-Chapter Three-
"Are you really sure you want me to go? You know you can't take it back once I leave, this isn't a decision to take lightly."
"No, not really—I mean you're my twin and this will be the first time that we'll ever be this far apart from one another."
"Then why did you say this was a great idea?"
"Because it is—Skylar, you can't always expect me and Cloud to tell you how to live your life! If you want to leave and go have an adventure then leave! I mean, we're not children anymore...you're almost a fully-grown woman, you can't let me be the one to dictate what you do with your life."
"But what about—"
"Look, you know that I have Riku and Cloud has Leon, we're not going to be alone. Sure, we'll miss you, but like I said, this is your life—not mine or Cloud's. We can't tell you what you can and can't do."
"I know, but...I'm really going to miss you guys, this will be the first time we'll be so far apart from one another. I mean, look at me! I'm already starting to feel regret for my choices and I haven't even left yet!"
"You don't regret it, silly, you're just scared that you'll regret it later—which you won't. Now, before you go, be sure to remember to at least write us when you have the chance and be sure to cause up such a fuss that he sees it."
"Yeah, I guess I can do that—he'll surely blow a fuse with such a discovery..."
"That's the spirit! Oh, and Skylar."
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Be sure to give Zoro one big smooch for me when he finally remembers you."
"S-shut up! We're just friends!"
"You seem distracted, is something a matter?" I jumped the moment I was startled out of my thoughts by Nami's voice.
"No, just...thinking it all" I answered her, just barely even bothering to look her way as she leaned up against the railing beside me before peering back out towards the island that we were now getting further and further away from. I wasn't really sad to see the island go, never cared much for the place to begin with.
"You know, I can't help but think," Nami suddenly hummed as she seemed to peer back at the island as well, "but won't the islanders be upset that we just took their best fighter away?" she questioned, tilting her head back just a little to now peer up at the cloudless sky.
"Not really, but Aaron will..." I grumbled with the roll of my eyes. "Let him throw his fit, there are other fighters on that island, so they'll find someone new in no time" I muttered as I rested my chin on the palm of my hand.
"Oh? Why were you chosen?" she curiously asked.
"Let's just say I was chosen for personal reasons and leave it at that" I said, ignoring the way she raised an eyebrow. "While you're here, I've got a question for you" I said, quick to change the subject before she could ask any more questions.
"Oh?"
"Tell me, do you know the full reason or—better yet—the real reason why your captain had decided out of the blue that he wanted me to join you all?" I asked, still hung up on the answer Luffy had given me. Surely my eyes really weren't the real reason he wanted me to join—surely there had to be more to this then what he was letting on.
"Luffy can sometimes be confusing with his decisions and doesn't always really explain why he makes them, but...I think what he told you back at the restaurant was his honest reasoning" she answered. "I'll admit, it was a little weak and confusing, but I think he really might have seen something in you" she smiled as I slowly nodded.
"Is that so?" I muttered as it went quiet between the two of us and it wasn't long after before the ginger wandered off, leaving me all alone as I continued to stare out towards the wide-open sea. We were already far enough away from the island that it was no longer in sight and...I couldn't help the slight pang in my heart the moment I thought about how far away I was now from my brothers. This really was the first time in our lives that we'll be this far apart, I wonder if that's a good or bad thing for us.
"Be sure to cause up such a fuss that he sees it."
"Don't worry, I will..." I muttered as I tilted my head back and now stared up at the sky, recalling just how much venom there had been behind those words—words spoken out of hatred and spite with the desire to have the chance to get back at that man. "Though, I don't know how..." I softly admitted.
-Weeks Later-
"Hey, Skylar" I hummed as I peered up from the book in my lap, raising an eyebrow at the wide smiles I spotted on Usopp and Luffy's faces the moment I looked at them. Despite it having been only a couple of weeks since our departure towards the Grand Line, I was still keeping up this silly little charade of mine—still pretending and acting as if I was truly a man. I'll admit, there have been a few close calls here and there, from nearly having certain individuals—Luffy—barging in when I'm in the middle of changing to small slip-ups here and there in the way that I spoke or acted. There have been moments where I was tempted to tell them the truth, tempted to ditch the chest binder and remove the bandana, tempted to just see their reactions in knowing that the young man that's been traveling with them for these past couple weeks was actually nothing more than a young woman. I wonder what their reaction would be...I wonder how differently they would treat me if they knew that I wasn't the gender I portrayed myself to be.
Whenever I thought about that possibility, the possibility that their attitude towards me would drastically change because I wasn't the man they assumed me to be, it made me less inclined to tell them the truth. Part of me knew they probably wouldn't have treated me any different...well some of them would have, but that's beside the point. Part of me also knew that they'd eventually find the truth out on their own so there was no point in prolonging the inevitable, but...I've kind of been digging this sudden rush of excitement I've been getting every time I've almost been caught. There was just something so enthralling about having to come up with lies on the spot or getting snarky anytime one of the others would start to question my feminine behavior. Sure, it made it a lot harder to know if Zoro recognized me or not, but that's fine...yes, just fine...
"We were wondering if you'd want to join in on our game of tag since you aren't doing anything special" Usopp said as I peered between him and the captain—the two people on this ship I've actually been hanging with the most since I've boarded it. Nami didn't seem too big on hanging with me, Sanji was just plain rude and seemed annoyed most of the time if I even asked something of him, Zoro was...well he was still the same as I remember, constantly taking naps and not much for conversation. Though when we talk, there was something familiar and nice about it...well at least there was to me, not so sure about him. But so far, the captain and sharpshooter were the friendliest of people here, as well as the most energized with how often I'd watch them chase each other around the ship or start to tinker with one of the cannons.
"Sure, I've got nothing important to do" I shrugged as I closed the book in my lap and set it aside before standing up. "Well then, who's it?" I asked.
"You are!" I didn't have time to really react the moment Luffy poked my nose before he and the sharpshooter took off running, both loudly laughing.
"Wha—hey!" I couldn't help but laugh as I was quick to chase after them. It wasn't long before they had split off from one another and started to run in different directions and as they did, I found my sights zeroing in on Luffy and only would change my direction towards Usopp in an attempt to freak him out anytime I noticed that he was wandering just a bit too close to where I was. I wasn't sure when we had gotten too close towards the area that Zoro was napping in, but it wasn't long before both Luffy and I had raced right over his stomach—both of us freezing in place the moment we heard the painful grunts that left the back of his throat as he was startled awake by the feeling of our feet smashing down on the center of his stomach as we ran by.
"Sorry, Zoro" Luffy apologized as I was quick to take note in the shift of the air around us the minute the swordsman sat up, from the corner of my eye I watched the way Usopp started to shake in utter fear as the captain seemed to simply wear an oblivious smile. He had already apologized so apparently he saw no reason to be scared or concerned. I found myself siding with Usopp on this one as I felt a shiver travel up my spine the moment I caught sight of the irritated glare the swordsman wore—when had he gotten so intimidating? He wasn't this scary when we were kids...at least I didn't think he was.
"I-It was those two! I-I had n-nothing to do w-with it!" Usopp sputtered out, quick to place the blame on Luffy and me.
"It was—" I stopped when I saw that the captain was no longer where I had seen him, a clear sign that he had bolted the minute he understood that his simple apology probably wasn't going to cut it. "You did not just leave me alone with this beast of a man!" I cried out before tensing up the moment I noticed just how close the swordsman had gotten, his face only mere inches away from my own at the moment. Loudly did I squeal and jump back as my hands flew up in some vain attempt to defend myself.
"That...that sound very girlish" Zoro seemed to owlishly blink, taking note in just how high pitched the squeal had sounded as he raised a questioning brow.
"Yeah, so?" I slowly lowered my hands, eye twitching in slight irritation at the remark he had made. "What of it?" I scowled as I placed my hands on my hips and huffed, and for a moment, I thought I saw a glint in those eyes of his that seemed to just disappear all too quickly as he shook his head.
"You're not very intimidating, kid" he chuckled as he rested a hand on top of my head and ruffled up my bandana slightly...you can imagine how thankful I was that he hadn't accidentally knocked the thing off or messed it up to the point that all my hair fell out.
"Nami, I have a report of love!" Sanji suddenly called from the crow's nest. "I see big rain clouds up ahead! There's a storm under them" he reported down to the ginger haired woman that had quietly been looking over the map in her hands this entire time.
"Looks like we're on course, we should be seeing the Red Line at any moment now..." Nami muttered to herself.
"The Grand Line at last!" Luffy widely grinned as he suddenly stretched his arms up towards the crow's nest and dragged himself right on up there. I owlishly blinked, still not used to the rubber man's abilities to stretch his body out in such an unnatural way. I still recalled the shock on my face the first time that I had witnessed him stretch one of his arms out, nearly suffering a heart attack out of surprise when he did. It's not that I've never heard of Devil Fruits before, I was indeed aware of their existence and knew exactly what they did, it's just... it's just been a long time since I've met someone with Devil Fruit abilities. So you can understand where my shock had come from at the sudden revelation that the captain could stretch his body in such an unnatural way.
"Hey, Sanji! We're finally going, we're finally going!" the rubber man laughed as he roughly patted the blonde's back.
"That hurts!" Sanji snapped as he aggressively kicked the raven-haired man in the face.
"Sorry..." Luffy weakly apologized, it wasn't long before Nami called us all into the kitchen—ushering us all inside with the desire to explain something important to us that she had realized.
"Look here" she said as she placed down a map on the table. "I'd heard the rumors about it, and it's drawn on this map too! If it really is true, then the entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain!" she frowned.
"A mountain?" Luffy questioned.
"We got to crash into a mountain?" Zoro asked as Usopp suddenly started to struggle in handling the steering.
"You can't be serious..." Sanji muttered.
"Didn't...didn't you all already know that?" I owlishly blinked. "Reverse Mountain isn't that big of a secret...at least I don't think it is" I said.
"Skylar? You knew about this?" Nami asked.
"Well yeah, I thought everyone heading to the Grand Line did—like I said, it's not that big of a secret" I said. "The mountain has canals that lead up to it, it even shows it on the map" I said as I leaned over and tapped a finger down on the map the navigator had laid out.
"Which means we have to go up it" Nami said.
"Neat!" Luffy grinned.
"What are you talking about?" Zoro frowned. "Even if there are canals or whatever, a ship can't climb up a mountain!" he scoffed in disbelief.
"But that's what both the map and Skylar are literally saying!" Nami argued.
"Yeah, Nami would never say anything that's wrong!" Sanji snapped at the swordsman.
"But I'm the one that said it first..." I sweat dropped, I had learned fairly quickly that the cook before me was a ladies man with how he always seemed to fawn over Nami. I didn't know whether to pity him or laugh at him—so I normally did both.
"You stole that map from Buggy, right? Can we really trust it?" Zoro questioned. "And you've never been there before, so how sure are you in your claims?" he asked as he directed his attention towards me.
"Dare I say, are you accusing me of being a liar?" I feigned being hurt by his doubt in what I was telling him.
"H-hey! Someone help with the rudder!" Usopp finally cried out, still looking to be having trouble with the steering. "It won't budge!" he grounded out as he continued to pull at the unmoving steer.
"Sanji, give Usopp a hand!" Nami ordered. "I can't think with all his shouting..." she grumbled.
"Yes, Nami dear!" Sanji cooed, quick to rush to the sharpshooter's side with love in his eyes before he suddenly stopped when he realized that the sharpshooter had been right and the steering wasn't moving at all.
"D-doesn't this current seem a bit strong?!" Usopp asked.
"Eh? Usopp, what did you just say?" Nami asked.
"D-doesn't this current seem a bit strong?!" he repeated.
"Current...that's it!" she suddenly gasped.
"That's what?" Luffy asked.
"Did you finally figure out how the mountain works?" I asked as I rested my chin in the palm of my hand and looked up at the navigator.
"You're right, they really do go up the mountain!" Nami nodded.
"Are you still saying that stuff?" Zoro frowned as the woman quickly motioned us all to peer down at the map. I had no care to really listen to the explanation in how the entrance to the Grand Line worked nor did I care about Usopp's angry shouts and demands for help as I instead now found my gaze wandering around the kitchen. It was decent and cozy, something I didn't expect to find on a pirate ship of all places.
"That's right, isn't it, Skylar?" I was jostled out of my thoughts by the navigator's voice.
"Yeah, that's how the mountain works" I agreed despite not having listened to a single word she said. "Smart girl, figured it out all by yourself" I smiled which seemed to cause the navigator to brighten, even if I hadn't heard her, I was aware just how smart Nami could be based on what I've seen and heard from her these past couple of weeks.
"Oh! Interesting!" Luffy grinned. "So basically, it's a mystery mountain!" he laughed.
"Well, maybe you don't get it" Nami heavily sighed.
"I think he gets it perfectly well!" I laughed, time passed and after a mistake that landed us in the Calm Belt—by some miracle we had found our way safely out—we were back on track.
"Hey! I see the mystery mountain!" Luffy shouted from the top of the mast, his voice just loud enough to be heard over the pouring rain.
"W-what?! T-that's insanely huge!" Usopp gaped the moment he cause sight of the mountain
"The entrance to the Grand Line..." Nami muttered.
"So that's the Red Line, huh?!" Luffy widely smiled.
"Bigger than I imagined" I whistled in amazement.
"I-I-I can't see the top because of the clouds!" Usopp sputtered out before most of us screamed in surprise the moment the ship jostled as it was caught up in the harsh currents that started to drag us in.
"We're getting sucked in!" Luffy shouted as he tightly clutched onto the mast and began to bounce up and down the second he was thrown from his perch. "Hold the rudder good!" he ordered.
"We're on it!" Zoro nodded.
"N-Nami, where's the entrance?!" Luffy frantically asked when he saw that it was a bit difficult to see any form of a canal opening with how dense the fog almost seemed to be. "We're going to crash into the rocks if we keep going this way!" he cried out.
"The crack in that cliff..." Nami muttered.
"Nami! What do we do?!" Usopp asked as both he and Sanji did their best to hold the rudder steady.
"Keep going straight ahead!" Nami ordered.
"A-are you serious?!" Usopp gaped.
"Just do it!" she huffed, not allowing the command to be put up for debate.
"She's the navigator, so I say we should trust what she says" I said, leaning back against the railing and just taking a moment to enjoy the harsh sounds of the waves crashing against the base of the mountain.
"Nami, is that the canal entrance?" Luffy asked as he came down and squeezed his way between me and the navigator.
"Most likely" Nami nodded.
"This can't be for real..." Zoro muttered as he peered through a pair of binoculars. "The damn ocean really is flowing up the mountain!" he gawked in disbelief.
"A bizarre entrance for a bizarre place" I hummed, recalling just how famous the Grand Line was for both its danger and for what many considered odd occurrences.
"We got to make our way through those water gates just right!" Nami huffed as she motioned to the stone gates that lined the canal and were meant to keep any ships that passed through them on a straight and steady path. "Otherwise the ship will be busted into pieces!"
"We're getting off course! More to the right! Right, right!" Luffy quickly demanded when he saw that the ship was starting to sway to one side.
"The right?! Go Starboard!" Usopp shouted as he and Sanji struggled to turn the rudder.
"Oh boy, that's not good" I remarked the moment the steering snapped in two due to how hard the two men had been pushing against it in an attempt to turn the rudder.
"The rudder!" the others screamed in horror as the ship continued to stray off course.
"Gum Gum Balloon!" Luffy jumped from the ship, sucking in a large amount of air until his body inflated like that of a balloon—he allowed the ship to bounce itself off of him and get back on course.
"Luffy, grab on!" Zoro held out his hand for the rubber man to take so that he wouldn't fall into the ocean and be left behind.
"I'm still having trouble getting used to that..." I muttered as I watched the way the captain crashed into the deck of the ship—his landing rough as he seemed to go straight through the floorboards.
"We made it!" everyone cheered as the rain slowly came to a stop and the ship began to climb her way up the mountain.
"Now it's just a straight shot to the summit!" Nami grinned as she removed her coat and held it up high.
"Hey, I want to see! I want to see!" Luffy shouted, voice muffled as he tried to pull his head free from the deck of the ship. "I'm unstuck! Hey, let me see too!" he excitedly grinned as soon as he was free and rushed towards the ship's railing. Laughing as he watched how the ship smoothly sailed her way up towards the top of the mountain.
-After the Whale Incident-
"Man, I'm still trying to process what exactly happened back there" I chuckled, mind still hung up on the events that had taken place back on Twin Cape as I peered right out the kitchen window. Almost looking entranced by the snow that lightly fluttered down and coated the whole deck of the ship in a white blanket—normally I was never given this chance to appreciate just how beautiful and peaceful snow could be when coming down, so it was nice. Nami didn't really seem to agree based on the way she had irritably begun to complain about the sudden shift in weather after we had set sail and left Crocus and Laboon behind. Usopp and Luffy though seemed to think otherwise as the two of them were currently outside, excitedly building a variety of interesting snow creations.
"Yeah, you're telling me..." Nami grumbled as she irritably glared at the two new guests we had acquired after our adventure inside Laboon—their names were Mr. Nine and Miss Wednesday...such strange alias to go by. I softly laughed as I watched how her lips were drawn downwards into an annoyed scowl as she appeared displeased with their constant complaining despite the mercy we had shown them by allowing them to travel with us on our ship.
"It's too cold" they both would cry out while occasionally making snide remarks about the ship itself, not a single sign of gratitude in either one of them. Ignoring their complaints, I watched from the corner of my eye as Nami tried to just distract herself by studying the new compass we had acquired along with our guests, I believe Crocus called it a Log Pose—it was something that many pirates used to help traverse the Grand Line, a compass that set its sights on the magnetic field of the first island it could lock onto. Curiously did she look through the glass spear and watched how the needle inside wobbled around as it was simply only suspended up by a thin piece of string...or was it wire that was holding it up?
"What the...?" she inquired in confusion before suddenly the expression on her face morphed into one of pure horror.
"What? What is it?" I asked, now fully turning away from the window to look towards her as I quickly took note of how she looked as if she about ready to break down the longer she stared down at the compass in her hands. With lightning-fast speed, she seemed to just fly right out of her seat and out onto the deck where the others were.
"Turn the ship around right now!" she frantically commanded. "We're sailing in the wrong direction! We have to go back!" she cried, her voice strained as the others now piped up with their own remarks upon learning this news—many confused or not fully understanding what she was saying. Slowly did I wander out of the kitchen and outside to stand next to her, Mr. Nine and Miss Wednesday both following right behind me as they curiously poked their heads out to listen to whatever it was that had the ginger haired woman worked up.
"What do you mean we're going the wrong way?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "Did the ship just up and decide to turn itself around while none of us were paying attention?" I questioned, not understand how we could have gotten turned around so easily.
"I'm not sure myself, but it seems that's exactly what must have happened" Nami frowned, her voice nearly cracking from how strained it was as she seemed to slowly become more and more distressed the longer we all took to do as she had said. Miss Wednesday soon made a remark that only seemed to further aggravate the navigator, but before anything else could be said or done, the weather suddenly started to change. The delicate snow that was once falling gently started to pick up before completely changing into harsh winds and pelting rain. Upon noticing this, Nami didn't waste any time as she now started to frantically shout out orders to all of us—started to make demands that had us all scampering about. It felt as if everything had just gone to hell at that very moment as leaks suddenly started to pop up below the ship while we all ran around like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off in some vain attempt to keep the boat afloat and to get ourselves back on course.
By the time everything seemed to calm down, we now found ourselves sprawled out on the floor of the deck—heavily panting in exhaustion, soaking wet, and tired as we tried to catch our breathes and calm our hearts. Soon there was a loud grunt that broke through the air as a certain swordsman who had been sleeping this entire time decided to finally sit up, seemingly waking up just now from the nap that he had been taking earlier. How anyone could sleep through, let alone in, that kind of weather was beyond me. Through tired eyes I watched how the swordsman looked around at us all, his eyebrows furrowing when he took note of our tired and slumped over bodies before taking a moment to peer up towards the sky which now showcased a clear, bright and sunny day.
"Geez, just because it's nice outside, doesn't mean you guys have to be lazy" he remarked which earned him nothing but hateful and irritated glares from everyone around. I simply rolled my eyes and tiredly pushed myself up into a sitting position. My head tilted back as I now peered up towards the cloudless sky myself, taking a moment to silently admire how everything appeared to be so peaceful right now. It was so vastly different from the chaos that had occurred just a few moments ago. Soon though, I felt my ears twitch when I suddenly heard Zoro speak up again, and when I looked towards him, I found that he had now started to poke at Mr. Nine and Miss Wednesday.
Slight irritation seemed to wash over me the longer I watched him with a tired and drained look. I was simply in no mood for him to go and start picking fights after everything that just happened as I simply stood and quickly made my way towards him, passing by an irritated Nami who looked just about ready to lunge at the swordsman and strangle him herself. Coming to a stop behind him, I harshly hit the back of his head as hard as I could which had been enough to earn me a small grunt as his hands flew to the back of his skull to now cradle the new bump there.
"Shut up!" I snapped. "At least they helped us, unlike your lazy ass!" I huffed as I crossed my arms and stormed my way back over towards Nami.
"Thanks..." she muttered, looking relieved that she didn't have to get up and hit the swordsman herself.
"No problem" I grunted as I stopped by her, now reaching up to fix my soaking wet bandana the best that I could. Unable to stop the sigh that left my lips when I found that the water it had absorbed from the rain was now starting to make it feel uncomfortable to wear. Looks like I was going to need to change it, won't that be fun.
"Wow, you really pissed "him" off there..." Usopp nervously muttered as Luffy seemed to burst out into a fit of laughter as if he found my sudden sour mood to be the funniest thing in the world.
"Shut up..." I couldn't help but smile a little as I heard Zoro grumble this to the two before he stood up and wandered off somewhere else on the ship. Still rubbing the back of his head as he did so.
-Later-
"We're here, Whiskey Peak!" Luffy loudly cheered from his spot at the very front of the ship. He seemed to really enjoy sitting on top of the ram's head I found, though I don't know why as I would feel that would be the worst place for a Devil Fruit user to sit due to how easy it would be for him to just slip right off without anyone noticing. I had just currently walked back out onto the deck as soon as he said this, having finished exchanging my wet bandana for a dryer and cleaner one along with the rest of my clothes that had been soaked by the hellish storm we had suffered through earlier.
"How can you tell with all this fog?" I asked, squinting my eyes as I tried to peer through the thick fog that had settled around us and made it difficult to see anything that wasn't only a few feet away.
"Just can" was the answer I had received which caused me to sweat drop as I simply stared at the rubber man as if waiting for him to laugh and give the real answer—he never did.
"Sure, I'll take that" I shrugged as I straightened my bandana, double-checking to make sure all loose strands of hair were safely tucked inside and that there were no chances that the thing would fall off at any point in the day...it's happened before on windy days and it was a miracle no one had been around when it did. When the fog finally did start to clear up, we all slowly became aware of the large amount of people that were crowded around the docks we were heading towards. This put everyone on their guard as we drew closer and closer before suddenly, confusion swept over us when we began to hear the sounds of cheering. Upon docking and stepping off the ship, we were greeted by the island's mayor—Igaram. The way he spoke to us didn't feel like someone who was speaking to a bunch of pirates, but instead, it felt like someone who was speaking to a bunch of old friends who they hadn't seen in such a long time.
'What town cheers for pirates?' I frowned as we were all being lead towards the local bar. I didn't know if any of the others felt off about all this the same way I did or if they were too distracted by the feast that was presented to us to care about how strange this all was. It felt weird to be surrounded by people who looked like they were actually having fun and enjoying themselves during a party. Scratch that, it was weird in general seeing a party that was this loud and exciting—a party that was energetic instead of classy and extravagant. The others seemed to enjoy themselves in their own sections as they all practically split away from one another—Luffy stuck close to the buffet and seemed to just stuff his face with as much food as he could while Nami and Zoro both kept knocking back drink after drink as if the alcohol was nothing to them.
Sanji looked as if he was in heaven with the number of women that now surrounded him, and Usopp seemed quite pleased to have someone to tell his wild tales to as the occupants of this island seemed to just stare up at him in awe. If I'm being honest, I too had found his stories interesting when he first approached me with one of his tales—it had been far too exaggerated for me to take seriously, but it had still been wonderful enough to keep be enraptured and listening until the very end. But, then there was me, what was I supposed to do? Events like this weren't my forte, they never had been and they never will be. Soon enough, I found myself tucked away in one of the corners in some vague attempt to hide myself away as if I was a child of five once more and was just wanting to hide away from the prying eyes of all the strange adults around me, occasionally giving nervous smiles to all those that attempted to speak to me.
Their over the top smiles and looks of interest all felt so...fake, so disingenuous. Something I was so familiar with that it made me uncomfortable to even look at them, but in the end, I shrugged the feeling off. It seemed my actions of refusing to interact with others and politely declining any alcoholic beverages offered to me seemed to catch the mayor's attention as he soon came over and gave me a wide, yet strained smile.
"Care for a drink?" he offered as he held out another cup of liquor—just the sight and smell of it was enough to make my stomach churn, it didn't smell as strong as the junk she used to drink, but the smell was still familiar.
"No, thanks" I politely declined once again with the shake of my head as I softly pushed the cup back towards him. "I'm not much of a drinker, but...I wouldn't mind taking a nap though..." I mumbled lowly to myself as I looked around me at the people who had taken it upon themselves to sit nearby as if attempting to keep my company. In the moment's when they didn't talk to me, they all looked as if they were genuinely happy—in fact now that I thought about it. It seems all the other villagers seemed to do the exact same thing with the others, always looking the happiest when they didn't actually have to talk to anyone of us.
"Is that so?" I shook myself out of my thoughts and looked towards Igaram the minute he spoke.
"Excuse me?" I asked with the tilt of my head.
"Come along, it seems the young "lad" would like some peace" Igaram said with the simple clap of his hands as he motioned for the people around me to stand. "I'm sure our other guests wouldn't mind some more company, though, I don't think they'll last much longer either" he said with a heartfelt laugh as he looked around and took note in how everyone looked as if they were starting to grow tired from all of the excitement of today. I watched as everyone around me nodded their heads and broke off into separate groups, all of them now wandering over to one of the other Straw Hats that were still semi-awake and coherent.
"Wait, you didn't have...to do...that..." I my voice grew smaller and smaller as I watched the white-haired man leave to go somewhere else, never once acknowledging that I had said anything as he left me all alone. Heaving a tired sigh, I leaned back and tilted my head upwards to peer up at the ceiling. "Well then..." I huffed before sliding further down into my seat and pulling my bandana down over my eyes as I attempted to relax.
-Later-
I don't know how many hours had passed by before nightfall came as everyone around me passed out asleep one by one...or at least my crewmates did because soon after they all fell asleep, I heard the villagers all stand and whisper to one another as they exited the bar. Peeking out from underneath my bandana, I silently stood up the minute I noticed that the coast was clear and started to stretch out my limbs. Moaning just a little the moment I heard my back pop in a satisfying way.
"Skylar, is that you?" I perked up to the sound of Nami's voice as she sat herself up in her seat.
"Yeah, it's me" I nodded as I stepped over everyone's bodies and made my way towards the table that the navigator was seated at. As I was made my way over to her, I couldn't help but take note of how Zoro seemed to be missing from the group of men scattered on the floor and wasn't passed out at any of the other tables. "It seems that the villagers here are all bounty hunters, quite a surprise, don't you think?" I sarcastically asked as Nami quietly snorted.
"Yeah, it seems so" she nodded, already standing up and making her way out of the building through the back door with me lazily trailing after behind her.
"Where are you going, anyways?" I inquired as I followed, the both of us sticking close to the shadows cast by the surrounding buildings in an attempt to avoid being spotted by any of the bounty hunters on the island. Instead of an answer, she only motioned for me to stay quiet as we snuck into one of the houses where she immediately started going through the occupant of this home's things.
"I used to be a thief before I became a pirate, well technically, I still am a thief" Nami said as she hastily searched through the drawers of the bedside table as I slowly nodded.
"And you never thought to tell be me this before because...?" I asked, motioning for her to fill in the rest with her answer as we made our way to the next house. I took note of how she seemed a little frustrated after she hadn't found whatever it was she wanted in the first house.
"Didn't find it all that important to share, maybe I'll tell you the full story someday, but not today" she said with the dismissive wave of her hand as she started searching this house, seemingly gaining the same results as before. Slowly as the minutes ticked by, we seemed to have checked almost all of the houses in the village—none of them were exactly that big to begin with—and it seems that the results were the same for each one of them. There was nothing of value in any of them, nothing at all. "Dammit!" she hissed as she angrily slammed the desk drawer she had opened in frustration. "You'd think that with a village filled with bounty hunters, there would at least be some treasure lying around!" she huffed.
"Well, that depends" I said from my spot by the window. My ears occasionally twitching at the distant sound of a commotion going on outside—I wonder what it was? Well...actually, I had my theories on who exactly was making that ruckus out there. "Perhaps these people are just terrible at their job and we just sadly mistook them as being good at it" I suggested with the shrug of my shoulders. Nami opened her mouth, looking ready to respond back with a snippy remark before quickly clamping her jaw shut as an ear-piercing scream suddenly pierced through the air along with the echo of gunfire.
I tensed at the sound, a sound that was nothing more than a mixed bag as there were days where I could quietly forget and ignore it, just as much as there were days where I found myself thrown back into memories of days long since passed and were best left forgotten. Hesitantly, Nami and I exchanged glances with one another—both of us silently questioning what had happened before finally deciding to investigate where the unnerving sounds had come from.
"Please, you have to help the princess! I promise you'll be rewarded greatly!" was the first thing I heard as we drew closer to the spot the commotion had taken place. I skidded to a stop at the entrance of a narrowed alleyway the moment I spotted the two people that were crowded inside it.
"A reward you say?" Nami butted in before I could open my mouth to ask what had happened. "Just how much are we talking here?" she asked, her eyes lighting up and almost greedily looking exactly like beli signs.
'Well, she did say she's a thief and thieves do love anything valuable' I sweat dropped. Despite her lack of caring about anything else other than money at the moment, she did at least decide to be kind enough to hear the mayor out as he quickly explained everything that he could to us—explained who he and Miss Wednesday really were.
"Right" the navigator nodded in understanding once he was finished before she turned her attention towards Zoro who had been silent this whole time, not looking to really care either way what was happening. "Zoro, go after the princess and save her" she suddenly ordered, motioning with her hand for him to quickly move along and not waste another minute as if he was her servant and she was his master. This didn't seem to bide over well with the moss haired man at first as an argument was quick to break out between the two—him refusing to go and demanding to know why she couldn't just go herself as she was the only one really wanting the money. Ignoring them, I simply walked over to Igaram and bent down, helping to set him up and lean him back against the alleyway's wall so that he was no longer just lying on the ground.
"There, that should be more comfortable" I softly smiled as I looked the man over. "How are you feeling? Looks like moss head did a great deal of damage, but I don't think it's enough to be considered lethal. Still might want to get it looked at though seeing how I'm not a doctor" I remarked the minute I spotted the nasty slash that ran across his chest from where he had been cut.
"Is there a reason you're being so kind?" Igaram couldn't help but ask as he looked at me with curious eyes. "I mean, we did just try to kill you and your friends" he remarked, nearly sounding out of breath as his body seemed to quiver in pain—shivering as if the mere act of breathing hurt too much for it to bear.
"That may be so, but it was for a good reason" I hummed. "I can't really stay mad at someone that does what they need to, to protect the place they call home—to protect the people they care about" I lightly shrugged as I fully sat myself down on the ground and leaned back against my arms.
"Skylar" Nami suddenly said.
"Hm?" I hummed as I looked towards her, quick to take notice of how Zoro was already gone. "I see you finally convinced him to do your bidding" I noted, watching as she gave a devious smile.
"Blackmail is such a wondrous thing" she seemed to blissfully sigh. "But what I wanted to tell you is that I want you to go on and join Zoro in protecting the princess—knowing that idiot, he might get lost" she said as she motioned with her head towards the direction Zoro had probably run off in.
"I'm sure Zoro can handle such a simple task, this place isn't that big so it shouldn't be that hard for him to track down the princess" I argued with the tilt of my head, chuckling at the hard look in her eyes as if she was annoyed that I hadn't agreed right away to do as she wanted. "Alright, I'm going, I'm going—don't get your panties in a twist" I laughed as I stood up and walked in the direction she was pointing in.
"Just go!" she snapped, harshly glaring holes into the back of my head as I left. It wasn't until the sounds of explosions did I really start to pick up the pace and shift my leisurely stroll into a full-on sprint. I soon came to a skidded halt beside Miss Wednesday who just so happened to be the princess—I believe Igaram said her real name was Vivi—and a large duck that she was currently sitting on. I couldn't help but stare at the animal, my cheeks flushing just a little as small stars appeared in my eyes while the feeling of temptation to just reach out and pet the animal nearly overtook me.
"I didn't know ducks could get this big..." I muttered in awe which caused the princess to flinch as she quickly turned her head and look at me, seemingly calming down when she saw my familiar face. "Princess, are you alright? You aren't hurt, are you?" I inquired the minute I had her attention, pleased as I watched how she shook her head—good, Nami won't kill me then. All too quickly was both of our attention soon drawn towards Zoro. I took note of how he had all his swords out, all three of them, as he stood before two strange people I didn't recognize.
One was a dark-skinned man whose eyes were shielded behind a pair of sunglasses and the other was a blonde-haired woman who was dressed in all yellow...she must really like lemons considering the theme of her outfit. I rested a hand on my own swords and straightened my posture, now on high alert just like him as soon as I became aware of the two strangers. I had faith that Zoro could take them both with complete ease, but you never know if one of them would decide to just slip by him while the other distracted him.
"Zoro!" we all froze the moment we heard Luffy's enraged voice suddenly echo through the air without warning. "I'm going to kick your ungrateful ass!" he angrily shouted.