-Chapter Twelve-
"Hey, you think Chopper's okay?" Usopp asked. "He looks a bit down" he noted.
"He'll be fine, just leave him alone right now" Nami said as she dismissively waved away the sharpshooter's concerns.
"It's an emotional time—it's his first journey as a man; it's a passage" Sanji remarked as a billow of smoke blew past his lips.
"And he's about to leave Drum Island for good—it's been his home his entire life" Vivi added.
"As well as the fact that he's leaving behind people he loves and won't be able to see them again for a long time" I butted in. "That's got to be pretty hard on him."
"Yeah" Usopp agreed. "Though I don't remember you having that rough of a time adjusting to leaving your island behind, Skylar" he pointed out.
"Well first off, that island wasn't really a home to me, and also, I was going through a rough time" I corrected him. "There were times were I feared I made the wrong choice even if Sora and Cloud were alright with me leaving," I confessed, "but I also didn't want to bring down your guys' mood at the time, so I chose to keep those feelings to myself" I explained as I leaned back against the railing behind me. "Does that answer any questions you all may have had?" I asked.
"Yes" they nodded, causing me to snort.
"I'm leaving with them, Doctor and Doctorine, my adventure is finally starting right now on this ship..." Chopper softly mumbled as he sat away from the little party that had broken out in celebration of the reindeer joining.
"I'm sure the Doctor and old woman are proud of you" I grinned from my spot next to the reindeer.
"Huh?" he innocently blinked.
"I mean that they're happy with the decision you've made, shouldn't that be enough for you to get out there and celebrate with the others?" I asked, now watching him from the corner of my eye. "It is your party after all."
"I guess your right" he softly smiled before being taken aback the moment he was swept away by a cheerful Usopp who was determined to include the reindeer in the fun as he offered him a drink of his own.
"Welp, this isn't my type of party" I sighed as I now began to make my way toward the men's room, not the least bit interested in stinking around and watching everyone else get drunk off their asses.
"Skylar?" Vivi questioned the moment I passed by her and a shivering Carue—poor thing had ended up getting stuck inside the water while we all were away. "Where are you going?" she curiously asked.
"Going to go take a nap" I answered.
"But don't you want to hang around and celebrate with the others?" she inquired with the tilt of her head.
"Sorry, but drinking isn't exactly my forte" I admitted to her with a shrug. "But taking a nap, now that's some good shit right there" I smiled at the laugh I received from the princess as she now waved me off. Going below deck and into the men's room, I instantly collapsed onto the couch and stared up at the ceiling while draping an arm over my forehead. Soon the muffled sounds of my cheering friends from above mixed with the gentle lapping of the wave from below helped to lull me to sleep.
-Time Skip-
"Do I have to wear these? Is there a reason I have to wear these?" I probed from beside Nami, mindlessly messing with a stray strand of thread near the bottom of the jean shorts I had been forced into this morning.
"Yes, and yes" she answered.
"And what reasons are those?" I pressed.
"For starters, it's been getting warmer lately so there's no need for you to be wearing jeans unless you want to suffer a heat stroke and second, now that we know you're a girl—you should start dressing like one" she simply responded.
"How dare you tell me how to dress—what are you, sexist?" I snickered as I quickly covered the back of my head the second she started to swat at me. "Kidding! Kidding!" I laughed at the glare she shot me. "I understand where you're coming from and they're not bad, but they don't exactly scream me."
"I think you look nice in them" she argued. "Gives you a chance to really show off those legs of yours" she remarked with a grin as I rolled my eyes and grumbled.
"This is amazing, Luffy! The sea seems to go on forever!" Chopper loudly exclaimed from where he and the captain currently sat looking out towards the sea. I couldn't help but smile at the sound of his excitement.
"Yeah, it's huge and pirates get to have great adventures on it all the time" Luffy grinned.
"It seems they both share that same childlike wonder" I giggled.
"Yeah, no kidding..." Nami muttered as she leaned against the top railing and stared down at the two in amusement.
"Incredible, being a pirate must be really great!" Chopper smiled only for it to instantly shrink the second it suddenly grew dark as if something had blocked out the sun. I curiously hummed as I tilted my head back and look upwards, squinting my eyes in the process as I instantly spotted the large silhouette of the bird that flew overhead.
"It's a seagull" Luffy exclaimed.
"No way, there aren't any seagulls that big" Nami argued.
"That and it also doesn't really look that much like a seagull" I added.
"Hey, seagull!" Luffy shouted as he quickly stood up and started waving his arms. It seems his efforts weren't in vain as he immediately caught the bird's attention and caused it to swoop down and fly straight toward us.
"Ah! It's coming right towards us!" Nami screamed in a panic.
"See, I was right, it was a seagull" Luffy proudly stated.
"It doesn't even look remotely like one!" I exclaimed as Nami in her fear and frustration began to babble out insult after insult towards the captain as he and Chopper continued to stare at the approaching bird in wonderment. Quickly did she drop to the deck and curl into a ball as I threw my arms over my head and squatted the second the bird flew overhead. The harsh beat of its wings sent a flurry of wind straight over us that instantly rocked the ship and caused a sea of water to splash aboard and flood the deck. Carefully peeking upwards, I slowly stood with a sigh and placed my hands on my knees as I leaned over Nami who was still curled up into a ball on the floor.
"It's gone, you can stand up now" I said before giving her a look of sympathy the moment she peeked a fearful eye open.
"Y-you sure?" she whimpered.
"Yeah, I'm sure" I nodded as I held a hand out and helped pull her up on her feet.
"Where did Luffy go?" she asked after taking a second to look around and assess any possible damage the ship may have suffered.
"I'm not sure, he was here when the bird flew by" I said, now looking around in search of our missing captain. "You don't think he fell overboard, do you?" I asked after only spying a soaking wet reindeer sprawled out on the equally wet deck.
"I hope not..." she mumbled, sounding far more annoyed by the possibility instead of concerned.
"Yahoo!" our attention was quickly drawn upwards upon hearing the captain's familiar shout.
"Found him" I said, pointing upwards towards the bird's beak that our captain currently had a tight hold on.
"Luffy, run! You're about to become that bird's dinner!" Nami shouted up at him as Chopper rushed towards the back of the ship where the rest of the men on the ship were currently located. Following after him, I was curious to see what they were doing back there and why none of them had come running towards the front of the ship after the bird had flown overtop us. Surely such a commotion would have been enough to pique their interest.
"Something horrible has happened, you guys!" Chopper frantically cried as he pointed up at the sky. Sputtering out a sloppy explanation of what had happened while Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp continued playing their game of cards. Looking up myself, I raised an eyebrow as Luffy started stretching his limbs all around the bird before harshly twirling it around in the air. "Amazing" the reindeer that had been running around earlier breathed in awe as he too watched the scene above him.
"Jesus!" I flinched the second the captain suddenly smashed the bird down headfirst onto the ship right next to us—instantly knocking the men right over in the process.
"Hey, Sanji, I got some meat for us—look!" Luffy proudly grinned as now sat in front of the knocked-out bird. Eagerly pointing at it as if wasn't gigantic and took up most of the space here on the back of the ship.
"Is it even still alive at this point or did you kill the poor thing with a heart attack?" I asked as I wandered over and lightly poked at it with the tip of my shoe in order to see if it would move.
It didn't.
All I received as an answer from the captain was a cheerful laugh and nothing else.
"Why are you guys sleeping?" he suddenly asked when he finally noticed that his sudden action of slamming the bird down onto the deck had practically knocked out the other men.
"We're not, you idiot!" Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp snapped as they quickly sat up which caused me to laugh.
"What are you laughing at?!" Zoro frowned as a light tinge of pink now dusted over his cheeks.
"Oh nothing, please, continue being angry with our captain" I grinned with the wave of my hand as I motioned for the men to continue.
"Gladly—Luffy, you owe me this one! I had a really good hand!" Usopp angrily snapped in frustration upon having his chance to win ruined.
"Oh yeah, oops" Luffy snickered.
"Whoa, that's a huge bird" Sanji gaped as he finally noticed the animal that was knocked out behind our captain.
"Does this mean we'll be having some decent meals from now on?" Zoro asked.
"Can we eat it?" Usopp questioned.
"No, we're going to cook it and then throw it overboard for the fishes—they're rather hungry you see" I sarcastically replied.
"Don't even joke about that!" Usopp whined as I giggled.
"Hey, Chopper, is something wrong?" Luffy suddenly asked, causing my gaze to flicker towards the reindeer. I couldn't help but softly awe the moment I saw the childish look on his face—he looked like a child that had just met their hero as he stared up in admiration towards our captain with stars in his eyes. I eventually grew disinterested in the current conversation between the men as I started to wander away.
"Hey," I stopped and looked back the moment Zoro spoke up, "where are you going?" he asked.
"To go hang out with Nami and Viv—is there a problem with that?" I asked.
"Well...um...no, not exactly" he responded, nervously rubbing the back of his head as his gaze flickered elsewhere. "I was just wondering..." he muttered before trailing off into an awkward silence. "W-wait" he quickly sputtered the second he saw me start to drift before stopping again.
"Yeah?" I felt the corner of my lips start to twitch as he continued to fidget, quietly grumbling to himself as his cheeks darkened in color.
"I...um...well..." he continued to struggle. "Uh...those are some nice shorts" he eventually settled on saying, giving a nervous smile and weak laugh in the process.
"Oh" I deadpanned, not quite sure if that's what he had meant to say this entire time or not. "Uh...thanks?" my lips drew back into a straight line as my gaze flickered elsewhere.
"W-what's that face for?!" he sputtered, his embarrassment seeming to grow as if he wasn't expecting such a bland reaction. I couldn't help the way my gaze soften as a small smile tugged at my lips...he was like a little boy attempting to interact with the opposite sex for the first time.
"No reason" I hummed. "But, once again, thank you for the compliment—I didn't realize you could be so sweet" I teasingly cooed, watching as his blush spread further over his face as he hastily averted his gaze elsewhere. Just as I was about to walk over to the front of the ship, I flinched—loudly yelping in surprise at the sudden appearance of Nami right in front of me.
"Whoa! You alright?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, hands shooting out to grasp my arms the second I stumbled back to avoid running into her.
"Yeah, you just surprised me is all" I laughed as I rested one hand over my chest.
"Hey, listen up you guys!" she called out to the others, easily catching their attention and dragging it away from the oversized bird they were still discussing over. "We'll be landing in Alabasta soon—this is no time to be joking around like a pack of hyenas, so come on" she motioned with her head for them to follow before turning around and walking back to the front of the ship. Right as I was about to follow close behind, a shiver racked up my spine as the sensation of being watched quickly overcame me.
"Yes, ma'am!" I heard the men salute behind me before they finally started to follow as I shook my head and kept walking. It wasn't long before we were seated around the deck as Chopper was given a quick rundown of our current situation.
"Mind if I sit here?" I asked, plopping down beside the swordsman before he could even answer. "You were looking pretty lonely sitting all the way over here by yourself" I remarked, noting how he was seated a bit further away from the others.
"How noble of you to come and keep me some company then" he hummed, the corner of his lips curving upwards just the slightest bit as he looked at me from the corner of his eye.
"I know, I'm so generous" I grinned, causing him to softly snort before a peaceful silence settled between us as we watched the others continue to regale our new crewmate with tales of our previous adventures. Though the peace was relatively short-lived as my body jerked and my face flushed at the sudden sensation of a sharp pinch being delivered to the underside of my thigh and close to my bottom. Instantly, my gaze flickered toward the young man beside me whose head was still turned the other way as if he was genuinely invested in what the others were saying.
"You know," he suddenly began, the corners of his lips now tugging upwards into a wide grin as I narrowed my eyes in slight suspicion, "those shorts suit your legs quite nicely."
-Later-
I leaned back onto my arms as I sat beside the now passed-out swordsman who seemingly chose to snooze the afternoon away instead of enjoying it like the rest of us. Currently, I was engrossed by the conversation that was being exchanged right before my eyes between Luffy and Sanji.
"Don't lie to me, Luffy—tell me what you know right now!" Sanji impatiently demand as he removed his cigarette from between his lips and harshly pointed at the rubber man who quickly averted his gaze elsewhere. "Don't look away from me, I want you to look me in the eye and tell me the truth" he growled as he harshly grabbed a hold of the captain's chin and pulled his face closer towards his own.
"No idea what you mean, Sanji" Luffy pursed his lips, knocking away the blonde's hand and waving his own in front of his face as he continued to avert his gaze. "I don't know anything, no clue" he feigned.
"Then let me ask you—how did enough food for nine people, which I carefully divided up so it would last until we reach Alabasta, suddenly go missing in the middle of the night?" Sanji asked, growing more and more agitated by the minute as Luffy continued to play ignorant. "Lying is pointless, so just tell me the truth, you have a terrible poker face" he frowned as he took hold of the captain's face once again. It wasn't too long before he huffed and released the younger male's face as he pulled away and straighten his posture as if he was giving up. Casually placing his cigarette back in his mouth, he dug his hands into his pockets. "Oh, hey," he suddenly said as he now leaned forward as if he had just spotted something interesting, "looks like you have something around your mouth" he falsely claimed.