Mere talks of Little Garden didn't do it justice. As they slowly came to dock the ship, awed exclamations and excited shouts quickly filled the air. Luffy was bouncing in place, and Usopp was shaking from terror and anticipation alike. Zoro seemed impressed by the height of the trees around them, while Sanji went inside to prepare lunch boxes for everyone. Even Vivi, though a little pale, seemed rather impressed. As for Robin, well, she was already comfortable on Nami's lounge chair with some tea, biscuits, and a book, completely unbothered by their new surroundings.
"Woo! Let's go explore the island! I wanna see dinosaurs! And Giants! And I want giant dinosaur meat, too!"
"W- w- where are the Giants?" asked Usopp, trembling as he surveyed the shore.
"You guys are insane for wanting to even step foot off this deck," deadpanned Nami. She then noticed Vivi's slightly embarrassed look. "You too!?"
"Well, I'll only get depressed if I stay here and wait, so…"
"There you go!" Sanji returned carrying a bunch of packed lunches. "Also, if you guys find anything that looks edible on the way, please bring it back – we need to resupply. Namely fruits, drinkable water, and meat of any kind."
"I'll get the meat," volunteered Zoro. "You couldn't possibly hunt it yourself, anyway."
"Aa? Care to repeat that, shithead?" snapped Sanji.
"Tche. You heard me, shitty cook."
"Fine! A Hunting Contest, then! The winner's the one who brings back the most kilos of meat!"
"Come on, you guys can't be serious!" cried out Usopp.
"I'll be the referee," volunteered Robin with an amused smile.
"WAIT! Everyone pause right now!"
All eyes turned to Brynlee with varying degrees of surprise. They hadn't even noticed her briefly disappearing inside, but she was now coming back out carrying a three fairly large, metallic cans and eight very small bottles. She dropped all of them on top of a nearby barrel, exhaling deeply.
"What's all this, Bryn?" asked curiously Nami.
For only answer, Brynlee lifted one of the cans toward her… and started generously spraying her with an awful-smelling substance, which burned her nose a bit.
"Ack! What the hell, Bryn!?"
"This is the most potent bug spray I could get my hands on – and every single person and duck on this ship will spray it on without complaint," she announced, serious. "This is a prehistoric island filled with insects, plants, and parasites to which our bodies are not immune. In other words, catching an incurable sickness is a very real risk!"
Usopp paled dramatically. "I- I- I think I already caught one, I feel faint—!"
"No, that's just the cowardice talking. But you will be at risk if you don't put it on."
"Meep!"
Luffy lifted his hand, frowning. "I don't get sick, though!"
"You still have to put it on."
"But it smells bad!"
"And so will your rotting corpse if you're too dumb to listen to me." Luffy pouted, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "You know, Sabo and Ace will have a field day if you actually get sick because of a little bug bite, you know? They'll never let you hear the end of it." Luffy's pout deepened, though his will cracked the slightest bit, and she decided to go for a lower blow. "A Captain leads by example, Luffy. What kind of example are you giving, putting your crew at risk like that?"
The others winced a bit – a low blow indeed. Thankfully, it finally got her point across and, though clearly unhappy with it, Luffy finally gave in and half-heartedly sprayed it on. Taking it as their cue, the rest of the crew followed suit, and even Robin generously applied a layer, obviously understanding the danger this biological threat presented.
Brynlee knew that Luffy never got sick, Before. But there was a very important lesson she'd come to learn over the years in this world, and it was that, no matter the changes she brought about, there would always be equivalent consequences. By preventing Nami from getting sick, the laws of this world dictated that someone else would have to take her place. They needed to go to Drum Island and they needed to recruit Chopper, and that meant someone had to get hurt – but Brynlee was determined to have a say in how it happened, and to whom.
She'd figure it out once it became relevant, though. For now, all that mattered was preventing all of her crewmates from getting sick.
"Good! Also, everyone take this with you and carry it on your person at all times," she instructed, passing out the small bottles.
"Pills?" wondered Vivi.
"Antidotes. It's a generalized antidote that should work against most low-level poisons and venoms. If you get bitten by something or get randomly sick, take it immediately," she insisted, once again very serious. "There's no guarantee they'll work against everything lurking on this island, but it's a good preventative measure, and it should at least buy you some time should you need it."
"Well, I'm staying right here!" announced Usopp, clutching the bottle for dear life. "No way am I getting off the ship after all this, meeting Giants be damned!"
"Hear, hear!" agreed Nami, carefully tucking the antidote away.
"Come on, can we go now?" pleaded Luffy, impatient.
"Yes, that's all! Have fun!" beamed Brynlee, waving everyone goodbye.
Zoro and Sanji immediately took off to begin their contest, while Luffy ran in the opposite direction, chanting "Adventure!" under his breath, with Vivi and Carue following closely behind. Brynlee let out the small breath she had been holding as she watched them all go off on their own, aware that she'd done all she could.
With Crocodile unaware of our existence, Mister 3 and Miss Goldenweek shouldn't be here, which means the Giants' duel shouldn't be tampered with. Luffy gets his kick of adventure, Usopp finds inspiration to concretize his dream… and I'll somehow figure out a way to force a detour to Drum Island.
But first! Let's let's go enjoy a little adventure of my own!
And here's the updated [CHARACTER PROFILE]!
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[CHARACTER PROFILE]
-STAGE 0-
Name : Lucky D. Brynlee
Age : 18 years old
Race : Lunarian
Devil Fruit : [ERROR]
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[EQUIPMENT]
Nami & Nojiko's Friendship Bracelet
Sabo, Ace & Luffy's Friendship Bracelet
Money: 472,000,000,[...] B
Lunarians: A Guide to Hunting Gods
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[SKILLS]
Flight: 15/20
Pyromancy: 8/20
Invulnerability: 12/20
Spear Wielding: 0/20
Harmonica: 20/20
Armament Haki: [...]
Observation Haki: [...]
Geology: 1/20
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[FEATS]
Silver Tongue: 19/20 (+1)
Bloodlust: 2/20 (+1)
Anger of the Fallen: 2/20 (+1)
Heart Sight: 5/20
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[ABILITIES]
Instincts of a South Bird
Gambler's Reward
Silver Tongue
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[TITLES]
Angel of the Seas
Protector of Cocoyashi
Straw Hat Pirate
Friend of the Fishmen
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[BUCKET LIST]
1. [...]
2. [...]
3. [...]
4. [...]
5. [...]
6. [...]
7. [...]
8 [...]
9. Get the autographs of a hundred named characters from the original story (5,000,000,000 B)
20/100
10. [...]
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[QUESTS]
-ONGOING-
Survival!
You must live, no matter what.
Dream Catcher
Help all of the Straw Hats achieve their dreams. (1 Wish)
Heart Ablaze!
Save Ace's life! (100,000,000 B & 1 Life)
Weed Killer
Pull out 50,000 weeds (500,000 B)
Kind Helper
Help 1,000 people (1,000,000 B)
Orange is the New Gold
Pick 200,000 tangerines (2,000,000 B)
Winning Hand
Win 10,000 games of card (3,000,000 B)
One Strike
Destroy 100,000 targets practicing Fishman Karate (1,000,000,000 B)
A Fish in the Ocean
Become a level twenty black belt Fishman Karate practitionner (20,000,000 B)
Strength in Numbers!
Defeat 100 Baroque Works Millions (500,000 B)
Strength in Numbers!
Defeat 2 Baroque Works Frontier Agents (1,000,000 B)
Bad Luck
Defeat the Unluckies! (1,000,000 B)
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-COMPLETE-
Strength in Numbers!
[...]
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-REFUSED-
[...]
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New side-quest AND a new ability! We've finally maxed out one of the [FEATS]!
Sorry it took me so long to update guys! Life took a turn and a bunch of stuff happened all at the same time ah ah. But I'll try to post more consistently again!