One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter Three Hundred and Forty-Four
"Look! I see the entrance to the island!" Luffy exclaimed after a short while of sailing, his attention now drawn forward and away from the surrounding flames. "They got a gate and everything—wonder if there's a town?" he pondered as a rather large chain link fence soon came into view, one that most likely would be unclimbable thanks to this burning heat.
"Not likely, whoever lived here before probably got burned to a crisp—if there was a town, it would be on fire" Usopp frowned. "Wherever that call came from, it must have been far away, safe from all of this mess!" he huffed before casting a glance back at the rest of us. "Robin, back me up."
"I was skeptical at first, but the flavor is great" Robin praised, distracted by her own lunchbox.
"Sanji's a good cook, so that's no surprise" I said, taking another bite of food for myself before chuckling at the annoyed grumble Zoro gave as his hold on me tightened just a bit.
"I rather not hear about that pervert while I eat, especially not from you…" he muttered as he opened his mouth and accepted another bite from the food I held out to him.
"Why is everyone eating their lunch right now?! And Skylar, why are you feeding Zoro?!" Usopp asked.
"Why not?" I shot back with a shrug. "Also, I'm not just feeding him—we're sharing, there's a difference" I corrected, making it a point to take a bite of food for myself before chuckling at the exasperated look the sharpshooter gave.
"That's not the point!" he exclaimed as he threw his hands up into the air.
"If you're not going to eat then I'll eat yours for you" Zoro offered.
"I'm saving it for later!" Usopp snapped.
"Tch! Your stomach is almost as insatiable as Luffy's" I playfully tsked as I realized that not only were we currently sharing my lunchbox, but he still had his own lunchbox left to eat, and now he was aiming to take Usopp's as well.
"Do you want this piece, Luffy?" Robin suddenly asked.
"Yeah!" Luffy excitedly exclaimed.
"Here" she offered as she held out the piece she didn't seem to want toward the captain who, without a second thought, clamped his mouth down on the chopsticks and happily began to munch away on the piece of food.
"Sanji outdid himself" he brightly smiled as he spoke around the mouthful of food.
"You're lucky, there's a lot of shellfish left" Robin told him, hand raised as she covered her mouth due to her still chewing what she currently had in it.
"Gah! My disease is coming back—I can feel it inside of me!" Usopp suddenly and very dramatically wailed. "So here's the thing, I got "Can't-Go-On-This-Island" Disease and it's terminal" he was rather quick to tell us.
"I know" Zoro and I said as I just barely spared a glance back at the sharpshooter, distracted as I wiped away the bits of crumbs that were on the corner of Zoro's mouth. Gently, I swiped my thumb over them, a small smile tugging at my lips as I watched how he instantly leaned into my touch the minute he felt it.
"I know" Robin smiled at the sharpshooter.
"I know" was Luffy's muffled response as he too smiled at our distressed friend.
"My brain is melting!" Usopp quickly cried out once he realized that his disease wasn't getting much of a reaction. "My heart is seizing up—I think I'm going to die! Turn this ship around!" the only thing his overdramatic acting earned him was laughter as both Luffy and I began to giggle. It wasn't too long after that that we reached the end of our cloud road. Thankfully, there was a patch of land that wasn't on fire waiting for us at the end.
"Well that settles it, this is where the call came from" Robin said as we peered up at the crooked sign that hung above the gate's entrance.
"Yeah, he said Punk Hazard for sure" Usopp disgruntledly admitted.
"Get Mini Merry away from all that fire" Luffy grunted as he and Zoro pushed the small ship as far into land as they could to avoid it catching fire.
"So this is the right island, but that distress call could have come from anywhere" Zoro said as the two rejoined with the rest of us.
"How curious, seems the island is off limits" Robin suddenly pointed out.
"Man, I wonder why that is—it truly is a mystery" I sarcastically said as the fire around us continued to crackle, causing the older woman to softly chuckle.
"Yeah, Luffy! See that!" Usopp eagerly exclaimed as he pointed to the warning signs placed upon the gate—both the Marine and World Government's symbols plastered all over.
"Yeah, so? I love danger" Luffy responded, not quite understanding where the sharpshooter was going with this.
"Not that—the World Government mark! They're running this place!" the sharpshooter clarified as he tried to redirect the captain's attention away from the warning signs and more toward the two signs that held the Marine and World Government's symbols. "So whoever it was that called for help was a Marine—it's obviously a trap, I guess we're done here, right guys?" he asked, already looking eager to leave.
"That's not exactly what it means" I said as I crossed my arms and peered up at the signs that innocently hung there on the gate. "You said it yourself on the ship, this place is clearly inhabitable—no town could thrive here and certainly no person could survive living here. Signs like this only get put up by the government more or less as a safety precaution" I explained. "Also, there's always the chance this is private property owned solely by the World Government, but even then, that doesn't necessarily mean that the distressed signal was a ruse."
"Oh come on! It clearly has to be a ruse—why would any sane person be on this island if not for a cleverly set trap?!" Usopp frowned. "So again, we're done here and we're leaving, right?" he asked once more before dread seemed to almost fill him the moment he saw Zoro silently approach the gate. "Uh…hey, we are leaving, aren't we…Zoro?" he nervously asked just as the swordsman drew one of his swords and cut open the gate for us.
"Well, that was easy" Luffy grinned.
"You can say that again" I laughed as we properly entered the island with a very reluctant Usopp lingering behind for a moment. Immediately, the overbearing heat of the burning flames bared down on us and caused us to sweat even more than we already were.
"Ugh! It's hot!" Luffy groaned all too quickly as he hastily stripped himself of his shirt.
"It's because of all this fire—if I had known we were going to be going on an island made of fire, I wouldn't have worn black" I groaned as I waved a hand in front of my face in an attempt to cool myself down a little. Though the color did well to hide any embarrassing sweat marks, that didn't stop it from practically providing little to no help in this intense heat—even with the amount of skin I had exposed with this outfit on, it provided little comfort. Slowly, my eyes wandered, drinking in the melting structures and still burning fires before lastly settling on the swordsman beside me who had already stripped himself of the top part of his robe. My gaze lingered for only a moment before instantly snapping forward as my cheeks grew warm with slight embarrassment the second he looked toward me and grinned.
"Like what you see?" he teasingly asked as he moved in a little closer toward me and lightly bumped my shoulder with his own.
"Maybe…" I muttered, blush only worsening as I turned my head away before jumping at the sudden sensation of his breath against the shell of my ear as he leaned in close.
"Well, I quite like what I'm seeing" loud was the squeal that escaped the back of my throat the second I felt his hand on my bottom, giving it a decent squeeze before finally, he pulled back with a laugh when I began to swat at him. My embarrassment slowly growing worse at the sound of Robin's chuckling.
"Sounds like you two are having fun back there" she teasingly smiled, causing me to childishly stick my tongue out at her.
"Hey, stop!" Usopp shouted as he hastily followed after us once he realized that there was a chance we really were going to leave him behind. "Trespassing is a crime! Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked as Robin shed her sweater dress and tied it around her waist, revealing the floral print tank top and black shorts she wore underneath. "Oh wait…yeah, I guess we're already criminals, aren't we?" he realized.
"But the government! You don't want to pick a fight with them, do you?!" he was quick to ask before his shoulders slumped as if he just remembered something. "Wait…we've done that too…" none of us really seemed to pay much attention to him as we continued to walk further on ahead.
"Come on, Usopp, you're falling behind" I called back.
"Okay, but from a morality standpoint—" he began, already working on his next argument on why we should turn around and leave as he hastily ran to catch up with us.
"This is stupid, why is it so hot?" Luffy asked, his tongue sticking out like a dog as he slumped over and practically dragged his feet.
"I'm thinking because everything is on fire" Zoro said.
"Oh wow, really? How'd you come to that conclusion?" I sarcastically asked before yelping the second I felt a harsh smack be delivered to my backside—one hard enough to make my bottom sting through my clothes. "What was that for?!" I embarrassingly cried out.
"You know exactly what it was for" he grunted.
"I doubt it's always been this way since the government built a fence here" Robin said as she looked around. "Something happened, but what?" she pondered.
"Hold on, don't leave me!" Usopp frantically pleaded from somewhere behind us. "I could have used some help back there!" he soon shouted afterward as he came running to try and catch up to us.
"Oh, you finally caught up" I said the second he ran up beside me once we had finally come to a stop. His body now bent over as he heavily panted in some attempt to catch his breath. "Good job" I brightly smiled while giving his back a firm pat.
"Don't...patronize me..." he wheezed.
"It's not so bad—those aren't houses" Robin quickly noted as we peered down at the burning buildings below us, many of them looking as if they were slowly melting. "Clearly they're some sort of government research facilities."
"So you think a volcano or something did this and then what? They shut the whole operation down?" Zoro questioned. "Or do you think they were up to something and they did this?"
"I wouldn't be surprised—could have been doing some sketchy shit, it didn't turn out right, and so they decided to try and get rid of all the evidence" I said as I crossed my arms.
"The fact that the Log Pose didn't point to this island troubles me—but what does that mean?" Robin frowned.
"Hey!" Luffy suddenly shouted. "Did that samurai kill you?! If you're not dead yet, say so!"
"Even if the samurai didn't kill them, the fire or smoke inhalation would have probably already gotten to them by this point" I pointed out as I peered down at the sea of fire below us.
"Hey, samurai! You want to fight?!" Luffy continued to shout, this time seeking out an answer from the mysterious samurai that was mentioned.
"He's a killer! He'll kill us too!" Usopp huffed through a mouthful of food.
"Now you have an appetite?" Zoro questioned.
"This is stress-eating, thank you!" the sharpshooter defensively snapped. "There's something else about this that's fishy—that guy making the emergency call said it was cold, didn't he?" he asked as he continued to stuff his face.
"Yeah, he did" Luffy agreed. "But how can you be cold and on fire? Maybe he's stupid?" he pondered.
"I doubt that's the issue here!" Usopp snapped.
"Can there be a cold place on a burning island?" Robin pondered. "Or perhaps he was cold somewhat because he was bleeding to death."
"Honestly, I've been thinking the same thing for a while now" I admitted, the idea that the distressed call we had received coming from a man already on death's door having crossed my mind a few times since we arrived on this island. It was the only logical explanation for how someone could be cold in such a dreadfully hot place.
"Robin! Skylar! Can you two keep those thoughts to yourselves?" Usopp whined before he returned to stuffing his face…though he along with the rest of us soon froze at the sudden and ominous sounds that filled the air. "What was that? Why are there scary noises?!" he frantically asked.
"What the heck?" Luffy frowned as we finally took notice of the massive skull within the burning flames not that far from us. It looked as if it was slowly melting due to the heat of the flames that licked at it as it sat there undisturbed and perfectly charred.
"Ah! It's a giant!" Usopp screamed at the sight of the skull.
"Nuh-uh, it's way bigger than that" Luffy pointed out.
"Do you think that's what's causing all this wind?" Robin asked.
"Doubt it, though it is quite possibly our culprit for those sounds we keep hearing—could be a result of the wind passing through its holes" I said before perking up at the sudden sound of whooshing wind and falling debris as something heavy landed behind us, causing Luffy to be the first to peer back in surprise.
"It's behind us...huh...?" Usopp fearfully whispered before flinching at the loud stomp that came from behind us, forcing the rest of us to finally turn around.
"My goodness…" Robin breathed out.
"Well…I certainly wasn't expecting this…" I lowly whistled.
"Oh wow! Those things are real?" Luffy gaped. "Crazy!"
"No way! Whatever it is, it must be a trick—those things are only in fairy tales" Zoro frowned, quick to take on his usual fighting stance.
"Not only that but aren't they usually depicted as living high up in the mountains in most tales?" I questioned.
"And yet, just look at it—what else could it possibly be?" Robin asked as we looked at the beast before us in a mixture of awe and horror.
"A dragon?!" we shouted in utter bafflement, each of us having a hard time comprehending what we were seeing. It was rather massive the dragon before us, its scales a deep red that seemed to just glow underneath the embers of the raging flames around us. Massive black spikes lined its back, going all the way from the nape of its neck and down to the tip of its tail which lazily curled and swayed. Its stout body was held up by four legs while two moderately sized winds sprouted from either side of its back. Drool leaked from its gaping maw, practically running rivers over its sharpened teeth and down its jaw as its tongue lulled out the longer it looked at us with pure hunger in its eyes.
"Whoa! So cool!" Luffy's shock was rather quick to turn into awe as his eyes became literal stars. Such a reaction was enough to cause the corners of my lips to twitch and curve upwards as I found myself holding back a laugh at the sight of our eager captain happily bouncing around.
"Yeah?! You think getting eaten is cool?!" Usopp cried.
"I'm sure there are some people out there who do" I said before wincing the second the creature lifted its head and roared. Such a sound was enough to further both Luffy's excitement and Usopp's fear as the two instantly ran in separate directions—one toward the beast and the other away. "Where are you even going to go?" I called back to Usopp as he ran to put distance between him and the raging dragon. My smile slowly growing by the minute as I listened to Luffy's childish excitement. He was like a little boy as he ran around the dragon—grinning and laughing over every little detail he spotted as he eagerly jumped from foot to foot with his arms raised high.
"How badass is this!" the captain laughed as his bubbly excitement seemed to just capture the beast's attention and make it lower its head toward him. "Huh?" he blinked with the tilt of his head before hastily jumping out of the way the second the creature opened its maw and attempted to eat him. When it saw that it had missed its prey, it slowly shifted its attention toward the rest of us. Without missing a beat, we all ran—scattering like rats the second the monster began charging toward us, its gaze practically zeroing in on poor Usopp who was currently howling his lungs out.
"Ah! Please don't eat me!" the sharpshooter pleaded the minute he realized that he had become the beast's next target, only to be saved by Luffy who was rather quick to snatch him up and drag him out of the way the giant reptile's snapping jaws. Although…Luffy's attempt to save our friend hadn't been the gentlest as Usopp's body went sliding face first over the bricks that made up the path beneath our feet. "Hey, what the hell was that for?!" he snapped as he quickly twisted his body around and snarled back at the captain.
"Listen! He was talking, I heard him!" Luffy suddenly exclaimed as he pointed back at the dragon.
"Gah! I think the heat's getting to you, pal!" Usopp frowned.
"I don't know" the captain admitted as we regrouped, genuinely considering the possibility for a moment, yet the look on his face proved that he truly believed what he had said—that he had indeed heard the dragon talk to him.
"M-maybe it isn't even a dragon! It could be something way more dangerous!" Usopp fearfully cried as he scrambled to his feet the second the beast turned its head toward us and began to approach once more.
"It sure looks like one though, doesn't it?" Zoro questioned.
"It does, that's a dragon for sure" Robin nodded. "A lizard-like body with massive wings—that's exactly the way dragons are described in all the myths" she said, using the description that many books tended to use when describing a dragon.
"A Devil Fruit user, maybe?" I suggested. If a Devil Fruit could turn one's body into rubber or someone into a leopard or a wolf then surely there was a fruit out there that could turn one into that of a dragon. Though…the suggestion I made didn't feel quite right as the dragon before us exhibited no signs of awareness—it looked at us with the same eyes that any wild animal would have. Eyes that acknowledge our presence but did not view us as anything more than food.
"Wow" Luffy's mouth fell agape the second the dragon lifted its head, evergrowing flames of fire soon flickering out from between its teeth and licking at the edges of its mouth. "Run away!" he ordered the second those flickering flames turned into a raging inferno within the beast's mouth and looked just about ready to blow.
"Usopp, don't just stand there like an idiot—move!" I snapped as I harshly shoved the sharpshooter the second I saw that he was frozen in fear. He jumped, harshly jostled out of his terrified state just long enough to stumble before hastily catching himself as he went running alongside the rest of us away from the blazing trail of fire that shot out from the dragon's mouth.
"So it can breathe fire too!" he screamed as he lost his footing and went tumbling to the ground. "I don't know what I was expecting but come on! Really?!" he cried in distress as he shot right back up.
"Bring it on" Zoro suddenly grinned as he took hold of one of his swords and got into a fighting position.
"Does the valiant knight plan to slay the dragon and save the princess?" I teasingly asked, a playful grin now tugging at my lips as Luffy began to cheerfully laugh—his excitement from earlier coming right back.
"I'm not letting you have all the fun" he chuckled the moment the beast roared, already activating Second Gear and jumping into the air were he then proceeded to punch the oversized reptile in the jaw.
"Oh no..." Robin breathed out when she saw just how little the punch had affected the dragon.
"Huh?" Luffy frowned. "You got some thick skin, huh?" he remarked as he too realized just how little his punch had bothered the beast.
"Look, behind you!" Zoro shouted in warning the second the dragon's tail rose and swung toward our captain. I winced as the rubber man was struck and sent flying through the air until he crashed through one of the nearby ruined buildings.
"Whoa!" Usopp exclaimed. "Gah! It sees us!" he soon panicked the second the monster lowered its head and looked toward the rest of us.
"With all your screaming, I'd be surprised if it didn't see us" I deadpanned.
"Well excuse me for being rightfully afraid!" he cried.
"You're excused" I sweetly smiled which only caused that crying of his to increase.
"Your mine!" Zoro suddenly shouted, his face twisted up into a look of pure eagerness as he drew two of his swords.
"Knock it off! You're making him angry!" Usopp snapped as he smacked the swordsman's shoulder.
"And thus when one valiant knight falls here comes another to take his place" I snickered.
"Don't encourage him!" Usopp frowned before screaming as everyone, saved for Zoro, quickly scattered the second the dragon began to charge toward us. Zoro, on the other hand, stood strong, showing no hesitance and weakness as he watched the approaching beast with a grin.
"Poot! I can sense your presence" my ears perked up to the new voice that suddenly piped up, one that seemed to come from the…
Dragon…
"What?" I owlishly blinked as I skidded to a halt in my running alongside Usopp, the two of us turning around just as a baffled Zoro quickly jumped out of the way from the dragon's chomping jaws.
"Oh, I see now—Luffy was right, that thing really can talk" he frowned once he came to a skidding halt not that far from the beast. Drawing his final sword without skipping a beat, he got into position and swung the moment the dragon approached with its maw agape...only for his blades to immediately clash with the beast's teeth which caused it to draw back with a roar and tremor. Just like when Luffy had struck it, it seemed barely affected by the damage it took as already it was once more eyeing the swordsman like a piece of meat. Lunging forward, it attempted to eat him only to have its jaw blocked by two of his swords.
"Those are some strong teeth" I whistled at the way the beast's teeth held up fairly well against the swords that pushed and scrapped against them.
"Dammit! This guy is one stubborn lizard!" Zoro grunted as he continued to push back against the monster's teeth, refusing to let them fully clamp down on him.
"Back off!" Luffy suddenly screamed as his body finally reemerged and jumped into the air where he then swung his foot and struck the reptile's side, causing it to cry out in surprise and allow Zoro to safely push himself back and away from its hungry jaws.
"It seems that the valiant knight from before has returned!" I gasped in mock surprise as the corners of my lips twitched upward.
"You're having way too much fun with this, aren't you?" Usopp sweat dropped as I only grinned.
"Luffy! I heard him talk too" Zoro admitted to the captain as he sheathed two of his swords.
"I told ya!" Luffy grinned.
"Yeah, I heard it too! But how?!" Usopp asked in utter bafflement just as the beast raised its head high and gave another roar. I shook my head as I watched how quick Usopp was to scamper back and behind a half-melted wall in some vague attempt to hide from the raging beast that now took flight. "Aw great! Now he's flying!" he exclaimed in exasperation.
"Seems those wings aren't just for show" I remarked.
"That's crazy!" Luffy's eyes shined at the sight of the flying dragon, his face once more split into an overly wide grin.
"Poot! Are you also allies of the Seven Warlords?" the dragon suddenly asked, causing everyone to tense up.
"I don't follow" Robin frowned.
"Yeah, what are you talking about?" Luffy asked yet the dragon did not respond. Instead, it seemed to only draw its head back and start to build up more fire within its mouth.
"Uh-oh, it looks like he's getting ready to breathe fire again" I pointed out.
"No time to run! We're as good as fried!" Usopp cried before we scattered once more as a stream of flames came barreling toward us. Back and forth did the beast shake its head, spewing flames out left and right from its mouth—destroying most of the ground and what few infrastructures were still standing. I had ended up with Robin and Usopp after the group had split, the three of us now running through narrow paths created by the flames and the debris. Taking every turn we could as we avoided the raging inferno around us before diving behind a broken wall to avoid the dragon's next bout of fire.
"It's hot!" Usopp panted. "And worse than that—talking dragon!"
"Thank you for that reminder, captain obvious" I panted as I attempted to wipe away the sweat that poured down my forehead—all this running paired with this intense heat that was only getting hotter thanks to the dragon's added flames making it feel like I was being cooked alive from the inside out.
"He mentioned the Seven Warlords, so could he be an enemy of theirs?" Robin heavily breathed
"Honestly, a dragon being the enemy of the Seven Warlords isn't all that surprising" I said. "I'm sure they have a lot of enemies if you think about it."
"Ah! It's melting!" Usopp suddenly screamed the second the wall we had taken shelter behind started to melt, the rising temperature of the roaring flames now reaching a point that it could melt the bricks that once made up the broken wall.
"Hey, guys, you won't believe this!" Luffy suddenly shouted, his voice fluttering down from the dragon's back implying that at some point he had flung himself up there when we weren't looking. "There's some weird fancy pants guy stuck in the dragon's back!"
"Huh?!" Usopp gaped. "What the hell is he talking about?!"
"That means the voice we've been hearing must be…" Robin said.
"Whoever's stuck up there" I said before tensing up as the dragon turned its head back to look at the captain. It stared at him for only a second before it started snapping jaws in an attempt to eat the rubber man who now began to jump around like a measly little flea on its back.
"Alright, that's enough!" Luffy irritably growled just as the monster roared, clearly sounding just as frustrated as him by their annoying little dance. "Eat this if you're hungry!" with all of the strength that he could muster, he grabbed one of the reptile's wings and threw it toward its gaping maw where it then proceeded to bite down without thought. It took the creature perhaps only a moment or two to realize what it had done before its eyes widened in shocked disbelief as it now looked at the ruined wing it had unintentionally chewed up in stunned silence. "Stupid!" the captain snickered as the dragon now fought to stay afloat in the air before finally, it began its descent. "Hey, heads up!"
"Usopp!" Zoro called out as he quickly took off running toward the falling dragon.
"You got it!" Usopp nodded as he pulled on his goggles and raised his slingshot before shooting a small pellet that exploded and grew into a decently large plant with a malleable center that Zoro was able to jump on and use to launch himself into the air. With one sword drawn and his body now flying up toward the falling dragon, he began to spin as he sliced up the underside of the beast's jaw before in one single move, he drew another sword and decapitated its head without issue. Splatters of blood gushed from the exposed neck hole as the bone to its spine just barely jutted out.
"Wow, so he really was the one to slay the dragon" I chuckled.
"Yeah! Zoro!" Usopp cheered.
"I bet this thing is delicious!" Luffy suddenly shouted as he, Zoro, and the dragon's carcass continued to fall.
"There's enough fire around to barbeque it" Zoro grinned in agreement.
"Now you're talking!" the captain laughed.
"Here" Robin chuckled as she used her Devil Fruit powers to sprout two large hands that easily caught the two.
"So," Zoro began the moment he got down from the hand that had caught him and settled himself right next to me, "what reward does this knight get for slaying the dragon, dear princess?" he asked as he slipped an arm around me.
"Who said I was the princess?" I snorted. "But I guess if the knight insists on a reward then how does this sound?" I smiled as I lifted my head and motioned for him to bend down for a sweet and simple kiss. He hummed in thought once he pulled away, looking a bit pleased with himself as he mulled over this reward of his.
"I might need another before I can call that a proper reward" he grinned as he leaned back down, only to laugh the moment I pressed the palm of my hand to his face and pushed him away, playfully rolling my eyes with a wide smile.
"So," Usopp drawled, "what should we do about the legs?" he asked as he motioned toward the legs of the person that was stuck inside the back of the dragon's head.
"Pull them out!" Luffy laughed as he grabbed hold of the person's lower half and began to pull.
"Unhand me, you ruffian! How dare you!" the man snapped from inside the dragon as his legs began to flail.
"Hey, I'm trying to help you here! Stop squirming!" Luffy huffed. "Come on!" he huffed as he struggled to free the man.
"Wow, he's really stuck in there" Usopp noted. "I wondered how he ended up that way—like how does that even work?"
"If his head is stuck, how is he talking? Or breathing for that matter?" Robin inquired.
"Honestly, that didn't cross my mind until you mentioned it—shouldn't he be dead by now or something?" I questioned with a raised brow.
"None of this makes any sense" Robin frowned.
"So you think he lives here or what?" Zoro asked.
"Got to say, he has terrible taste in living spaces if so" I said after a quick look around at the still-burning buildings. "Too much fire."
"Ah!" Usopp soon screamed the second Luffy finally freed the man from the dragon. "Quick! Put! It! Back!" he panicked.
"Put what back?" Luffy questioned as he slowly sat up from where he had fallen over after freeing the man he was trying to help. "Ah! I broke him—sorry!" he screamed the second he realized that only the lower half of the man he had helped came free and was now just lifelessly lying there.
"Sorry is all you have to say?! He's dead now!" Usopp cried.
"I mean, what else can he say after killing a man?" I asked as the two continued to scream.
"Oh!" without warning, the disembodied legs suddenly jumped up as that voice from earlier fluttered out of them. "Seems like I've been liberated" they noted.
"What?!" Usopp and Luffy screamed at the sight.
"He's still alive?! And his legs can talk?!" the captain gaped.
"It's a monster! A zombie!" Usopp sobbed.
"Wait a second" Robin said as she approached the dragon's decapitated head. "There's no upper body anywhere nor is there a mark on the dragon where he was stuck" she quickly noted.
"Yeah, I don't get it" Zoro frowned.
"So then the guy was just legs all along?" Usopp asked.
"Seems so" I said.
"Whoa, this is pretty weird, huh?" Luffy hummed as he stood up. Slowly, he and Usopp soon began to inch their way closer toward the pair of legs in an attempt to get a closer look at them.
"It looks kind of big" the sharpshooter remarked as he took note of just how tall the disembodied legs were—they practically surpassed him in height.
"I know you're there, but I cannot discern your intent" the voice of the disembodied legs admitted as they began to twist from side to side as if they were looking around. "With neither eyes nor ears, I can only sense your presence" they explained.
"Wow, you're smart" Luffy grinned. "Well, for legs" he added.
"Nice one, captain" I snorted, causing the rubber man to snicker.
"Poot! Whoever you are, get out of my way!" without warning, the legs began to kick. Jumping and flailing in an attempt to attack which caused the captain to quickly jump back.
"Calm down" he frowned in response to the leg's sudden aggression.
"I refuse to die in a place like this! I have a mission to carry out!" they proclaimed before suddenly taking off running in a random direction.
"He's running away!" the captain exclaimed.
"I will not suffer this indignity! Prepare yourself, Warlord—I'm coming for you!" the legs shouted as they continued to run away.
"Hey, wait! Legs! Come and join my crew!" Luffy shouted, eyes now sparkling in excitement as he eagerly began to wave his arms around.
"Would you cut that out!" Usopp snapped as he struck the back of the captain's head.
"Guys, wait here while I go catch him—roast up that dragon, we'll have a barbeque when I get back!" Luffy grinned as he shot right back up before taking off running. "I'm coming for you, leg monster!"
"And there he goes" I said.
"This worked out with Brook, but I'm kind of iffy about having legs on the crew..." Usopp grumbled.
"It's troubling that they mentioned one of the Warlords" Robin frowned as she took hold of her chin in thought.
"Does that mean…there's a Warlord lurking somewhere on the island...?" Usopp thickly swallowed. "No! That's way too much—I don't want to fight!" he wailed as he now clutched his head in distress.
"Only this crew could run the risk of running into a Warlord this soon after just entering the New World" I sighed as I crossed my arms.
"Now can we leave? Pretty please" the sharpshooter begged.
-Later-
"Weird…" Usopp mumbled upon Luffy's return. "So how does that work?" he asked as he curiously eyed our captain's newest addition.
"Beats me" Luffy shrugged as he spoke through a mouthful of meat. "Nice job, this dragon's good" he praised. "By the way, what do you call people like this?" he asked, pondering what he was now that he had an extra pair of legs attached to his back.
"Um…with four legs…?" Usopp mumbled in thought. "A centaur…I guess?"
"I'd say he's more of a freak if anything" I corrected after swallowing the food in my mouth—centaurs were more defined by the fact that their bottom half was that of an animal, not that they had four legs.
"Haha! I'm a centaur!" Luffy seemed to latch onto what Usopp said as he laughed. "This is awesome!" he continued to laugh, ignoring the way the legs that were stuck to his back squirmed.
"Why do these legs keep getting stuck?" Usopp frowned. "First the dragon, now Luffy?" he questioned.
"Perhaps they feel incomplete and are just looking for their other half" I suggested.
"We're a team now!" Luffy joyfully laughed.
"Curses! I've seemed to have affixed myself to something again" the legs cursed as they continued to squirm. "Poot! Cease this!" they demanded.
"Luffy, that's vulgar, stop" Robin scolded, not quite liking the way things looked at the moment with the captain and his new addition as they both squirmed around.
"You think so?" he asked before his body was suddenly lifted into the air and thrown back.
"Just cause he's stuck to you, doesn't mean he has to listen—he's probably got his own head calling the shots somewhere" Usopp pointed out, struggling just a little to drag the cooked dragon meat behind him as we finally set off. "Let him go and maybe he'll find it" he suggested.
"Mr. Stinky Legs was born like this, duh! You need to get with the program, Usopp" Luffy grinned. "Right?" he asked the disembodied legs attached to him.
"And how do you know that?" I asked with a raised brow.
"Come on, that's ridiculous! Hey, are you coming with us or not?" Usopp asked the moment he realized Luffy was falling behind.
"I wonder if he's got a real name" Luffy pondered aloud.
"By the way, since you're the only one who's going to be eating all this meat—why don't you carry it?!" Usopp snapped as continued to struggle with dragging what was left of the dragon behind him. "Get the legs to help" he suggested, causing the captain to laugh before he was once again lifted and thrown back by the pair of legs attached to them.
"Hey, come up here! I found something weird!" Zoro suddenly called out from far ahead.
"How'd you get all the way up there so quickly?" I asked, not recalling him leaving my side.
"Yeah? Any clues about the samurai or the other dude?" Luffy asked as already he was running toward where the swordsman now stood.
"Look" was all he said once we reached where he was.
"What now?" Usopp groaned before his eyes widened. "Snow?! There's snow on those mountains!" he cried out in shock the moment he spotted the winter wonderland that lay on the other side of the lake.
"Actually, I think those are glaciers" I corrected.
"Everything's on fire over here, but the other side of the lake is frozen solid?!" he gaped. "I could go for some cool weather right now, but this is ridiculous! How did it get like this?!" he asked.
"That solves one mystery at least" Robin said.
"Like what?" Usopp frowned.
"Don't you remember? That guy said it was cold—well, it seems we found out why he said that" I said as realization dawned on the sharpshooter's face.
"So then…if we want to find the samurai and the other guy, we have to switch sides" he said.
"Wow! This place is fun—we can cross that lake, right?" Luffy grinned. "I'm getting hot! I want to make snow cones!" his smile only seemed to widen as his tongue lulled out at the thought of munching on something cold.
"Get real! We'd freeze to death over there!" Usopp snapped.
"Got to agree with Usopp there, not many of us are appropriately dressed for that kind of weather over there" I said, knowing that I'd instantly freeze to death on the other side while dressed like this with so few layers.
"Besides, the lake's too big—let's go back for now!" Usopp huffed.
"Cold, huh?" Robin hummed in thought. "That's not much better" she said, seemingly agreeing with Usopp and me.
"We'll be fine if we can find some wild animals—we can skin them and make coats" Zoro said before grunting as I threw an arm around his shoulders and pulled him down.
"What was that, sweetie? I didn't quite hear you" I gave a strained smile as I lightly squeezed my arm around his neck.
"You're nuts! The only thing we'll find over there is ice cubes!" Usopp snapped.
"Perfect for snow cones!" Luffy eagerly shouted before running on ahead.
"Wait! Can't we talk this over, Luffy?!" Usopp called out. "Not you too, guys!" he cried the moment he saw the rest of us following suit after realizing that the captain had already made the decision for us on where to go next. "Well, I'm not going—no way! Sure it's hot over here, but at least I can avoid the fire. I'll freeze to death right away in the cold!
"It's not going to work!" he rambled as we continued to walk, getting further and further away from him by the minute. It fell silent for a moment after that…but all too quickly was that silence shattered by the sound of Usopp's screams as he quickly came running toward us—instantly jumping and knocking Zoro over in the process.
"What the hell?" the swordsman groaned as he rubbed the back of his head after hitting it hard on the ground.
"There! Was! A! Bird! Only it was also a human somehow—I don't know, it was weird!" Usopp screeched as he instantly grabbed hold of the swordsman's shoulders and began to shake him.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" he frowned, not quite understanding the sharpshooter's babbling. "Look! There's nothing there!" he soon sneered after taking a glance in the direction the crying man was pointing in.
"Usopp, are you sure the heat isn't starting to get to you or something?" I asked as we all looked toward the area he had been pointing toward, unable to find this so-called bird person he spoke of anywhere. "Because if you are, just remember that none of us are doctors and Chopper is all the way back on the ship."
"Enough excuses, let's get moving already" Zoro grunted as he pushed himself to stand, still rubbing the back of his head as he lowly grumbled in annoyance.
"I know I don't have the best track record, but I'm serious this time! There was a monster—you got to believe me!" Usopp pleaded from behind.
"Hm, you know, the boy who cried wolf said the same thing when the wolf finally did come" I hummed as I motioned for Zoro to bend down and press a loving kiss to the back of his head before pressing another to his lips once he raised his head. "Better?" I murmured.
"Hm" he nodded as he rested his forehead against my own for a moment.
A/N: Enjoy
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