Chapter 4

"Is anyone there? Answer me if you can hear me."

Luffy had been walking for about three hours shouting at me, while shouting. Yet, destroying his voice brought him no response during this time. To believe that there were really no other survivors on this island. Realizing that he had been the only one screaming for a while, he turned to the other two people who made up his group.

"Hey, you two! Would you mind helping me out a bit! I've been screaming to myself for over a quarter of an hour."

Passing him, without giving him the slightest glance, Law retorted.

"For the twentieth time, stop screaming! Do you really want to alert all the monsters in the area?"

"How do you want to find our friends, if you don't shout?"

"For the twentieth time, use your eyes to find clues."

Stopping, he crouched down and looked at the excrement that was on the ground. Examining them, he saw a few small pieces of bone inside. Then, inspecting the trunk of a tree, he saw small traces of scratches on the bark.

"This place seems to be the territory of a predator! But, to see the size of the scratches and its excrement, it must not be more than a meter long! If it is alone, it will not represent threat to us."

Getting up, he declared.

"Using your brain, you may be able to find clues that can tell you whether humans have been here or not! And if so, we can find them without alerting the animals in the area."

Then he started walking again.

"Using this method and traveling a great distance, we will be able to quickly survey this whole island and find out if we are alone here."

Nevertheless, Luffy grabbed his arm, before pointing at something, behind the pair.

"I think we're going to have to wait a bit."

Turning around, Law groaned, seeing Shirahoshi who had just caught up with the two boys. Seeming to be having trouble breathing, she took long breaths, while she seemed to be exhausted.

"Sorry!" She apologized. "I've never used to walk so much."

"It's okay." Luffy assured her, seeing that she was doing her best. "Let's take a little break."

"No way." Law retorted, continuing to walk. "We still have a long way to go..."

"Great, fruit."

Turning around, Law saw Luffy running towards a tree, before climbing up to its foliage, to pick fruits resembling mangoes. Seeing him pick a piece of fruit and bite into it, Law began to growl.

"Too good! Hey, Tra-o! You want one?"

Law let out another groan, before sitting down on a stone. Seeing him sit down, Shirahoshi put her buttocks on the floor, before heaving a sigh of relief.

"Sorry for that. "

Keeping silence, Law took back his computer and began to write various information. Meanwhile, Luffy came back to them, with several fruits in his arms.

"I brought breakfast." He affirmed. "I was really hungry."

Then, he placed one of the fruits in front of Shirahoshi.

" Do you want one ? "

"Th ... Thank you. "

Eating three more fruits, Luffy ended up slapping his chest, while something got stuck in his throat. Seeing him start to choke, Law sighed, before punching him in the back. The shock unblocked Luffy's throat and allowed him to breathe again.

"Phew! Thank you, Tra-o."

Simply throwing a pebble at him, the boy told him.

"Make yourself useful and go carve another mark for me.

"Aye." Luffy said, grabbing the pebble before heading for a log.

starting to bite into its fruit, Shirahoshi spotted Luffy carving an arrow into the trunk of the tree.

" Huh ... Luffy-san ? "

" Yeah, Weakhoshi ? "

"Weak...hoshi?" the stewardess wondered.

Hearing this, Law couldn't help but smile, enjoying, for the first time, Luffy giving people nicknames. Feeling belittled, Shirahoshi held back further sobs and finally asked in a small voice.

"Why do you carve signs on the trees?"

"We call it ̏ search area ̋." Luffy told her.

"Search area?

"Yes! It consists of systematically leaving marks on our path so that we can turn around if necessary! That way, if for some reason or ours we have to return to the starting point, we will know which path to take."

When he had finished carving an arrow into the bark of the tree, he pointed at something with his finger.

"Do you see that mountain over there?"

It was really huge, and even had the top covered in mist. She looked a lot like the ones you could see in scary movies.

" Huh, yes. "

"It's roughly in the center of this island! Well, I'm not sure, since we can't see the whole island! Anyway, we're going to circle around, in a spiral, until what we reach! This way, we can be sure to cover the whole island and establish a large search area! This is the best way to find the plane or survivors! In addition, the Arrows I leave show the direction we're going! So if people find them, they'll be able to follow us and find us."

"It's amazing." Shirahoshi affirmed. "You are very well prepared for this kind of situation, Luffy-san."

"Actually…I know all that from my grandfather." Luffy confessed, scratching the back of his head. "During our survival games, he showed me this method, in case I got lost, and I decided to tell Tra-o about it, just before we broke camp! I'm just following his orders, when he asks me to carve an arrow on the trunks."

"Oh, right? He must be very smart then."

" That's right. " Luffy agreed, with a big smile. "He's really surprising. He's a real nerd."

"Call me that again and you're dead."

Then, closing his computer, Law stood up before affirming.

"It's best to take a walk around to inspect the surroundings, before leaving! Strawhat-ya, come with me."

"Huh?" Luffy wondered, while Law's request seemed more like an obligation than a proposal. "Where do you want us to go?"

"Come on." He replied, walking off into the forest. "Don't worry, Shira-ya, we'll be right back."

"Okay!" she said as she saw them leave and disappear into the forest.

" Why does he want to show me off? " She wondered, anyway, displaying a suspicious look towards the boy. " Is he planning to abandon me because he finds me useless? "

Suddenly, bushes started moving next to her and two creatures came out.

" That … ? "

Traveling a good hundred meters in the forest, Luffy followed Law, before he decided to stop.

"Tra-o, why did you want to see me alone?" He wanted to know, glancing over my shoulder several times. "It could be dangerous! Especially since we left Weakhoshi all alone! I don't know if you noticed but I don't think she can defend herself, if she has a bad encounter."

"I wanted to put her away so I wouldn't hear her cry again for an hour." He told him, coldly. "It's annoying."

" I have to admit that I don't appreciate hearing her cry. " Luffy confessed. "But why would she do it again?"

"I know very well that she would still do it if I had told her what I am about to tell you."

"Huh? What do you want to tell me?"

" Strawhat-ya, I don't want you to get your hopes up." Law affirmed. "We have already been looking for more than three hours for a possible trace of a fourth survivor who would have survived the crash! So far, we have found nothing! Not even the slightest clue!

"So what? We have no idea what the distance we have just traveled is compared to the size of the island! If it is, the plane is not even a hundred meters away. us! Either way, he's supposed to be on this island anyway! It's only a matter of time before we find him."

"Strawhat-ya, I think, indeed, that the plane is on this island! However, I prefer to warn you...even if we find the plane, there is a risk..."

"A risk? What risk?"

"I'm afraid...everyone is dead."

Freezing, Luffy's face betrayed his surprise. Finally, he pushed his lips enough to ask.

"What are you telling me again?"

"I imagine you've seen the news about plane crashes before! These crashes are rare but...their fatality rate is close to one hundred percent! So you better be prepared for the idea that others have all was killed when the plane crashed! The fact that we are still alive is already a miracle!

" All dead? The only ones still alive? »

"Don't…don't say anymore…don't say that kind of thing again."

"Strawhat-ya...be real!"

Immediately, Luffy grabbed his collar before banging his forehead against his and staring at him angrily.

"I forbid you to say such things! I refuse to believe it! My friends are not dead! Ace is not dead! Nobody who was on the plane is dead! Can you hear me ?"

In response, Law slapped Luffy's arm to knock him back.

"Even if you hope for something, life doesn't always turn out the way you want it to! If I say that, it's to convince you to start worrying about our survival, rather than looking in vain for potential... "

"SHUT UP! I don't want to hear any more about this! Let's search for them again and we'll keep going until we find them...alive or dead! The matter is closed."

With those words, Luffy turned and walked back.

"Come on, let's join Weakhoshi! She must be worried sick."

What Luffy didn't know, however, was that Shirahoshi was actually terrified. Sitting on the ground, she watched with concern, two rodents that had just appeared in front of her. They both belonged to the same species as the flying squirrel, which Luffy had seen the day before. According to Law, these animals were Ptilodus. Kinds of insectivorous flying squirrels, which lived 55 million years ago.

Unlike her, the two animals were far from being frightened by her presence. One of them even began to stare at her before moving slowly in her direction.

"Don't…Don't come near me." She ordered it, trying to scare him away by pretending to push it away with her foot.

The animal, more curious than frightened, jumped on her and landed on her right arm. Surprised by this gesture, Shirahoshi froze and immediately closed her eyes when she felt it land on her. A few seconds passed before she decided to open them again. To her amazement, the animal was still on her arm and didn't seem to make any hostile gesture. Without knowing why, this reassured her a little. Slowly, she brought her hand to the animal's head, which sniffed it as soon as she was close to it. In this case, it didn't seem to mean any harm to her.

"It's…pretty cute as a critter. " She admitted. "I feel like I'm holding some kind of fat hamster." »

It was then that Luffy reappeared with Law.

" Come on, break time is over! It's time to go back. " Luffy declared, trying to use a tone that didn't betray his anger, due to his conversation with Law.

As soon as it saw them coming, the animal left its place and fled immediately, with its compatriot, into a bush. They were so fast that neither of the two boys could notice their presence.

" I'm coming. " Shirahoshi declared, watching the two ptiloduses leave, almost with regret, before getting up and following us.

However, a few minutes walk later, the trio saw them again, running past them, accompanied by three other rodents, before continuing their run and scampering away. Behind them, a rabbit seemed to imitate them, as well as three hyracotheriums.

"What's wrong with them?" Luffy asked, who had nearly been knocked down by one of the horses.

"They…they're running from something." Law understood, watching the animals disappear into the vegetation of the forest.

"What then?" asked Shirahoshi.

A shrill cry, which she recognized immediately and which gave her cold sweats

in the back, answered him, behind them. Turning around, they saw the silhouette of the being who had tried to kill them yesterday.

" Diatryma ! "

As imposing as yesterday, the bird had advanced, easily pushing aside any obstacle in its path. Eventually, however, it stopped five yards from the trio and stared at them. To tell the truth, it seemed to be trying to identify them, as if it was the first time it had seen people of their species. For it, the main question he asked himself was whether it should consider them as prey or as potential enemies.

Looking at it too, Law saw that it was smaller than the day before and had a sort of scratch on its neck that he hadn't noticed. in fact, he would have even sworn that this bird was not the one they had met.

"Isn't it the same bird as yesterday?" " He was frightened. " But there are how many of these birds of misfortune on this island? However, an animal of this size should reign over a vast territory. »

Suddenly, a pebble flew through the air, before hitting the bird's beak. Startled, he took a step back; before glaring at Luffy angrily.

"Get out." Luffy ordered it, stepping in front of Shirahoshi, who was shaking with fear.

Screaming, the bird rushed towards the boy. Nevertheless, taking advantage of the advantage the area could give him, Luffy rushed behind a trunk. Hindered by the obstacle, and unable to use its speed, the bird began to circle around the tree, while trying to grab Luffy.

Having two more stones in his hands, Luffy aimed for its face. Feeling the projectiles hit it again, the diatryma screeched. Taking advantage of it stopping, Luffy ran towards it, before giving it a powerful punch in the abdomen. Feeling the boy hitting it, the bird was surprised by this kind of attack, having never seen a creature behave like this.

However, having a body made up of muscles, it barely felt Luffy's fist. Then raising its head, he let the tip of its beak fall down towards Luffy's skull. Jumping back, Luffy dodged its attack. Then, taking advantage that the bird had lowered its head, the boy raised his leg, before giving a powerful kick, under the eye of the bird. This time, its waist went sideways, while Luffy's attack had more impact than his previous punch.

" I got you. "

However, being even more enraged, the diatryma aimed at him again, with a carnivorous gaze. However, before it could move, it felt someone kick one of his legs. Startled, it turned to see Law, with a piece of wood in his hand, which he held like a wooden sword.

"Strawhat-ya!" He shouted, starting to run, around the bird.

Imitating him, Luffy saw the bird remained motionless, not knowing what to do, while the pair circled around it. Stumbling awkwardly, attempting to target someone, the diatryma left a huge opening, for Law to strike its right flank. However, no sooner did it see him take a step towards him than the bird targeted him, and lifted its leg. In an instant, Law saw the foot of the diatryma pulverize his branch, while the shock of the impact sent him flying backwards. Falling onto his back, he moaned in pain. Seeing him in a weak position, his opponent rushed towards him.

"Tra-o." Luffy shouted not trying to follow the monster. "Come back to fight."

However, he felt Shirahoshi grab his arm, while she was shaking in fear.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"Lo … Lo … Look." Shirahoshi stammered, pointing at something.

Turning his head towards what she was trying to show him, Luffy gasped in surprise. A feline. A feline more than a meter and a half high and three long had just appeared in front of him. It had sand-colored fur, dotted with misshapen black features. What characterized it the most, at home, was its two gigantic canines of more than fifteen centimeters which protruded from its jaw. This detail allowed even a person like Luffy to identify this monster straight out of a science fiction movie.

"A sa… A saber… tiger… A saber-toothed tiger."

Having also seen the feline, the diatryma had stopped and stared at the predator. immediately, it screeched, while the tiger growled. Seeming to stare at each other with hatred, the two animals ended up walking around each other. Seeing this, Law crawled on the ground, before hiding behind a tree trunk. Unfortunately, looking at the future fight scene, he saw Luffy and Shirahoshi find themselves between the diatryma and the tiger.

"Hey, what are you doing? Leave!"

Simply staring at the two animals, which were in front and behind him, Luffy grabbed Shirahoshi's arm, before commanding her.

"Let yourself be."

" What ? "

At that moment the bird bent its legs, a sign that it was about to attack, and was at once imitated by the tiger.

" We're going to get killed. "Wanted to shout Shirahoshi, if her lips hadn't been paralyzed."

The tiger was the first to rush at them. Jaws wide open, its two large canines were even more impressive. If it pierced their throats with these weapons, they would easily come out the other side of their necks killing them in an instant. Imitating it, the diatrima also rushed towards the duo. Both of them, as fast as each other, came dangerously close to Luffy and Shirahoshi, just like death hovering above their heads.

Still, remaining perfectly calm, Luffy put his arm around Shirahoshi's waist, before waiting for the last moment to jump.

"Now!" He shouted, leading Shirahoshi into her dive to the side.

Then, hardly he touched the ground that Luffy heard a deaf noise caused by the impact of the two monsters, whose bodies had collided with violence. In fact, the shock was so violent that Luffy had the impression that he created a shock wave, which ejected him backwards. As he got up, he was able to witness the fight between the species which represented the apogee of birds against that of felines. The kind of battle you don't see every day, even on TV.

Right after the impact, the two creatures had recoiled in perfect synchronization and glared at each other. In this position, they seemed to examine the opponent they were going to fight down to the smallest detail. Height, weight, strengths, weaknesses… Everything seemed to be observed and analyzed.

The tiger was the first to attack again and swooped down on the bird, hoping to outrun it. The latter remained motionless and seemed to await the arrival of its adversary. Then, in an instant, it relaxed one of its legs to the maximum, the end of which hit the feline in the face.

At first, Luffy felt like the fight had stopped and the second shock had stopped the two animals. However, during the second that followed, the ostrich ended up showing the superiority of its kick. Leaving the ground, the tiger made an impressive glide of at least five meters, before landing on its shoulder, accompanied by a noise that was anything but natural. The attack had knocked it out and he seemed to have passed out. Still, it could be happy to still be alive after taking such a powerful blow. In its place, a human would have died before he even hit the ground.

In any case, the diatryma took advantage of its advantage to give it the coup de grace and immediately plunged its hooked beak into its side. A stream of blood then spurted on the fur of the feline which immediately changed from sand color to scarlet red, and the bird withdrew a piece of flesh from the body of its adversary.

Despite being able to describe this scene as "despicable", Luffy couldn't take his eyes off this epic battle.

It had nothing to do with fighting between two humans. These two monsters were much stronger and more impressive than boxers, wrestlers or other... Attending this fight was a completely different experience. Again, Luffy's mind was split with fear and excitement.

Before he knew it, a counterattack suddenly began. The feline, recovering from the shock, began to struggle from the grip of its assailant and fired a blow with one of its enormous paws, which cut into its face. Luffy wasn't sure, but he thought he saw, in addition to the blood and the torn feathers, an eye of the animal which fell to the ground. Anyway, the diatryma had no choice but to step back and began shaking his sore, blood-covered head.

The feline took the opportunity to get up and despite its injury, jumped on it, claws sticking out of its front paws and mouth wide open. Before it had time to move, the bird's neck was punctured by two huge fangs. Moreover, under the weight of the tiger, it lost its balance and fell to the ground. For a few seconds, the tiger held it down by crushing its head with one of its paws and the bird could only try to get out of its grip. Nevertheless, the feline positioned itself so that the bird's legs could not reach it and, because of its tiny arms, its opponent had no other way out.

Little by little, it stopped moving before showing no more signs of life. It breathed its last when the fight had only started three minutes ago. The bird was dead, the vertebrae broken and the trachea crushed.

"Is this a joke? " Law wondered, who had also watched the entire fight. " This diatryma was a real killing machine! Does that mean that this feline is even stronger than him? But who really reigns supreme here? »

Far from asking the question, the tiger lifted at this moment the body of the diatryma by biting it at the level of the neck. Then, it walked towards Luffy and Shirahoshi, dragging its prey behind it. Seeing this, Luffy got into a fighting stance, ready to fight it, should the feline ever decide to attack it.

Yet, barely giving him a look, the feline overtook him and continued to move forward.

"Huh?" Luffy wondered, watching it go.

When he was away, Law came back to Luffy, before affirming.

"Once again, we were very lucky."

"Why is he leaving?" Luffy asked. "He must have noticed that we were easy prey, right?"

"He found something better than us to devour." Law understood, picking up his cap. "Survival of the fittest! Obviously, that's how it works on this island."

Hearing rapid, uncontrolled breathing, the two boys turned to Shirahoshi, and saw her on the verge of tears and in shock. Seeing this titanic fight had horrified her and she was surely close to fainting.

Even Luffy was beginning to understand the danger of this island. He knew that many of his friends would never be able to fight those kind of monsters he had just seen fighting.

"Our situation is definitely getting worse day by day! If we continue to encounter even more dangerous animals than those we have already encountered, there is no chance that we will survive long here. »

With Luffy : Law / Shirahoshi

Others passengers: Sanji / Usopp / Nami / Coby / Kaya / Vivi / Ace / Katakuri / Perospero / Tashigi (professor) / Smoker (professor) / Dalton (pilot)