One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty One [Rewritten]

"Oh...uh..." I froze, now standing perfectly still as a nervous sweat built itself upon my brow upon realizing I had been seen. Without a second thought, I jumped off of the branch I had been standing on and grabbed hold of another nearby the minute the reptile lunged forward before it quickly changed direction the second it spotted Zoro rushing by. Shakily did I pull myself up onto the new branch I was dangling from, heavily panting as I watched how the snake now gave chase to its new prey—it felt like the thing couldn't really decide who it wanted to eat, constantly jumping from person to person every time it caught sight of one of us moving too quickly in its peripheral vision.

"This way, whiskers! Over here!" Luffy continued to mock the overgrown reptile while the rest of us could only scream as we rushed through the forest in our attempts to get as far away from the snake as we could...

When things did eventually calm down and all was quiet, I slowed to a stop in my running and finally took a moment to look around as I tried to regain my breath. There was no one in sight. No giant snake, no Luffy loudly mocking said giant snake or even a screaming Chopper freaking out because of said giant snake—I was genuinely alone with nothing or no one to accompany me save for the sounds of the nearby wildlife.

"Guess we're got separated.." I panted, thickly swallowing as I ran my fingers through my frazzled hair and looked around in an attempt to gather my bearings. I felt like I was all turned around thanks to that snake chasing us off course before finally, I decided to just pick a random direction and head in it. "Hope this is the right way..." I grumbled. 

-Later-

"I wonder if this is how Zoro feels?" I muttered, heart now wildly pounding away in my chest as panic slowly started to set in the minute I realized that I might have been lost. Rubbing at my arm, I mindlessly began to scratch off the dried blood from the cut that I had recently received from a fight with one of the Guerrillas that were still running around the forest. They were everywhere it seemed, none of them in the mood to really talk and not caring whether their target was one of Eneru's Priests or not. Each of them had been quite aggressive and stubborn, relentless and refusing to give up as I found myself occasionally having to just turn tail and run away so as not to spend up all my energy in fighting them.

"But the Priests and those Guerrillas all have powers I can't hold up to" I perked up at the sound of a familiar voice from somewhere nearby. Following the sound of said voice, I soon spotted Zoro whose back was turned to me. "So a close-quarters fight doesn't mean much..." I didn't really care all that much about what he was mumbling to himself as I quietly made my way toward him. Gaze mischievously locked on his back as I practically tip-toed behind him before finally, I lunged forward and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Gotcha—whoa!" my laughter was short-lived as I was thrown off, his body tensing underneath my touch as he harshly grabbed one of my arms and flipped me right over his head like I weighed nothing...which I probably didn't compare to him. Harshly did he stare down at me with a glare that was soon replaced with a look of shock and then guilt the minute he realized that it was just me and not an enemy.

"Shit! Sorry about that—but you shouldn't have snuck up on me like that, especially when we're in enemy territory!" he scolded, offering me a hand that I simply waved off as I sat myself up.

"But it wouldn't have been nearly as fun if I had just walked up and talked to you like a normal person would" I defended, widely smiling as I watched how he rolled his eyes in response before huffing a laugh.

"Come on, let's go—it isn't wised to just stand around in the middle of a war" he motioned for me to follow. It fell silent after that as he stared straight ahead, now looking to be lost deep in thought once more as he loudly began talking to himself like before. "Guess I'll have to back up, and if I have to take him down at a distance, I think I'll have a move that'll work" he concluded to himself after finally going over a plan for himself that he hadn't really bothered to share aloud with me and that I didn't really care all that much to ask about. How he planned on handling his fights was his business, just like it was my business on how to handle my own fights—we were not the same, that much was obvious when you realize how much he craved and planned for a fight while the only thing I now wanted was just to get this day over with.