A/N: I changed Tug to Sphinkz. It seemed more fitting, given the theme of the other bee riders. I do love the name Tug, but I guess they are all Tug Bugs.
Short chapter, but it was a really good stopping point. I have the next chapter finished, so expect an update sometime next week.
Also, I've started moving this story over to AO3 to see if I can get more reviews and readership. Performing some minor edits as I go, and trying to save said edits here where I can. It's pretty slow going. I only have six chapters of Iliad over there so far.
Ch. 37 - A Different Forest
Helena had a hard time tolerating bugs at the best of times, but it seemed especially difficult with the pregnancy. As more and more bee riders started arriving aboard the Sunny, she retreated to the kitchen, where Sanji had busily set about preparing the evening meal. She kept her eyes firmly averted from the window, from which she would inevitably see the large bees now munching dandelions on the vernal lawn of the Sunny's main deck
Soon about ten riders had followed their noses into the kitchen, where Sanji had managed an incredible offering out of the scraps of their shrinking food supply. The riders were a polite group of people – many tried to refuse the meal, claiming the Straw Hats shouldn't be wasting their rations after being stuck in a Calm so long. Sanji assured them that it was the least they could do for the help. He insisted they must be famished after a long day of search and rescue efforts, and after much awkward standing about, a man called William Wallaz led the charge toward dinner.
The great hearted, greatly bearded man had energy to match any buzzing bumble. Like all the others, including Ramzeez, he had a blue and black striped scarf of bee fuzz secured about his neck for warmth. However, he seemed to prefer to ride though the sea breezes bare chested, and had blue horizontal lines painted across his chest to match his bee, Furguzz. He wore a kilt the 'proper' way, Helena had found out unwillingly. He had been the first bee rider to arrive after Ramzeez, and Helena had had to throw her hands over Kuina's eyes while the broad man dismounted his bee.
She could hardly hold it against him now though, when he broke the awkward silence in the galley and made a bee line for Sanji's cooking. "Achz, Tah fur tea!" he shouted good naturedly through the braided black bush on his face. He dug in with a will, and soon the others joined him.
Helena had no idea what he'd said, but Kuina replied with a sweet voiced, "You welcome!"
"Can we offer your bees anything?" Sanji asked politely, though by the way he glanced through the galley window, he didn't much care for insects himself.
"Na, they'll be weel fed wanz we reach hame, bzzz bzzz," Wallaz replied. "They're nae muckle fur fowk fairn. Bit thay wilnae titch yer ship, dinna fash yirzel."
Kuina nodded while the rest of the Straw Hats tried to puzzle out what he'd said. On a whim, Helena leaned down to her daughter, "What did he say?" she asked.
"He say bees eat at home. They no yike people food," Kuina translated with ease, "He say bees no eat ship."
"Ah, I guess that makes sense," Usopp put in. "Though I didn't know carpenter bees actually ate wood. I just thought they made their homes in it."
"Thae beez dae," Wallaz replied. "Wi' thair zize, thay hae tae zloch mair than pollen 'n' nectar, bzzz bzzz."
With a nudge from Helena, Kuina innocently translated again. "The bees too big to just eat fwowers. They eat twees too."
"That's super of you not to let them nibble on the Sunny," Franky put in. "I'm impressed with how well trained they are."
"And I'm impressed the little Mizz can underztand a word Wallaz zayz! It took me yearz, bzzz bzzz!" Ramzeez laughed while several of the other riders chuckled their agreement. "You're a clever little one, aren't you Mizz."
He had taught Kuina how to fist bump earlier, and held his knuckles up for her to do so now, which she reciprocated with a will. Immediately after their knuckles made contact, they pretended their hands were fat little bees and made them buzz away from each other. Helena wasn't sure if it was an actual bee person greeting, or something bee people only did with children, but she suspected the latter, as she hadn't seen any of the other bee riders do it with each other.
When they'd polished off the delicious, albeit meager meal, the bee riders took position upon their bees with tow lines in place.
Helena couldn't help but watch with the others at the bizarre sight, as the squadron of bee riders followed Ramzeez and Sphinkz into the air. Kuina had begged to be allowed to fly with Ramzeez, who had no objections, as he'd insisted they often taught children as young as Kuina to feel comfortable on the bees. Helena objected, however, and so the child beside her pouted with her feet firmly planted on the deck, shoulders in her ears and arms crossed over her chest.
The bees' pumping wings made a buzzing too loud to speak over. Lifting his khopesh into the air, the leader of the bee riders sent signals to the other bees by reflecting the golden rays of the setting sun off of his weapon. The riders fell into a V formation with Ramzeez and Sphinkz at the head. With an ear splitting BZZZZZZZZ, and a great heave, the Thousand Sunny began its forward trajectory, leaving a smooth wave of ripples in its wake.
The pirates all gave a shout and applauded their rescuers. Leaving Kuina in Zoro's care, Helena excused herself to the back of the ship, where she could gaze out at Sunny's wake undulating like tangerine gelatine in the setting sun. She'd had enough of watching giant, wiggling bee butts for the time being.
Some time later, as the stars began to pop out in the twilit sky and in the still waters around them, Luffy spotted land from where he sat atop the Lion figurehead. He could hardly miss the island, for it stood like a great mountain out of the still water; one enormous tree. He gave a shout to the rest of the crew, who could barely hear him over the buzzing bee squadron. He bounced back to the deck where the others had been going about various duties, letting them in on the news faster than Usopp in the crow could, whose far away megaphone was also drowned by the giant bees.
What a tree! – Or was it a bunch of trees, roots tangled, trunks braided into one enormous swirl? Unlike the striped mangroves, the ancient wood had solid earth beneath it, but with the tangles of giant roots one could hardly tell from this distance. To all appearances, it floated atop the surface of the ocean, great branches reaching into the dark sky, alight with stars of its own. – House lights twinkling from tree top windows. Clearly the bees and people of Ryuuboku called the canopy home.
As they neared, the sound of humming grew louder, announcing the approach of another squadron of bee riders. Each well-curried blue bee bore a pretty girl in a flower crown and flowing, pastel dress, carrying lanterns and bouquets of giant indigo trumpet flowers. They varied in age, size and shape, but looked like they all could be related, maybe sisters. Similar noses here, same bee-blue eyes there, most with bee-black hair done in curls.
Luffy had by now persuaded Helena to come and see. Miserable and green, she watched the welcoming party alight upon the deck. Luffy had never seen someone so seasick before in his life. Something felt off about it, but he didn't spare it much thought.
"Welcome to Ryuuboku, the Island of the Shipyard Queen, bzzz bzzz!" The bee girls called in merry, musical voices. The tug bees had by now slowed their straining, calming the loudest of the buzzing cacophony in time for the welcome party to be heard. The Sunny drifted peacefully toward the island behind the tug bees, as the girls began an otherworldly performance.
Luffy wanted a chance to ride a bee. Even more so now, as the girls in their dresses stood and lept expertly from one bee to another, dancing on tip toe as their mounts circled. The humming turned to harmony, the bees creating the music with their wing beats as precisely as any violinist might.
Brook let out a soft, appreciative chuckle. "What a sound, yo ho!" he murmured.
The lanterns bobbed with the girls, creating streaks of white light as they jumped from one bee to the other. Sanji ogled them shamelessly, and went even more noodly as they began to sing:
We are the Isle of the Shipyard Queen
Our forezt like none other zeen
Though otherz have treez that tower high,
Our shipyard grove of maztz is shy
Beneath the shadow of the treez
The wavez hide horrid tragediez
And with thiz leaflezz graveyard we
Ztay zafe from harm, both man and bee!
What a strange song. The girls lept from their mounts to alight upon the deck, holding a bouquet of upright trumpet flowers to each of the straw hats.
"Water, a mozt preciouz gift, bzzz bzzz," the girl in front of him pointed out as Luffy accepted the bouquet.
The deep blue-purple flowers spilled streams of water, a seemingly bottomless cup. She indicated for him to drink, and after taking one whiff of the sweet smelling water, Luffy didn't have to be told twice. He gulped it down, delighted with the experience.
They had run out of water that afternoon, likely due to the frivolous fun they'd had with Kuina's tea party. With Ramzeez arrival, they'd been even more carefree, and Sanji had gone all out treating their guests. The entire straw hat crew gratefully accepted the sweet water now, slaking the beginnings of a dangerous thirst.
When the pretty bee girls had ensured their audience had drunk, they stepped away and began to dance again, this time on deck around the mast. Again, they broke into song. Their bees landed in a wider circle around them, dancing and humming along. In the midst of it, Helena quietly slipped away. Perhaps she'd had enough of looking at the bees again. Too bad she didn't like bugs; the show was unreal. Actually, it was making Luffy kinda sleepy…
We are Ryuuboku Island, bzzz
We don't fret for what iz or what waz
If marauderz venture to our door
We protect what iz ourz and naught more
Monzterous legendz, piratez ztrong
Cannot do uz any wrong
While they fight their zlowing breath
Zoon to zleep the zleep of death.
Silence settled on the deck at these words. Even the tug bees and their riders had landed to circle around the pirates, and the performance bees had stopped humming along. As the sweet voiced girls sang out an acapella of death, the straw hat pirates had already slumped to the ground. Their ears hardly registered those final words as their eyes drooped shut. They fell as one, from the strongest of them to the weakest, into a dreamless slumber.
And all the while, Sunny drifted toward the towering tree of Ryuuboku, scraping its hull on another forest beneath the shallows. Not a forest of trees, but a forest of masts. Sunken ships beneath the Calm.
Great, Helena thought. Can't even keep water down now.
The sweet water had not agreed with her already sensitive stomach, and she'd immediately sneaked away to throw up again. Feeling too slovenly to make a public appearance, she decided not to go back to watch the rest of the bee show. …not that she wanted to anyway. Luffy's good humor had persuaded her for a time, but now that she was back to emptying the contents of her stomach, she really didn't feel like looking at giant insects again.
Anyway, there was something off about that song. What had they meant when they'd sung of their "shipyard grove of masts," or the waves hiding "horrid tragedies"? The song didn't sound somber enough for that kind of lyric…
Helena's stomach turned in a way that had nothing to do with morning sickness as her eyes alighted on a crow's nest, bent and broken, sticking out of the water.
As the Sunny drifted forward in sudden silence, the bees hum now still, she saw one mast after another, tattered jolly rogers trailing miserably in the darkening ocean. Beyond it, the enormous prow of a galleon protruded straight up from the ocean surface like a funeral marker pointing heavenward. Its figurehead was conspicuously absent.
Something had bored enormous holes throughout its hull.
Something not unlike the enormous tug bee, Sphinx, who had just crawled up near her at the back of the ship and taken a huge bite out of its railing.