For 4 days the winds carried the dinghy forward but now…

"Why am I the one who's rowing? I'm the captain for god's sake! I should be the one giving orders, not executing them!"

Well, you know that was…

"Cause I'm fishing for food! And I have to do this because someone was so bored they ate enough to feed 2 people for a month in a mere 4 days!"

Seeing her temper rising and fearing the rising hair, "F-f-fine! I'll do it."

The stuttering answer was perhaps more an indication of fear than of agreement, afterall what was he to do when bored. It was not like he could train here or anything like that. So, the natural answer was eating.

…

Perhaps he did it a little too much, considering how he ate a months' worth of food in 4 days but what can be done?

…

…

…

One can guess how the next 10 days must have gone.

…

TIME SKIP~ 10 DAYS

Once again, the wind was pushing their boat forward and both its occupants were relaxing, eating some Sea King meat.

"Why'd you choose to head in the west? I mean any land that comes next would be part of the Briss Kingdom, and they're not exactly friendly even to the marines." Cassy questioned her Captain upon confirming they were still headed west with a compass.

"Remember how grandpa had a bunch of maps on his ship?" seeing her nod, Cliff continued, "I took some when we landed back on the island. One each of the 4 Blues. Though I was hoping for a Grand-Line one, but it is what it is.

The South Blue one had a few markings on the easternmost island of the Briss Kingdom. Heard a few grunts talk of a Zoan making trouble over there.

So, I decided to go there."

Cassy nodded along, "Anything else about this Zoan? Devil Fruits and their users are rare in the Blues, they either join the Marines or become pirates and go over to Grand-Line as soon as possible… the only ones we've seen were in Loguetown and those were more likely than not coming here from the Grand-Line for the execution."

"Yeah, I got nothing else from them. Probably because they knew nothing more. We'll have to be careful approaching them."

Nothing more was spoken as they looked towards the horizon as the island of their talks made its appearance.

From this distance all it was, was green. A forest, then was confirmed.

As they neared the island, they saw a dock from which a trail led to somewhere and a small house.

As they docked, and got on land for the first time in days, they looked at each other and shrugged and walked to the house.

Just as they were about to knock, the door opened showing a young man, with hair as white as snow, eyes as blue as that of the sky during spring, a fair complexion, eyes resembling a cat and a sharp jaw, standing over them with a height of at least 7 feet. Wearing no shirt, his body was visible for all and make no mistake it was ripped.

"Oh visitors!" he exclaimed in a cheerful voice, his eyes lighting up, "I haven't had visitors since a few years ago, but they were all too busy trying to get to the village to pay me any attention.

I should introduce myself. My name is Hidetake Taiga. Welcome to Bridge Island. And yes, my name literally means tiger tiger, but it has another meaning too." The last of it was spoken in an annoyed tone as if he had anticipated that line of thought seeing as Cliff could be seen lowering his hand and closing his mouth with a shrug.

"I see, very well then, I suppose we should return the gesture then. My name is Cassy and I am the first mate while that idiot behind me is the captain and his name is Cliff Calloway."

"First-mate? Captain? Oh! You're pirates? Wonderful!"

"Uh? That isn't the first impression people usually give when meeting pirates…" (Cliff)

"And you would know how? We've literally just begun our journey!" (Cassy)

"Oh, you've just begun your journey… it's a shame." Hidetake spoke in a disappointed voice.

Both Cliff and Cassy abruptly turned their heads in his direction, "Why are you so disappointed about that?" They asked as one.

"Mother always said pirates have the best stories, but if you've just begun your journey then there isn't much you would have to tell."

"Eh, true!" Cliff said with a shrug, "So, what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be in the village."

Hidetake looked at them for a moment before sighing, "My family has never been welcome in the village. Since my grandfather arrived on this island, we've lived in this house that he built for hi and my grandmother."

"Not welcome in the village? Why? What'd he do?" (Cassy)

"He was a pirate."

Both Cliff and Cassy looked to him in shock. Before they could say anything, he continued, "My grandfather came from the Grand-Line. His crew disbanded since they were all getting old. My grandfather chose to settle here. Unfortunately, rumours spread of him being a pirate and the villagers did not let him enter their village. So, he instead opted to stay here, where they docked. My father and mother both came with him."

"Ah! I see… anyway heard of a Zoan making trouble in here. Know anything 'bout that?" (Cliff)

"Atleast have some subtlety…" Cassy muttered.

"A devil fruit in the Blues is rare. What makes you think there would be one here?" Hidetake asked.

"Oh, just had some information saying so. Could be wrong!" (Cliff)

"And if it is wrong, then what would you do?" Hidetake asked in a low tone, with narrow eyes.

"What we set out to do of course! Adventure! We'll explore the island, restock our supplies and be gone!" Cliff explained in a cheerful voice.

If Hidetake was surprised he hid it very well, and in few seconds, he said, "In that case, I would suggest you follow the trail all the way to the village and later move on to explore the forests."

"Thank you," Cassy replied before taking her Captain by the arm and pulling him away onto the trail.

"Why'd you pull me away?" Cliff whined.

"The moment you mentioned a devil fruit his entire demeanour changed. Outwardly he didn't change but he felt more dangerous after it."

"That's because he has it." Cliff said in a serious voice, no longer just whining and complaining.

Cassy let out a 'Huh' in confusion.

Cliff continued, "His eyes were cat like, he walked with elegance like a cat, his actions carry elegance. I am sure he is the Zoan we are looking for, likely a Cat Cat Fruit. Likely the tiger model because that would be really funny."

Cassy let out a hum as she nodded along, comparing what Cliff said, to what she witnessed not too long ago.

"But that is of no consequence to us. We can just explore this island, restock and be on our merry way." His voice was back to its cheerful tone as he set off on the trail leaving Cassy behind, who scrambled to follow him.

2 days. That's how long it took for them to reach the village because it was on the other side of the island.

The forest around them was riddled with small streams just long and deep enough to require a bridge to cross them. And these things were everywhere. Every 5 minutes, you see a new bridge. They now understood why this island was called Bridge Island.

It was early morning of the 3rd day that they reached the village. The villagers weren't overly welcoming but weren't hostile either. It was a quaint little village with houses spread around in a circle, most notably built around the bridges. People of all ages moved about talking and laughing.

The village was rather small taking no less than a few hours to look around and seeing the same scene all over the village got old fast.

Having separated early in the village, Cassy found Cliff sitting on a tree stump looking bored when she finally came out of the village as the sun started its descent in the sky.

"Got bored?" she questioned although she knew the answer beforehand.

He nodded before asking, "Got whatever it was you were searching for?"

This time she nodded showing him a small map, "This map has all the places marked where we can get our supplies from. Got it for free from an old lady."

"Hmmm… ready to enter the forest again?"

"Yeah!"

Both started walking inside the forest talking of what they saw today. Neither noticed that they had company.

A/N:- I added the Japanese name as I thought of a plan, don't know if it will work as I move on with the story but nonetheless I added it.

Hidetake has 2 meanings embedded in it. The first one means To excel. To grow. The second one means a Tiger (A metaphor for something as strong as a tiger.) A drunkard.

Taiga too has 2 meanings. The first one is Tiger (A metaphor for something as strong as a tiger.) A drunkard. The second one is Elegant.

Sometimes names can tell you somethings about the person.