After many Bananadile gutting, something came shooting out one of their mouths.
"SOMETHING CAME OUT!"
"Is it..!"
"IS IT THE KEY!?"
"Uh... That doesn't look like a key guys..."
"WHAT IS THAT!?"
"Doru Doru Ball..."
Something spoke from the white clay ball, then it cracked open and out came a man that looked awfully familiar to the crew.
"Release! W... water...! I'm saved aren't I...!?" The man shouted.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" The crew shouted.
"Hey, that's..!" Zoro grunted in surprise.
"IT'S 3!" Luffy pointed.
"IT'S WEIRD HAIR!" Faythe laughed.
"Mr. 3!? What was he doing inside a bananadile!?" Vivi asked the important question.
"AHHHHH! I'M BACK BABY!" Mr. 3 screeched, "I thought I was a goner for the longest time!" Now he was just talking to himself like a weirdo, "Heh heh... You've underestimated me, Crocodile! Just before I was eaten, I used the last of my strength to make a Doru Doru Ball to hide safely inside, you see....!"
He then went to go pat his handiwork with pride, "Even for me, this was a most brilliant plan, if I must say so myself!" Then he saw something poke out of his makeshift, "Hm? What's this odd key stuck to my Doru Doru Ball...?"
"You done talking..?" Faythe called out as the rest of crew watched lazily.
"AGHHHHHH! YOU PIRATES ARE....!" He just noticed them.
"AHHHH! THAT KEY!" Luffy saw the key Mr. 3 held, "GIVE IT HERE!"
"Hm? You want this key? Hold on..." It was like his brain was going full over drive, "A quickly flooding room, an iron cage... And a key... Ah, of course! I've now grasped the current situation, I believe..." He smirked proudly at himself.
"So you're Mr. 3... Hand that key over already." Sanji dragged himself through the water towards him.
"Fine, here you... GOOO!" He fucken yeeted the key someplace in the room.
"WHA!?" Sanji watched the key dissapear in the rushing water.
"HAHAHA! I don't know who you are, but you look like one of their pals! Go find the key if you can! But... I can't guarantee you'll have time to search for it leisurely!"
"That bastard..." Zoro crossed his arms, looking ready to choke the weird haired guy himself.
"Whoa, that guy's brain works fast!" Luffy looked shocked.
"If that was me, I would just stare in confusion!" Faythe giggled.
"SANJI, WE DON'T HAVE ANY MORE TIME!" Nami shouted out worriedly.
"Son of a...." Sanji rolled up his sleeves.
"SANJI WAIT!" Usopp had a sudden idea strike his head, "I think it just might be possible, for Mr. 3 to create a duplicate key for us using his Doru Doru power..."
It worked.
"Oh, pretty good, Candle-man." Sanji pat the beaten up weird haired man.
"Eheheh. Awww shucks.." The man chuckled to himself in embarrassment.
Just seconds later, he was sent flying by just one of Sanji's kicks.
"Let's hurry!" Sanji called out as Vivi hurried to his side.
"I think the underwater passage they were planning to walk through is the way to Alubarna!" She explained, "But the problem is it's still blocked by all those bananadiles!"
The crew turned to see all the bananadiles that they worried over, all knocked out in a pile with Luffy, Zoro and Faythe standing in front of them.
"Damit, I can't use all of my power with all this water around!" Luffy complained.
"You can say that again! This sea this just feels like I can't fly around properly..." Faythe grumbled to herself, giving a bananadile's snout that was near her a good kick for good measure, "That's what you get for trying to eat Vivi..!"
"HAHHH! ANYMORE LEFT THAT WANTS A PIECE OF ME!" Zoro shouted out.
"I don't think we need to worry about that anymore.." Nami muttered to herself.
"Even running away from one of those things gave me so much trouble..." Vivi looked away in embarrassment and disappointment at herself.
"Don't beat yourself up, Vivi! It's these guys that are weird for being stupidly strong!" Usopp tried to cheer the pouting girl up.
A sudden shake in the ground made a few people topple over.
"AGHHH! THE WALL JUST CRUMBLED! IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR GOING OVERBOARD AGAINST THE CROCS!"
"THE UNDERWATER PASSAGE COLLASPED TOO!"
RUN RUN THROUGH THE OTHER EXIT!"
"I DON'T THINK THAT'S GONNA HELP US!"
The water's high pressure crushed through the wall and swept through the room almost instantly, startling everyone.
"AGHHH!"
"DAMN IT!"
"GYAAAA!"
"USOPP'S HIT HIS HEAD ON A ROCK!"
/;/~***~/;/
Faythe's felt her body getting pulled from the water, it felt so heavy, almost like she was carrying the whole Going-Merry on her back and the a chained ball was dragging her down with it. It was the worst feeling she had ever felt in her life.
Scratch that.
Second worst feeling in her life.
She knows for one thing that she hasn't remembered everything in her past, only a few moments from her dreams. But she knows their coming back slowly. But she knew she hasn't gotten the worst of it yet. After all, PTSD comes with the trauma on the side.
Feeling her head drum repeatedly, she was having a major headache.
"Godamit... My head is killing me.." Faythe rubbed her temple with her palm.
"You good?" A familiar voice said as they placed their hand on her shoulder. She looked up to meet silver eyes, and green hair that forever seemed to spike.
"How does your hair keep defying gravity even though it's wet?" Faythe gave Zoro a lopsided grin.
"Dunno. Ask that brother of yours. He's the one with the Gravity Fruit." He snickered and then flicked her forehead, earning him a hiss.
"Ha. ha. Very funny. I saw what you did there." Faythe pouted with puffed cheeks.
"Mhm. But to answer your question, maybe I just have better hair than you." He grinned standing up from his spot.
"Ya right!" Faythe kicked his leg playfully, giving him the go to check the others.
"I'm just saying!" He called out, waving his hand while walking over to see the others.
"That cocky little.." Faythe sighed before seeing that Lung Cancer was still here. She looked up to see them start another back up plan.
"We've lost quite a bit of time... Can we still make it, Vivi!?" Sanji asked.
"I don't know." She answered honestly.
"Nami, do you still have that perfume you bought at Nanohana?" Sanji raised his curly brow.
"Hm? Yes, but why?" Nami tied her wet hair back up.
"Put some on right now."
"Like this?" Nami sprayed herself on her neck and collarbone, the perfume was so strong that it could be smelled by Faythe who wasn't even close to her.
"Ahhhhh! I'd follow your scent to even hell itself!" Sanji swooned, doing his wiggle dance.
"Fine, then go to hell already. Seriously." Zoro commented.
"RORONOA!" Lung Cancer came out of nowhere with his weapon pointed at Zoro. Fortunately, Zoro blocked it with his sword, only inches to his face
"What reason do you have for saving me?" Lung Cancer demanded.
"I was only following my Captain's orders... There's really no need for thanks. It was just one of his whims. Don't think too much on it." Zoro flicked the weapon away as he stated his action earlier.
"Then... You don't have any complaints if I arrested you right now...?" Lung Cancer took a step back.
"See what I mean! This is what happens when you rescue a marine!" Sanji sighed annoyed.
"Ah! But I think being arrested is gonna make it difficult to save Alabasta..!" Faythe called out, "So I say not thank you."
Faythe turned her head to some marines down the street seeing them.
"Straw-Hat Luffy is here!?"
"Yeah, and I also saw Smoker with him too!"
"Let's go back up the Captain!"
"Gather the troops!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Usopp and Luffy screaming as soon as they wake up startled Faythe while she was listening to the hollering marines.
"ALRIGHT FULL SPEED AHEAD TO ALUBARNA!" Usopp held his fist in the air.
"Oh, they finally woke up." Nami thought out loud.
"WHERE'S CROCODILE!?" Luffy was looking around angrily until he spotted Smoker in front of him, "AGHHH! IT'S SMOKIE! YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME TOO!?"
"OH CRAP! Luffy, NO! Let's just run away instead!" Usopp was running towards Luffy trying to stop him.
Luffy and Lung Cancer just stared at each other, squaring each other.
But Lung Cancer broke first.
"Go."
"Hm?"
"Just this once... I'll look the other way..."
"The next time we meet, consider your life forfeit, Straw-Hat Luffy..."
Faythe put a mental note to add this part in her writing.
"OVER THERE! IT'S THE STRAW-HAT PIRATES!"
"Come on, let's go before the marines get here! Which way's Alubarna!?" Sanji called out as he and the crew ran ahead.
"This way! We have to head East!" Vivi took the lead in the running.
"Hey Luffy, Faythe! What're you two doing? We've gotta get going!" Zoro called out.
"Right." Luffy nodded.
"I gotta get everything in my writing, so I'll stick with our Cap!" Faythe saluted.
"Writing..? Whatever. Just hurry up!" Zoro ran off to catch up with the group.
Luffy turned his head to Lung Cancer, "I don't think I hate you anymore, Smokie!" He gave the marine a large grin, "Shishishishi!"
"Get lost already!" Lung Cancer swung his sea stone tipped weapon at Luffy who barely dodged and started running, "OH CRAP!"
"THANK YOU, LUNG CANCER!" Faythe shouted as she ran after her Captain.
"You brat! Enough with that nickname! Your just like that brother of yours!" Lung Cancer growled out annoyed.
/;/~***~/;/
"Hey guys! We're not gonna run all the way to Alubarna are we?" Usopp asked as they past multiple buildings and were almost at the edge of town.
"What's wrong Usopp, not up to the challenge?" Faythe grinned at the panting male.
"Nothing, it just seems maybe a few of us can't take that much running." Usopp glared at the girl irritated.
"Oh right! Where's Eyelashes!?" Nami questioned.
"Your the only one who calls that pervert like animal, Eyelashes." Faythe laughed, earning her some snickers from the males of the crew.
"Isn't there like a stable in this town!? Let's borrow some horses!" Luffy suggested.
"But the marines are swarming all over.." Vivi reasoned.
"Don't worry, we could just run them over with the horses!" Faythe pointed.
"Now I could party with that idea!" Zoro agreed with a exciting grin.
"Don't worry guys... Take a look in front of you!" Sanji nudged his head in front of them as they exited town.
"HEY GUYS!" A high pitched scream called out to the group which made Faythe perk up with a smile dawning her face.
"OVER HERE!" The crew saw Chopper and the pervert camel on top of this big ass crab that had a perverted look as well.
"A GIANT CRAB!"
"IGNORE THE GRAB! THERE'S CHOPPER!" Faythe looked liked she wanted to hug the adorable crewmate as he smiled at them happily.
"Chopper!" Nami gazed at the reindeer shocked.
"It's an 'Itinerant Crab'!" Vivi called out the animal's name.
"DAYUM! THAT LOOKS TASTY!" Luffy had his priorities straight.
"Get on!" Chopper motioned his hoof on top of the crab.
"WE CAN RIDE IT!? WOOHOO!" Luffy cheered excitedly.
"Looks like you brought back something amazing again!" Sanji laughed.
"It's face looks sort of sketchy though..." Nami hesitated, getting a good look at the crab.
"So does the camel, yet I don't see you complaining about him!" Faythe raised a eyebrow at her.
"He's one of Eyelashes' friends" Chopper said.
"That explains a lot." Zoro muttered beside Faythe.
"Amazing! Itinerant crabs are always hiding below the sand so most people have never even seen one before." Vivi told the group.
"Eyelashes was born in this town so he's got a lot of friends here! ...They're all perverted though." Chopper whispered the last part.
"That also explains a lot." Faythe muttered to Zoro.
The crew and Vivi all climbed their way on top of the perverted looking crab and got situated.
"We're good to go, Chopper!" Faythe called out.
"Alright then..." Chopper took hold of the makeshift reins which Faythe now noticed was strapped to the ends of the crab's top lip, "LET'S GO!"
"AND WE'RE OFF!"
Faythe looked back as she saw sand gather behind them when the crab started dashing away, "Oh... Shit..." She saw the sand form a golden hook and wrap around Vivi's waist. Faythe quickly caught Vivi's hands and tried to stay grounded on the crab.
"Ummm!! A-A LITTLE HELP!?" Faythe called out gathering the crew's attention. Faythe suddenly flared out her feathers trying to gain strength but she was overwhelmed as more sand gathered to add more strength on his end. She felt herself get yanked as she kept her hold on Vivi's hands, "G-GUYS!"
"VIVI! FAYTHE!"
"CHOPPER, STOP THE CRAB!"
"IT'S HIM!" Luffy shouted out furiously. He leaped off the the crab and propelled himself forward using one of Faythe's legs. he grabbed hold of Vivi and unhooked her. Faythe finally formed her wings and safely caught Vivi in her wings.
"YOU BASTARD!" Luffy wrapped his arm around the hook to keep his hold firm.
"LUFFY!"
"That idiot!" Zoro and Sanji were about to jump right after him.
"LUFFFYY!" Vivi called out in worry.
"GO ON AHEAD! I'LL BE FINE BY MYSELF!"
/;/~***~/;/
(Word Count: 2085)