Exulansis • One Piece

Chapter Ten

We hit land five minutes ago, and since then it was clear something was off.

I felt my body weight shift as I'm lifted to the air, my leg throbbing with soreness and my shoulder searing with pain as the process is being done.

"Careful now!" Nami rings out behind Zoro, who stood my my left, while Marno was stationed at my right.

Marno was careful, like he was holding glass, I could tell he wasn't all too confident in himself, but Zoro seemed the complete opposite. He did it like it was just like any other task, and I could definitely guess a bruise would form in the areas he held onto.

A tight grip, maybe it's because of his job of a swordsman?

"There doesn't seem to be a lot of people here..." I hear Nami mention behind me, where the path to the dock was laid out. "It's deserted."

I check to see what she was observing, to the place we had docked onto only minutes ago. And out of that time, not one person had been seen, as this was some sort of ghost town.

"Wonder if they all left... Like the Lost Colony of Roanoke..."

"What's that?" Marno asked beside me as we turn to walk towards the plank connecting us to land.

"Well... Back..." I paused to think about what to say, because no matter how I try to explain there would be more questions. I think another second before deciding on what to say, descending the dock carefully.

"A man building a town left for a couple years to grab supplies, and when he returned, everyone was completely gone, there was no clue on where they went or what happened expected for a carving they found on tree that had the word 'Roanoke.'" I explained throughly enough that by the time I was done, we reached the dirt, wood creaking and as we all walked together.

"That's a delightful story, dear." Sanji said behind me, and I didn't make any attempt to reply, just a sound of agreement. Sanji was a weird dude, kinda creepy if you misinterpret his actions, but I could see he was only a caring man, just like the white knight of a story, only when it came to women. I guess that's why he was stuck with holding all of the lunches and money for supplies (excluding Luffy who already dug into his own lunchbox).

"Yeah! It's cool, it has the perfect hint of mystery! Now with some action..." Usopp joined in.

"Yeah! Action!" Luffy sprang up, cheerfully agreeing with Usopp through a mouthful of fish, both now standing side by side in the sun of their friendship.

Zoro yawns and adds nothing to the conversation, and I don't have much to add onto him. I think about this guy, who seems like the kind of person that does what he wants, and that was it. But I surprisingly found out he was Luffy's first mate when talking to Nami about her position in the crew.

"So... if Luffy is the captain, then who's the vice-captain?" I asked to the woman who commands people next to me.

She turns back to face me before answering.

"Nobody, really. We kinda just have our own things going on. But if anything, I guess Zoro would be the closest to being a 'vice-captain', considering he's the first mate."

So whatever that is, is all I know. I take a good second to think about these two, Luffy and Zoro, and my immediate thought is nobody in this crew really belongs in the position they are in, expect Sanji.

"There really isn't anyone here, huh?" Nami takes another careful scan around, along with the rest of the crew. She sighs harshly, because of how they had to stop their journey to drop by this island, only to find nobody was here.