," the ship's musician, Brook, commented, while giggling to himself in amusement. Sanji focused his eyes into the sockets of the skeleton, a smirk on his face. Placing one hand to his chest in pride, the Cook remarked, in an upbeat voice," That's right! As a kid the two things I wanted to know most in the world were about the Suke Suke no Mi, plus the location of Amazon Lily since I heard it was an island of purely women. I wanted to go see the island for myself one day." At this point, Sanji had placed a finger on his chin, being drawn in by the nostalgia of his past memories as a child.
"Sanji-san, I like how you think," Brook commented, and at this point the two men broke out into rasps of laughter, something that puzzled the other crew members that had also been gathered there. Nami sighed in exasperation, placing a finger to her forehead in order to prevent herself from lashing out at the two men in one of her usual fits of anger. "You guys-" she commented exhaustively, but to her relief, her fellow female came to her rescue this time and brought the two men back to the harsh reality of the situation.
"Wait, I don't think it would be a good idea heading there," Robin said, after studying the map for a few minutes, taking into account Sanji's information plus the features that were present on the map.
"What do you mean, Robin?" Usopp asked, bobbing his head forward so as to get a better glance of the older woman's face at the moment. Robin arched her body slightly forward, and then continued in a coherent voice, drawing the attention of the other members in the room. "If I remember correctly, Amazon Lily is located in the Calm Belt, so that means the sea in that area is infested by Sea Kings. That's part of the reason that the Government finds it difficult contacting Boa Hancock more than the other Seven Warlords."
Of course, Robin being privy to this information was not something that surprised Nami, Usopp, Chopper and Sanji , since they were well aware of her background as one of the member of the former Warlord, Crocodile's Baroque Works. The Sand Man might have let this information known to his members as part of keeping them informed in order to deepen their trust in him.
The Sniper of the Crew, at the revelation of this news, became immediately distressed, rubbing his head with both his hands in a show of his loss of what to say. Usopp then said, in a resigned voice, "Damn it, Robin is right. Even if the Thousand Sunny is stronger than the Going Merry, the ship will still take considerable damage if it's attacked by a flurry of Sea Kings."
"If that's the case then going to the island is a no," Chopper said, from his hunched up position on the table. Being shorter than the others, he had to grab onto the table with his hands in order to catch a glimpse of the map and be a part of the conversation with the others. "There should be another way of contacting Hancock then and making her learns of our current predicament. If things go smoothly we might even be able to arrange a rendezvous point with her where we can meet with her then organize the rescue operation."
Nami, her hands placed on her waist, titled her head to the side in order to get a better view of the map. Now that she noticed it, Robin was right about the island being located on the Calm Belt, even if this matter had not been inscribed on the map. She made a mental note to make that small change later. "There's no wind in the Calm Belt, so sailing till there, even if we agreed to it, would take an awfully long time. By that time, who knows what could have happened to Luffy? I agree with Chopper, we need to find another way to contact the island."
"Then why don't we ask Old Man Rayleigh?" A foreign voice suggested, shafting the attention of the room's occupants to the entrance, where Zoro had just made his appearance and was eyeing each of them with certain disapproval in his voice.
"HEY YOU DAMN MARIMO! WHY AREN'T YOU KEEPING A LOOK OUT ON THE DECK?!" Sanji immediately berated the man in his usual displeased tone, where he looked as if he were ready to kick the swordsman off the ship. The green haired man, who had reached the peak of his boredom and irritation as well, immediately retaliated at the cook who he could barely stand," BRING IT ONE YOU DAMN NOSEBLEED CHEF! WHO ON EARTH WOULD WANT TO BE ASSIGNED A BORING ACTIVITY LIKE THAT?!" He then proceeded to place one of his hands on his swords that lay at his waist and the duo of swordsman and chef stared daggers at each other, a routine that the others were well acquainted to and used to at that point in time.
"What does the old man have to do with Hancock?" Franky asked, keeping his gaze on the swordsman. The matter he had raised had piqued Franky's interest, him choosing not to pay attention to the small feud between Zoro and Sanji at the moment. The green haired man, his attention withdrawn from Sanji, looked at the shipwright, and then relaxed his hold on his swords. Clearing his throat, he kept his one visible eye closed, then said, in a much calm and collected manner," I see, most of you didn't meet up with Rayleigh when you first arrived at Sabaody. The old man told me that he left Luffy on his own for 6 months on Amazon Lily. That means that he and Luffy had been on Amazon Lily for the past two years, so Rayleigh knows the Pirate Empress in some way right?"
After this response from Zoro, the room was filled with silence, as if each of the members were in silent agreement with what the swordsman had just said. "Tch, I hate to agree with him, but the Moss Head is right," Sanji spoke up, effectively breaking the ice. Rubbing the back of his blonde hair with his hand, he continued, "It may be a long shot, since there might also be a chance that Hancock might have been lenient to Rayleigh-san only because of Luffy, but it's still worth trying."
The cook then turned his gaze to Nami, who was standing next to him in order to offer assistance with deciphering the map if need be. " Nami-san, could you check how far we are from Sabaody?' The orange haired woman broke out in a rare grin at the cook, before rushing outside onto the deck with her Log Pose in hand. Once on the grassy surface, she halted, taking a look at the Log Pose so as to try and figure out the position of the next island. The pointer came to a rest in the direction of west, and the woman immediately surmised that from their earlier Coup De Burst to escape the Marines, they should have not gone that far off course from the Archipelago. She could not be 100% sure on her claim, but they still had to check so as to be sure.
"Franky!" Nami called in an elevated voice. Moments later, the burly manappeared on deck, wondering why the navigator had called for him. Wordlessly, she pointed in the same direction her log pose had been pointing earlier, and the shipwright needed no further words so as to know what he was being instructed to do. He took his position on the steering wheel of the ship, and they were soon on course back to the island they had said goodbye to a few hours earlier. It was a pretty ironic thing. In all their moments of sailing, the Strawhats had never looked back upon any of the islands they had set sail from, but this time, they had to do it, for their captain's sake.
The island came into view shortly after, the bubbles that lay above the sky in the island growing more and more visible to the navigator and shipwright on deck. Upon seeing the familiar bubbles, Nami was overjoyed, leaping softly into the air from her position on deck. Franky had a wide grin placated upon his facial features, and he increased the speed of the ship, shouting to the others, "You guys! We've arrived!"
The Strawhats set anchor at the edge of the island, where their ship had been in tow for the past two years as well, before proceeding to decide who would go and talk to Rayleigh about the predicament they were in. It went without saying that Sanji was required to stay on deck, since Chopper insisted upon performing more medication on his injured leg so that he would be in tip-top condition soon, so with that the duo of cook and doctor stayed behind. Brook decided to linger behind as well, figuring that he wanted to keep watch over the ship while Chopper and Sanji were in the Medical Ward. Usopp as well was told to stay behind, since in case the ship would come under attack from any ruffians, then his long distance attacks would be best suited to deal with them since they didn't draw too much attention unlike the attacks from the other crew members. At this decision, Usopp prayed fervently that no one in their right mind would decide to try and steal the ship while he and Brook were still there.
That left the team of Zoro, Nami, Franky and Robin to go see Rayleigh and inform him of the situation. The quartet of Strawhats wasted no time in heading to Rayleigh's home, which lay in a less populated area of the island. The white haired man, upon opening his door to his unknown guests, was mildly surprised to come upon the members of the Strawhats so soon. He had bid them farewell a while back, coating their ship as well, so seeing them on the island so soon seemed slightly odd to him.
"You kids, why are you here?" He asked them in a curious manner, after welcoming them in his house and letting them make themselves comfortable in his furniture. Shakky, who was at the counter as usual cleaning glasses, was also surprised to see them, but from the grave looks on their faces, she knew that they had not come there out of sheer courtesy.
Nami placed one hand on the table before her, then replied in an urgent voice, "There's no time to delve into details, Rayleigh-san, but the truth is, Luffy has been captured by the Marines. We need to contact Boa Hancock as soon as possible. Would you mind helping us?"
The Dark King's eyes widened at this revelation, and if it were any other moment, he would have thought that he was being thrown for a loop by those kids. However, like Shakky, he had also witnessed the stern looks etched on their faces when they had first appeared, so he knew that this was no joke. He looked back at the dark haired woman at the counter, who's bewildered expression mirrored the one that was also etched on his face. No words need to be said between the two, as immediately, the woman went into the back of the shop and brought back the Transponder Snail. She placed it before Rayleigh, and the aged man, realizing that time was of the essence, immediately began dialing the Pirate Empress.
A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay in the update, a lot of things happened, but well here I am now. I hope this chapter turned out okay, for some reason I don't think I got to the best start possible with this story, so from now on I will try my level best to make each chapter plausible and avoid any minor inconsistencies as there have been in the first three chapters. Make sure to read, review, and most importantly of all enjoy this chapter!