Rebel Waters

The Island of Demons

As we step off the deck and onto the dock, the first thing I notice is that this island looks normal. A path, surrounded by trees green as emeralds, leads from the dock to what must be the village. The path looks beaten up, worn down by years of feet stomping down it. 

"Geez, this is a boring island." Percy mutters.

"Don't judge a book by its cover. Or an island just by what you see from the dock." I reply, putting a careful amount of paticence into my tone. 

He huffs, but doesn't object. We walk down the path, our footsteps ringing in the clear air as we make our way to the village. After a moment, I hear a scampering sound,  and turn, but nothing's there. What the? Oh well, probably my imagination. But Percy's looking around, he also might have heard something. I hear it again and whip around just in time to see a tail slipping into the undergrowth. Percy sees it too. He lunges for it.

"Got it!!"

He holds it up, and holy shit, it's ugly. A rat-like creature with balding patches where open sores ooze pus and god-knows-what. 

Nami gags. "What-what the hell is that?!"

I see it's eyes, red and glinting with knowlidge and fury, and I know.

" A demon. It's young, but a demon none the less." I say, the words heavy on my tongue.

"Wh-what?!" Percy says, dropping it.

Suddenly, I remember something else. If a demon claws or bites you, even if it's just a tiny mark, there's a chance you'll get deathly sick. The bigger the wound, the higher the chances. And there's no known cure. Fear chills my body.

"Percy, did you get scratched? Even a little?"

He holds up his arm, and to my horror, there's a cut running down his arm. The edges are tinged with red and purple. I start to feel faint, my head spinning. 

"Chase? Why- you went pale, are you okay?" Percy asks, scared.

Slowly, I tell them. Saying it out loud makes it seem all the more real, even more like a nightmare. I'm shaking, but that doesn't matter. Making sure Percy survives is. I pull him into a hug, and notice he's broken into a sweat, and is shaking like crazy. He starts crying, face buried in my shoulder.

"Chase-"

"Shh. It's fine. I said there's a chance. It's not positive that you'll get it. Maybe luck will be on your side, just as it always is, you lucky bastard." I say, trying to calm him down, but there's a nervous tremor in my voice. I can't lose Percy, no matter what. 

His skin is hot and clammy, without looking, I just know that his forehead has a sheen of sweat, along with bright red cheeks. And this time, it's not because of a girl.  I comfort him as he cries, and after a moment, his sobs slow, and he looks up, eyes red from crying.

"Hey, it's okay. It's a hot island, you're most likely overheating." Chopper says.

But he's worried, I can tell. Someone puts an arm around my shoulders and I look up to see Sanji.

"He'll be okay, Chase. Don't worry." he says with a smile.

I swear that damn smile of his is infectious, because before I know it, I'm smiling too.

"You're right. Percy, how are you feeling?" 

"Alright. Just really hot. You might be too though, but not because of the island..." he says, giving me a teasing grin.

"PERCY! You damn jackass!" I yell, my face bright red.

The crew laughs, and I'm lauging too. Leave it to Percy to turn a tense situation into a funny one. When I was six years old, our father broke my leg for saying that he was a good leader instead of a great leader. Percy took me to the castle physicians and told me jokes, making me laugh while they reset the bone. When our dad questioned him, he said that it was to stop my dark magic from flaring up and burning down the whole damned castle. It does help with my dark magic, but that wasn't the reason he did it. But still, I really don't need to burn down another town. I don't give a shit about the Marine base, good riddance I say, but the town... all those innocent people...  I shake the thought out of my head, and as soon as Percy's okay, we start walking again, keeping an eye out for demons. Wait, what's that? There's a scratching sound, off to my left, where Sanji's walking, just behind me. I see a demon coming up behind him, and it doesn't look like he notices it. Just as it lunges to sink its sharp teeth into his leg, I tackle him out of the way. We hit the ground hard, rolling away from the demon's range.

"What-" Sanji starts, his face red.

Then he sees the demon. In its attempt to tackle him as we were rolling, it impaled itself on a sharp rock. Crimson rivers run down the rock, bright against the gray. 

"Oh, thanks." he says, still bright red.

"Any time." I say, getting off him, my face also red.

I was literally two fucking inches from him! I could have kissed him... No, what the hell am I thinking?! When did I think about kissing Sanji, let alone any boy?! Percy saw the whole thing, but still flashes his damn 'ooh, romance!' grin. I flip him off and help Sanji up.

"Sorry, did I knock you down too hard?"

He grins. "Oh, please. It would never be too hard for me." he says, winking at me.

I feel my face burning, and can't move for a moment. When I regain my senses, I run to catch up.

"Hey, wait up!"

Percy laughs and turns around. "Don't stand there in shock then! Hurry up!"

I sigh and go from a jog to a full sprint. I skid to a stop beside Percy, as if nothing happened.

"Took you long enough." he teases.

"Go jump off a damn cliff." I retort. 

"Can you stop arguing and listen for these damn demons?" Zoro snaps.

"Party pooper." Percy mutters, but after that, he shuts up.

After all, we both know not to piss off Zoro. Percy learned that the hard way, and me? I'm not stupid enough to make someone with three swords ,who knows how to use them , mad at me. If someone has one sword, sure, I can take them on and win. Easily. Two swords? That'll be a little tricky. Depends how well they can use them. Three swords and can use three-sword style? Yeah, no thanks. Possible to kick their ass? Yes. But most likely I'd be the one who's getting their ass kicked.  Finally, after what seems like forever, we reach the town. Percy stops in shock in front of me, and I almost run into him.

"Percy, you okay?"

He shakes his head, too shocked to say anything.

"Chase, do you hear anything? Anything at all?" Nami asks, her voice calm but with a slight tremor. 

I close my eyes and focus, tuning out unnessicary sounds and listening to the town. But there's nothing. Not a single footstep, nobody talking, absolutely nothing at all. It's as if it's a ghost town. 

"No, nothing. It's like a ghost town." I say. "It makes no sense! There's no heartbeats, footsteps, nothing, yet the town is perfectly clean."

"Magic?" Percy suggests.

I shake my head. "No, but I do sense an otherworldly presence here. And it doesn't feel very friendly."

Percy frowns. "I don't sense anything."

"What?! I can sense this thing's malicious intent from here!" I say, shocked.

He shrugs. "Well I don't sense anything, as I said."

"So let's check it out!" Luffy says, running towards the town.

Oh god. This is a bad idea, I just know it. Reluctantly, I follow the others into the town.