Ship's Log 17: Monkeys and Kidnappers
A ship fell on us today. From the sky. Robin says it could have come from a sky island. Any doubts the crew had about her being an archeologist went out the window as she examined a skeleton that landed onboard. When exploring the wreckage, partially in submersible barrels, they found only a map of Skypia and an odd bike. While they were underwater a group of salvage monkeys sailed up and used air to lift the wreckage. The sky went dark and giant figures appeared in the mist. Before we left, Robin was able to swipe an eternal pose to Jaya.
Karmen waves to the crew as she sets off to restock the tea. "Don't be gone too long now," Usopp calls. She sips her tea from her thermos as she walks, admiring the sky over Mock Town in Jaya where they have just docked. Karmen had promised not to stay gone too long since the crew is only going to shore for information on Skypia. Sanji had nearly insisted on coming with her, but she declared herself well stocked and able to protect herself in a lowlife rabble town like this. Besides, had she requested his assistance Usopp would have had a heart attack, since five other pirate ships are docked nearby. She adds more bloodroot to her tea and muses aloud, "What should I write father about next." She looks out at the ocean to where her home island lies.
Footsteps behind her get rather close once she turns a corner. "I haven't been gone that long. Did something happen?"
"No, but something's gonna happen if you don't tell us where you're keeping the treasure. That is a pirate ship you just got off of, isn't it?" Karmen glances over, rather bored, to see three men she's never seen before. They are all burly men with cropped haircuts. One of them is shirtless and the other two wear bloodied clothes. All three carry clubs.
"We don't have any treasure."
The apparent leader smashes a hole in the wall. "Tell us the truth, girlie."
She sighs and sits at a table outside a nearby pub, deciding to humor their illusions instead. "Nami took the treasure to be exchanged. You won't find any there on the ship."
"And why should we trust you?" The man in front raised his club and smashes the table. Karmen barely reacts in time to get her thermos out of the way. She'd been a jinx to tables lately.
Karmen sips her tea, unimpressed. "Merry may be a pirate ship, but I'm just a secretary. I don't fight and I don't prevent raids."
"So they went to exchange the treasure, huh?" The shirtless one says. "Well then why don't we give them an invitation to offer it to us, then?" He held up a spool of rope.
Karmen groans. "I'll leave a ransom note. This will annoy the captain, though." Producing a piece of paper she quickly writes. "Hey guys. I've been kidnapped again! The-"… "What's your group name again? It would be easier for them to drop off the money if they know where to look."
"The Morning Stars."
"But you carry clubs." Karmen blinks at them and shrugs at their angry faces. "Where do you want them to take it?"
"The warehouse on 10th and Western."
"The Morning Stars want you to bring the money Nami just exchanged to the warehouse on 10th and Western. See you soon! -*heart* K… PS: If you send Zoro, make sure someone goes with him. I'd rather be picked up quickly." She pins the note on the pub's exterior wooden support beam with a quill and holds her hands out to the men, one wrist slightly rotated. "Ok. I'm ready." Taking her bag with big grins, they tie her hands behind her and tie her arms to her torso. None of the bystanders offer to help her. Either this sort of thing is normal for Mock Town or they're all confused about why a petite woman would be almost cheerful to be kidnapped. "If you see a man wearing a straw hat, a woman with orange hair, and a man carrying three swords, point them to that note please."
They don't blindfold her and she finds herself frowning at all the smiling symbols she sees around town. She had thought this would be a quick trip that didn't warrant her outfit and she feels exposed wearing a short sleeved shirt and a knee length skirt. At least she chose sandals she could run in. The trio didn't seem like bad men, despite their excessive use of rope. They walked at an even pace and didn't pull her down the street. If she wasn't bound it would have reminded her of her bodyguards back home. She finds their efforts adorable and decides she won't hurt them if it can be helped. They lead her to the warehouse promised and deposit her on the floor before tying her ankles too. "Sit there and be quiet," the first guy says. Setting her bag to the side, the men spread out and sit on boxes positioned around a fire pit.
"Is this much rope really necessary? It's not like I've fought you at any point in this. Really, I'm happy to just sit and wait for the crew."
"Maybe it's a little excess, but it's better to be safe than sorry," says the leader.
"That's fine, I guess," she pouts. She slipped a sharp quill pen out the back of her waistband and cut herself loose. "If you'd like I can make us some tea while we wait." She holds up a metal canister to the shirtless guy and smiles prettily.
He yells and almost falls off his crate. "How did you get out? And where were you keeping that?"
"Oh come on guys. It would be a bad sign for a ship's secretary to not have tea on her at all times. And every woman needs to know how to slip out of a little bit of rope when she's on a ship full of men." She offers the amateurs tea again. "I'm useless and weak, so it's not like I'm going to run away. I just want to do something while we wait. You wouldn't want me to get bored, would you?" She gives her best puppy dog eyes. "It's even my favorite and I'm willing to share with you guys."
Grunt number two finally speaks up. "Well, I guess some tea would be nice. What kind is it?"
"Lemon Caapi tea! It can only be found in jungles, so it's really rare." Karmen dances over to their small fire and started boiling the water.
"Where'd you get the kettle?" asks thug number one.
"I already told you. I'm a secretary. I wouldn't be any good at my job if I couldn't make tea at any minute, even if the crew was in battle."
"Even then, huh?" asks shirtless monkey number three.
Karmen glares over at them. "What kind of secretary do you take me for? The only files I keep are the ship's logs and the navigation reports. Cleaning and making tea are my prime duties!" She takes a calming breath and hums as she sprinkles in some tea leaves. "I've been wanting to test this tea out for the longest time, so I'm actually glad you guys came along. It's my own special blend. I do hope you like it." Using an old box lid as a tray, she gives each of the kidnappers a cup of hot tea and sits down on a box with her own. The leader watches her take a sip first and then drinks from his.
"This is good," he says.
"I'm glad. I was worried it would be too bitter at first." Karmen is glad that she's been alternating the leaves and bark in her meals daily since leaving Little Garden. She had added other poisons to her meals as well, but she was having trouble finding good times to apply them in a battle situation, mostly because she'd been avoiding battles. "You guys haven't been doing this long, have you?"
"Only a month," admits number three. Two hits him.
"Well it's a good town for it, as long as you don't go after the wrong target," Karmen observes.
"Thank you for being so cooperative," the leader says. He's about halfway through his cup. "We really don't like roughing up women."
"No, no. You have been lovely and I have faith in the crew."
After a few minutes of talking, she hears one of them gasp. It is crony number two. "Hey, have you always been made of ink?"
"Made of ink? Interesting. Are you sure it's not just a trick of the light? It is rather dim in here." Karmen pulls out a piece of paper and begins jotting out notes. "Anything else?"
"Why is there so much screaming? Something bad must be happening a few streets over," comments number one. Karmen notes the tremor in his voice. "This town gets too rough for us. Especially with that guy's men around."
"There are black snakes coming out of her skirt. They look poisonous. Run! She must have devil fruit powers. She's some kind of monster!" They take off towards the front entrance.
"Not that way! There's a ghost ship sailing through the walls!" They turn around and stumble over themselves like some sort of comedy act.
Karmen has to stop writing because she's laughing so hard. After a minute she wipes away a tear and examines her abandoned surroundings. "Well hello. What did you boys leave me?"
Luffy, Nami, and Zoro have just arrived back at the ship as Karmen drags a big sack up the street with a Luffy-like grin on her face. "Karmen? I thought you were on the ship," the captain calls. "Nami said that note looked like a fake and wanted to look here first."
"I, uh, decided to go shopping." She pulls the bag up to the gangplank.
"What happened to your wrists?" Nami asks, looking down at the rope burns that are visible.
"Just a casualty of progress. I had some visitors and took them out for a special tea blend. What happened to you guys? You look terrible." She notes several cuts and bruises on both men. Nami looks angry.
Zoro holds up the ransom note and returns her quill. "Is this supposed to be a joke?"
"Not at the time, but you can tear it up now."
"What kind of visitors did you run into? What happened to them?" asks Usopp after catching some of what was written on it.
She grins wickedly. "Just some guys trying to make their way in the world. They had a bad trip."
"… Right." Zoro hands the note back to her as she pulls the bag onto the ship. She rips it up and drops it into the ocean.
"Nami, you can split this equally amongst the crew. I got what I wanted." She holds up her notes, humming happily as she goes to go copy them into her research journal.
Nami opens the bag and grins. "Karmen, where did you get all this treasure?"
Zoro looks toward the door that Karmen has disappeared into and crosses his arms. "Do you guys remember that screaming we heard on our way back?"
"What about it?" Luffy asks.
"Something tells me she caused it."
Robin returned to the ship with information on a man who may be able to help us and we ran into the salvage captain's brother. I think the whole family are monkey men. This guy could use some serious singing lessons. His sonar mic almost wrecked Merry. Usopp and I were especially upset, since the ship was a gift from our precious Kaya. We found Montblanc Cricket's house and the story of Montblanc Noland, the liar, who was executed saying a great treasure sunk into the sea. Cricket, Noland's descendant, and his two friends, the salvage captains, have been trying to prove or disprove the legend left behind.
He and the monkey brothers fixed our ship so that we could ride the Knockup Stream current, a jet of water, into the air and land on permanent clouds. We had to catch a south bird to keep us on course and Robin ended up being the one to catch it. She's turning out to be a useful member of the crew today, as much as I hate to admit it. I'm finding it really hard to dislike this woman. Usopp managed to catch me a poisonous tarantula. I milked the venom and set him free.
When we returned the three men had been mugged and Merry's bow had been split in two. Usopp and I stood there shaking with rage. Even with the repairs we've done on her, I'm not sure how much more our beloved ship can take. Apparently the guys who bloodied up Luffy and Zoro in Mock Town were the culprits. If I could reach it at the time I would have used the Plucharon. I've finally made an antidote for it and Luffy went to deal with them while we tended the ship. He returned triumphantly after sunrise with the stolen gold and a Hercules beetle. His bounty has gone up to 100 million berries and Zoro's is 60 million. We're all a little jealous. Even me, to my own surprise. I should join more battles.
We've set sail with Merry patched together and fitted with a pair of wings. I can still see the damage from inside my workstation, even though they fixed her well. I had to put half my bottles back on the shelf. They totally messed up my filing system.
We aren't sure if we can make it to Skypia in one piece. The monkey men took us to the center of a whirlpool that will become the knockup current. I have to stop writing for now to secure our possessions, but as long as we have the captain with us, I'm sure his luck will carry us through, or in this case, up.