One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Three-
Luffy intercepted the man's attack, flying through the air after activating Second Gear and knocking him back into a nearby rock.
"Stay away from him!" the rubber man sneered.
"That was close..." Lily breathed out, relief flooding her the second she saw Luffy.
"Kick his butt, Luffy!" Usopp cheered.
"If you want him, you'll have to go through me!" Luffy huffed.
"So we meet again, rubber man" the man grinned as he pushed himself to stand. "Another pirate to kill, huh? That's fine, I was going to wipe out your crew sooner or later—if you're in such a hurry to get killed, I'll grant you your wish!" there was a spark of eagerness in his gaze as he raised his arms and prepared himself to fight. Both participants in this fight were quick and seemingly equal in strength to an extent as every attack Luffy sent toward the older man was easily blocked...yet every attack the man tried to send out himself was easily interrupted by the captain as well. It seems even when an attack would land, the other would just get right back up and into the fight.
"Yeah! Go Luffy!" Nami and Chopper soon began to cheer the second one of Luffy's fists seemingly connected with the man's face…or at least that's what it seemed like at first, but at a closer glance, his fist had only connected with the man's fist which caused the cheering to be cut short.
"Your Haki's not too shabby kid, but it's still not as good as mine" the man cockily grinned.
"What'd he say...?" Usopp weakly asked.
"So he uses Haki too" Sanji frowned.
"This fight's getting tricky" Robin noted.
"We should have known it wasn't going to be that simple of a fight..." I sighed as the man began to swing his arms. Luffy was quick to dodge the man's attacks, but even when one of his fists did manage to hit him, he was always quick to regain his composure.
"Those long arms are a pain..." Luffy grumbled in annoyance.
"Don't tell me that's the best you've got, pirate?" the man frowned, unamused at the idea that his opponent had nothing more to offer than weak punches and simple dodges.
"Maybe you'll like Third Gear" just as Luffy put his finger up to his mouth, the sound of a cannon going off was heard which was then followed by a cannonball striking the rubber man's back and sending him flying into a nearby rock.
"Luffy!" Nami and Chopper worriedly cried.
"Hey! That was cheap!" I snapped as the rock Luffy had struck crumbled to bits, causing the rubber man to stumble back onto unsteady feet.
"I'm impressed, I thought you'd be dead by now" the man confessed. "Bet you've never seen a bombshell wrapped in Haki, have you?" he grinned before jerking his head back toward his ship where an alpaca ow stood with smoke seeping out of its agape mouth. "Say hello to my dear partner, Beast Cannon Alpacacino—he's a bazooka that ate a Devil Fruit" he said as the alpaca laughed. I hastily found myself practically having to forcefully turn my head away as I covered the lower portion of my face with my hand…
How adorable.
His fur looked so soft and the chubbiness of his cheeks made me so badly want to squeeze them.
"Finger Pistol…or rather five!" the man grinned as he menacingly held up one hand before calmly approaching the captain.
"He stabbed him!" Nami and Chopper gasped as my hand instantly flew to my stomach. My fingers now curling and gripping at the fabric of my hoodie as I felt the way the muscles in it painfully tensed and clenched right up as I recalled the hellish pain I had been in back in Water Seven when Lucci had done something similar to me. The sudden sensation of fingers tearing through your flesh at the same speed as a bullet was one that one couldn't so easily forget even after two years.
"Your captain is done for—now who's next?!" the man laughed as he lifted Luffy's body from the ground.
"Luffy!" Usopp shouted.
"This is awful!" Brook cried.
"Damn you…" Sanji muttered.
"No…please…stop it…" Panz Fry weakly groaned as he sat up and shakily attempted to reach out to the man who still held our dear captain...only to be shot down and blown back by Alpacacino who all too quickly jumped into the enemy's hand and turned himself into an almost proper cannon.
"Ah! Dad!" Lily teared right up. "Listen, Usopp," she suddenly turned to the shivering sharpshooter whose head she was still on top of, "I've got an idea—use your slingshot to fire me right into that guy's mouth! I'll get inside his stomach and turn big again—it'll rip that monster to shreds!"
"I mean…that's one way to resolve this conflict" I blinked upon overhearing her plan.
"Well…if you say so..." Usopp hesitantly agreed, his gaze flickering between the tiny woman atop his head and our now still captain who had been dropped. "Ready?" he asked as Lily grew even smaller.
"Yeah!" her tiny voice squeaked.
"Aim…fire...!" and with that, he shot her toward the still-laughing man.
"You know…did any of us ever think to ask her if she's actually tried something like that before?" I suddenly asked as I squinted my eyes and watched her go flying. "I mean, I know she's mentioned before that she could theoretically do something like this, but that doesn't mean she's actually done it before."
"You're only just now thinking about questioning this plan of hers?!" Usopp snapped.
"Yes" I nodded before biting back a laugh as he grabbed my shoulders and began to shake me.
"You could have said something earlier before I shot her?!"
"Yeah, I guess I could of" I grinned as he continued to jostle me back and forth.
"Come on, did you think I hadn't guessed your plan? Nice try!" the man suddenly laughed as he held Luffy up in front of him so that Lily went down his throat instead before tossing the unconscious captain aside.
"Hm…I guess that was something else we could have considered happening" I hummed. "In fact, there were a lot of ways this plan could have failed now that I'm thinking about it…" I murmured in thought as Usopp stood there, practically shell-shocked as he now seemed unable to find his voice.
"Now I can get back to killing the rest of you?!" the man laughed as he aimed at us with Alpacacino.
"What? No!" Usopp gasped.
"Not yet" Luffy suddenly spoke up.
"Uh…what…?" the man blinked, sounding and looking rather confused as he looked toward the rubber man who had quickly regained consciousness.
"Not yet…'cause I'm still not finished with you…" Luffy grunted as he sat up.
"You stupid…why won't you die?!" the man sneered as he watched the rubber man shakily stand back up with some difficulties to the point that he was struggling to catch his breath.
"Two things…first, I'm going to kick your sorry ass then I'll eat this guy's food, got it?!" he firmly proclaimed. It was then at that exact moment and without warning that something…odd…happened as Luffy's body rapidly started to expand and balloon right up. This sudden growth spurt of his even surprised the captain as he stumbled around on his footing, practically kicking and nearly knocking over the enemy ship as he began to rapidly grow in size.
"He's gigantic!" Brook gasped.
"Oh…that's right…" I said in remembrance as I peered up at our now gigantic captain. "He's made of rubber…which is elastic…" even with this reminder…that didn't help cushion the blow in how strange this whole situation was. "Is there really no limit to how much he can stretch...?" I muttered.
"They call that super-sized!" Franky grinned as Chopper squealed in delight, now staring up at our captain in utter awe.
"You can say that again" I snorted.
"This is crazy—where'd these badass horns come from all of a sudden?" Luffy asked as he grabbed at the horns that now extended from either side of his head…those must have been the horns from Lily's helmet...
I still found it rather difficult to wrap my head around what I was seeing…mainly around the logistics of it all as there were plenty of questions I had bouncing around inside my skull. Questions that only seemed to multiply the longer I stared and thought about what I was seeing.
"You guys are so tiny, did something happen to you?" Luffy suddenly asked when he finally noticed just how much smaller we all looked to him. Naturally, such a question caused me to start laughing at how silly it was.
"We didn't get tiny, you idiot! You just got bigger—and Skylar, this isn't funny!" Usopp snapped.
"But it kind of is" I chuckled as I tried to get a hold of myself. "To ask such a question after what just happened, he may be gigantic, but he's still our Luffy."
"Huh?" Luffy questioned, clearly not understanding what Usopp had said.
"Lily flew into your body and made you grow! Did you not notice that at all?" Usopp asked.
"I guess not" Luffy casually admitted with that usual smile of his…it made me wonder if that head of his was possibly empty. "So that's why I can hear your voice" he suddenly chuckled, revealing that he could probably hear Lily from inside him. "I'm so hungry, I thought it was my stomach talking" he bashfully confessed, causing my laughter to start back up.
"You're a giant, Luffy! This is so cool!" Chopper excitedly squealed as he wiggled around in Nami's arms.
"Look at me! I'm so much bigger than you guys now!" Luffy grinned, eyes now literal stars as he cheerfully began to laugh.
"You idiot! Big or small, you're still a pirate and I will still crush you!" the man Luffy had been fighting finally snapped as he regained his composure and took aim with his alpaca cannon. Firing at the giant, he easily struck the back of his head.
"Huh?" Luffy blinked, seemingly unfazed by the explosion as he curiously peered down at the man who flinched back in return. "Right, I forgot, you guys are here" he frowned.
"You forgot us!" the man snapped alongside his alpaca who angrily bleated in response.
"Gotcha now!" in under a few steps, Luffy reached the man and swung his fist down. Effortlessly destroying the ground around him as the man hastily dodged out of the way.
"Don't be so sure, kid" the man scoffed from atop his perch. "Now that you're a giant, you won't move as quickly—good luck catching me" he grinned…though that grin quickly faltered and turned into confusion as he watched how Luffy stretched before squatting down and activating Second Gear which sent a billow of steam through the air.
"Careful, Luffy! That's a lot of hot air!" Nami shouted as we all quickly found something to cling onto, the harsh winds that followed the billow of steam practically knocking us off our feet and violently had the ship rocking.
"We're going to be blown away!" Chopper cried.
"You pirates are still no match for me!" the man proclaimed as if trying to either intimidate us or assure himself that he was still the strongest one in this fight. "And I will never rest until the New World is rid of you!" he loudly screamed as he shot cannonball after cannonball toward Luffy who was clearly unaffected by the tiny explosions.
"Don't hold your breath on that one" Luffy glared before suddenly jumping high into the air much to the man's shock. I had to wonder if it was a good idea or not for the ship to be this close to the fight now that Luffy was gigantic—there was no telling the kinds of shockwaves that would now come from his attacks. Naturally, his opponent wasn't going to allow himself to be too shaken up by this sudden turn in their fight as he quickly began to Sky Walk his way up toward the giant rubber man, using a cannonball shot from Alpacacino for extra leverage. "It's over!" the captain growled as he finally unleashed his attack, practically knocking his opponent back down to the ground and right on top of the alpaca. Within an instance, the ground beneath his feet was demolished as the shockwaves that came off such a powerful attack nearly sent our ship flying.
"Don't you think that was overkill?!" Usopp snapped as soon as the Sunny landed back in the water.
"Yeah, I almost died..." Chopper weakly groaned.
"Same here…" I moaned in agreement, my head practically spinning and eyes nothing more than swirls from the sudden tumble through the air we all took as I limply hung over the arm Zoro had wrapped around me to ensure I wouldn't go flying from the ship. From the dust and rubble came a normal-sized Luffy and a tiny Lily who jumped right back onto the ship—both looking rather pleased with themselves for having won their fight.
"Luffy!" Usopp perked up as he quickly scrambled to stand. "You did it!" he grinned.
"Thanks a whole lot, Lily!" Luffy brightly smiled down at the tiny woman in his hands.
"Oh no, I'm just glad I could do something to help you out" she smiled back. "You sure are a good friend to have, Luffy" she sniffed as she wiped at the tears that now pricked the corners of her eyes.
"Okay! Now your dad can make some of that volcano food and I can eat it!" Luffy cheered with Lily soon to follow suit.
"Um…yeah…about that..." I said, gaze sadly drifting to the ruined food that had ended up smashed in the excitement of the fight.
"It's ruined!" Luffy wailed as he fell to his hands and knees.
"Should have thought about that before you went on your giant rampage—let's get going" Nami sighed.
"No! I'm hungry!" Luffy whined.
"I mean, it's probably still edible…as for how it'll taste..." I rubbed the back of my head before shrugging.
"Don't worry about it, we'll pick up more food on the way—I'm sure it won't take us long to find a volcano, what do you say?" Nami smiled.
"Fine by me" Luffy perked up. "Okay, let's go!" he cheered as I continued to peer down at the smashed food…it's a shame that it'll most likely go to waste. All I can hope is that the birds will get a good meal out of it.
"But what are we going to do with that big raft, it's too heavy" Usopp pointed out.
"Looks like Franky's already got it all figured out" Sanji remarked as he peered over the side of the ship.
"Oh?" Brook questioned as he approached the ship's railing.
"Super!" Franky cheered, striking his signature pose as he showed off the raft he had built just for Panz Fry.
"It's a perfect fit" the skeleton brightened.
"You're an excellent shipwright! Thank you, Franky!" Panz Fry praised as he removed his hat and bowed his head in gratitude.
"My pleasure, bro! Super!" Franky grinned as he continued to strike multiple poses.
-Days Later-
It took a few days at most, but with time and a lot—and I mean a lot—of fishing, we eventually found a volcano for Panz Fry to use so that he could cook up all the food that was caught during our time spent sailing together. It was delicious and the time spent together was wonderful from the chatter and laughter to the music provided by a certain skeletal musician. The time we all spent together served as a good break from the excitement that had taken place days earlier, but everything had to come to an end eventually.
"Bye, everyone! Thanks for all your help" Lily happily waved from her and her father's raft which followed beside us. "Be safe, okay! I promise I'll never forget what you guys did for me and my dad!"
"It's not that big a deal!" Luffy laughed.
"Thanks you two! That dinner was incredible!" Usopp praised.
"Just take it easy for a while, okay? You're not done healing!" Chopper added.
"Thank you, I'll be sure to do that!" Panz Fry smiled. "You're the best, doctor!"
"Really? The best, huh?!" Chopper perked right up before he started to happily jump from side to side. Tossing out an insult or two due to his embarrassment from the compliment.
"Bye, Lily! It was fun being a giant!" Luffy grinned as he waved goodbye to the two. "We ought to do it again soon!"
"Yeah, sure!" Lily agreed. "You were the strongest giant I ever met—it was awesome!" slowly, but surely, our two ships began to depart from one another—going off in different directions.
"See you around!" and with that, we were soon out of earshot from one another and on our separate ways. "Ready, crew?!" the captain grinned as he looked back at us.
"Yeah!" we cheered in response.
-Time Skip-
"Let's go!" just barely could Luffy's cheerful voice be heard over the raging storm…how fitting that the moment I decided to wear that new outfit Nami and Robin had gotten me back on Fishman Island, it gets completely soaked by the rain once again. Good thing it's all black.
"This is dreadful! Will the Sunny be okay?!" Brook worriedly shouted.
"She's built to last—don't worry, bro!" Franky grinned from his spot behind the wheel as he steered the ship through the harsh waves that were being kicked up by the surrounding storm.
"If she was able to get us down to and back up from Fishman Island safely then she'll be able to handle a little rain" I smiled, patting the ship's railing just as a particularly bad wave threw us up into the air momentarily.
"That doesn't look right" Zoro suddenly remarked as he looked ahead.
"The sea…it's on fire!" Nami gasped as our eyes were quickly drawn toward the raging flames that coated the water's surface up ahead.
"How fascinating" Robin noted.
"Huh, that's not something you see every day" I hummed.
"Cool, there's a volcano and everything" Luffy grinned upon spying the erupting volcano up ahead. "That island looks awesome, let's go!" he hastily ordered as he turned toward the rest of us.
"What?!" nearly everyone shouted in shock as if baffled that our captain of all people would want to head toward such a hazardous island.
"Hold on a sec, Luffy!" Nami called out to him before peering down at the Log Pose on her wrist. "I thought so—none of the needles on the Log Pose are pointing to that place" she informed us.
"So what? It technically doesn't exist then?" I questioned with a raised brow.
"It's volcano time!" Luffy eagerly cheered, clearly not paying the ginger any mind.
"It's not going to work!" she angrily snapped.
"What doesn't work? It's got lava and fire!" Luffy frowned as he began to pout. "The only thing that island's missing is us on it!"
"Calm down, Luffy" Nami huffed. "Listen, none of the needles are pointing there, something's up" she tried to explain to him. "Even for the New World, this island is bad news" she told us.
"You don't say—what gave it away?" I deadpanned as the volcano on the island erupted once again. I playfully tilted my head the moment I felt an arm slip its way around my waist, a wet hand giving my exposed side a gentle squeeze as Zoro settled himself beside me.
"That's not what the volcano says!" Luffy pouted.
"What? You speak volcano now or something?" I raised an eyebrow, grinning when he only nodded in response.
"The island is right there! Who cares about some dumb needles?!" Luffy huffed. "We go wherever we want—what's going to stop us?" he asked as he eagerly ran to the ship's railing and peered back at the burning island.
"The fire!" Nami argued. "We can't get any closer than this! The sea is literally burning!" she stressed, making it clear that there was indeed no way for the ship to safely continue onward toward the island thanks to the raging wall of fire that surrounded it.
"I don't think he cares" I said the moment I saw that familiar smile on our captain's face.
"What's so funny?" Nami frowned, already growing annoyed with the rubber man upon seeing that smile of his as well.
"Hungry?" Sanji suddenly asked as he placed his foot upon the giant shellfish that had been left over from the feast we had had with Panz Fry and his daughter.
"Wait, you seriously want to eat the giant shellfish Panz Fry gave us right now?" Usopp asked, baffled by the cook's odd timing.
"It's the perfect time" Sanji argued. "I can try some of his special techniques and cook it in the fire."
"Yeah, sure! And cook all of us along with it!" Chopper cried.
"Who do you think will taste the best out of all of us?" I hummed in thought.
"Why would why would you ask something so morbid?!" Nami snapped.
"My money's on Usopp" I grinned.
"Why me?!" the sharpshooter cried, causing me to casually shrug.
"Why not Chopper?" Nami asked with a raised brow.
"I'd rather eat my own shoe than deprive the world of such a cute face—I may be discussing cannibalizing, but I'm not a monster, Nami" I scoffed, causing the ginger to roll her eyes as Zoro snorted beside me.
"Sparks?" Robin suddenly noted upon catching sight of the sparks that came off the raging fire we now sailed close beside.
"The ship's going to catch fire" Usopp worriedly frowned.
"No way, you super underestimating the Sunny" Franky grinned.
"There's something wrong about this place!" Nami frowned. "Just look, the fish are dead! They're bones—bones!" she exclaimed the moment she peered over the ship's railing and saw the fish bones that lazily floated past.
"And what is wrong with that, pray tell?" Brook asked, sounding almost offended as Nami gave a disgruntled groan.
"Nothing, Nami just has a thing against skeletons—I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Brook" I grinned, snickering at the sight of the harsh glare the ginger shot my way as she quietly began to grumble. Though she and I soon flinched at the sound of wailing which suddenly came drifting from the kitchen.
"What's that?" Usopp worriedly asked as we made our way toward the kitchen where the crying was obviously coming from.
"Hey, this is weird" Luffy said when he noticed that the Transponder Snail we had stationed inside the kitchen was sobbing. "They don't normally cry—what's wrong, buddy? Does your stomach hurt?" he worriedly asked.
"Distressed signal?" I questioned.
"She's right" Sanji nodded. "Someone close by is calling for help" he explained.
"If I pick it up, can I hear them?" Luffy asked.
"Wait, Luffy" Robin was quick to stop him before he could do anything. "More than half of those calls are fake—this is likely just a trap."
"She's not entirely wrong, the Navy often uses this kind of trick to hunt down pirate ships" I sighed as I crossed my arms. Irritation now gnawing away at my heart as I couldn't help but think about the many people who did genuinely need help but ended up being ignored and neglected in their time of need all because the people who passed through these seas feared their cries for help as nothing more than a trick.
"Right, once you pick up, they can determine your location and launch a surprise attack" Robin nodded.
"Thank you, Robin, that's great advice" Usopp smiled. "I'm sure our captain has other things to do then—" his jaw practically hit the floor the second Luffy answered the call.
"Hello? My name is Monkey D. Luffy and I'm going to be King of the Pirates!" he boldly proclaimed.
"Don't need to tell them all that!" Usopp snapped as he struck the back of the rubber man's head.
"What did you expect for an introduction from him of all people?" I asked with a raised brow.
"Someone help!" the man on the other end loudly cried, his voice raw from screaming.
"What's wrong?" Luffy quickly asked.
"Please! It's cold—we need Boss!" the man on the other end sobbed.
"It's real hot where we are and who's Boss?" Luffy asked.
"My friends are getting cut down—one after another! The samurai is going to kill us!" the man screeched, fear taking hold of his voice as his sobbing became practically uncontrollable.
"The what now?" Zoro questioned, his curiosity now piqued as I furrowed my brows.
"What up? Who?" Luffy frowned. "Samurai? Where are you?"
"Please hurry, we're on the island of Punk Hazard! We don't have much time left!" the man cried before giving one final blood-curdling scream as the line went dead.
"He's dead!" Chopper and Usopp screamed in terror.
"How terrible" Brook frowned.
"Smells like trouble's brewing out there" Luffy calmly remarked after hanging up the Transponder Snail as he grabbed hold of his chin and looked to be in thought.
"What do you mean it's brewing?! He's dead—it's already brewed!" Usopp snapped.
"I don't know, it could probably brew some more" I remarked.
"This is scary!" Chopper cried.
"Maybe he was acting and this is just a trap" Robin pointed out.
"So cold" Brook sang as he strummed his guitar. "Oh, you're so cold" he continued to play.
"I mean that was some pretty damn good acting then—it really did sound almost like a man genuinely pleading for his life before being brutally murdered" I said. "I guess the government decided to invest in some acting lessons these last few years."
"Samurai is like a swordsman, right, Brook?" Zoro suddenly asked.
"Yes, from a faraway land" Brook nodded as he stopped his playing. "An island known as the Kingdom of Wano."
"Wano?" I perked up. "You mean one of the few countries not affiliated with the World Government, right?" I asked.
"That's right, Wano is closed off from the rest of the world, so most people know little about it" Brook explained. "In fact, as Skylar said, it's not even affiliated with the World Government—they say that their samurai are so formidable that even the Navy dares not challenge them."
"What are you thinking about?" I softly asked the swordsman next to me the second I spotted the faraway look in his eye as he mindlessly rubbed at Shusui's handle.
"Nothing…" he mumbled with the shake of his head...yet the look on his face said otherwise.
"I've never even heard of the place" Usopp admitted.
"Countries not affiliated with the World Government rarely get talked about—they seen no point in teaching people about a country whose boarders are closed" I said as I slowly looked away from the swordsman and toward the sharpshooter.
"But he said Punk Hazard, not the place with the samurai" Franky pointed out. "You think that's it right there?" he asked as he peered out the door and toward the still raging wall of fire.
"I think that's a logical conclusion—those portable Transponder Snails have a limited signal area" Robin nodded.
"Come on! Fight through the fire and help him!" Luffy excitedly ordered.
"We'll die!" Nami cried.
"He'd dead anyways! And there's a samurai!" Usopp argued.
"They sound scary!" Chopper whimpered.
"I agree!" Brook shouted in agreement, just as afraid as the three before him.
"I don't think he cares" I smiled as Luffy began to laugh, seemingly not fazed at all by the four's reluctance to go.
"So, how many of us are going to the island?" Sanji questioned. "Since we don't know what the hell's going on, we should probably keep a few people on the ship" he reasoned.
"Hey, Franky, I need the Mini Merry" Luffy smiled.
"No prob" Franky grinned, all too happy to lend the Mini Merry to the captain.
"Are you nuts? You are not going alone!" Nami scolded.
"You want to come, just say so" Luffy said, confused by the ginger's sudden annoyance.
"Not a chance! If we let you run off unsupervised, it could take us days to hunt you down" she pointed out, stating a fact that we all knew deep down was true.
"Huh?" Luffy questioned.
"Too bad Captain Belly Warmer here would only get him more lost" Sanji said, causing me to snort.
"Hey, don't call me that!" Zoro snapped. "I will cut you!"
"I could go and keep an eye on Luffy" I offered.
"Look, Skylar, it's not that I don't trust you or anything…but anytime you and Luffy are alone together, you both act like you only share one brain cell half of the time" Nami sighed.
"Fair point" I shrugged.
"You're not even going to argue with her?" Usopp sweat dropped.
"It's rather hard to argue against facts" I said, causing his sweat drop to grow bigger.
"Well, I'm game" Franky grinned. "Let's do this thing!"
"Yes, count me in too" Robin smiled.
"Well there, now I can go and you don't have to worry about a thing, Nami" I grinned.
"Well, looks like a rock solid team to me, no need for any of us to go" Usopp said after the momentary shock he felt at the fact that a few of us actually were willing to go with the captain passed.
"I had a feeling it would come to this" Nami sighed as she took a moment to think. "We'll draw straws" she concluded as she soon held out a fistful of scrap pieces of paper. "Now no one can complain" she huffed, looking rather proud of herself for coming to this resolution.
"If Skylar's going then I'm going anyways—you think a straw's going to stop me?" Zoro scoffed with the roll of his eye.
"Oh? Does that mean you'd follow me to the ends of the earth if I were to go there as well?" I teasingly asked.
"Of course, someone has to keep you from getting lost" he grinned as he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me into his side.
"And they say chivalry's dead" I snorted.
"Hey, if I get picked, you go instead!" Chopper sniffed as he peered up at the swordsman with his teary eyes before we finally gathered close and picked which scrap of paper we wanted to draw.
"I'll summon all the good luck I've got left—what good is it going to do me if I die right here? It's time to bet it all!" Usopp exclaimed as he rubbed his hands together before dramatically pulling a piece of paper and drawing it.
"Some nice luck you've got there, hot shot" I grinned the moment I saw the red tip of the scrap of paper he had drawn.
"That's settles it then, just don't die" Sanji said as he held up his blank scrap piece of paper.
"Yeah, you wish" Zoro grinned as he, Robin, and I each held up a piece of paper with a red tip.
"This should be fun" Robin happily chuckled.
"Or fatal…" Usopp whimpered.
"You won? Good job, Usopp" Sanji teasingly grinned.
"You want to go?! Trade with me—please!" Usopp practically begged before suddenly perking up as if he had just realized something. "Wait! The Mini Merry can only hold four people and there are five of us going—that means one of us can stay behind, right? Right?!" he sounded hopeful.
"I'm sure we can make five people fit" I said, the corners of my lips twitching upwards alongside everyone else's as we all seem to quietly agree that we weren't going to let him get off that easily. There was something fun about teasing the sharpshooter.
"Yes, Skylar is rather small, so I'm sure she can comfortably fit in the back—in fact, I'm sure Zoro wouldn't mind her sitting on his lap" Robin smiled in agreement.
"Doesn't bother me at all" Zoro nodded before grinning as he pressed a kiss to the side of my head, causing me to giggle.
-Later-
"Take this" Sanji said, handing Luffy a stack of lunch boxes as we prepared to leave. "It's a giant shellfish lunch box" he explained.
"Woohoo! Yeah, I can't wait!" Luffy cheered as he took the lunches.
"You sure it was a smart idea to give those to Luffy of all people to hold?" I asked as I busied myself with putting my hair up into a high ponytail while just barely watching from the corner of my eye as Nami made a road of clouds for us to take over the raging flames.
"That's cool! You sure showed that wall of fire!" Luffy exclaimed. "You can make them just like they do in Skypiea, huh?" he eagerly asked.
"Uh-huh" Nami proudly nodded. "We still have to wait a minute before they stabilize though."
"Okay!" he nodded.
Thankfully, a minute all too quickly came and went as it wasn't long before finally, we were on our way. Each of us comfortably seated as best as we could in the Mini Merry with five people.
"Alright, time for adventure, you guys!" the captain cheered, already stuffing his face with one of the lunch boxes Sanji had packed. "Come on, Mini Merry!"
"Be careful! Please don't die!" Chopper called out to us as he and the others waved bye from the ship's railing.
"Wish I could go, you lucky punks!" Franky grinned.
"Watch out for lava!" Brook waved, offering pretty sound advice in my opinion.
"Usopp, be brave!" I snorted upon hearing Nami's almost teasing tone as she called out the sharpshooter.
"Someone trade with me! Or better yet, let me stay!" Usopp pleaded as he leaned back from the passenger seat, the tears running down his cheeks becoming more frantic the further away from the ship we got.
"Whoa, this shellfish is great" Luffy praised through a mouthful of food.
"Don't tell me you're eating your lunch already!" Usopp snapped.
"I mean, are you surprised that he is?" I asked with a raised brow as I looked away from Zoro just as he took a bite from the food I held out to him and toward the sharpshooter who was now squirming around in his seat.
"Ooo, look over the edge—there's fire! Fire!" Luffy eagerly exclaimed as he pointed out this obvious. "This is fun! Usopp, you're scared over nothing" he softly huffed, causing me to snort.
"Will these clouds still be here when we need to come back?" the sharpshooter worriedly asked.
"Probably not" I mindlessly said, taking a bite of food for myself before holding another bite out for Zoro who looked rather content as he ate.
"Hey, and it stopped raining too" Luffy noted.
"Island scouting weather" Robin smiled.
"It really is—we haven't even started scouting yet and we're already sweating" I chuckled, already taking note of the thin sheen of sweat that was now covering everyone's body due to the intense heat of the surrounding fire.
"No, it's not!" Usopp wailed.
A/N: Enjoy
Please Review, Favorite, and Follow.