-IN A STICKY SITUATION -
"Chopper, did you find out how to remove this mushroom?"
Zoro asked while pointing at the mushroom on his head. He was annoyed by it and no longer wanted the thing staying on his head.
"Oh, yeah. It will automatically come off after 24 hours."
Chopper informed him. Good thing was, that the people were not fazed by the fact that Zoro and Luffy had mushrooms popping out of their heads.
They continued with their work as if nothing was wrong. As Zoro was talking to Chopper about the mushroom, a guy suddenly bumped his shoulders with Zoro.
"Hey! Are you blind?!"
The guy asked angrily even though it was clearly his fault. It was a one of the guys who were dressed in blue-colored clothes. He placed a hand on Zoro's shoulder, pulling him rather harshly.
"Huh?!"
The swordsman said while turning to look at him with his infamous death glare. Chopper, Luffy, and Kei had now stopped walking. The glare Zoro gave made the guy flinch in fear and his grip on Zoro's shoulder loosened a bit. Kei was surprised that the guy got scared even though Zoro had a funky mushroom on his head.
"You were the one who bumped into me."
Zoro defended as he swatted the guy's hand away from his shoulder. Suddenly, the guy dropped to the floor.
"Ah! My hand! My hand!! It's broken!!"
The guy cried out as he clutched the hand that Zoro had swatted. Zoro looked at him in surprise because apparently, he hadn't hit him that hard. It was simply just a push, but still, the guy in front of him was now writhing in pain on the ground.
"How could you do this when I just mistakenly bumped into you!!" He blamed Zoro as he continued to cry in pain as if he was suffering.
*Gasp* Luffy and Kei gasped simultaneously.
"How could you?" Kei said from his right side as she shot him a disappointed look.
"I didn't expect this from you Zoro...." Luffy said from his left side shooting him the same look as Kei's.
"No, I-" Zoro looked at the two, left and right frantically as he tried to process what was going on.
"I didn't do anything, he fell on his own!!" He finally yelled furiously.
"Can you let me check it?" Chopper asked as he tried to approach him.
"Ahhh!! The raccoon dog talked!!" The guy looked at Chopper with a stunned expression.
"I'M NOT A RACCOON DOG!! I'M A REINDEER!!" Chopper yelled while shaking his hooves in anger.
"Hey."
The swordsman suddenly called out to Kei and Luffy with an alarming tone. His left hand went towards his hip and he firmly gripped the hilt of one of his swords. His face turned into a grim expression as his eyes checked his surroundings with a calculated gaze.
"Yeah." Luffy said understanding what Zoro was trying to say.
"Eh? What's happening?"
The blue-nosed reindeer asked while looking between the two in confusion as he couldn't understand what they were saying.
"Looks like he has got friends here."
Kei explained as her eyes wandered on her surroundings as well. Her expression now had changed into a serious one as well.
"Huh?"
Chopper said as he looked around and that's when he noticed that a few men were suddenly emerging out of the crowd of the local citizens and approaching them out of nowhere. If it wasn't for their similar blue-colored clothes, they wouldn't have noticed them because that's how goodly they had disguised themselves within the crowd.
"And they don't really look friendly."
Zoro said as he saw them surrounding him and his friends, smirks forming on their faces as if they are itching for a fight. The guy that had bumped with Zoro was now standing on his feet as well and a smirk had formed on his face. A scoff was left from Kei at the situation.
"Bumping your shoulders purposely with someone. Acting as if being hurt really bad while playing the victim. Your allies appearing out of nowhere to help you." Kei listed the suspicious things that just happened to them.
"You guys are really not trying hard enough to hide that this was your plan all along, are you?"
"I don't know what you are talking about." The guy replied but the smirk on his face was clearly told that he was lying.
"EEEH?! SO IT WAS THIER PLAN ALL ALONG?!"
Luffy and Chopper exclaimed with a stunned expressions while the other two tried hard not to face-palm at their obliviousness. But at the same time, they couldn't blame the two as they were not the brightest ones on the crew when it comes to things like these, despite one of them being the captain.
"Ten people?" Zoro questions as he counted the people surrounding them.
"What happened? Shocked?" The guy in front of them asked mockingly as he cracked the knuckles of his fingers.
"Yeah, I'm shocked, because......" The swordsman said as he slowly unsheathed one of his swords, a shadow was covering his eyes. Luffy cracked the knuckles of his fingers while taking a fighting stance. Chopper stepped back from them seeing the two getting ready for a fight.
He had his rumble ball ready in case he needed it. Zoro looked up to the guy in front of him, the serious expression he had a few minutes ago nowhere to be seen on his face. Instead, the corner of his lips slowly tugs up.
"You guys won't even kill my boredom."
The swordsman said with a smug tone and a smirk playing on his lips. And with that, the two charged at the enemies in front if them. While this happened, Chopper looked to his left to see Kei casually leaning against a nearby wall, not showing a sign to go and fight.
"You're not gonna join them?" The Reindeer asked as he tilted his head a bit in confusion.
"Nah~, not really."
"Why?"
Kei stayed quiet while her eyes narrowed as if serious. This made Chopper think the reason was something really serious, so he stayed silent, waiting for her answer. Seconds went by when she finally opened her mouth.
".........To much work."
Chopper fell to the ground dramatically at her response. "You are just being lazy?!!" He replied in shock.
"It called energy conservation Chopper. You will understand when you grow up." She said while nodding her head as if giving him a serious lesson.
"Oh.....I see."
Chopper said taking her words seriously. It's kind of had become Kei's policy where she doesn't work until it's really needed. You know what they say 'a lazy person will come up with the fastest way to complete a work'. Since there were just ten people, Kei really didn't see the need for her to fight.
And just as she thought, within a few seconds, all the men were now lying defeated on the ground. Though Kei's attention was distracted by the whispers of the people around them. They were gasping in shock as they looked at the commotion that just happened. Some even had terrified expressions.
"Looks like we attracted some unwanted attention."
Zoro said while sheathing back his sword. Suddenly, Kei felt a droplet of water fall on her face. She looks up at the sky in wonder and saw that grey clouds were now covering the sky. Slowly, the droplets increased and it was now raining heavily.
"Let's get out of here."
Kei said and they immediately started jogging off, they don't know where but somewhere away from the scene. While they were running, at some point, Zoro had started to run in a different direction but fortunately, Luffy stretched his hand and caught him before he ran too far.
When they were far enough, they ran towards a shop nearby. Instead of entering the shop, they just took shelter from the rain under the roof outside the shop. By the time they had reached there, they were already somewhat soaked.
"It rained, just as Nami had predicted."
Kei said while looking at the sky. The pitter-patter of the raindrops hitting the roof above her could be heard clearly. She could see some people running to protect themselves from rain as well.
"Ah! My hat got wet!!"
Luffy said in realization, now looking at the soaked hat in his hands. A pout formed on his lips as he patted his hat with a sad expression. Chopper shook his body in an attempt to dry out his wet fur.
"Why did they plan an attack on us?" He asked the swordsman standing beside him while Zoro just ran his fingers through his wet hair.
"Don't think too much about it. People like those normally work in a gang to trick people and rob them." Zoro explained.
"But they didn't really ask money from us." Kei pointed out.
"They would have if they were able to defeat us."
Zoro responded. All four of them decided to stay there until the rain comes to an end since they had no other source to protect themselves.
As minutes passed by with them waiting, the door to the shop behind them suddenly opened. Everyone turned their head to see a familiar orange-haired woman leaving the store.
"Nami?" Chopper called out. She was still holding the doorknob to the store when she turned to look at Chopper and Kei.
"Kei, Chopper?" Then her eyes looked behind the two to see Zoro and Luffy. And for some reason, she smiled.
"Oh, so Luffy and Zoro are with you as well."
A confused look formed on everyone's faces as she went inside the store again. When she came out, she had several shopping bags in her hand. Chopper's eyes popped out at the number of bags she was holding.
She walked passed Kei and Chopper, towards Luffy and Zoro, and handed them the bag while the duo just looked at the bags with a dumbfounded look.
"Hold them for me." Nami said to them with a smile on her face.
"Why the hell do I have to hold them?!" Zoro asked furiously.
"What are these? Is there something fun inside them?" Luffy said while looking inside them. "Ehh... They are just clothes......" A disappointed look formed on his face. Nami turned her back to them.
"Ah! my shoulders are stiff from holding them." She said while rolling her shoulders back in a circular motion.
"Hey! I'm not gonna hold these for you!!" Zoro complained in anger but Nami just ignored him. The wall of the shop was made of glass so Kei could see inside the store.
" Looks like you purchased a lot of stuff." Kei said.
"Yeah, I even got a good discount, thanks to my bargaining skills!!" The orange-haired woman said happily with a grin as her eyes sparkled.
"Yeah...........
I can see that......."
Kei sweat dropped while looking at the owner of the store balling his eyes out while holding bellies in his hand. The bellies didn't even look half of what that many clothes would cost because of which Kei couldn't help but pity the store owner. The rain was now somewhat coming to a stop.
"Oh! By the way." Nami said which caused Kei to turn her gaze back to Nami. "The log pose is gonna set in two days, so I guess we are gonna stay on this island for two nights."
"Hmm." Kei hummed in understanding. Her gaze moved towards the streets and that was when she noticed that almost every house had pots, tubs, or large utensils placed outside their houses in order to collect the rainwater.
The last time she saw people do that was in one of the towns in Alabasta because it rarely rained over there. Though this town seemed to have frequent rainfall.
Kei didn't think much of it and looked away from the houses to realize that the rain had finally stopped. Suddenly, something far back on the streets caught her eyes.
A few men were walking in a group on the street. They were wearing similar clothes that looked like uniforms. Kei figured out that they were not marines because the uniform they were wearing was green. So they probably lived in this town too, but they had weapons in their hand.
Her eyes lazily followed them as they jogged on the streets heading somewhere, while the citizens made way for them.
Wait..............
Kei narrowed her eyes at them with eyebrows furrowed in thought.
"Hey...."
She called out to others. Chopper and Luffy looked toward her. Zoro and Nami, who were arguing as to why the swordsman had to carry her bags, now turned their head toward Kei as well. They then looked towards where Kei was looking and saw the men walking on the streets.
"Are they heading towards us?" She asked while her gaze was still set on the men coming closer and closer towards them.
"Are they allied with the one that attacked us a few minutes ago? Maybe they came for revenge?" Zoro guessed.
"Attack? What are you guys talking about?" Nami asked in confusion.
"Whaaaaaat~? Those guys are coming again?" Luffy said with an 'I'm-already-sick-of-this' face. "Man, they are stubborn!" Kei was right, because as soon as they reached them, they were surrounded by the group from all sides.
"Don't move!!" One of them demanded. All of them were now holding their weapons pointed towards the Strawhats as if to restrict them from any movements.
"It's hardly been two hours since we reached the island and we have already been attacked at least two times." Kei commented.
"Like I asked, what do you mean by that?! What did you guys do?!" Nami asked as she still had no idea what was happening.
"You all." A man who was standing between them said. He had worn glasses and had short blonde hair, he looked like he was in his late 40s. It looks like he was the one who was leading them. "You guys are pirates, aren't you?" He asked with a stern expression.
Nami furrowed her eyebrows in thoughts. She thought it would be better to hide. If she says that they are pirates, the man would become alert and get the wrong idea. But they were not here to cause problems. She was going to say something but Luffy beat her to it.
"Yeah, we are pirates."
He said nonchalantly. This caused Nami to shoot him a glare, but then a sigh left her because this was not something new that Luffy did. Either their captain was too honest or too stupid .........or maybe both.
"But how did you know?" He asked.
"Our guards had already seen the pirate ship anchored near the shore and the scene you all created in the market a few minutes ago was enough for us to know."
The blonde informed them while adjusting his glasses, the serious expression never leaving his face.
"What are you talking about?" Nami asked.
"Don't play dumb!! You all are the ones who beat up the citizens of Aoi village in the market!!" He said, his voice rising a little this time. Soon, Nami realized what was happening and she snapped her head in anger toward Luffy, Zoro, and Kei. She could guess that Luffy and Zoro again had gotten into trouble and beaten someone up.
"Scary!!"Chopper flinched back in fear at the scary face while Luffy and Kei pointed their fingers towards Zoro.
"It was Zoro's fault." They said in unison.
"Hey! Weren't you saying a few minutes ago that they had planned all this?!" Zoro yelled at Kei.
"We would have to ask you guys to leave this island right now." the guy in glasses informed.
"What?!" The Strawhats exclaimed in shock.
"Oi! It was their fault!!" Luffy said while taking a step but was stopped by a guy pointing his gun at him.
"Don't move!!" He yelled. This angered Luffy and he was gonna punch him but he was stopped by Nami.
"Luffy! Don't attack them!" Nami yelled as if warning him.
"What?! But why?!!"
Luffy asked while turning to look at their Navigator but soon realized that she was looking at him with a dark venomous glare.
"Don't you dare let anything happen to my expensive clothes." Nami said referring to the bags that Luffy was still holding.
"O-Okay......" Luffy said while stepping back in fear. "She's thinking about clothes at such a time?!" Chopper said in shock.
"Didn't she say she bargained them for a cheap price......?" Kei sweat-dropped. But it was also because, Nami knew picking a fight right now wouldn't be a good idea.
"Tch, these things are coming in my way." Zoro said referring to the bags as well. "Here, take them back". He said while handing the bags back to Nami.
"Hey!" The orange-haired woman said in protest while stepping toward Zoro but one of the guards pointed his spear towards her.
"Didn't we say not to move!!" He yelled. But before Nami or anyone else could say more, they suddenly heard a rumbling.
"Huh? What's that sound?" Chopper asked as his ears twitched. A few seconds went by in confusion as everyone tried to figure out where the rumbling of the ground was coming from. They soon realized that it was coming from behind them and they turned their head in that direction in unison. Kei narrowed her eyes as she tried to figure out what it was and the others just looked in the direction with a confused look.
They saw something approaching them at great speed. But couldn't see what it was because the way it was coming towards them, it was leaving dust behind itself.
"Hey, something is approaching us at great speed." Luffy said the obvious.
"We can see that Luffy." Kei deadpanned. As the thing got closer and closer, the Strawhats soon realized what it was.
"That's................... SANJI!?!" Chopper said in a stunned voice as he saw the blonde Cook of their crew sprinting towards them.
"WOAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Sanji yelled, he looked furious, his teeth had turned pointy and a few strands of his hair were floating as he literally dashed towards where the other straw hats were.
"HOW DARE YOU-" he said as he jumped in the air. He brought both his legs together and landed the back of his foot directly on the face of the guard near Nami.
"POINT A WEAPON TOWARDS NAMI-SWAN?!!"
The guard flew back harshly as others looked at him with their jaw dropped to the floor in shock, except for Luffy. He just laughed at the scene.
"WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM?!" Zoro exclaimed. Sanji landed smoothly in front of Nami.
"Nami-san~, your knight in shining armor has come to your rescue." He said while bending on one knee and looking up at her with sparkles around him.
"Hey......."
The Strawhats heard another voice and turned their head again to see Usopp jogging towards them from the same direction from where Sanji came. He was panting really hard as if he had just run a marathon while Robin was walking calmly walking behind him.
"I.....finally......caught up....." Usopp wheezed as he stopped with his hands on his knees.
"Where did you guys even appear from?" Kei asked with her mouth slightly agape.
"We were just there at the end of the street when Mr.Cook suddenly started running in this direction." Robin explained while pointing behind her. Chopper looked in shock when he saw how far they actually were.
"How the hell.....did you know.....that Nami was here......?" Usopp asked while still trying to catch his breath. Sanji just removed a pack of cigarettes from his suit and placed one near his mouth.
"I used my love-love senses to know that Nami-san and Kei-chan were in danger." He said while exhaling a puff of smoke from his cigarette.
"Love-love senses....?" Chopper asked in confusion.
"You sure it wasn't your perv-perv senses instead, curly brows?" Zoro commented with a scoff.
"What did you say, you-?!" Sanji snapped his head towards Zoro but before he could say more Nami interrupted.
"Sanji-Kun!" Sanji turned to look at her when he was suddenly handed something. He looked down to see shopping bags in his hands. "Hold them for me please ~," Nami said as she flashed him a smile.
"Haaaiiiiii~!" Sanji said as one of his eyes turned into a heart while the other stayed covered by his hair.
"Hahaha, Sanji! Usopp! You both have mushrooms growing out of your heads!!" Luffy laughed while pointing at the mushrooms on their head.
"LOOK AT YOUR OWN HEAD FIRST, DUMBASS!!" Usopp and Sanji snapped angrily.
"I'm warning you this last time, leave this island, or else I'm gonna have to call the marines." The glasses guy threatened drawing everyone's attention back.
"Huh, who are these guys?" Sanji asked.
"Shouldn't you normally have called the marines by now?" Zoro asked while crossing his arms around his chest.
"You moron! Don't provoke them!" Nami said while hitting him on the head. "It better for us if they haven't reported the marines yet."
"Hey, what's going on?" Usopp asked while appearing behind Kei.
"Well, long story short, we are being kicked out of the island." Kei explained.
"That's explains nothing........" Usopp sweatdropped. One thing Usopp had understood about her was that she didn't really like explaining things. Like whenever she's asked about what happened, her answer most of the time would be 'it's a long story' or something along that line. He instead asked Chopper and Chopper explained to him everything that happened.
Nami stepped forward-facing the guy with glasses who looked like their leader. "The log pose will only set after two days. So until then we can't this island."
"And we can't let pirates like you cause more trouble in this village. If you won't leave this village right now, we might have to take drastic measures." As the glasses guy said so, the guards took a step forward as if warning the Strawhats. Now the Strawhats had two options, either leave the island as demanded or fight the guards. Since they couldn't leave because of the log pose, the second one was the only thing they could do.
But before anyone could take a step, a voice interrupted them.
"WAIT PLEASE!!!"
Everyone turned their head in the direction from where the voice came and saw a woman panting with hands on her knees as if she had run here. The woman had brown hair with golden highlights that reached to her lower back while she had worn a pale green yukata. When she looked up at the Strawhats a sigh of relief left her lips.
"Thank goodness! I reached in time!"
The Strawhats just looked at her in confusion but the guards and the guy in glasses had their eyes widened in surprise at her arrival.
"Aiko-sama! What are you doing here?" The glasses guy asked while approaching her. " Didn't one of the guards inform you that there was no need for you to come here? I can handle these pirates on my own."
The woman called Aiko looked at the glasses guy and a smile formed on her face. "Oh, Kado-san. About that, I have something very important that I want to discuss with you! " She said with enthusiasm and motioned the glasses guy called Kado to bend down to her height, since he was taller than her. As Kado did as she said, Aiko started whispering in his ears. While all this was happening, the Strawhats were looking at them with a confused gaze.
"Who's that?" Luffy questioned.
"I'm as clueless as you are right now but she looks like someone important." Kei answered.
"And what a gorgeous lady she is~!!" Sanji said with heart eyes, instantly swooning over her.
"That's Aiko Kawakami." Robin said joining the conversation.
"Huh? Robin, you know her?" Nami questioned.
"While I was in the village, I even did some research on this island."
Hmmm, that's Robin for you. She already has the information one needs. Kei thought.
"So, who's this Aiko Kawakami?" Zoro inquired.
" The head of this village." The archaeologist answered.
"Head?!!" Usopp said in surprise. He then looked at the woman talking to Kado in surprise.
"But doesn't she look young for that role? She looks 20 years old."
"She's 21." Robin informed.
"Did you forget that we are 17 and pirates Ussop?" Kei asked. At this point, there was nothing really surprising to Kei.
"Wait, Kei!" Nami interjected.N"You're 17?!" She asked in surprise.
"Yeah. Why?" Kei asked in confusion.
"That means you are younger than me? I thought you were something between 18 or 19." Nami said since Kei was actually the same height as Nami.
"Hmm, that means you are gonna look 40 at the age of 30." Came Zoro's comment.
"That's not how it works. And why did the difference of 1 to 2 years drastically change to 10?!" Kei said furiously.
"But I don't understand why the head of the town suddenly appeared out of nowhere?" Sanji pondered.
"What if they are here to arrest us?!!" Usopp said with trembling legs. This caused Chopper's face to go pale as well.
"Hey, Luffy! Let's immediately leave this island!!"
"No way! I still have yet to explore the island!" Luffy protested.
"Do you understand the damn situation?!! Who knows what will happen if we happen to stay longer?!!" Usopp yelled while shaking Luffy by the collor back and forth.
"But Nami said we can't leave the island yet....." Chopper reminded.
"No!!"
A sudden voice came which caused the Strawhats to look back at Aiko and Kado. It was Kado and looks like he rejected something that Aiko had suggested.
"This is too risky, I can't let you do such a thing!!" he said sternly with arms crossed across chest.
This caused Aiko to puff her cheeks in anger. She again whispered something to him and this time Kado hesitated to say anything. After what looked like a long conversation, Kado suddenly agreed to something.
Which caused a bright smile to form on Aiko's face. She then turn towards the Strawhats and walked towards them. With a smile that looked genuine but still suspicious, she said-
"I would like to welcome you guys to my house."
TO BE CONTINUED