"I'll come up there and get you," Zoro says with a heavy sigh, looking up at the girl who smiled sheepishly down at the group.
"I really would appreciate it," The female sniper says while strapping her gun onto her back, her smile faltering for a moment as she seemed to go deep into thought. Her eyes unfocused and staring at where Zoro had spoken from, a frown appearing while the swordsman climbed up the rocks rather easily.
"Climb on," Zoro says turning his back towards the girl, effectively snapping her out of her daze as she muttered an apology and carefully climbed onto his back. Both arms wrapped over his shoulders, thighs clasping on either side of his waist with ankles crossed in front of him he then walked to the edge of the rock and began to climb down.
Ryoko was quiet as she focused on not losing her grip, keeping her senses in the present, despite how terrible the heat was. Once they were back on the sandy ground Ryoko climbed off of Zoro's back and moved to sit on one of the stones in the shade. "Thank you, Zoro."
"No problem, next time though if you can't get back down by yourself, don't climb up." The green-haired man says as he sat on the ground at the base of the rocks they had climbed down from.
She simply nodded in response, not really feeling up to saying much of anything to that. Her eyes locked onto her leg and a scowl began to form on her face. Her attention shifted as she felt heat on her back, causing her to glance over her shoulder seeing the back of Ace's hat-covered head.
Ace looked over his shoulder and made eye contact with Ryoko, conveying a slightly apologetic smile, which she simply responded to with a nod of acceptance before she turned away. She moved her gun around her body to be resting on her chest as she leaned back silently. The duo sat back to back on the rock, leaning against each other while they all began to wait for the return of Luffy.
"Come on Luffy, hurry it up," Usopp says a bit whiny from waiting while fanning himself with his hand due to the heat.
Chopper spoke up from on the ground, somehow managing to sweat through his fur, "Um, you don't suppose he could be lost do you?"
"He has absolutely no sense of direction, but he's always running off," Nami complained looking in the direction the captain had gone.
"Hey, he... I was going to say he has a better sense of direction than Zoro and I, but I really can't be too certain of that." Ryoko says with a chuckle.
"Speak for yourself." Zoro scoffed a bit offended but he knew it was true.
"Hey, you and I both get lost frequently, at least I have my own log pose in case I get separated from you all. I just get on a ship and head in that direction, we'd meet up again eventually." Ryoko says with a laugh, her face breaking out in a bright grin, "Worst that could happen is I would meet you guys way down the line, I'm sure I could find you before the red line at least. Especially on this current path, we are all taking."
"What does that even-" Zoro starts but stops when others began to speak again
"There are still so many desert dangers I have yet to warn him about," Vivi says starting to get worried.
"Not to mention, the moron was hungry so you know he isn't thinking straight." Sanji weighed in which caused Zoro to stand up.
"That guy is so hopeless." He says with a sigh
"You can say that again," Sanji says as he stands up from his rock.
As the duo began to walk in the direction Luffy had headed Ace spoke up, "I'm sorry," This had the duo stop and turn for a moment to look at Ace, "I know my brother can be a flake. I apologize."
This got the duo to grin before they began to walk again. "Good luck finding him you two," Usopp says airily, clearly feeling the heat.
Just then the ground began to shake as pillars of sand got launched into the sky over the dunes in the loose direction of where Luffy had run off to. "I think they found him," Ryoko says calmly while glancing over her shoulder to look towards the sand.
Usopp pulled his goggles down and clicked in to get a better look, "It's Luffy!" he exclaims with wide eyes.
"Oh no. It can't be." Vivi says in disbelief.
"Why is he on a camel?" Nami questioned as the camel and captain came into sight.
"Someone wanna tell me what the hell's chasing him?" Sanji asked gripping his cigarette.
Ryoko knocked the stand to her gun into place as she loaded a bullet and aimed toward the captain and the camel, waiting to see what it was.
"I can't really tell, but it looks like there is something burrowing in the sand after him." Zoro comments, ready to grasp his swords. The thing that was following leaped out of the sand and continued to gain ground. "What the hell is that?"
"It's a Sandora Dragon!" Vivi exclaimed in a panic, "They are the biggest reptile that lives in the desert. They wait under the sand for their prey and ambush them. They have razor-sharp fangs and claws, but they rarely use them. Because they are so incredibly huge, they swallow their prey whole!"
"I gotta admit, that boy has a talent for attracting trouble." Ace comments, grinning towards where his brother was coming from. He didn't seem worried, which seemed to cause Ryoko to calm down a bit as well as she looked through her sight.
"Right, and all of us have the scars to prove it," Sanji says clearly a little exasperated.
"What sort of crap star was he born under to attract trouble like that," Zoro says as he and Sanji took off running towards the camel and Luffy. Zoro takes out his three swords while running, "Is it too much for you Luffy?" he calls.
Ryoko's eyes narrowed as she shifts the position of her gun, aiming higher than she originally intended, and instead aimed at the creature's left eye. "If you're lucky this'll take you down... Those three are terrifying." She mutters before squeezing the trigger. Her whole body jerked as the recoil from her rifle hit her causing her to topple off the rock a bit and land lying on her back, however, she watched as the bullet hit the creature's left eye causing it to screech and lunge toward Luffy. She grimaced as the trio each hit different angles of the poor creature, Sanji kicking it over the head, Luffy hitting the dragon across the face and Zoro taking down the legs.
"You guys didn't have to go that far," Usopp says feeling bad for the creature, tears on his face.
"Every time those three fight, I feel bad for the monster," Nami says looking towards the destruction.
Ryoko laid back on the sand before her eyes widened in fear as the sand near her began to move, "I think I forgot to mention that Sandora Dragons always hunt in pairs!" Vivi exclaimed. "Ace! Ryoko! Look out!"
"Man, there are a lot of pests in this desert," Ace says as he stood up, grinning at the large creature, "You wanna play?" It seemed to roar in some sort of response, "Alright if that's what you want." He says before leaping toward the creature while holding his hat. The lizard quickly bites around the man, eyes looking to Ryoko who had gotten back onto her feet while backing up quickly. This only lasted a moment before flames exploded from the creature's insides. Ace immerged from the monster's mouth as it collapsed, landing gracefully next to Ryoko who was just staring at the creature grasping at her own neck with wide eyes.
~~~
Gasping for air a child with bright red hair breached the water's surface, roaring flames burning through the bodies that lay in the boat. The stench of burning bodies accompanied by the burning sensation around her neck made her feel as though she were truly suffocating. She began to swim back, panicking slightly as she tried desperately to get away from the burning ship. Her eyes flicked towards the island nearby, to the torches being carried by two individuals that had put all of them there. She turned, coughing into the water before taking small breaths while swimming away from the island and away from the scene.
Why
~~~
Ace had seen Ryoko grab onto her throat and stared at the creature, so he had made sure to turn her around to look at him, rather than look at the monster or the others in her crew. However, she didn't respond right away so he carefully put one hand on her shoulder, concerned at the lack of any emotion paired with the close-to-choking wheezes that were leaving her.
Ryoko's gaze snapped towards the individual who grabbed onto her shoulder, her silver-blue eyes locking onto the black eyes of the Fire Fist. A gasp of air entered her lungs as she covered her mouth and coughed a few times. Her hands touching her cheeks felt wet, and she noticed that tears had begun to fall, which she hastily tried to wipe away.
"You alright?" Ace asked calmly, trying to help her calm down, having noticed that she had relaxed slightly when he had spoken while she had been pointing her gun at the first dragon.
"Y-Yeah... I'm alright now... Sorry..." Ryoko says as she shook her head while looking down at the sandy ground.
"Let's go sit down," Ace says leading the girl to sit down on a shaded rock once again.
"So now that we have a moment," Zoro says looking at the camel while Sanji went about cooking giant cubes of meat, "What's the deal with the camel?"
"I dunno, it was getting eaten by the mystery plant thing while I was chasing those birds," Luffy says with his mouth full of food as per usual.
"It's obviously not a wild camel," Nami observed while looking the camel over.
"No, not with a saddle and bridle," Vivi added, looking it over as well.
Chopper walked up to the camel and the duo immediately seemed to recognize each other. The reindeer doctor explained how the camel had been the one to save him from an outpost. However, when the group arrived at the fact that the camel could carry two passengers Luffy tried to climb on only for the camel to bite his head. The camel then began to make noises to communicate, causing Chopper to have to translate.
"I am a freedom-loving, hard-boiled, yet compassionate son of the desert. I am very thankful for you helping me out of that jam back there, so I'd be glad to give some of you a ride. But I'm afraid I don't accept male passengers." Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp all immediately began to bully the camel, annoyed at the response. When they took a short break, "I'm too macho," the bullying began again and eventually stopped.
Nami walked over to the camel and stoked under its chin, "I'm so sorry my crew mates are a bunch of ill-bred louts. Now, what shall we call you, you great big precious camel you?" The camel crouched down allowing her to climb on.
"Idiot."
"Moron."
"Doofus."
"Eyelash it is then," Nami says before having the camel walk toward where Vivi, Ryoko, and Ace were.
"Uh, how'd you arrive at that?"
"Okay, climb on Vivi," Nami says as Vivi looked at Ryoko.
"I can walk, Ryoko should ride." the princess says looking at the girl's leg worriedly.
"Not happening princess, I'll be walking with the guys, I don't like the idea of sitting on something that is walking for me... plus I half worry if I don't keep moving my leg is gonna get stuck in that position," Ryoko says waving her off
"Are you sure?" Vivi inquired, clearly still concerned.
"Believe it or not I've walked around with worse injuries, perhaps not on my leg. I'll keep up with the guys. At worst I know Sanji would carry me if I get too far behind." Ryoko says with a nod.
"Alright then..." She says before sitting side saddle on the back of the camel. The camel stood back up and Nami flicked the reigns and the camel began a fast pace.
"Hurry you guys, if you don't keep up, you'll never get out of the desert." Nami called back to the group who collectively grabbed what little stuff they still had.
"Well, thanks alot!" Usopp exclaimed angrily.
"I like this side of Nami too!" Sanji says happily.
"What else is new." Zoro grumbled
"After them! Hurry!" Ace exclaimed
"Chopper hop on!" Zoro says
"Right!" Chopper exclaimed
"This is no surprise." Ryoko sighed
"Wait for us!" The group exclaimed quickly beginning to run after the camel.