One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter Twenty-One-
"So, that's why you're after him?" Usopp questioned.
"That makes sense" I said.
"I came here because I heard that Blackbeard was seen in Alabasta in a place called Yuba, so that's where I'm headed" Ace nodded as he knocked back the drink in his hand, clearly liking it a lot better compared to the younger pirates.
"Hey! That's our destination too, right?" Nami asked as she looked to the princess for confirmation.
"Exactly, we just entered the Sandora River" Vivi nodded, retrieving the map of the area. "We'll take it to Erumalu where we'll dock and walk on foot until we reach Yuba here" she explained, finger dragging along the map's surface as she marked out the route we were to follow. "The leader of the Rebel Army is there, that's where we're going."
"You don't say, you mind if I tag along?" Ace asked as he took a gander at the map.
"Nami, Vivi, Skylar, I'll follow you wherever you tell me to go!" Sanji suddenly cooed.
"Hopefully it's off a cliff..." Zoro muttered with a growl, a glint in his eye as he glared down the blond.
"What did you say, Moss Head?!" Sanji sneered.
"Cool it you two!" Nami snapped, clearly not in the mood to deal with either of the two's bickering.
"She's right, jealousy and anger aren't going to get us anywhere, Zoro" I teased.
"W-who says I'm jealous?!" the swordsman sputtered, cheeks now dusted pink with embarrassment as he crossed his arms and averted his gaze.
"Well, it looks like you'll be with us for a little while, Ace" Nami smiled, rolling and safely tucking away the map.
"We're all happy to have you aboard!" Usopp grinned.
"Haha! This is going to be fun too, Ace!" Luffy laughed, cup now raised.
"Cheers!" we shouted, clinking our cups together in celebration.
-Later-
"Ahoy der maties! It is me, Captain Rice Ball Usopp!" I watched in silent amusement as Usopp move the rice ball stuck to his finger across the table. "And who might you be, huh?" he asked, looking up at Luffy's rice ball creation.
"I am Ricey the Rice Man" I barked out a laugh that soon turned into a hiss as I coiled back in pain from the sight of Sanji striking the two on the back of the head with a frying pan.
"Quit playing with our food, you damn numbskulls!" he snapped, owlishly blinking when my laughter suddenly returned. "My, Skylar, your laugh is so adorable!" he joyfully praised, hands now clasped together as he squirmed around in delight.
"Uh...thanks...?" I smiled before awkwardly coughing into my hand when I saw he was still stuck in that love-struck daze of his. "But don't you have two numbskulls to yell at though?" I asked, already motioning for him to go back to yelling at the two pirates crumpled up at his feet. "I'd hurry, it looks like they're trying to get away."
"Oh, right" his smile fell as soon as he looked back down at the two pirates that were now attempting to inch away from him—halting, one gave him their usual goofy grin while the other gave a nervous laugh upon being caught...though a certain coward did shoot me a sharp look while silently mouthing the word "traitor" in my direction. "If you got free time, wash dishes! I could use some help since I still have to pack all the food for the hike to Yuba" he angrily huffed, hitting the two once more before finally turning away and returning to the sink. Aggressively did he push up the sleeves of his robe as he began washing the dishes left behind from earlier's meal.
"Let me know if I can help" Ace suddenly offered from beside him.
"No, you're our guest, so just sit back and relax—thanks though" Sanji smiled, turning down the man's offer with a dismissive wave.
"You really did a number on them" I whistled as I shifted in my seat and leaned over the table to get a good look at the knocked-out bodies that currently laid beaten and crumpled up on the floor in a messy pile of limbs.
"Alright" Ace nodded before letting his gaze drift. "You're Skylar, right?" he asked, seemingly deciding to strike up a conversation as I leaned back into my seat.
"Last time I checked, yeah" I nodded, smiling at the small chuckle he gave. "How are you liking the crew so far?" I asked.
"Leave it to my bro to gather himself quite the cast of colorful individuals" he hummed, slowly nodding his head in thought.
"I know, we're practically four colors away from a full rainbow—three if you include Vivi" I grinned, drawing a snort from him in the process. My attention was soon dragged away from the man beside me the moment I heard the clicking of glass. "Well, Sanji, it looks like they finally took your advice in helping" I sweat dropped the second I spotted Luffy and Usopp hunched over the mop bucket where they were currently cleaning a bunch of dishes.
"Huh? That's mop water, you idiots—we just swabbed the deck with it!" the blond snapped when he finally caught sight of what the two were doing.
"Leaving?" Ace asked the moment I shook my head and stood.
"Yep" I said, giving a content sigh as I stretched out my arms above my head. "But you be sure to stay and enjoy the show" I smiled with a wave as I exited the kitchen and made my way out onto the deck. "Getting in some last-minute training, I see" I said upon spotting Zoro, watching as he swung that big weight of his around while casting a look of sympathy towards Chopper who was currently sprawled out on the stairs. The poor guy looked as if he was melting as he desperately tried to find a moment's relief in the breeze that was being created by the swordsman's swinging weight.
"Oh, there you are" Zoro said, stopping for a second which in return caused the dying reindeer to whine in protest.
"Yes, here I am" I said, plopping down beside Chopper on the stairs as Zoro went back to his training. Loudly did the reindeer sigh in contentment as the rush of cool air from the swordsman's swinging weight returned. "I was just hanging out in the kitchen" I said.
"With the cook?" he suddenly and rather bitterly asked, eyes narrowing as if the thought of me being alone in the kitchen with Sanji was the worst thing he could imagine.
"Hey now, Ace was there too, so there's no need to get jealous" I said, watching as his cheeks suddenly grew flushed.
"I'm not jealous!" he snapped. "I just don't think it's a good idea for you to be left hanging around alone with that weirdo" he huffed.
"Sure" I grinned, dragging out the word with a teasing tone. "You know, you're adorable when you're jealous" I chuckled, causing him to grumble in response as he blush grew even darker.
-Later-
Impromptuly did we dock under the insistence of Vivi.
"Well, I did know that Crocodile was here in Alabasta, but him trying to steal the kingdom sounds like a bad joke because why would a pirate drop anchor in one spot and settle down?" Ace asked after being given a rundown of our situation, watching as the princess gave clear instructions to Carue on what to do and where to go as she gave him the letter she had written. "Crocodile trying to take the throne of Alabasta doesn't make sense" he admitted, struggling to understand the Warlord's motives.
"Maybe he's doing it because he'd rather be a king than a pirate" I suggested. "Then again, even that doesn't make much sense..." I muttered in thought, mindlessly rocking back and forth on my heels as I gripped the ship's railing.
"Alright! Let's set sail!" Luffy shouted, the first to come rushing back toward the ship after Carue finally took off.
"Hold on!" Usopp cried out, stumbling to catch up to the captain.
"You know, there could be another side to this taking over thing" Ace said.
"Huh?" Zoro questioned.
"Like some sort of deeper goal or something" he almost cryptically answered before walking away to greet the others that reboarded the ship.
"That's a better guess than what I was thinking" I sighed in admittance.
"How so?" Zoro asked, mindlessly snaking an arm around my waist and resting his chin atop my shoulder as we stared out toward the vast desert.
"I mean...why would a pirate want to be a king when they have all the freedom they could ever want out at sea?" I questioned, leaning back against him. "The idea that Crocodile has some sort of goal makes more sense than just him simply wanting to be king just to be king" I explained, earning a thoughtful hum from the swordsman.
"Well, we won't know his reasons until we find him" Zoro said. "Best not to think too hard about it until then" he suggested, seeing no reason to get our heads in a tizzy before we even confront the man.
"I guess you're right..." I muttered, a peaceful silence now settling between us as the ship finally started to set sail once more.
-Later-
"We're finally here!" Luffy cheered upon us finally reaching our destination.
"Whoa!" Chopper awed. "So we're finally going to the desert? Does anyone know how hot it's supposed to get?" he worriedly asked, his excitement dying quickly once he realized that the heat was only going to get worse the further inland we got.
"Over a hundred degrees in the daytime" Nami responded.
"Yeah, and freezing at night" I said, mindlessly straightening out the crinkles in my robe.
"What?! Please tell me you're joking!" the reindeer cried out in panic upon hearing the ginger's answer.
"Nami, what happened? Where's your dance outfit?" Sanji frowned before his attention turned toward Vivi and me who had started to lightly converse about the journey ahead of us. "Ah—you too, Vivi?! Skylar?!" he shouted. "Why are you wearing that?!"
"Because any exposed skin will get sunburnt" Vivi explained. "You have to cover up in the desert" she lightly stressed, trying so hard to keep her temper in check with the now distressed blond.
"Besides, if we had gone out there in those dancer outfits, we would have been cooked alive" I huffed, placing my hands on my hips as Vivi winced at the thought and nodded in agreement.
"But those outfits were so sexy!" the blond desparingly whined, now rolling around on the floor like a child throwing a tantrum. His pouting went ignored by everyone as we continued gathering the supplies.
"Time to drop anchor" Zoro said.
"Right" Usopp nodded.
"Yuba, here we come!" Luffy cheered.
"Hm? What's the matter?" I asked, raising an eyebrow when I noticed that Zoro had suddenly halted what he was doing and was now intensely staring down at the water.
"I thought I saw something..." he muttered, never once taking his eyes off the water's surface.
"Saw something? Saw what?" I asked, walking up beside him and peering over the railing's edge. It didn't take me long to see what he meant as I quickly spotted the sudden movement of something swimming around underneath the water.
"What are those?" Zoro asked, startled by the small critters that shot out of the water and onto land where they instantly struck a pose. "Turtles?" he questioned.
"No, I think they're seals" Luffy corrected.
"Those look nothing like seals" I butted in.
"How would you know? Have you ever seen a seal?" he quickly and defensively asked.
"Seals don't have shells" I deadpanned.
"Maybe they're cooler seals" the captain argued.
"Kung Fu Dugongs" Vivi suddenly piped up.
"Aw!" I softly squealed the second one of the Dugongs laughed. "That sounded so cute" I cooed.
"If you want to come to shore, you'll have to beat me first—but I doubt that will happen, you bunch of cowards, he says" Chopper translated.
"How cute, he's challenging us" I giggled.
"Heh, no one calls me a coward and gets away with it—here comes the pain!" Usopp proclaimed, bravely diving right off the ship without a second thought as if he had no doubt that he could take on a bunch of dugong-like creatures.
"Usopp, no! Wait!" Vivi called out, wincing as the Dugongs effortlessly beat up the sharpshooter without any trouble. "Dugongs are really strong..." she weakly added.
"You don't say" I sweat dropped.
"See, they're not too tough" Luffy suddenly piped up, holding up one of the Dugongs that he had beaten while more laid knocked out around his feet.
"Luffy!" I scolded.
"That's bad too!" Vivi cried out. "It's a rule—if they lose a kung fu match, they become the winner's pupil!" she explained as the Dugongs that had been beaten all abruptly stood and bowed down before looking back up at a, reasonably, confused Luffy.
A/N: Enjoy
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