.: Sorry for the delay! I kind of got stuck and so I worked slowly until I found what I wanted. This will probably happen a few more times as I'm trying to navigate certain dynamics and not be sloppy. At the same time, I'm trying to use material inspired by Shadow of the Tomb Raider since there are cool battle sequences I can pull from. :.

Chapter 15:

Hidden Gems

The cook and the swordsman working together was an oddity. Sanji took the lead through the jungle so that Zoro did not get them lost. The sand underneath their feet transformed into muddy soil, and before they knew it, the biome had swallowed them. They both listened for any kind of activity that could indicate a human presence. Knowing Usopp, that could mean his screaming more than anything. But Zoro decided to break the silence when he got a little bored.

"We've known her less than a week, and this'll be your third time rescuing her," he observed.

Sanji wanted to ignore him but changed his mind. "You really think I'll stop rescuing her?"

"She probably doesn't need rescuing at all. You're just overthinking. Plus, I've never seen you be this overprotective of Nami or Robin."

"That's because they can defend themselves if they need to. Aurilee can't."

He thought about Robin's devil fruit abilities and how potent she could be against enemies. Nobody had to worry about her. Nami still had to learn the Clima-Tact and get better at utilizing it, but she could hold her own for the most part. Aurilee did not have anything like that to rely on, and Sanji would always be mindful of that fact. If she had no shield, he would be that shield himself. Zoro just could not help but feel like he was taking it a little too far like he was now.

Not wanting to dabble in the difference of opinions any longer, they fell silent once more. Usopp and Aurilee could go on their little quest and come back whenever they wanted to. Zoro was not going to allow the cook to drag her back to a "safer" place to calm his own nerves. Let the woman have time to herself. After overhearing the conversation between her and Chopper, he could not help but wonder if him showing up unexpectedly would ruin the experience for her.

She was still and relaxed. The jungle was speaking to her through its ecosystem. It was just her and the dangling mango on a branch. Everything else blurred around her. The refined arrow Usopp crafted made the elastic string of her bow creak with the tension. After the last two shots were misses, Aurilee was determined to touch it this time. Usopp had already adjusted her aim. Even he was confident she could do it. But he kept quiet to let her do it herself, just like a proper teacher should do.

The moment she let go, the arrow whizzed through the humid air and completely penetrated through the designated mango. It swung as its juicy insides squished and leaked, and the stem was so traumatized that it fell to the ground in defeat. Her first kill in years! She was so surprised that she looked back at Usopp with a gaping mouth.

"Yes!" he cheered, jumping up with fists in the air. He gripped the sides of her arms to shake her with exhilaration. "That was awesome! You're a master at making fruit kebabs with an aim like that!"

"Fruit kebabs?"

He laughed and let her go to retrieve it. "Yeah!" When he stood up again, he held both ends of the arrow as the still-bleeding mango hung. "Sanji would be proud."

"Yeah, right." When he brought her workmanship, she pulled the arrow out, tore it in half, and tasted the juice of one of those halves. It was sweet on the tongue. "Mmm," she hummed. "Let's shoot another fruit."

Enjoying the other half for himself, Usopp started trekking again. "Then we better keep moving," he wheedled. "That was the first fruit tree we've found.

Following him and finishing the mango, Aurilee kept her eyes peeled. But the bright colors of flowers distracted her. Unbeknownst to her, some of the coned red ones were releasing a different kind of pollen. The microscopic particles entered her airways, which in turn affected the bloodstream sourcing her brain's vitality. Usopp slipped away as the same happened to him. They both strayed away from each other.

The world around Aurilee became unrealistic. The sunlight streaming in through the webbed canopy above grew blindingly bright. The sounds grew into echoes that muffled out anything loud. She was having a hard time deciphering if she was dreaming or awake. But her numb legs kept moving and carrying her until the flowers were far behind her. Soon the air had no pollen floating in it, and inhalation of it cleared the effects. Aurilee found herself in a completely different area than before, and she was alone.

"Usopp?" she called, confused. But there was no response. All the insects, little creatures, and other animals just continued to make their noisy presences known. Instead of feeling stress or apprehension from the separation, Aurilee decided to stay calm and keep her bow loaded just in case. The island they were on was small. The worst that could happen would be to find a shore and just follow it back around to the beach they stopped on. It was not like she would never see the Straw Hats again.

Almost in the complete opposite direction, Usopp also realized he was suddenly alone. "Aurilee?" he called. Instinct told him to turn tail and retrace his steps. Maybe he was moving too fast again and he lost her. The only problem was that he could not properly retrace his steps because nothing seemed familiar to him. A stone began to settle in his gut. He was alone in a jungle! Who was going to protect him?! But quickly, he remembered that it was him who was supposed to be protecting Aurilee from any danger. That was even worse! "Ah! Aurilee! Where are you?!" he shouted as he frantically sprinted around and got even more lost.

There was a lot of sand…and more sand. The snorkel was completely pointless. Any coral reef was either around where the Merry was anchored or farther around the island where there were no beaches. Nami had no time to explore that far by herself. Lifting her head from the water and pulling the snorkel from her mouth, she spotted Luffy and Chopper sitting on the beach together. After stubbornly eating the snacks that were tucked away in his kilt, Luffy persisted in protecting Twitchy. "Quit it, you stupid pigs!" he protested against the sniffing snouts. "He's not your lunch!"

Chopper waved at Nami. "Found anything cool yet?" he asked her.

"Nothing," she answered. "Still no sign of Zoro and Sanji?"

"No. They probably won't be back for a couple hours."

"What did they even leave for?"

"No clue."

Nami exhaled and looked around. Most of the water had a light blue tinge from the flawless sand underneath, but there were some places that were darker. If the others were still two hours away from returning at least, then she did in fact have time to explore. It would cause her to disappear from their sight, though. "I'm going to snorkel elsewhere," she communicated with Chopper. "Don't worry about me."

"Alright. Bring me back a seashell!"

She giggled. "Sure thing." With her mask adjusted and snorkel back in her mouth, the orange-haired navigator returned to her little adventure. Although she was not interested in fishing, she was curious if she could find something like a lobster or oysters to bring back. But now her priority was to find the prettiest seashell for Chopper, and keep out of any currents.

Squatting above some of the wettest soil they've come across so far, Sanji investigated what appeared to be footprints. Two sets by the looks of it, both almost equal in size. "They definitely came through here," he said. "Good. We'll catch up to them in no time."

Zoro brushed his palm against a tree. Its skin was freshly splintered from something. Looked like Usopp's doing. A lack of evidence of an altercation could have meant that it was only target practice. When he passed it, he saw the footprints the cook was inferring to. "Aurilee's got some big feet," he commented.

"Hey! Her feet are perfect!"

"You're into that stuff? And to think you couldn't get any kinkier."

Sanji followed close behind, prepared to take the lead again before Zoro got them lost in spite of their clear path. "What?"

"Only a guy who's into stuff like that would defend her feet so passionately."

"I love every single one of her features! Why's it matter, anyway?"

Pausing in his walk, Zoro's hand rested on top of all three hilts of his sheathed swords and turned to look at him. One glance down at his shoes, and it was all he needed to see. "Must be a thing between people with big feet," he concluded as he continued walking.

"Oh, screw you!"

There was more to Sanji's rant, but Zoro zoned him out. His focus shifted to the new colors that soon entered their field of vision. With it came an overwhelming collaboration of scents. It tickled in the hairs in his nostrils and made him sneeze. He sneezed again. And then again. Tears welled up in his eyes from the repeated scrunching of his nose. The only way to stop it was to untie the bandana from his arm and hold it to his face to block out the particles in the air.

"Damn, someone must be cursing your name to the heavens," Sanji mocked in retaliation to the foot fetish mockery.

What the Hell? he spoke to himself as he gazed at all the flowers. He also felt a little woozy for a second. But he took the opportunity to rile up Sanji even more despite it.

"Grab Aurilee some flowers so you can drool over her feet while she's distracted," he jeered.

While Zoro was sensitive to the potent pollen of the mysterious red flowers, Sanji was just as oblivious to its effects as Aurilee and Usopp were. He was mentally lost before ever realizing something was wrong. He did not even have time to get angry at Zoro again. Instead, the swaying and twisting of the jungle had him thinking women of all kinds were appearing from the woodworks. Women he had seen before and some he purely imagined were tempting him their way. His eyes immediately transformed into beating hearts. How could he possibly choose which one to go with?!

The enamored wail that left his mouth really creeped out Zoro. It was the complete opposite of what he expected as a reaction. Turning around once more, he saw how the white of his eye had become bloodshot and he pranced around like an idiot.

Nami blew a kiss at Sanji and teasingly disappeared, making him almost chase after her. "NAMIIIII!" he exclaimed. But then Robin waved him over to her instead, making him falter as she brushed hair behind her ear. "Oh, Robin! You're awake!"

At first the swordsman was astonished that part of their crew had caught up to them so fast. But he quickly realized that the love cook was just hallucinating from something. Taking the bandana off his nose and mouth, the pollen hit him hard again, and more sneezing ensued. One solid inhale had his own vision grow tampered, but he figured out that it was the culprit. Recovering the position of the bandana helped ease him back to normal. "Quit breathing in the air!" he reprimanded. "Nami and Robin aren't here."

The imaginary female who got him the most excited, though, was Aurilee. She stepped out, paused to gaze at him, and then even smiled. Sanji had never seen her smile before! It was so beautiful! "Aurileeee~!" he sang. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Zoro slapped his hand over his nose and mouth. "Knock it off already!"

After a minute of keeping him still and blocking out the source of the hallucinations, Sanji came back to his senses and realized that Moss Head was holding onto his face. He slapped his hand away. "What's your deal, you bastard?"

"Dammit, cover your nose before you start hallucinating again," Zoro demanded with his voice muffled from the bandana.

"Hallucinating?" He pulled the collar of his shirt up over his nose and mouth as he looked around. Great disappointment overcame him from the absence of all the women. "Aw man! You mean none of it was real?!"

"Of course not!" Zoro argued. "Like a group of women would gather to throw themselves at you." He looked down at the trail of footprints while Sanji tried arguing back about being a chick magnet. As long as the footprints continued to where Usopp and Aurilee ended up, they could find them in no time. Zoro took the lead.

"Why are you going that way?" Sanji questioned annoyingly.

"Huh?" Zoro responded. "They went this way."

"No, that's where we came from. The footprints go the other way, you moron."

Zoro suddenly noticed the extra footprints planted into the soil by them both. He huffed and turned around completely to march in the correct direction. Sanji just shook his head. Even when their path had clear indicators of where to go, Moss Head could still get lost.

A shadow had come over her, and she was met with something that had blended into the jungle somehow. Something abandoned had been swallowed over the course of many, many years. Vines had constricted its walls. Roots had disrupted the sturdy foundation. Sheets of moss and lichen clung to the roughed stone. Eroded dirt and mud had seeped deep inside the yawning entrance from unforgiving storms and floods. Aurilee had never seen anything like it before. All she knew was that it was evidence that humans once lived on this island.

The temple, when it was built, had massive yellow stones cut into rectangular shapes stacked on top of one another. They were so shiny that they looked like massive bars of gold. What kept everything connected was emerald trimming that made everything appear even more ornate than it already had. But the lack of maintenance over hundreds of years left it at the jungle's disposal. Although Mother Nature was unkind to it, it proved its ancient resilience even to the modern day.

Stepping inside made Aurilee think that it would come to life without warning and chomp down on her. Her hand brushed against the tunnel, feeling its wounds. And the deeper she walked, the darker it became inside. Continuing would be a death trap. But at the same time, she had time to kill, and a pang of curiosity wanted her to explore the unknown. She retreated back to the outside.

Finding a dry piece of wood, she managed to create enough heat using friction to make the end of it smoke. Blowing on it oxygenized the tiny flame, and it grew into a fire. The torch would last her an hour at most. She had to make haste, but she picked up another piece of wood just in case. She reentered the temple, using her torch as best she could to find any potential boobytraps. Anything suspicious, she avoided.

Soon a staircase that led down to a lower level came greeted her. Testing each step before putting her full weight on it, the bottom had more stone for the floor than it did dirt. It felt more stable to walk on, but she remained cautious. Spiders and cockroaches crawled her way. They kept her on her toes. To her surprise, however, the temple was not as deep as she envisioned it would be. Three left turns in the bottom corridor brought her to a skinnier archway. More emerald trim in the shape of predatory cats stood as guardians. Being protected from the elements helped keep them lustrous when the torch illuminated them.

Squeezing through the opening, the torch barely showed the room since it was bigger than the tunnels. And it echoed with her emergence. Purposely illuminating the floor instead, the floor slowly grew littered with little fragments of gold and silver. They led the way to a stone box in the center of the room, perched up on a small platform. Touching it was an even greater volume of treasure. Although Aurilee was intrigued by the setup. Her hand felt around the box. It was almost smooth to the touch. The only thing that she found to be a flaw was a long fissure that ran horizontally across the side of the box. But she quickly realized that it was instead an intentional feature of the box because it was a coffin.

This place was no temple at all. It was a crypt. Somebody important was buried here. The untouched treasures were gifts.

Aurilee began pushing the lid as hard as she could, eventually shifting it from the closed position it had been stuck in for hundreds of years. Lowering the torch showed a mummified body that still looked skeletal due to the cool air and insolated space. But unleashing the trapped air also brought out the putrid smell of decaying flesh. Aurilee choked and coughed as she shielded her mouth and looked away for a moment. "Oh god," she said. "You're really, really dead."

Returning to her investigation, she held her breath and allowed the torch to illuminate the inside of the coffin. The body had been placed on an entire bed of treasure. There had to be at least a million berries worth in there alone. The fact that it was all still here and not yet taken by pirates amazed her.

Taking a handful of treasure from the floor, Aurilee pocketed it returned the coffin lid to its original position. The Straw Hats were not going to believe her until she showed them the proof.

The jungle itself was showing Usopp that he was going the complete opposite direction. The trees were beginning to thin out, and the ground was becoming rockier and darker. The dormant volcano was not a place for wilderness to thrive. He gazed up at the black mass, recognizing it as a shield volcano based upon its short and nearly flattened shape. There was no point in him climbing to the top just for fun. He had to find Aurilee before anything bad happened to her.

A part of him wished that the volcano was taller. That way he could use it to navigate back to the beach. But as soon as he would enter back into the jungle, he would be unable to see it enough for it to make a difference. He had no other choice, though. Going in a straight direction toward the beach would be his task alone.

It just so happened that the snorting noise that got him into this mess just so happened to make itself known again. Usopp faltered in his step out of fright at first, but he composed himself and pulled out his slingshot. It sucked that Aurilee was going to miss this. When they reunited, he could show off the carcass of the loose hog to prove that he did not waste his time apart from her. Besides, there were a lot of other animals they could hunt down together.

Bushes shaking with some squeals had Usopp's knees feeling weak. Wild pigs could actually be extremely dangerous. Depending on the species, there could be big tusks protruding from the bottom jaw, and one slice could make intestines flow from the gut. Arming the pocket and pulling the elastic bands tight, Usopp could feel his quickening heartbeat pound in his chest. If he missed or found it to not be enough the first time around, he would have to be quick in reloading. And he would have to aim for the space between its eyes.

As the leaves of the undergrowth hinted at its presence, Usopp grew more and more wary. Sweat began drooling down his face. But instead of the animal bursting from the seams and charging at him, there was one last shake, and then the sound of splashing water.

"Huh?" he sounded, lowering the slingshot. That moment took away all the nervousness for him. He pushed aside the plants to find a hot spring on the other side. In it were furry critters swimming without a care in the world. Two parents with a litter of three. Snorting animals with the faces of guinea pigs. Usopp suddenly fell flat on his back with his legs in the air. This whole time he was pursuing capybaras?! Those were not dangerous at all! Mere oversized rodents enjoying a pool of warm water!

Underneath them all, the dormant volcano still had magma sweltering several feet down. It heated the ground. The only thing keeping the sniper from feeling it was his sandals. But heating the ground also meant it was heating groundwater. Thus, hot springs were born. If the air grew chilly, then steam could also rise.

He sighed as he accepted defeat. No bringing back an impressive kill for him. But, on the bright side, he could go back and tell the others that he found some hot springs for them all to enjoy. If there was this small one, there was bound to be others that were bigger. He pocketed his slingshot and turned around, only to witness something bloody fall to the ground right in front of him.

He paused in shock, not wanting to breathe as the tattered baboon with missing limbs and exposed bones laid unmoving. His eyes slowly rolled upwards with the low growl of a new hunter. With the sunlight to its back, all Usopp could make out was its yellow beady eyes and feline silhouette standing in the center of thick, contorted branch. Suddenly his lungs took in air once more, but the monkeys and baboons looking on from higher up in the canopies began to make their way down. He felt a grave sense of dread when he realized he had become the hunted, and he was surrounded.

The ferocious jaguar bared its teeth and warned Usopp with a low snarl. His fear overflowed for a valid reason while he kept direct eye contact with it. But at the same time, his hand slowly reached for his slingshot once more. What he was unaware of, however, was a second jaguar stalking him from behind. The capybaras pulled themselves from the hot spring and vanished before they became the main targets. He heard the water sloshing, and then he heard the second jaguar make its charge with another growl. Usopp reverted around only to be pummeled down. There was no time to arm his slingshot. Two massive paws slammed into his chest and shoved him down onto his back, sending his weapon into the air.

He yelped out, feeling the jaguar continue to run over him and momentarily leave him alone. The green slingshot landed on the ground above his head, and he scrambled to his feet to grab it and aim for the predators. But when he frantically glanced around from the overhanging branch to the rest of the underbrush, neither of them were to be found. Their growls continued to rumble in hiding. This was his chance to make a run for it. He went in the opposite direction so fast that he kicked up dirt and mud. "AURILEE! GET OUT OF THE JUNGLE!" he desperately screamed.

Although the environment was far noisier, hotter, and more biodiverse than she grew up in, Aurilee was fascinated and felt very comfortable in it. Her fingers were brushing against all kinds of leaves, rocks, trees, vines, and even dirt. Colorful birds like macaws would fly over her head as if she was never there to begin with. In the distance, even more calls and chirps were projecting themselves and filling her ears. If something happened and she was forced to live in this place, she would not be completely devastated. The feeling of being wild again exhilarated her.

At the same time, however, she still had no idea what this island had lurking in the shadows. Her bow remained taut in case she had to use it. Sometimes she took a shot to practice her aim, and she quickly retrieved the arrows. But slowly her lower back started to ache from all the hiking around with her pregnant belly weighing her down. Her legs were also caked in mud from the shins down, but she did not mind for the most part. Chopper's pain killers were also starting to wear off. How long had she been out here by herself? It had to have been over an hour by now. Yet she still felt like the jungle was dragging her in deeper instead of taking her to the edge.

Her worry was still manageable. It was just fatigue making her wish to be back on the beach already and not have a reason to move for a while. Plus, with no sign of Usopp still, she started to wonder if he straight up abandoned her. It would be awkward to make her way back and find he did not bother to regroup with her.

Through all the noise, something broke the patterns subtly. She noticed it and concealed herself out of caution. Talking. Were there still inhabitants in this place? That crypt she came across was very old and she had not found anything else like it since, but it was a sign that people used to live here. It grew louder as if the source was heading straight her way. Adjusting her hold on her bow, Aurilee knew she had to put it to use. She waited with growing sweat in her armpits until the voices were distinct and she could make out words. Then, she panicked.

Stepping out from her hiding spot, she aimed for the first thing she saw moving and released an arrow. Instantly, the voices silenced. The arrow missed the target by a couple inches and instead penetrated into a tree. Aurilee saw a head of blonde hair allow a cigarette to fall from his mouth and he turned to look at her with a dilated eye full of fright. She almost took off Sanji's head.

"Shit!" she slipped out as she dropped her bow and ran over to him. "I'm so sorry! I thought I heard strangers and I freaked out."

Seeing her had him completely disregard his near death for a more elated temperament. His mouth opened to release a relieved wail. "Aurilee! I finally found you!" he chimed. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she confirmed as she stopped in front of him.

Zoro crossed his arms and shook his head. "Damn. We were so close to needing a new cook," he commented almost disappointedly.

Sanji went head-to-head with him, challenging his words with the threat of violence. "You think your food tastes shitty so far? You haven't seen anything yet," he taunted.

"Why are you both out here?" Aurilee questioned.

Sanji went back to giving her his full attention, acting as if Zoro never irritated him in the first place. "I was worried something happened to you, of course," he dallied. "These big hogs came to the beach, and I thought they hurt you since you weren't with them."

"You found the hogs? Crap!" she said, turning her back to them and raising her arms in the air in defeat. "Then what was the point in me being out here?"

"Relax. We can take you back," Zoro pacified. "Get Usopp over here and we'll leave."

"Oh…I kind of lost him," she embarrassingly confessed.

"Usopp abandoned you?" Sanji questioned, getting outraged.

"No, no, no. I don't really know what happened if I'm being completely honest. There were some flowers and next thing I know, I'm all by myself."

Zoro pinched his nose. "Yeah, I believe that."

"We have to go look for him, too, don't we?" Sanji asked despondently.

"Yep. Come on." He turned around to start heading in a different direction, expecting the other two to start following.

Aurilee sighed to herself. No relief for her back pain was coming anytime soon. She was starting to regret going on an adventure. But Sanji beckoned her to come along with him as if spending such time with her would end up being one of the greatest gifts. She slid the bow over her head so it could rest diagonally across her body, and then joined the two rivals.