-HELPING THE COOK-
The crew had already reached the shore of the island and laid the anchor of the ship down. Nami turned to everyone with her hands placed firmly on her waist.
"Okay everyone, because now that we are on an unknown island, we don't know what we will come across. So it's better if we split into groups of two. In one group will be me and Sanji and in the other group will be Luffy, Zoro, and Vivi with Carue. We will be heading separately into the jungle. It's better if we hunt some wild animals if we came across them, as the food supply on the ship is gonna get over soon. Usopp, you are gonna keep a watch on the ship"
Usopp puffed his chest in confidence as he rested one leg on the railings of the ship. While pointing his thumb at his chest, a smug look formed on his face.
"Don't worry everyone, this Great Captain Usopp will not let anyone get near the ship!"
But it was clear to everyone that he is just too scared to enter the island and that's why wanted to stay on the ship.
"Hey! Why do we have to take orders from you?!"
Zoro gritted his teeth in annoyance at her. Nami just looked at her with a deadpan looked and pointed a finger in a certain direction .
"Because of that."
Everyone turned their heads in unison to realize their idiot of a captain had already sprinting towards the forest. His hands were thrown up in air as he yelled,
"WHERE ARE YOU?! MONSTERS! GHOSTS! I'LL FIGHT YOU!!"
Others just sweat-dropped at the scene simultaneously.
"Wait for us, you idiot!!" Zoro jogged in the same direction as Luffy and Vivi followed him with Carue.
" Nami-Swan !! I'm so glad that you choose to team with me~ !!" Sanji cooed while twirling around her.
"Yeah, Yeah. I know."
The two started to head in another direction. Nami was planning on making a map of these islands so she carried her tools with her too. Or more like Sanji carried them since he had offered to do so. And thus both the group started heading towards the forest separately.
___________________
AFTER A WHILE
Luffy, Zoro, and Vivi have been walking through the forest exploring and hunting any animal they came across. In their adventure, they didn't particularly come across anything expect for wild animals and creature. Luffy and Zoro were dragging the creatures behind them as headed they back for the ship. An excited grin, that reached from one ear to another had formed on Luffy's face.
" Yay! With so much meat, we can have a huge feast tonight !!"
The same excitement was radiating through Zoro's face as well. " Yeah and then I can even have booze tonight."
Zoro was walking in the front with Vivi behind him riding on Carue's back and Luffy was behind Vivi. As they were walking, something suddenly caught Luffy's eyes, so he stopped and looked to his left. Far behind the bushes, Luffy could see a man and it looked like he was playing with a child.
But something was wrong.
Even though they were far behind, the figure of the man and the child looked a little odd. It looked as if Luffy could see through them. The raven-haired boy lifted his hands in the air and started waving enthusiastically at them.
" Oiii!! Do you live here ?!"
Hearing this, Zoro stopped in his track and turned behind in confusion, "Luffy, Who are you talking to?"
Luffy looked at Zoro while pointing his finger in the direction he was looking at a second ago. "Look! there is someone over there!"
Zoro and Vivi turned their head in the same direction but thriller eyebrows soon furrowed in confusion.
"But there's no one over there."
Vivi explained which caused Luffy to snap his head back and it was true. There was no one there now. Both, the man and the boy had vanished in thin air. Luffy's eyes popped out in shock at this.
"What?!! But someone was there just a second ago!!"
A concerned look formed on Vivi's face at this."But that's not possible Luffy-san, this island is supposed to be isolated. "
Zoro marked an eyebrow at this, "Are you sure you just didn't mistake a tree for a man ?"
" But I'm sure there was someone over there!!" Luffy tried to explain but Zoro continued walking while shrugging his shoulders.
"Maybe you should get your eyes checked."
" Maybe it was just an illusion Luffy-san," Vivi said to Luffy and then continued walking behind Zoro. Luffy was shocked and couldn't believe what just happened but he too continued walking. The boy was too sure that what he had seen was true.
______________________
It's been an hour since Nami and Sanji started walking. Nami has been marking all the directions the duo went through to make a proper map of the island. They came across many wild creatures but Sanji took care of them easily. Behind him, he was dragging one of the creatures to cook for everyone tonight.
As they were going, they suddenly found themselves in front of a cave. The duo looked at each other for a moment and then decided to go in and check what was there inside. They walked inside the cave in silence but on high alert.
After a few seconds, they were in front of a very huge gate that reached the high ceiling of the cave. The gate was made out of stone and it had intricate designs on it, which looked very beautiful and ancient. Sanji looked at the gate in confusion but at the same time in admiration at how it looked.
" What is such a huge gate doing here inside a cave? "
Nami went near the gate and touched it. She could feel the designs on her fingers. She pushed the door slowly and it opened easily. A surprised look formed on her face at this.
"Ohh, it's open now."
"Should we check what's inside ?" Sanji asked while turning to look at her and realized that she was looking at the gate with narrowed eyes as if serious.
"Yeah, I wanna know what's inside."
Though her eyes soon turned to berries sign and a sly smile formed on her face.
" Maybe there is TREASURE inside there!"
The cook's eyes instantly turned into hearts as a dreamy look formed on his face. " Nami-san, being passionate about money looks so beautiful! "
Nami entered the gate and Sanji followed behind her. The duo was now in a passage with stone walls and it was a long one as they couldn't see the end. She reached for her backpack, the one that consisted of her belonging which she needed to make a map, and removed a torch from it.
She never thought it would come to use but now that she thinks about it, it's a good thing she kept it. Flicking it on, they started walking deeper inside. The sound of their footsteps echoing and resounding in the passage was the only thing they could hear. As they went deeper, their hearts raced in anticipation.
This gate inside the cave was a mystery because the island was isolated. But this place was definitely man-made, so either there used to be people who live here or someone from the outside this island made this place. Nami was literally imagining a room filled with loads of good and berries at the end of this passage.
As they were walking, she suddenly felt something hit her leg and she looked down to see what it was. When she turned her torch towards her feet, her eyes widened in horror and face went pale.
"Eeek !!"
She yelped, suddenly surprised to see a man lying near her foot. He had his back facing upwards, so she couldn't see his face. Sanji, who was walking behind her, looked over her shoulder to see what made her so surprised, just to be surprised as well.
"It's a man and he looks injured."
He went in front of the orange-haired woman and bent down beside the man. When he flipped the man over, they could see his face. The man had shoulder-length red hair which was tied into a low ponytail and had tan skin. His clothes looked very dirty as they had dust in different places. His hands twitched a bit and his mouth suddenly started moving as if saying something.
" It looks like he is still conscious," Sanji bent down to hear what the man was saying. The man struggled to voice out what he wanted.
".....hun... hungry....."
"What is it, Sanji-Kun?" Nami asked in curiosity as she didn't hear it.
Sanji backed his head a bit, "He says he's hungry.
Nami looked at Sanji for a minute and then back at the man. The cook had his eyebrows knitted together as if he was thinking something deeply. A sigh left from but her lips soon tugged up into a soft smile.
"It's fine."
The sudden statement made Sanji look up at her in confusion. Not really understanding what she was saying.
"Huh?"
The Navigator just shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly at him. "It's fine. You wanna feed him, right? We can check out the place later with everyone."
At this, Sanji looked a little shocked but then the corner of his life soon tugged up and he gave her a sweet closed eye smiled.
Not a smile that he usually made while being flirty but a normal sweet one. She knew him too well and knew that if someone was hungry, he would offer them food, no matter who the person is. Enemy or a stranger.
"Thank you, Nami-san".
He lifted the said man and placed him on his back. They left the place and then soon reached outside the cave.
" We can't take him to Going Merry as that will take too long " he looked around himself in search for a suitable place.
"Maybe we should search for a place nearby..." Nami suggested while looking around as well and that's when something caught her eye.
" Look!"
She pointed her finger towards their left and his eyes followed in the said direction. " It looks like there's a village over there, maybe we could ask one of the villagers to lend us their kitchen?" There was hope in her voice when she saw the tops of some small houses from where she was.
"Yeah, it looks like we could do that."
Sanji said while looking in the said direction. The village wasn't that far, they could see the houses from where they were. Deciding to go there, they started heading towards the village.
When the duo reached the village, they soon realized that there was no one there.
"There's no one here....." Nami was walking on the deserted path between the houses.
" We should've guessed it. After all, Vivi-chan did say that the whole island is isolated and only pirates and travelers come here."
Sanji roamed his eyes everywhere while checking the houses. But then suddenly, they saw someone come out of one of the houses. It was a woman with shoulder-length black hair and red eyes.
~
Kei had already woken up and eaten her breakfast. She took her bag that was lying on the ground and placed it behind her back. A yawn left her and she started at the wall in front of her with sleepy eyes.
I wanna sleep some more.........
But I don't wanna stay on this island anymore......
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I hate making decisions.....
Her mind soon drifted off to the bed in her bedroom, in her own world and her own house.
What a pain in the ass........
The thought that she still has to figure out how to travel to the next island suddenly came in her mind. She could use her devil fruit but that would mean using stamina. It could also lead to death if the whether suddenly changed. This caused another sigh to leave her lips.
Thinking that she will probably figure it out later, she headed towards the door. As she stepped out of the house and looked in front of her, she had to blink a few times to make sure she was seeing right. In front of her were Sanji and Nami looking at her with equal confusion.
That's.....
Nami....and...Sanji.....
They were a few meters away in front of her just staring at each other.
But what are they doing here?
"Hellooo young lady~!! It's such an honor to meet a woman as beautiful as you in the middle of such a forest !! Can I have your name ?!"
Sanji swooned, now holding Kei's left hand and with heart in his eyes.
Wow....., just... when did he reach here?
"Uh....thanks, I guess and my name is Kei." She said in an awkward tone, not used to such treatment.
"AHH!! KEI, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL NAME FOR A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN~!!" he cooed while wiggling side by side.
" Seeing the village so empty, I didn't expect to see someone here. " She heard Nami say while walking towards them. "Do you live here ?"
"Uhh, no, I'm a traveler and I actually came to this island just yesterday," Kei informed while removing her hand from Sanji's hold to his disappointment.
"Ohh...." Nami realized while looking a little disappointed.
"What's the matter ?" Kei asked in curiosity as she arched an eyebrow. Nami seemed to think if it would be right to explain the situation. Lifting her hand, she pointed toward the man on Sanji's back.
"You see, we found this guy inside a cave and he looked injured and hungry. So Sanji-Kun wanted to feed him. We came here thinking that we could ask the villagers here to borrow their kitchen as we need cooking utensils and a place to cook food but it looks like there's no one here... "
It was then that Kei realized that Sanji was holding someone behind his back. "Ohh, if it's cooking utensils you need, there are some inside the house." She pointed her thumb towards the house behind her.
"Really?! Well, then that's good !!" Sanji said happily and then stepped inside the house with Nami and Kei.
The blonde cook laid the man on the ground and headed towards where the utensils were. He started preparing a place to start the fire to cook. Kei looked at the man on the ground, her brain not recognizing him.
"Do you know him ?"
"No, we just found him like this inside a cave. And by the way, my name is Nami." Nami said while giving her a small smile to which Kei nodded.
She turned her gaze in the direction where Sanji was and that's when she saw that he was looking at the big pan, which was placed in front of him with a frown on his face while rubbing his chin in thoughts. It made her curious and she slowly approached him.
"What's wrong?"
The sudden voice startled him a bit as he was immersed in his thoughts but then he looked at the woman and smiled.
"Oh, nothing you need to worry about!" Sanji tried to reassure while waving a dismissive hand.
"It doesn't really look like that."
His eyes flickered from the pan and back to Kei, "It's just that....." Sanji seemed to think whether it would be right to say her his problem but when he saw Kei still waiting for him to say something, he couldn't really stay quiet.
"......I don't have some basic ingredients here. When I was coming here, I thought that I could borrow those things from the villagers.
It's a good thing that I have the meat I hunted while coming here but I can't cook without a few basic ingredients. We do have it on our ship but it's a one-hour walk from here ...."
Kei looked at him for a minute, he really had trouble look on his face. "I can get it for you. " she nonchalantly shrugged. At this, he looked at her with a surprised expression.
"But it will take almost two hours to go there and come back!" He said in an attempt to deny her.
"I can bring it to you faster than that
" Kei informed flatly. Sanji looked at her for a moment, and then silently removed a cigarette from his trousers. Lighting it up, he brought it towards his lips.
"I'm sorry but I can't let a lady like you go alone in such a dangerous forest." In his dictionary, troubling a woman for his work was an immediate no.
"Don't worry about that, I had to go through that said forest to come here you know. I can handle myself, so just give me a list of the things you want." Kei said while waving her hand in the air.
He looked a little hesitant at first but then agreed. He told her that if she goes towards the East from here, she will find a ship near the shore and told her the things he wanted. Kei stepped out of the house and started leaving the village. When she was a little far from the village and in the forest again, she looked up at the sky.
I can reach there faster by riding on the leaves over there.
She then looked around her surroundings. Approaching one of the trees, she touched its bark. Though she can make roots and vines appear out of the ground, she can't manipulate a tree in front of her unless she touches it.
The top of the tree started to rustle as its leaves slowly started to gather in front of her. Slowly getting on top of it, she manipulated them to fly high into the sky until she was able to see the island under her.
She looked in the direction of East, where Sanji told her and was able to see a ship near the shore. It was hard to see since the island was big and compared to it, the ship looked tiny from above. She started heading towards it at full speed.
She landed a few distances away from the ship as the ride made of leaves scattered everywhere and then started walking towards it.
TO BE CONTINUED.