Vivi had to think quickly. She had just convinced Masira they weren't a threat, but now Luffy, Zoro and Sanji had thrown a (monkey) wrench into everything by attacking his men who had gone underwater. There was a way out of this, she just needed to be convincing.
"Masira!" She shouted, "I know who attacked your men!"
"Who?!" He demanded. Vivi gulped. She had to phrase this correctly.
"It's our men," she replied. "Our Captain and two others went below the surface to scavenge for the repairs I mentioned. They wouldn't have known your men weren't enemies. If you just let them resurface, I'm sure we can get an apology for their behaviour." Masira looked annoyed with her, so she did her best to look amicable and friendly. Last thing they needed was to start a fight with such a bigger ship.
"Fine then! Let your men surface, and apologise immediately! I expect tears and everything!"
"May as well ready our cannon then," Nami muttered. "Oh well, better this than anything else. Luffy!" She called into the pipe connecting them to their allies, "get up here! We have company!"
"Nami?" He asked, "you sure? There's a ton of treasure down here!"
"Treasure?!" Nami demanded, "well bring it all up with you, but be sneaky about it! Otherwise we'll be in trouble!"
"Even when I bring her treasure she gets me in trouble..." Luffy mumbled through the pipe. There was a brief silence as Johnny and Yosaku pulled up the trio in the water, Vivi trying to figure out how she was going to get Luffy to apologise. As she thought, she noted Robin had her eyes on the enemy ship, occasionally moving her hands in an odd motion. What was she doing?
She was interrupted by a shout from the pipe.
"Luffy?" Nojiko asked into it, "you guys okay?"
"Uh," Sanji's voice came, "I think we just got eaten by something."
"Stop clowning around," Nami told him, "hurry up."
"He's not lying, Nami," Zoro said, "I think we got-!"
Before Zoro could finish, the Merry and Masira's ship lurched forward. Vivi stumbled, but couldn't get a word out before they began sailing forward.
"What the hell is happening?" Marianne asked.
"Look at the tubes!" Usopp said, "we're being pulled by something!" Vivi looked and noticed he was right. The tubes feeding air to Luffy and the others were being pulled forward along with them.
"Well, these things happen," Nami said, "sever the tubes and leave them to die!" Nojiko punched her sister in the arm at this.
"Don't be a moron!"She chastised, "Chopper, go correct the rudder so he keep up with whatever is pulling us. We don't want to lose them!"
"Uh, r-right!" Chopper transformed into his buff form and ran for the rudder control to correct it's course.
"Easy my friends!" Masira shouted from his own ship. "We'll be a-okay once the beast lets us go! We just need to-!"
Masira was interrupted as the water behind his ship erupted upwards, a massive creature surfacing. Vivi looked up to find a massive turtle had surfaced, the air tubes they'd given to their crew hanging from it's mouth.
"It's a monster!" Usopp shouted, "We're gonna die!"
"Relax," Vivi said as she got a closer look, "it's a Grand Turtle. They're peaceful."
"It ate Big Bro Luffy and the others!" Yosaku shouted.
"It was probably an accident," she replied. "I imagine it surfaced to throw up what is just at-!"
Vivi's point was made when the turtle opened it's mouth and ejected the ship, Luffy, Sanji and Zoro, along with several men that could only be Masira's men. Luffy reacted quickly once he was airborne, grabbing Sanji and Zoro and stretching his arm towards Merry's mast and flinging them towards the ship. They landed hard on the deck, Luffy laughing. A bunch of loot from the ship landed around them in a circle, a suit if armour nearly hitting Johnny on the head.
"That was awesome!" Luffy shouted, "Let's go again!"
"Let's not," Zoro replied, "that turtle has horrible breath."
"Glad to see you two weren't digested," Nojiko said. "Now, stand up and be nice, we have guests." All three men got to their feet, turning to face Masira and his crew.
"That's a monkey," Luffy said bluntly.
"Good, so you two have something in common," Nami told him flatly, making Marianne snort.
"I see your Captain has joined us!" Masira shouted, "you there! Apologise to my men for beating them up!" A few ape-adjacent looking crew mates of Masira appeared behind him, looking beaten up.
"Why?" Luffy demanded, "they attacked me too."
"I don't care! Apologise before me sink the lot of you!"
"Luffy," Vivi said, grabbing a hold of her Captain's shoulder. "Don't antagonise them. Our repairs aren't finished, and they've got more firepower than us. Last thing we need is to lose the Merry."
"I'm not gonna apologise for beating us guys who attacked us," Luffy said.
"Then don't!"
"What?" Vivi took a deep breath.
"Words are powerful, Luffy," she said. "If you chose them carefully, they're better than a weapon. Don't apologise for attacking his men, apologise for not knowing they weren't enemies, and that you wouldn't have if you'd known they were friendly. Here, repeat after me-" Luffy made a face at this, seemingly judging her words. Finally, he turned back to Masira and sighed.
"Hey," he called, "I'm sorry, I didn't know your guys were enemies. The Grand Line is dangerous, so I attacked first and planned on asking questions later."
Masira watched them warily for a few seconds, looking unimpressed. After a few seconds, his mouth spread into a cheeky grin.
"It's no problem!" He said with a wave, "after all, things are dangerous out here! Can't be too careful! Now, let's set about fixing your ship."
"See?" Vivi whispered to him, "you didn't technically apologise for attacking. Easy."
"Damn," Luffy said, "where'd you learn that?"
"I've been trained in diplomacy, Luffy. I know how to talk." Luffy grinned back at her.
"Good thing you're here," he said, "otherwise we'd have a fight on our hands." The crew went about their business as Masira got his crew organised to gather the bits of the ship that the turtle had thrown up, even though there wasn't much. That was until Nami went through what Luffy and the others dragged up from the seafloor.
"There's no ship log here!" She shouted at him, "no charters, no maps, no nothing! What use are you?!"
"Treasure is treasure!" Luffy shouted back, "Besides, how were we supposed to find books and stuff underwater? It'd all be soggy and useless!"
"It'd be in a chest!"
"Well, we checked! Wasn't any books!"
"Relax, Nami." Nojiko said, leaning on the railing. "I doubt that ship had anything useful left on it. Whoever killed them took anything of value. I would."
"Well, we don't know if anyone killed anyone," Vivi argued, crossing her arms, "but I agree. Ship was probably ransacked years ago." Nami exhaled loudly and slouched.
"So now what?" She demanded, "we're lost without a functioning Log Pose! What do we do?!"
"Don't fret, Navigator," Robin said, joining the conversation. "I found a little treat for you." A shadow came over the ship, blotting out the sun.
"What happened?" Nami asked. Before Robin could reply, people began screaming on Masira's ship, making them jump. Looking over, Vivi saw them trembling and pointing to the sky. Turning herself, her eyes widened.
Plastered against the sky was a trio of massive outlines. Outlines in the shape of people. They towered high into the sky, able to crush Merry under their heel easily. And they seemed to be facing their direction.
"What the hell is that?!"She heard Yosaku screech.
"Monsters!" Johnny shouted, "we need to get the hell out of here!"
"Chopper!" Luffy shouted, "get us out of here!" The reindeer ran for the stick, and soon the Merry was fleeing as fast as it could go. Every so often they looked over their shoulder, but the beasts had disappeared. That didn't prevent them from going until the wind died.
"Did we lose them?" Johnny asked.
"Well I can't see them, so I guess?" Yosaku replied.
"Seems Masira fled as well," Robin noted coolly.
"Well now what?!" Nami demanded, "we needed him to get us to civilisation! Now we're lost again!"
"Not true," Robin said. She reached into her jacket and tossed something at Nami, who stumbled but caught it. "I stole that from our ape friend. It's an Eternal Pose."
"When did you do that?" Vivi asked.
"While he was posturing on us," she replied. "We had need of it, so I took it."
"Good work Robin!" Luffy said. "Nami, what does the Pose point to?"
"Some place called Jaya," the redhead replied. "At least now we have a direction. Better than nothing."
"Onwards to Jaya then!" Luffy shouted, "Then to the sky!"
"That's not how that works!"
"Ow!"
The ride to Jaya was relatively uneventful, which resulted in the men of the crew being ordered around. Before long, though, the Merry sailed through calm waters and warm winds. Seagulls circled overhead, which meant land had to have been nearby. Vivi kept her eyes on the horizon, keeping an eye out for any signs of life.
"Hey," she heard Yosaku's voice asked from behind her. "Why do seagulls circle ships?"
"Probably looking for food," Johnny answered his friend. "Rats with wings, all of them. I bet they're-!" A thump made her jump, and she turned to see Johnny had been hit in the head.
By a seagull.
She raised an eyebrow as Johnny scrambled away from the bird, but the 'rat with wings' did nothing. It didn't move.
Then another fell. And then another.
Vivi watched in shock as three seagulls hit the deck with a thump, all of them unmoving.
"What the hell is going on around here?!" Yosaku demanded as he poked at the birds with his feet.
"It's an attack by the birds!" Johnny insisted as he drew his blade. "I'll kill them!"
"They're already dead, you dolt," Marianne said. Walking up, the painter kicked the bird's side, making it role over to reveal a bullet hole in it's chest. Chopper ran forward and inspected the hole, murmuring to himself quietly as he did so.
"It's a bullet alright," the Doctor confirmed. "Judging from the angle, it came from ahead of us."
"But," Vivi said, looking over her shoulder, "the island isn't even in view yet."
"That's a hell of a shot, then," Nojiko noted, crossing her arms. "Land isn't even in sight yet."
"At least we know we're heading the right way," Luffy offered. "That's good!"
"I wonder who the sniper is," Usopp marvelled as he watched the skyline. "He must be a hell of a shot. I wonder how he did it..."
"We can wonder another time," Nami said, "get in the Crow's Nest, Usopp, and let us know when you see land."
"Ugh, fine." The sniper moaned, walking towards the mast.
As the crew went about their way, it wasn't long before Jaya came into view. From what Vivi could see, the island was a beautiful spring island shining in the sun. It had bungalows built over the water, and a high clock tower in town. From this distance, it seemed lovely.
"Alright everyone, group up!" Nojiko shouted. Everyone fell into line quickly, used to the Quartermaster's shouting. "We aren't here to cause any trouble, we're here to get information on Sky Islands and go. We mess up if we wait too long and the Pose sets on us. But I'm making the call; if we don't get any information at all by tomorrow night, we wait for Jaya's Log to set. I'm not interested in waiting here for the rest of my life looking for cloud men."
"I am," Luffy muttered.
"No, you aren't," Nami said, flicking his forehead.
"So, we'll be splitting into teams. One team heads into town, the other stays to guard the ship. Luffy, Zoro, Nami and I will head to town. Everyone else stay here and guard Merry until we get back."
"Sounds good to me!" Usopp called.
"If we don't find anything," Nojiko continued, "you'll probably know, because Luffy will pout like a baby when we come back." This made everyone laugh. "We won't be long, but keep your eyes open. Who knows that we'll see when we get there."
Nojiko should have known saying that would lead to Jaya being a circus. Once the Merry got close enough, she was made very aware of the sound of gunshots and fighting. The nice, resort-like atmosphere they'd seen from a distance had disappeared in an instant, replaced with a hellhole of vagrants and pirates. She regarded the disgusting masses from the deck of the Merry, wondering if they needed to dock somewhere else.
"It's a good thing we're leaving some fighters here." she noted as Nami joined her by the side of the ship, "seems they're might be trouble."
"You think Sanji, Johnny and Yosaku can handle these guys?" Nami asked.
"Probably," she answered, "unless some extremely powerful pirates are here. But I hope there's some time to relax out here. I'd like to not almost die for a little."
"Where's the fun in that?" Nami asked with a wink," Luffy, Zoro! Let's get going!" As the Captain and First Mate joined them, they lowered the gangplank and walked onto land. Nojiko took a moment to relish the solid ground beneath her feet, a welcome change from the sands of Alabasta and the rocking of the Merry. The spring climate of Jaya was a welcome change to the extreme's they'd seen so far as well, it reminded her of home. Minus all the pirates.
"So, where do we start?" Zoro asked.
"I'd say a bar would be our best bet," Nojiko replied. "Pirates like to drink and talk. A lot of that goes on there."
"I do like drinking," Zoro agreed, "let's get going." The four walked from the docks into town, and the circus-like atmosphere only got worse from there. People were fighting, arguing, drinking, and everything in between all the way down the street. Nojiko regarded a drunk as he fell onto his face, before he threw up into the dirt.
"Talk about false advertising," Nami muttered from beside her.
"Let's just get the info we came for and get out," she replied. "I don't want to get wrapped up in something here." The four of them continued walking through town, before they quickly happened upon something odd. As they rounded a corner, they got front row seats to a man dressed in all black falling off of his horse and coughing up blood. He looked pretty rough, and somehow his horse looked even worse.
"You alright, man?" Luffy asked, prodding him with his foot.
"Ha..." the man exhaled weakly, "ha...Help...me up..." The four of them exchanged looks, but worked together to pick the man up anyway. they saddled him back on his horse, and he fell to rest to rest his head on the horse's neck. "Thank...Thank you." Nojiko wondered how a guy so sick hadn't been robbed for everything he owned yet, because as far as she could tell it seemed it would've been easy. "Here, for your trouble, have an apple..." The man offered them a basket of apples, but Nojiko wasn't interested in eating anything from him. For all she knew, the apples had made him sick in the first place.
So naturally Luffy ate a few.
"Don't just eat food from sick people!" Nami snapped, slapping him on the back of the head, his rubber eyes comically bulging in his head.
"Oops," the Captain replied with a smirk. 'My bad."
An explosion rocked the town behind them, making everyone whirl in surprise.
"What happened?!" Someone shouted.
"They ate apples and exploded!" Another voice called. Nojiko's stomach dropped, and she whirled back to aim her pistol at the man's head as Zoro drew his sword.
"What's your game, asshole?" She demanded.
"Luffy spit it out!" Nami shouted, shaking the Captain by the shoulders. Luffy tried by coughing, but try as he might he didn't throw anything up. The sick man laughed.
"Fear not," he said, "if he ate a bad one, he'd already be dead. You're an extraordinarily lucky young man." With this his sick horse carted him off, leaving the crew to themselves. They stared after him in shock, wondering what the hell was happening. Before they could do anything, a man came flying from a bell tower nearby, landing face-down in the dirt.
"Who else will challenge the champion of Mock Town?!" A voice boomed from the tower. "Anyone?!"
"This place is a mess," Nami hissed, "let's get what we came for and get out."
The four quickly moved on from their strange encounters, swiftly finding a nearby bar and entering it. It was exactly the type of mess you'd expect it to be, what with pirates gambling and drinking and fighting all over. Manoeuvring their way to the counter, nearly getting their heads taken off on the way, Luffy immediately ordered a cheery pie off the menu.
"We didn't come here to eat," Nojiko told him.
"We can get information and eat at the same time," Luffy replied with a cheeky grin. Shaking her head with a scoff at her Captain's attitude, she leaned up against the counter and kept an eye on the other patrons. Last thing they needed was someone sneaking up on them and attacking while Luffy stuffed his face.
"Hey barkeep," Nami asked as Luffy was served, "how long does it take a Log to save here?"
"About four days," the man replied as he cleaned a cup and filled it for Luffy. Nami hummed to herself.
"So we have that long to get information, huh..." She muttered as Luffy stuffed his face. "Hey, do you know anything about-"
"Hey, old man!" Luffy shouted. "This cheery pie is disgusting/so good!" Nojiko made a face and looked over her shoulder, looking for the man who'd spoken in unison with Luffy. He was seated next to the Captain, a massive man in comparison. He was wearing a massive, open linen shirt and had a disgustingly hairy chest. He had a red bandanna on his head, and more than a few missing teeth. So, essentially, he fit the bill for a pirate. She watched warily as Luffy exchanged annoyed glances with the man, clearly about to get into a row over the pie.
At the same time, the pair drank from their cups.
"This tastes so good/bad!" the pair said in unison again. Another annoyed glance was shared, and Nojiko rested a hand on her gun, ready to have to defend Luffy over food. She spared a thought to wonder how she was so used to this behaviour already.
"Luffy..." Nami said in a warning tone. The Captain grimaced and turned away from the man, back to the barkeep.
"Old man, gimme fifty pieces of meat to go," he said.
"Gimme fifty-one pies to go," the other pirate said.
"...fifty-two pieces," Luffy said.
"...fifty-three pies."
"Are you tryna start something?!" Luffy demanded, jumping to stand on the seat.
"Are you?!" the other man asked angrily.
"Luffy!" Name said, grabbing him by his shirt and yanking him off the chair, "we aren't carrying money for shopping, cut it out!"
"Ugh..." Luffy seemed annoyed his dick-measuring contest with the other pirate had been interrupted, but Nojiko was glad they hadn't started a fight.
A laugh rang out over the other voices in the bar.
"A man like that is worth thirty million?" A voice asked. Nojiko followed it to a man with a woman sitting on his lap in the corner. He had silver coloured hair, matched by his feathery coat. His bare chest had an odd tattoo on it, one she hadn't seen before. It looked like a smiley-face, but it had a line across it. "The Navy must be a bunch of witless freaks!" Luffy had taken notice of this man, looking annoyed at him. She knew that look. The Captain was ready to throw punches.
"Who the hell asked you?" He demanded. The man laughed.
"My Captain did," he replied. "The guy standing behind you." Nojiko's eyes widened, and she turned to see the man in question. She'd expected it to be the fat pirate Luffy had been feuding with, but it wasn't. It was a tall, well-built, blonde man wearing what looked like a commanders jacket over his shoulders. He watched Luffy with the same look a predator would give it's prey, his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
"You're the Straw Hat?" The man asked in a low voice. Luffy regarded him with a raised eyebrow.
"What if I am?" He asked. Nojiko prepared herself, her fingers itching to draw a gun.
Looks like they were going to get into a fight after all.