Ship Log 3: Treasure Island

Today Usopp helped Luffy paint our Jolly Roger on black flags and the sails: A skull and crossbones with a toothy grin and a straw hat. It's very fitting of the crew and captain. Not long after Nami spotted Treasure Island and we stopped off on shore. I brewed everyone some tea in a thermos while we were setting our course for land and Usopp agreed to carry it in his bag. There were weird creatures and plants that were a cross between two species or more. Zoro fell asleep in the woods and we were attacked by someone that Luffy ended up chasing after. As a loyal crew, we ended up chasing after our impulsive captain, leaving Zoro to sleep. He found us later.

We found a little man named Gaimon stuck in a chest with a bush for hair. He claimed to be a Kami to protect the weird animals and a treasure he'd been unable to reach for 20 years after falling into the chest. Luffy offered to get it off the plateau where they were stuck and the treasure chests turned out to be empty. We offered to take him with us, but he wanted to protect the weird animals there. We all got back on the ship and set sail again. It was nice to be back on land for a few hours, even if we did have wooden spears shot at us.

Personal Log 3: Tea

While we were talking to Gaimon in the woods, Usopp poured some tea into the cup of the thermos, sitting on his knees to drink it. It reminded me of the nights when we'd sit in his house trying to come up with stories for Kaya and my father. I can't imagine how many gallons of tea we drank together. Brewing tea is the one thing I can do in the kitchen that doesn't start a grand scale fire. I had to cook outside on the island so the fire was at least contained.

Anyway, Usopp's sitting there sipping his tea when Zoro stumbles out of the woods, yawning like a bear. He takes the cup out of Usopp's hands, sits on a boulder, and drinks it himself. I guess he really liked the cup I made for him the other night. Either that or he thought Usopp looked a little too comfortable. I can't help but take a little womanly pride and believe the former. That version, at least, makes me feel not entirely useless.

Hair Product

Frustrated groans can be heard throughout the ship, followed by the clatter of small objects and the occasional sound of something hitting the wall. Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp have approached the door to the women's bedroom cautiously, but none of them feel brave enough to open it. Usopp in particular flinches every time there is an impact on the other side. There are occasional comments from behind the door such as "Why isn't this working?" and "You were fine two hours ago!"

"Should we go in and check on her?" Luffy asks, none too softly. There is another yell and something crashes.

"Are you crazy? She'd kill us if we went in right now!" Usopp whispers loudly.

"Maybe I should go make some tea," Zoro muses.

"You're thinking of tea at a time like this?" Usopp yells.

"Not for me, you idiot!" he responds.

"What's going on?" All three men start when they hear Nami's voice behind them.

"Nami!" Usopp brightens significantly. "Karmen seems to be having… problems. We'll let you go and check things out." He smiles innocently and hopes Nami will lead the charge.

Something else crashes. "Useless!"

Nami stares at the door hesitantly. Taking a deep breath, she approaches and knocks. "Karmen? Are you ok?" Somewhere in that sentence the men back up five paces.

"Nami~!" comes a wailing sob from behind the door.

"What's going on in there?"

"Nothing works!"

"I'm coming in, ok?" There was a slight rustle of fabric as Nami opens the door slowly.

Karmen is sitting at the vanity with a towel draped over her head, which is laid flat on the table. A dark cloud seems to seep from her and the scattered bottles of cosmetics strewn across the room. "Nami, how do you get your hair to stay so pretty in all this wind? My hair's so curly that these winds make it frizz. None of the products I used back in Syrup Village work out here!"

"I've actually never had that problem," Nami laughs self-consciously. "My hair's naturally straight, so the wind doesn't bother me much."

Zoro pokes his head around the doorframe. "All this is about hair?" He's struck square in the vein in his forehead by a flying jar of gel. "I'll go make that tea."

Nami quickly shoos the other two away and goes back to the pile of depression in front of her. She lifts the towel off to find fuzzy curls in some areas and gooped down tuffs in others. She smiled gently. "Come on. Let's go wash all this out and then we can figure out something."

Karmen dons the towel again and they shuffle up a floor to the bathroom. Nami has her lean her head over the sink as she rinses out all the failed hair products that have been piled on. "Back on the island it wasn't that breezy. The cliffs blocked most of the wind from the ocean and I never really had reason to go down to the shore. I was fine leaving my hair down all day and it only took a little bit of mousse or oil to make my hair cooperate. When I'm cleaning I can just tuck it under a bandana or something but I can't do anything with it on this boat!"

Nami finishes her rinse and begins to dry Karmen's hair with a fresh towel. "I'm sure we can pick a hairstyle that suits you until we find a town that has something that will work. And it's not like there's too many people to impress on this ship."

"Easy for you to say. Usopp's curls stay perfect without him even trying! And what if we run into another ship? I don't want to have an afro when I meet complete strangers."

"That would be interesting," Nami laughs softly. Karmen just groans beneath the towel. Nami takes her back to the bedroom. "Let's try a ponytail first. Your bangs seem to do ok without much product, so let's leave them down for now. And if we twist this part here…. Pin this here… There! That looks nice. The pieces I left out aren't long enough to frizz too badly. What do you think?" Nami stands back and beams at her work.

Karmen examines her head in the mirror. Her dark bangs curl damply, framing the right side of her face. Her hair is pulled back into a loose ponytail that lets her hair retain its curl but leaves it restrained and out of the wind's control. The loose hair on the back of her head is twisted around the base and pinned so that curls cascade down to her neck. Karmen smiles happily at the mirror and lets a few tears well up in her eyes. "Nami, you're a miracle worker."

She receives a grin in return. "Come on. Zoro said he was making tea. You should throw things more often. It's nice having the guys do a little extra around the ship."