One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter Twenty-Seven-
"I don't know where it came from" Luffy confessed through a mouthful of meat, cheekily smiling at the pointed look that I gave and causing me to sigh as I shook my head with a small smile. "It was getting eaten by mystery plants while I was chasing those birds" he explained.
"Mystery plants?" I questioned with a raised brow.
"It's obviously not a wild camel" Nami said, cutting the rubber man off before he could say anymore as she now started to closely examine the animal.
"No, not with a saddle and bridle" Vivi agreed with the shake of her head as Chopper approached the camel.
"So it's not a wild animal?" I asked.
"That's correct" Nami nodded.
"Then that just makes me wonder what happened to its owner" I pondered aloud. "Maybe he was killed by those mystery plants Luffy was talking about" I theorized, sending a shiver straight down Usopp's spine.
"Don't say something so morbid when I'm trying to eat!" he cried, wildly shaking his head clear of the thought of some man being torn to shreds by a couple of plants.
"Uh...yeah, it is you" Chopper suddenly spoke up in realization. "Really? Good for you" he smiled as he started to communicate with the camel.
"Wait, so you guys know each other?" Luffy questioned before taking another huge bite out of the piece of meat he was eating.
"Uh-huh, he gave me a ride when I escaped from…" I jolted the second I felt something brush against my lower back, causing my attention to instantly snap to the swordsman beside me.
"Stop that!" I quietly hissed.
"Stop what?" Zoro feigned, grinning from ear to ear as he tilted his head.
"You know what..." I embarrassingly muttered before silently yelping the second I felt a harsh pinch through the fabric of my robe and against the underside of my thigh and dangerously close to my bottom. "You...!" I struggled to find the words I wanted to say as my face exploded with color the moment I saw that shit-eating grin of his only grow before he leaned toward me.
"You're quite fun to tease, you know that?" he breathily breathed, chuckling as I pushed him away with an embarrassed huff upon realizing that he was only bored and trying to amuse himself.
"He's a passage-carrying camel?" Usopp asked, unintentionally interrupting me before I had a chance to properly respond to the swordsman's teasing. "That sure is going to make things easy" he grinned.
"Yeah, that ought to be a real help" Sanji agreed. "It looks like he could carry three" he remarked after giving the animal a good look over.
"Camels do go hand in hand with deserts" Zoro said, just now deciding to join in on the conversation.
"Great, I'll take the first shift" Luffy smiled as he eagerly began to climb atop the camel.
"I don't think he wants you riding him" I chuckled as the camel harshly bit down on the captain's head as if to protest the rubber man's attempts to climb aboard. Working as a translator for the camel, Chopper soon explained to us that the camel didn't exactly accept male passengers. This little fact seemed to greatly upset Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji as they all angrily beat up the animal.
"Aw, it's okay—we're sorry about those mean old bullies" I cooed, sweetly rubbing underneath the animal's chin as Nami and I began to comfort him.
"Yeah, they're just a bunch of jerks" Nami cooed as well, smiling as she climbed on top of the camel with no issues. "Now, what should we call you" she suddenly pondered out loud.
"Idiot" Luffy suggested.
"Moron" Sanji offered.
"Doofus" Usopp said.
"Eyelash it is then" Nami chirped.
"That's a great name!" I laughed. "Isn't that right?" I grinned, pressing my forehead against the camel's and rubbing my nose against his snout as he happily grunted in agreement.
"Uh...how did you come up with that?" Zoro sweat dropped.
"Alright, I'm going" I chuckled as the camel started to nudge me as if letting me know that it was alright for me to climb aboard his back. Giving him one last pat, I climbed right on.
"Climb on, Vivi" Nami said as she motioned with her head for the princess to get on.
"No, I'm fine" Vivi declined. "I can still walk, thanks" she smiled.
"You sure?" I asked, shifting a little as settled myself behind Nami.
"Just get on" the ginger ordered as Eyelash laid down so that it would be easier for the princess to climb on. It wasn't long before I found myself sandwiched between the two.
"Pervert camel!" Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji angrily spat.
"You guys are more perverted than this camel..." I muttered.
"Tell me about it..." Nami grumbled, rolling her eyes at the three's childish behavior. "Anyways, this is great—we should be able to make better time now" she grinned as she fixed her hood back on top of her head. "We need to get to Yuba as fast as we can, so we'll be able to talk to the Rebel Army—giddy up, Eyelash" with a grunt, the camel began to move. Fixing my hood, I slipped my arms around Nami's waist with Vivi soon doing the same to me.
"Hey, wait for us!" the men shouted.
"Hurry up, guys" Nami called back to the group. "If we get separated, you'll never leave the desert alive!" she warned.
"Well thanks a lot!" Usopp snapped.
"I like this side of Nami!" Sanji swooned.
"What else is new?" Zoro grumbled.
"After them, hurry!" Ace shouted.
"Chopper, hurry! Hop on!" Zoro ordered.
"Wait for us!"
-Later-
"This is a lot easier thanks to you, Eyelash" Nami praised, sweetly stroking the top of the camel's head much to his delight.
"But are the others going to be alright?" Vivi asked, casting a worried glance back once she realized that the men were nowhere to be seen.
"Yeah, I don't see them anywhere" I nervously frowned.
"Of course, they'll be alright, all they have to do is follow our footprints" Nami dismissively waved, clearly not the least bit concerned about the men.
"Huh? Do you guys hear that?" I owlishly blinked, curiously looking around the moment I heard a distant rumble that only seemed to get louder with every passing second.
"Yeah, what is that?" Nami frowned as she began to look around as well.
"Uh..." I squinted my eyes, shielding my eyes from the blazing sun with my hand the moment I spotted something off in the distance coming our way. "What exactly is that?" I asked.
-Later-
"This is great...just great..." I grumbled from my spot between Nami and Vivi. Irritably did I puff out my cheeks, blowing a temporary gust of cool air in an attempt to knock away the few strands of hair that hung in my face and tried to cling to my sweaty forward. There was something annoying about the tightness of the rope which bound the three of us to the mast of the ship we were on paired with the overbearing heat of the sun and chattering men...
Who would have thought we'd run into land pirates out in the desert?
At least that's what I think they were based on the design of the ship and the Jolly Roger that they flew. They certainly wasted no time in snatching us up the moment they spotted us, giving us very little time to react seeing how one minute we were on the back of the camel and the next we were being tied up and roughly thrown aboard the deck of the ship.
"I'm not sure what exactly happened..." Nami mumbled, still disorientated by our sudden kidnapping as she tried her hardest to really recount what exactly had happened to cause us to end up in this situation. "Hopefully the others will come and save us" she optimistically said.
"And how exactly will they do that?" I asked. "Last I checked, they don't even know we've been captured" I huffed, head tilting back against the mast.
"Gum Gum…give me water!" I owlishly blinked at the sudden sound of Luffy's voice before wincing as he came barreling head first right into the mast. I couldn't help but whistle in amazement the second the mast began to crack and splinter before inevitably falling right over, clearly unable to handle the full force the captain had rammed straight into it with. "Okay, that was my bad, I was just so thirsty that I must have miscalculated—by the way, do you have any water?" the rubber man asked as he slumped back and rested himself against my legs.
"Hold on a second! Did you say you didn't come here to rescue us?!" Nami snapped as the crew of the ship hurriedly surrounded us, their swords now drawn.
"Hey, I was really thirsty—what can I tell you?!" Luffy defended.
"Well you got to do something, they're going to eat Eyelash" Vivi frowned.
"You're kidding, you can eat him?" Luffy asked, shocked by this revelation.
"What do you mean by that? Of course, you can eat him, he's an animal!" I snapped.
"Well, I didn't know you could eat a camel" he defended.
"It's an animal!" I repeated.
"We, the Barbar Sand Pirates, have a saying" a large man, who I could only assume was the captain, suddenly spoke up.
"Saying?" Luffy questioned.
"With the exception of friends, there is nothing alive in the desert that can't be eaten" the man firmly stated.
"Haha! Right on—I even eat stuff off the ground!" Luffy laughed.
"That's unsanitary" I sweat dropped, causing the two beside me to nod in agreement.
"You'll get sick" the man said in disgust.
"I don't think he really cares..." I mumbled, sweat drop only getting bigger.
"Hey, I'm careful" Luffy defended, causing the man to burst out in laughter.
"You're a funny little squirt!" he grinned.
"You're pretty funny yourself—okay! Let's eat!" Luffy laughed, eagerly pointing towards Eyelash who soon began to cry.
"How's that?!" Nami and I snapped, kicking the rubber man on top of the head.
"I am Barbarossa, captain of the Barbar Sand Pirates" Barbarossa introduced once everything had settled down and the others had arrived. "And your name's Luffy, huh? Please let me apologize for being rough with your friends here, it's just that we're all so hungry and we got carried away" he apologized as Nami, Vivi, and I were untied.
"Aw, I don't mind at all" Luffy smiled, quick to brush off the man's apology and causing Nami to hit him upside the head.
A/N: Enjoy
Please Review, Favorite, and Follow.