-Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Five-
"There's nothing to worry about—we're full-fledged pirates and pirates don't get scared even when they're left at this spooky abandoned dock by themselves" Chopper assured himself.
"That's right, we're brave little pirates" I chuckled, leaning back and watching as he anxiously paced back and forth. It was cute how he seemed to just lump me right in with him as if to reassure himself that he wasn't the only one currently scared about being left here all alone in this abandoned dock. I didn't dare correct him nor let him know that I was unbothered by our current location—no, I instead let him continue to march to and fro as he quietly mumbled to himself words of assurance that he wasn't alone in his fear and that he was a brave pirate just like the others. "Hm?" I soon perked up to the sound of an engine approaching.
"Chopper! Skylar!" Nami shouted as she rode toward us on her waver.
"Nami! Sanji! Thank goodness—oh!" Chopper flinched as if he just remembered he wasn't supposed to be afraid. "I mean, I didn't get scared while Skylar and I were guarding the ship all alone!" he wobbly cried as he clung to my leg, tightly clutching it in a deathlike grip that he didn't let up until I comfortably patted the top of his head.
"That's right, he was big and brave the entire time" I nodded. "Anyway, it's nice to see the two of you safe and sound" I waved.
"It's nice seeing your beautiful smile, Skylar!" Sanji cooed, causing me to only nod and smile.
"Luffy and the others aren't back?" Nami questioned when she noticed just how empty the deck was.
"No, we've been alone this whole time..." Chopper whimpered.
"I wonder where they are..." Nami murmured in thought.
"I'm actually getting worried—I would have thought they'd be back here long before you two" I frowned. "You don't think they got caught, do you?" I worriedly asked.
"Something must have happened to them" Sanji said, clearly thinking along the same lines as me that there was a high chance something had gone wrong with the others during their mission to retrieve the gold.
"And the gold too" Nami worriedly added, causing the blond to nod. "I'm going to go look, okay" she called up to Chopper and me.
"Day with Nami: Part Two!" Sanji excitedly grinned, hearts floating all around him as he seemed rather quick to cling to the ginger inside the waver once more.
"Well at least someone's happy..." I sweat dropped, resting my hand atop Chopper's head when I felt him tighten his hold on my leg once more as he started to cry upon realizing that we were both going to be left alone in this creepy place once again.
"Sanji, stay here—I need you on the ship" Nami suddenly ordered, causing Chopper to sigh in relief as he brightened at the knowledge of having someone else here alongside us—someone who was admittedly a lot stronger than the both of us. I had no shame in admitting that Sanji was a lot stronger than me seeing how he was practically on par with Zoro. Only a fool would get upset at such an obvious truth.
"That's alright! Now I get to spend time with you, Skylar my dear!" Sanji happily cheered, not at all bothered by Nami's request for him to stay behind. Instead, he turned that love-struck gaze of his toward me as the hearts around him only seemed to multiply.
"Sounds great" I lazily smiled.
-Later-
"Got any threes?" I boredly asked, lazily looking between Chopper and Sanji as we sat around a pile of cards on the deck. I sighed when Chopper shook his head, already reaching for the deck of cards and drawing one from the top.
"What are you three doing?" peering up from the cards in my hands, I looked toward Zoro, Robin, and Usopp as they boarded the ship. At a glance, I was quick to realize that Nami and Luffy were nowhere to be seen.
"Playing Go Fish" I answered while holding up the cards in my hands for them to see.
"Skylar suggested it" Sanji dopily smiled, hearts floating all around him before finally popping as he owlishly blinked once he noticed the absence of a certain ginger. "Where's Nami?" he frowned, already abandoning his cards as he worriedly stood.
"Her and Luffy went to retrieve the gold" Zoro answered as he walked across the deck and plopped down right beside me, curiously taking a peek at the cards in my hands and the stack beside me that showed how many pairs I had collected since the start of this game's round. "Man, you're terrible at this" he remarked when he saw just how small my stack was compared to the other two's.
"Thanks, really boosts my confidence that I can turn this around" I smiled, causing him to snort.
It wasn't long before the cards were picked up and put away as the ship set sail—Usopp now resting up in the crow's nest as he kept a lookout for our missing captain and navigator.
"It's them—Luffy! Nami!" Usopp shouted, waving a lantern around to help signal to the two on where exactly we were. "Over here!"
"Nami, you're back! Are you alright?!" Sanji hurriedly asked as he helped the woman climb aboard the ship.
"Full speed ahead, Merry!" Luffy ordered the minute he boarded as the ship's disguise finally started to fall apart the closer we got to the Marine ships sailing towards the sea gate.
"Thank you for showing us where the currents are—we couldn't have made it this far without you!" Nami happily waved at the Naval ships we passed by.
"We owe you one! Thanks, you guys!" Usopp laughed.
"Woo-hoo! We're finally free!" Luffy excitedly cheered.
"And we finally got our gold" Usopp grinned.
"Seems like today was a pretty successful day" I smiled.
"Yeah, we did it!" Chopper happily cheered.
"Yeah! Let's get to the sea gate and get out!" Luffy grinned.
"Sure thing" Zoro nodded.
"Yeah" Sanji agreed.
"Guys, I can't wait to get out of here—can you?" Luffy excitedly asked once we started drawing closer to the gate.
"Well, our navigator doesn't feel the same way..." Zoro suddenly grumbled. "Nami's not so happy" he pointed out, causing the rest of us to finally become aware of the scowl the navigator now wore.
"You okay, Nami? Something wrong?" Sanji worriedly asked.
"Yeah, shouldn't you be happy? We're leaving with our gold" I frowned, brows now furrowing in confusion at the ginger's sour mood.
"Look! Three warships and they're heading right for us!" Chopper suddenly cried as the sound of bells ringing could now be heard. "Hey, wait...it looks like they're stopping..." his crying soon turned into confusion the minute he saw that the ships were now starting to drop anchor.
"They dropped their anchors...?" Nami muttered.
"I guess they gave up" Zoro shrugged.
"It seems so" Robin agreed.
"Something doesn't feel right—why would they just drop anchor like that?" I frowned.
"They must have come to their sense!" Usopp laughed as he puffed out his chest, suddenly acting all brave and confident now that there was no longer a threat chasing after us. "They'll never catch us!" he proudly boasted as he motioned for us to keep going.
"Why aren't they firing at us at least?" Robin asked, noting how odd it was that the ships weren't even bothering to take aim.
"Oh no, have they set another trap?" Usopp shivered, already starting to panic at the idea.
"Maybe, that sounds reasonable..." I muttered.
"That's what's worrying me" Nami admitted before heaving a sigh. "I don't know" she shrugged, head drooping at her inability to know what was happening and what to do about it.
"Man, Nami's even beautiful when she's worried!" Sanji swooned, the seriousness of the situation practically going right over his head as he now fawned over the sulking ginger.
"What's that sound?" Nami blinked as she perked up to the sudden sound of rushing water.
"It sounds kind of like a river flowing" Chopper answered.
"There's a river on this island?" Luffy questioned. "I didn't notice it when we were walking around" he said, looking around.
"I didn't either—are there any rivers on this island?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as Robin grabbed hold of the lantern.
"This should shed some light" she said, lowering the lantern with the help of her Devil Fruit abilities down near the water.
"Nami, what do you see?" Sanji asked when the ginger suddenly released a startled gasp the second she peered down at the water.
"The rudder isn't working" Usopp frowned.
"Is it stuck?" I asked.
"Maybe" he shrugged.
"Do you need—whoa!" I flinched when the ship suddenly started to shake, nearly throwing my footing off as I grabbed the ship's railing to rebalance myself.
"The tide! It's rushing out and taking all of the water—it's too late, we're trapped!" Nami cried in despair as she quickly pulled out the map of this place and began scanning it for answers. "Yeah, I knew it..." she suddenly sighed before patting herself on the back as if to congratulate herself for how smart she was.
"Why are you patting yourself on the back?!" Usopp snapped before being kicked by Sanji.
"I knew there was a reason why the Marines would use a shallow bay full of reefs for a cord—I wondered that the first time we tried to escape" Nami admitted. "Now I have my answer—this is a shallow bay, but they can let more water in and regulate the depth with the sea gate" she explained. "However, they can also use it to let water out at a low tide if they need to. For instance, to stop a fleeing ship, which makes trying to escape at a low tide impossible" she sighed.
"Oh? So that would explain why no ships can enter and leave the base at certain times of the day—nice work" Robin smiled.
"I'll say—you're a genius, Nami!" Sanji praised as Usopp hit him on the back of the head.
"So what do we do?" Zoro asked.
"Not kill each other" I said, watching as the blond quickly stood back up and retaliated with another kick at the sharpshooter.
"Duh, we head to the sea gate" Luffy said as if the answer was that obvious.
"We can't, stupid!" we snapped at him.
"Full speed ahead, yeah!" Luffy ordered, clearly ignoring us.
"Didn't you hear us?!" we snapped once again.
"Luffy!" Zoro flinched when the rubber man went tumbling overboard the second the ship struck something, causing us to come to a jolting halt.
"W-what the...?" Chopper sputtered out.
"You alright?" I worriedly called out to our captain "You're not dead, are you?" I asked when he didn't respond right away.
"Oh no! We're running up road!" Nami gasped.
"The ship can't take this kind of abuse!" Usopp shouted up from below the deck as he assessed the damage that was now being done to the bottom of our ship. "Somebody, help me! Quick!" he pleaded once he realized he wasn't going to be able to handle the damage by himself.
"Oh no! Water!" Chopper frantically cried as some of us quickly gathered below deck to see what the sharpshooter was screaming about.
"That hole's huge" Sanji remarked as we peered at the giant hole that had been ripped into the side of the ship.
"You think we can plug it up?" Zoro asked.
"With what? Do we even have enough wood to close something like that up?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I watched how the water spilling into the room now reached up to our ankles.
"Yes! That's what we need!" Chopper quickly nodded. "A plug or we're going to sink!" he cried.
"Hey, wait" Zoro said, stopping any of us from moving when he noticed that the water was now starting to recede.
"The waters draining?" Sanji questioned.
"Strange..." I mumbled.
"Somebody, help! Drowning!" Luffy loudly coughed from outside, causing us to perk up.
"Hey, didn't Luffy fall off the ship earlier?" I asked as we approached and peeked outside the hole.