One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty-Three-
"Alright, up next is Luffy!" Usopp announced as I finally dragged my full attention over towards the three that were playing on the ship's swing. "Go!" the long-nosed pirate cheered as Luffy started to swing back and forth before finally, he jumped right off and smashed into a wall.
"Pfft! What did you think was going to happen going at that fast of a speed?" I snorted.
"Awesome! It's a new record!" Usopp and Chopper cheered.
"Hey, you guys" Sanji said as he poked his head out of the kitchen. "If you got so much energy, catch me some octopus, I think the tree swing can take care of itself for a while" he said before his one visible eye soon turned into a heart the moment he trailed his gaze over towards Robin and I. "My darling Skylar, my sweet Robin, you both look so beautiful in those dresses! True masterpieces!" he swooned.
"Thanks, Sanji" I sweat dropped as Robin chuckled.
"Octopus!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper chanted which caused Sanji's attention to go straight back towards them as he started to list off the many dishes he could prepare with octopus tonight if they just did as he asked.
"If all that sounds good to you, try to get the ingredients by dinner time" he finished.
"Yeah, sounds good! Sanji, can you make takoyaki too?" Luffy asked.
"Luffy, wipe your chin" I scolded the minute I noticed the large amount of drool that was starting to overflow from his mouth and down his chin. Though I couldn't help but softly huff and smile when I heard him mumble a small "sorry" while attempting to wipe the drool from his chin which only ended up being replaced by more drool
"Takoyaki party!" Usopp and Chopper cheered.
"Of course, no problem, so grab a bunch of them" Sanji said with the wave of his hand, already shooing the three of them off before he disappeared back into the kitchen.
"Alright!" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper saluted.
"Shall we go see what Nami's doing?" Robin suddenly suggested as she placed the watering can in her hand back in its proper place once she had finished tending to her flowers.
"Yeah, wouldn't hurt" I shrugged as I let my gaze drift away from the three pirates that were scrambling to get ready to go octopus hunting and back towards the raven-haired woman that motioned for me to follow her as we headed to the aquarium bar.
"It's quite lively up there" Robin remarked as already we could hear the muffled sounds of the three pirates up on the deck.
"Oh, perfect timing, you two" Nami perked up as she looked up from the magazine in her hands. "Sanji made one for both of you too" she said while motioning towards the two drinks that were seated on a tray.
"How kind" Robin smiled.
"Yeah, guess he figured we'd be coming down here" I nodded while plopping down in the seat right beside Nami as I grabbed my drink. In an instant did a small conversation soon start between the three of us—the topic of clothing and what the next island would be like was the main subjects of our talk.
"Usopp?" Nami suddenly questioned as we all turned our attention towards the fish tank where we spotted the sharpshooter swimming around inside.
"What is that idiot doing?" I asked with the tilt of my head as I watched how the ginger haired woman walked over to the tank to get a closer look. Silently did we all watch as the sharpshooter started to collect as many octopuses as he could inside the tank. "Huh?" I curiously tilted my head as I watched how the octopuses slowly started to retaliate and wrap themselves around the long-nosed pirate.
"Oh no!" Nami frowned.
"That doesn't look good" Robin said as already she was getting ready to use her Devil Fruit powers to help Usopp, but quickly did she stop when the water suddenly became stained with ink.
"Usopp's in trouble, you guys! He's in the middle of an octopus sandwich!" Nami shouted up to those on deck just as the sound of a loud ruckus floated down towards us.
"I guess they already got it handled" I said the minute I heard the sounds of shouting and sputtering coughs coming from above us, a clear sign that they must have succeeded in getting Usopp out of the fish taken and away from those octopuses.
"Hey, there's something floating in the ocean!" Zoro called out after everything had settled down and returned to normal, his announcement was enough to cause everyone to curiously make their way onto the main deck of the ship in an attempt to see what it was he had spotted.
"Treasure time! Treasure time! Open it up and see what's inside!" Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper excitedly chanted as a barrel was pulled out of the sea. "Whatever it is, it's going to be mine!" they happily proclaimed.
"Pity, it's probably just some old booze and preserved food" Nami sighed after taking a moment to examine the barrel.
"What? You can't see inside, how do you know?" Luffy pouted, not liking the idea that there wasn't much to the barrel we had salvaged other than the possibility of old booze and possibly stale food depending on how long it's been preserved in this barrel.
"Because it says "A Treasure Offering to the Sea Gods," it's an old practice called Barrel Drifting" Nami explained as she pointed to the words that were plastered onto the barrel. "People pray for safe passage by making an offering to the guarding spirits of the sea, so it's more about superstition than actual treasure" she said as I started to uncomfortably shift around in Zoro's hold. My face was still flushed a bright red as my arms were crossed over my chest in an attempt to hide it, I was still embarrassed by what had happened the minute he saw me come up on deck..and here I thought Sanji was the only one who could produce that much blood from his nose.
"In other words, we got our hopes up over a barrel of sea trash" Usopp dejectedly muttered.
"Whoa, who says booze is trash? Let's drink it!" Zoro grinned as he quickly stood up, looking quite eager to crack open the barrel and start drinking the booze inside of it.
"I say we put it back into the sea" I said.
"What? No, that's bad karma! Skylar's right, we should just put it back in the sea" Usopp frowned.
"You'll be fine, just say a little prayer first" Nami assured him.
"I pray to no God, sea or otherwise" Zoro firmly stated.
"Alcohol stirred by the waves, from what I hear, that improves the taste" Nami grinned.
"Don't encourage him" I sweat dropped.
"Oh yeah, let's find out!" Franky licked his lips in anticipation.
"Alright, then we'll make a toast" Usopp said, quickly giving into the thought of good alcohol. I only rolled my eyes at how quickly the sharpshooter was to change his tune despite having been against the thought of touching the stuff just mere minutes ago.
"After you finish, they say you're supposed to offer a new offering and set it adrift again for good luck, okay" Robin said.
"Who cares? Open up!" Franky grinned as he started to shake the barrel around.
"So…uh…hey, God, we're stealing your booze" Luffy said as he clapped his hands together.
"Now you're praying to God? If I remember, you beat the crap out of God back on Skypiea—don't bother, God's a jerk" Zoro scoffed.
"Could you even call what he did a prayer?" I chuckled.
"Prayers over, here it goes!" Luffy widely smiled as he opened the barrel. "Okay, let me see" and just as he got ready to peer inside the barrel, something suddenly shot out of it and exploded up in the air.
"What?" I owlishly blinked.
"Whoa! What is that?!" Usopp gawked.
"Fireworks?" Luffy suggested as we looked up at the sky where there were still a few traces left behind of the thing that had exploded.
"It sure is bright, huh?" Usopp hummed.
"W-what's going on?" Nami nervously asked.
"The booze flew into the air and then it blew up" Chopper said.
"Must have been some pretty bad booze" I whistled.
"Looks like a signal flare" Robin said.
"You think that's it?" Nami questioned.
"Guess the Sea God didn't like you messing with his stuff!" Zoro laughed.
"I guess it could be a prank...I suppose" Robin said. "But if it's not…" she trailed off as she seemed to become lost in thought for a moment.
"I-If it's not?" Usopp and Chopper shakily questioned.
"Perhaps we alerted someone and they're about to come looking for us" Robin suggested
"You mean the booze was a lie? No, even worse, it was a trap and we set it off by opening the barrel!" Usopp cried. "Who knows what kind of horrible people are going to come after us now—Chopper!" he screamed.
"Huh?" Chopper worriedly questioned.
"Search the area! Make sure we're not being followed—those awful bounty hunters might be looking for revenge!" Usopp ordered.
"What makes you think they're bounty hunters?" I raised an eyebrow as the two started to look through binoculars.
"I'm looking all over the place, but I don't see anyone" Chopper relayed.
"Nothing here" Usopp shook his head.
"Something isn't right, I can feel it" Nami suddenly said. "Everyone, get into position! We're going to escape by south to southwest—a huge storm is coming in five minutes!" she exclaimed.
"I don't see anything, but if you say it's coming, I'll take your word for it since you're the navigator" Luffy shrugged. "By the way, what's our heading?" he curiously asked.
"Two o'clock, straight ahead!" Nami ordered as we all rushed into position and it wasn't long before the clouds suddenly darkened and rain started to heavily pour down on us as a storm began to rage on.
"Did that barrel summon a storm or what?!" Usopp cried out.
"That lightning's hitting really close" Chopper nervously remarked.
"No good, we're getting straight headwind" Nami frowned. "The ship's going to overturn!" she gasped when the whole ship suddenly started to tilt to one side as large waves of water crashed down onto the deck and soaked us all.
"Hey, the Sunny can handle this, you know the trick" Franky said.
"Oh! Right!" Nami nodded. "Hey guys, raise the sails—it's paddle time!" she ordered.
"Yeah, okay" Usopp nodded as he held onto the railing.
"I like the sound of that—do it! Go!" Luffy eagerly nodded as the sails were raised.
"Everyone ready?" Nami asked.
"The main is good to go, Nami" Sanji informed her.
"The formats are up and ready" Zoro nodded.
"Franky, now!" Nami ordered.
"Sweet! Soldier Dock System: Channel Zero!" Franky shouted.
"Cola Engine: Paddle Ship Sunny!" Nami grinned.
"Go!" Usopp exclaimed.
"Full speed!" Luffy ordered.
"We made it!" Nami happily cheered the moment we exited the storm and were once again back in calm waters.
"Yeah, it's nice we got out of the storm and all, but where the hell are we?" Zoro asked as I looked around us only to find nothing but a thick fog that made it difficult to see too far ahead of us. "It shouldn't be night yet, right? So why is it so dark and what's with this fog? Strange, huh?" he questioned as he suddenly snaked an arm around my waist.
"Where is that hand of yours going, sir?!" I blushed the moment I felt his fingertips brush against the bottom of my dress. "Sir, this isn't appropriate! Sir!" I squealed as he only chuckled and pulled me close, giving my ass a tight squeeze and my cheek a nice peck.
"This is it! We paddle the Sunny straight into that sea Kokoro was talking about!" Nami suddenly wailed. "Geez, I wasn't ready for this..." she depressingly mumbled.
"Wow! So we're at Fishman Island already?" Usopp questioned as he looked around.
"Not yet, remember? The sea of ghost?" Luffy grinned.
"He wasn't with us with us when she was telling us about that" I chirped.
"That's right, be careful" Franky nodded. "You've heard of the Florian Triangle, right? You know, it's called the Devil's Triangle" he grinned. "A haunted sea where ships are swallowed by the darkness without a trace" he said, lowering his voice to a deep rumble in an attempt to scare the sharpshooter.
"H-haunted?" Usopp shivered.
"Bring on the ghost! I can't wait!" Luffy snickered.
"Shut up! Why does everybody know about this but me?!" Usopp cried out. "If this is some kind of prank, it's not funny!" he snapped as I suddenly felt Chopper cling to my leg.
"Zoro, Skylar" the doctor whimpered as I looked down at him the moment I felt him start to violently shake—owlishly did I blink when I thought I saw something behind him for a minute, but it disappeared far too quickly before I even had a chance to register whatever it was. Huh, must have just been my imagination.
"Nuh-uh, it's real and I hear there are zombies and skeletons too!" Luffy excitedly told the sharpshooter.
"Why are you happy about this, Luffy?!" Usopp shouted.
"Because it's Luffy, duh" I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world
"You're letting your imagination run wild, stop trying to scare him" Sanji frowned before striking a match as he held it up to his face so that the light would cast eerie shadows along it. "Listen, Usopp, the truth of the matter is every year over a hundred ships vanish in these waters without any explanation—they say the sailors' souls stay on the ships, wandering for all eternity" he said.
"No! Why didn't you warn me about this?!" Usopp cried.
"Even if we had, there's nothing you can do" Sanji shrugged.
"Sure, there is! I'm going to cover myself in anti-ghost stuff!" Usopp huffed.
"Really now?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Usopp, let me borrow some too!" Chopper whimpered.
"Now, I don't mind you all scaring Usopp, but please refrain from scaring Chopper" I frowned as I placed a gentle hand on top of the reindeer's head to help in trying to comfort him.
"W-who's that?! What's that voice?!" Usopp shakily asked as Chopper now moved from clinging to my leg to clinging to the sharpshooter's back.
"It sounds like...singing?" I questioned as I now listened closely to the soothing voice that echoed through the air.
"Help! No!" Usopp screamed the minute he spotted a rundown ship sailing right up beside us. It seems like everyone's jaws hit the floor as I felt my eyes start to sparkle upon the sight of the creepy ship—I just couldn't help but stare up at it in awe as I took in its rundown and eerie appearance.
"It's a ghost ship!" we shouted as I moved closer towards the ship's railing, eagerly leaning forward in an attempt to get a closer look.
"We're going to die!" Nami wailed.
"This is the song of the damned! Hurry, cover your ears—you'll be cursed!" Usopp cried. "If you talk back to the ghost, you'll be pulled into the sea! Don't answer them, no matter what they say to you! They'll steal your soul and bind you to the ghost ship!" he babbled which caused Chopper to start crying in fear.
"Such a beautiful voice..." I breathlessly breathed out as I now really listened to the voice that was echoing through the air.
"Who is that? Is someone actually riding this ship?" Robin asked as she realized that the singing we were hearing was much louder and clearer now that the abandoned ship was pulled right up beside us.
"So, can you cut a ghost?" Zoro asked.
"I don't know, can you cut something that's intangible?" I sarcastically asked.
"On the deck! Look!" Sanji pointed as we all turned our attention towards the skeleton that stood upon the deck of the massive ship.
A/N: Enjoy
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