One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Three-
"Don't listen to her, Zoro—you're awesome!" Chopper innocently praised, causing me to roll my eyes.
"Yeah, clearly the best" I sarcastically agreed. "Yes?" I innocently smiled at the glare the swordsman shot me.
"Whatever..." he grumbled with a huff. "That vine looks sturdy" he suddenly remarked, quick to move on as he motioned toward a vine wrapped tightly around the branch of a tree across the way.
"Ah, an excellent idea" Robin smiled. "Mind if I tag along?" she asked.
"Sure, as long as you promise not to slow me down" Zoro shrugged, not really caring all that much one way or the other if she joined him.
"Guess I'll tag along too" I lazily shrugged. "Beats just wasting time here with nothing to do" I admitted, not really too keen on the idea of just staying here with nothing to really do nor was I comfortable with the idea of just letting someone like Zoro wander off into the woods on his own.
"Wait a minute—where do you two think you're going?" Nami asked, narrowing her eyes as she frantically looked between both Robin and me.
"Look at this" Robin smiled as she motioned toward the altar. "At least a thousand years have passed since this altar was built" she explained as she lightly traced her fingertips over the stone of the altar.
"A thousand years?" Nami and Chopper echoed.
"That long ago, huh?" I hummed in thought. "Seems about right, I don't think sacrificial rituals like this are even done anymore in most parts of the world" I said.
"The sense of history here is amazing, it gives me chills—you feel it?" Robin asked, an excited gleam in her eyes as she looked at us as if hoping we'd understand what exactly it was she was feeling. "A place as ancient as this is sure to be filled with all kinds of old relics, imagine all the values we can discover" she continued, that excited gleam in her eyes only growing brighter as she now thought about all the wonderful things she could discover about this place's rich history while exploring. "Just think, the possibilities are endless."
"In that case, I'll join you!" Nami suddenly decided, a familiar gleam in her own eyes after taking a moment to really think about what it was the older woman was saying. Though...it was clear that her thoughts were more on the idea of treasure instead of history—the word "values" having most likely stuck out to her while the raven-haired woman was speaking.
"Nami, I thought you were too scared?" Chopper questioned, confused by the ginger's sudden change in heart.
"It's for history!" Nami was quick to claim as if that was really the reason why she wanted to come with the rest of us.
"And treasure..." I quietly added with the roll of my eyes.
"What was that, Skylar?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing" I hummed, giving her my best smile that she only returned with a suspicious glare as if to show me that she didn't really believe me. Once we were all set and ready to go after deciding who was going and who was staying, I watched as Robin set to work on untangling the vine that Zoro had pointed out earlier from the tree branch it was wrapped around before tossing it over to the swordsman who effortlessly caught it.
"That work for you?" she asked as Zoro gave the vine a firm yank as if to make sure that it was secure and wouldn't snap the minute he swung across before nodding. Once he was pleased to know that it could most likely hold his weight, he cleared his throat and ran forward—releasing a loud, deep yell in the process as he swung across to the other side.
"It's official, he's lost his mind..." Nami groaned as the vine swung back toward us and I caught it.
"I don't know, that seemed kind of fun" I chuckled as I took a few steps back before running forward. Laughter bubbled up my throat as I swung through the air before finally letting go and flinging myself toward the swordsman once I was close enough to ensure that I'd hit land and not drop straight into the water below. "Thank you, good sir" I giggled once he caught me, quick to do a small curtsy in gratitude the minute he sat me down on my feet.
"No problem, madame" he chuckled, his cheeks heating up just a little as he rubbed the back of his head. Robin was the next one to effortlessly swing herself over here toward us. Not having any problems as she safely landed on her feet and silently stood there, now waiting with the rest of us for Nami to swing on over.
"They made it!" Chopper smiled in relief as the vine came back toward Nami.
"Looks easy enough..." she nervously mumbled to herself, twisting the vine around in her grip as she shakily stood there for just a moment—eyes constantly flickering between the water down below to where we all were. "This is higher up than I thought" she whimpered after taking another look down below at the water.
"Be careful! If you fall, you'll most certainly die!" Robin called out.
"Yeah, that'll motivate her" I snorted.
"That's supposed to be your idea of helping?!" Nami snapped. "Whoa! She's right, I'm dead if I fall" she whimpered the second she looked down and saw the school of Sea Sharks that were circling the altar, all of them patiently waiting for something to fall in and give them a good meal.
"Nami?" Chopper softly questioned.
"You'll do fine, just don't overthink it!" I called out to her once I took notice of her hesitance.
"Alright, fine—I'm going! Is that what you want?!" Nami angrily snapped, finally moving a few steps back before running forward as she now swung toward us. "Help me—it's too fast! I'm going to crash!" she fearfully cried the second she realized she was about to crash into a tree. Robin was the quickest to react as she calmly used her Devil Fruit powers to sprout multiple arms from the tree that helped in cushioning the navigator's crash.
"Look at that, you're not gutless" Robin grinned.
"T-thanks for catching me..." Nami shakily panted as she dropped to her knees and attempted to catch her breath, hand resting on her chest as if trying to calm her heart which was no doubt now painfully pounding against her ribcage out of both fear and adrenaline.
"Any time" Robin nodded before finally walking on ahead of us all as Zoro released another loud, deep yell.
"That's what you should have done" he said as he peered down at the still shaken-up navigator.
"That has nothing to do with it!" Nami snapped as I chuckled.
"Let's just be thankful she made it over unharmed" I smiled as I held my hand out and helped her in standing back up on her own two feet, not minding at all when she clutched onto my arm and seemed to just lean on me as she attempted to find balance on her shaky legs.
"This forest is even bigger than I thought" Robin remarked as she looked around and examined the towering trees that surrounded us.
"No doubt they get plenty of sunlight and oxygen up here" I whistled.
"Okay, Chopper! You're in charge of the ship!" Zoro shouted back toward the reindeer who decided to stay behind and keep watch over the ship while the rest of us went ahead and explored the Upper Yard.
"We're counting on you!" Robin called out to him.
"Good luck!" I waved with a wide smile.
"We'll be back soon!" Nami assured him as she also waved.
"Bye, everyone! Be careful!" Chopper shouted back as we finally started to walk deeper into the forest. "Don't take too long!" I heard him say as I intertwined my fingers with Zoro's, now clutching his hand as we walked in peaceful silence together. At some point, he let my hand go and made his way toward the front of the group as I fell back and now walked beside Nami.
"Still shaken up?" I asked, now noticing just how nervous and cautious she seemed to be as she warily looked around.
"Huh? Oh...uh...no..." she jolted a little at my sudden question before giving a strained smile as she quickly tried to pull herself together.
"Hm, would it make you feel better if I held your hand?" I asked with a hum, already offering her my hand.
"What am I? A child?" she grumbled, blushing at the offer yet still taking my hand which caused me to smile. After that, we found ourselves falling into the occasional small conversation, making tiny remarks here and there about our surroundings as we followed closely behind the other two in front of us.
"Enough is enough—where is this God?!" Zoro irritably asked as he came to a sudden halt, no longer appreciating the peaceful air around us as he started to impatiently look around.
"I don't think he's just going to magically appear because you want him to" I said when I realized that he was trying to look for this island's God out here in the open. "He's probably hidden away in a temple or something of the sort, I doubt he's actually walking around this place" I said.
"That may not matter, if he really is a God, chances are he knows exactly where we are" Robin pointed out.
"Well, if he would just come to us, I could get this thing over with..." Zoro grumbled as he crossed his arms.
"You're speaking like you're not about to go and fight this place's God" I sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose.
"You say that because you haven't seen the things I have—there is someone or something on this island with the ability to destroy us!" Nami scowled. "Oh powerful one, we're but simple sailors, please leave us in peace—oh, and please help us find lots of treasure" she quickly prayed while letting go of my hand.
"Nice prayer, Nami" Zoro scoffed.
"Come on, with luck we might not even run into this God...though I seriously doubt that..." I sighed, mumbling the last part to myself while patting the ginger's back as her shoulders slumped downward in response.
"Look, you can sit on your knees all day if you want, but it's not going to get us out of here" Zoro frowned. "I say we cross the river and see what's on the other side" he suggested as he motioned across the river that cut right through the island and over toward the other patch of land that we had yet to explore.
"Yes, I agree" Robin nodded.
"I got no objections here" I shrugged.
"And how do you plan on getting across this time? I don't see any vines handy" Nami frowned. "Hey, Zoro, maybe you could throw Robin across and she—ah!" she screamed as the ground underneath her suddenly gave way.
"Nami!" I gasped, shooting my hand out and grabbing her own as I stopped her from falling straight into the river while Zoro took care of the Sky Shark that had suddenly surfaced and attempted to leap for the ginger. "You alright?" I asked, carefully pulling her back and away from the riverbank as I soothingly rubbed her back while she sat there in a shocked daze.
"Those things are everywhere..." Zoro grumbled in annoyance once he had dealt with the predator.
"I assume it's because they're here to make sure we don't try to leave the island" I assumed. "Be kind of bad if we could just easily bail on our punishment."
"Yeah, most likely" he nodded in agreement.
"If you think that I'm crossing that now, you're out of your mind!" Nami screamed the minute she snapped out of her daze. "I might as well hop in and give the sharks a free snack!" she snarled.
"Calm down, it'll be fine—we'll just keep walking upstream and hope we find a safe place to cross over" Zoro explained as he dismissively waved off her frustrated fears.
"Give it up! I'm not going!" Nami sneered as she harshly ripped her arm out of my grasp when I tried to help her stand and angrily wiped at her teary eyes. "If you want to go so badly, then just leave me here!" she angrily sniffed.
"Argh! I just might—if you're so scared, why'd you even come in the first place?!" Zoro snapped, clearly not in the mood to deal with the navigator's high-strung emotions.
"Can you two just stop!" I frowned. "There's no point in fighting right now—Nami, I know it's stressful, but you need to pull yourself together and Zoro, you need to get that temper of yours in line!" I snapped, narrowing my eyes as I glanced between the two.
"Hey, guys, look at this" Robin's calm voice cut through the tense silence that had settled between the three of us as she now leaned down and pressed the palm of her hand against the ground.
"Look at what exactly?" Nami asked as she finally started to calm down just a little.
"It's dirt" the raven-haired woman answered.
"Yeah, am I missing something? Of course, it's dirt" Nami frowned in confusion.
"This is Sky Island" Robin said.
"There shouldn't be soil up here" I said, quick to catch onto what she was getting at.
"You're right, the ground's not fluffy" Zoro realized as he tapped the toe of his shoe against the ground.
"Huh? Oh right, I almost forgot—I noticed that the first time I saw this island" Nami admitted as she began to rub at the ground. "Sky Islands are made of clouds...it feels like it's been a year since I've touched dirt, so why's this island different from the others?" she curiously asked as she picked up a handful of dirt.
"Maybe it's because God lives here" I suggested.
"Who knows? I'm not sure, but the fact that it's different might be what makes this place so special" Robin shrugged at her own assumption. "At any rate, it's reason enough to start exploring" she suggested, and just like that, we were all once again walking through the forest. At some point, I couldn't help but stop and look around when I suddenly thought I had heard something.
"Skylar? Something wrong?" Nami asked, looking back at me once she noticed that I had stopped moving. I stayed silent for a few seconds and closely listened to my surroundings...but all I heard in return was pure silence.
"It's nothing" I shook my head as I started to walk again and quickly catch back up with the others.
"Thanks..." Nami muttered as Robin helped her to climb on top of the massive tree root we had come across and needed to get over. Zoro and I followed until we were all just standing there and taking a moment to look out at our surroundings from this new height that we had gained. "Hey, did something just move over there?" the ginger suddenly asked, head quickly turning in a random direction as if she had seen something.
"I don't know" Zoro shrugged.
A/N: Enjoy
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