After Little Garden was well out of the crew's sights, Luffy, Rose, Usopp, and Carue were busy playing around on the deck. The only thing that could stop them was Sanji walking out of the kitchen with a large smile after he finished cooking. "Rose-chwan, lunch is ready!"
He loses his smile as he scowls at the boys. "Come and get your food too, shitheads."
Luffy didn't need to be told twice as he dashes into the kitchen and leaves the others in the dust. The others follow him inside to see Sanji placing the most delicious food Rose has ever seen on the table, that the rest of the crew is seated in. Rose couldn't take her purple eyes off the meal as she takes a seat in between Vivi and Nami.
Nami sees Rose staring at the plate in front of her, then smiles, and pats her on the back. "You can relax; it's not going to go any-!"
The navigator cuts herself off when she sees Luffy stretching his hand from across the table to swipe some of Rose's food, but before she can say anything, Rose grabs her fork and stabs his hand!
"Ow!" Luffy pulls his hand back from the plate causing the group to look at Rose in shock.
The wind girl completely ignores everyone's stares as points her fork at the captain with a smirk decorating her face. "Sorry Luffy, but I've lived with two professional food pickers for seven years. You gotta do better than that if you want a piece of my lunch."
The others laughed at the declaration before everyone began to eat.
As soon as the wind girl takes the first bite, she almost melts in happiness of tasting something so amazing. She wastes no time in digging in, and does her best to not waste a single crumb.
Luffy continues eating his meal while trying to swipe some of Rose's food again, but she blocks his hands every time with a fork in one hand while she continues to eat with the other by using another fork.
The others watched with interest as Rose managed to keep up with Luffy's hands throughout the entire meal.
"Wow, I've never seen someone able to keep up with Luffy before." Vivi says as she keeps her eyes on the dishes.
Sanji nods as he watches the food picking war. "She's really impressive."
Carue nods in agreement as Rose and Luffy continue their food battle.
Rose took the last bite of her lunch, before Luffy could take a piece, then chuckled in amusement. "I told you I'm not a beginner. Better luck next time."
Luffy nods to the challenge with a small smirk. "Got it."
Zoro sweat drops at the agreement between the two kids. *Did she just declare a food picking war with Luffy?*
Usopp chuckles at the show as he keeps eating. "Looks like you need to practice more Luffy."
He brings his fork down to get the last of his food, but the utensil only met with the plate, because Luffy swiped the last of his lunch. "LUFFY!"
The captain swallows the last of his food before he tilts his head in confusion. "What? You told me to practice more."
"NOT WITH MY FOOD!"
The rest of the group laughs at the squabble before they get back to their lunch. Once everyone was done, they placed their dishes in the sink before they left except for Sanji and Rose.
Rose walked up to the sink, where Sanji was about to do the dishes, with a friendly smile. "Thanks for the food Sanji. Mind if I help out with the dishes?"
Sanji freezes at the offer before he quickly shakes his head. "There's no need for you to do that. You're a guest here."
"Exactly, since you guys are giving me a ride it's only fair that I pull my weight somehow. Besides, it's faster if we work together." The brunette says as she shows no signs of leaving.
He blinks in surprise of her determination before he nods and rolls up his sleeves. "Ok, if you want to help that badly, then you can dry the dishes."
Rose nods as she grabs a rag and starts wiping down the dishes that Sanji just washed.
The chef glances over at her while he's cleaning, and sees that she's quickly, yet thoroughly, drying the plates before she piles them on the counter. "You seem used to this kind of job Rose-chan."
She nods as she keeps her focus on the dishes. "Before I went to Little Garden, I used to work at a small restaurant. I didn't cook, but I handled the customers and clean up duty. What about you? Those cooking skills are way too impressive to be self taught."
Sanji grins at the compliment as he looks back to his job. "You're too kind. Before I joined the crew, I worked at a restaurant in East Blue called the Baratie."
She grins at the restaurant name and acts like she doesn't know all about the business. "I've heard of that place. Is it true that the restaurant can actually float in the water, and can move around on its own?"
He chuckles at her enthusiasm before he nods. "Yes it can, I can tell you about the place if you want."
"That would be great!"
After ten minutes of helping with the dishes, and listening to Sanji's stories, Rose laughs at hearing about his experience with Fullbody while she dries the last plate. "Hahaha, did Zeff really kick that marine jerk out after you kicked the shit out of him?!"
The blond nods with a prideful smirk as he dries his hands. "Yea, that's what he gets for wasting food like that."
She nods in agreement. "Serves him right!" She goes to grab some of the dishes, to put them away, but Sanji swipes them before she could touch them.
"Go on Rose, I'll take care of the rest. Thank you for the help."
"My pleasure, thanks for letting me help." She walks out of the kitchen, but only takes a few steps before Nami and Vivi walk up to her.
"There you are, after all the excitement, we forgot to show you around the ship." Nami says.
Rose nods at the suggestion. "Sounds like fun." She follows the two girls inside, and goes through each room below deck. When they reach the end of the hall, they open a door to reveal the girls' room that holds two beds, a bookshelf, a desk, and a few large closets.
Nami walks inside the bedroom and goes into her closet. "You'll be sleeping here with us. We have a small futon you can use, so it won't be an issue."
Rose nods as she sees Nami pull out the rolled up futon, then helps her spread it in between the two beds. They make sure that there's enough space to give everyone access to them before Rose grins at her host. "Thanks Nami."
"No problem."
Vivi goes into her bag and grabs her first aid kit. "While you're here, we should get those bandages changed too."
Rose looks down at the bandages on her arms, that were slightly torn and dirty from going through Little Garden. She know that it's the right call, to avoid an infection, so she reaches out for the kit. "Thanks, I can take care of them."
Vivi hands her the first aid kit then watches Rose sit on the futon, and start unwrapping all the old bandages that were on her arms, neck, and cheek.
Vivi and Nami widen their eyes at all the old and new scratches and bruises on her skin, but remain silent while she treats her wounds. With those kind of marks, both of them have a hard time in doubting her story about her running away from an abusive situation.
Rose, doesn't notice the stares, because she's concentrating on her treatment. After applying new ointment on her marks, she leaves her cheek and neck without bandages, but wraps new bandages on her arms to cover the re-opened scratches.
Once Rose was finished, she closed up the first aid kit and mutters to herself. "Looks like everything's healing nicely. One more day with the bandages for my arms, and then I'll let them finish healing on their own."
She looks to see Nami and Vivi are still staring at her, so she knits her eyebrows in confusion. "You two ok?"
They both snap out of it, so Vivi puts on a nervous smile while she waves her hand dismissively. "Y-yea, we're fine!" *She really got all those scratches and bruises from her foster family?! How can they do that to someone they were supposed to be looking after?!*
Nami nods then looks at Rose's half black, half red crystal, that's hanging from her neck, and changes the topic. "Yea, we're just curious about your necklace. What kind of gem is it?"
Rose looks down at her necklace then holds it up. "To be honest, I'm not sure myself. My parents gave me this back when I was ten, but they never told me what it was..."
She widens her eyes when she remembers that this necklace is the only item with a chance that it could've helped her come here!
She she stares at the crystal intensely while she wonders if this gem really did have something to do with her arrival. *It's not impossible for certain gems to be able to have special properties. Did this really-?!*
She snapped out of her thoughts when Vivi placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok?"
Rose nods with a relaxed grin, and decides to look into this when she's settled in Alabasta. "Yea, sorry about that. I just spaced out."
Nami walks up to Rose and extends a hand to help her up. "You only brought the clothes on your back right? I can lend you some of mine if you want."
"That would be great, thanks." Rose goes to take Nami's hand, but before she can grab it, her wind starts acting up, and sends her flying up until she hits her head on the ceiling! The wind suddenly fades away right afterwards, and leaves her to belly flop onto the futon.
Rose groans she rubs her head and gets up. *Ow, that hurt... I really gotta work on this power.*
Vivi widens her eyes at the sudden flight. "Are you ok?!"
Rose starts smiling while she shrugs it off. "Yea, I'm fine. The futon broke my fall."
Nami sighs in exasperation of another weird power to deal with. "It looks like that power's doing you more harm than good. What were you thinking when you ate that devil fruit, anyway?"
The brunette keeps a carefree smile on her face as she lifts three of her fingers to them. "Three things: One, I hadn't eaten anything yet. Two, I'm not a good swimmer, so there wouldn't be much of a loss no matter what power I got. And three, I would hopefully get an awesome superpower. Looks like I was right with number three. I just gotta practice and then I'll get the hang of it."
Vivi blinks in surprise at her optimistic attitude, and feels like she's talking to another pirate.
Nami accepts the answer, and goes into her closet to grab a light blue, long sleeved, v-neck and dark purple jeans. "You have a point. If you can create large gusts of wind, then maybe you can help us move the ship faster."
Rose crosses her arms over her chest in thought. "I can try, but we should wait until I have more control of my abilities."
The navigator nods before she hands her the clothes. "Good idea, we'll leave you alone to change. Once you're done, come join everyone on the deck."
Rose keeps a small smile on as she waves them off, and watches them close the door behind them. Once she's alone, she quietly sighs and looks at her bandages. *I guess seeing all the marks made them nervous. At least they'll fade, so they should stop worrying soon.*
She takes the this alone time to bring the quarter out of her pocket, and stares at it curiously. *I'm kind of surprised this made the journey with me. Kind of cool to have a good luck charm like this. I'd better keep it on me for now.*
She places the coin in her new pants pocket then starts changing while Nami and Vivi walk down the hall.
Vivi looks back at the girls' room with a soft look on her face before she turns back to Nami. "You noticed all those scratches and bruises on her too right?"
Nami nods with a small frown on her face. "Yea, and from the way she was treating them, she's used to getting them too..." She shakes her head then keeps her focus on the doorway to the deck. "I don't think she'd want us to feel sorry for her. Right now we should focus on getting everyone to Alabasta."
Vivi nods as she follows the navigator up to the deck to set the course to Alabasta with the eternal pose.
Once Rose has finished changing, she walks out to the deck, and heads to the back of the ship to train. She sees Zoro training with a large weight, so she stays out of his way and looks out to the ocean in thought. *Ok, first thing I gotta do is learn how to fly when I want to... How to do that is the real question.*
She gets an idea, and takes a deep breath before she blows her wind to the deck to lift herself up a few feet into the air. When she released her breath though, she immediately fell back to the deck. She repeats the technique while she flails her arms, but it ends with the same result every time she released her breath.
Luffy, Usopp and Carue walk over to the back deck, and sweat drop when they see her repeatedly trying to fly by blowing air to the deck while she flails her arms.
"What are you doing?" Luffy asks.
Rose lands on the deck again while she catches her breath, then turns to the guys. "I'm trying to practice my devil fruit ability, but it's not working."
Usopp nods before he strokes his chin. "Hmm, what exactly were you doing when you were flying for the first time? Maybe remembering what it felt like could help you channel your abilities."
Rose tilts her head at the suggestion before she crosses her arms over her chest. "That's a good idea, but I was running from a dinosaur at the time. Kind of hard to reenact that."
Luffy tilts his head in thought. "What if we chase you?"
Usopp shakes his head at the suggestion. "Two guys and a duck can't compare to a man eating dinosaur Luffy."
Rose ponders on the idea before she nods. "Actually, that might work. If I'm being chased, then maybe I can trigger my abilities like when I was chased by the dinosaur. What do you two say; think you're up for a game of tag?"
Carue nods as he gets ready to charge her while Usopp smiles. "I'm in! Back in my hometown I raised an army of hawks and taught them how to fly! Helping you learn how to fly will be a cinch!"
Luffy laughs before getting ready to run. "Let's get started!"
Rose nods with a smirk. "Alright, whoever gets me flying is the winner. Let's go!" She makes a run for it to the front of the ship, with all three guys in pursuit, while Zoro continues training as if they were never there.
Nami and Vivi stop navigating for a moment to see the four of them running around the deck.
"So they're trying to force her abilities out?" Vivi asks when she sees Rose jumping out of the way to dodge Luffy and try flying, but she immediately lands before the guys continue the chase.
Nami shakes her head before she gets back to the eternal pose. "Of all the ways to try... As long as they don't break anything, it should be ok."
Vivi nods as she goes back to helping Nami with the eternal pose, while the chase continues between Rose and the guys.
Rose jumps to the side to dodge Carue from charging at her from behind, but lands only to dodge Usopp when he tries to tag her. She keeps running when she sees Usopp and Carue charging at her from opposite directions. She managed to jump back to dodge, and makes them to crash into each other, Her wind almost picked her up when she jumped, but it faded away immediately.
Rose can't help but chuckle at the progress, as she continues to run while she dodges Usopp and Carue's attempts to catch her. However, as she keeps running, she starts to realize that there's supposed to be another guy trying. *Wait, where's Lu-?!*
"GUM GUM ROCKET!" She stopped and turned around to see that Luffy used the mast to slingshot himself towards her!
She braced herself for impact, but it never came because he went straight through her, and flew over the railing.
Rose widens her eyes in shock when she sees Luffy falling towards the water. "Oh shit, Luffy!"
Zoro froze and dropped the weight before he rushes to the railing along with Nami, Vivi and the others, but everyone stops when they hear Luffy laughing.
Everyone looks over the railing to see Luffy floating on a gust of wind, a foot above the water, with a toothy grin and is waving up at the others. "Shishishi, this is the coolest thing ever! I didn't know you could make others fly Rose!"
Rose can only blink as she stares at the sight. "Neither did I... Let me try to get you back up."
She focuses on the gust of wind that's keeping Luffy up, and manages to bring him over the railing before it drops him on the deck.
Luffy gets up then starts pouting at the loss of flight. "Aww, why did you put me down?"
Nami whacks him on the head. "You should be happy she caught you before you fell in!"
Usopp shakes his head before he pats Rose on the back. "Forget him, great job using your wind."
She gives him a small grin before she looks at her hand. "Thanks, I think I'm getting somewhere with this now."
Luffy grins before he raises his fists in the air. "Since I got you to use your power that means I won right?"
A playful smirk grew on Rose's face as she shook her head. "I believe the rule was whoever got me flying was the winner. I didn't say anything about getting others flying."
"What?! Then I'll get you flying right now!" Luffy restarted the chase while Rose was laughing her ass off as she ran away from him.
Usopp widens his eyes at the new chase before he joins in. "DON'T COUNT ME OUT!"
Carue quacked in agreement as he joined in the game.
While the chase continued on, Zoro sweat dropped at the view. "Are they trying to train her or play around?"
Nami sighs before she sits down by the railing. "As long as it helps her get more control of her devil fruit then it doesn't matter."
Zoro huffs before he goes back to his training.
Nami turns to Vivi, then hands her the eternal pose. "Can you keep an eye on the pose for a minute? I think the exhaustion from the island caught up to me."
Vivi looks at the pose then looks at Nami to see that her face is a little flushed. "It's fine, why don't you go take a nap? I'll let you know if anything happens."
Nami nods as she gets up and starts walking, but before she makes it to the door, she suddenly collapses!
"Nami!"
Rose and the guys freeze at Vivi's voice then rush over to Nami's unconscious body.
Vivi feels her forehead then widens her eyes in horror. "She has a fever!"
"WHAT?!" Sanji runs out of the kitchen to see Nami lying on the deck. He quickly picks her up bridal style and brings her inside with everyone following, except for Zoro who's keeping watch over the ship.
Rose runs to the bathroom to grab a rag, and dampens it with cold water, before she goes into the girls' room to see Sanji tucking Nami into bed. She gently places the wet rag on Nami's forehead then steps back, along with the guys, while Vivi grabs a thermometer from her first aid kit.
Vivi makes sure the rag stays on Nami's forehead then places the thermometer in her mouth. "Thank you Rose."
Rose nods but stays silent as she sadly stares at Nami. *Dammit, I completely forgot about the bug bite! I know it's supposed to bring the crew to Drum Island, but this still sucks... If I say anything about the bug bite it'll just lead everyone into a panic...*
She stays quiet, while Sanji tears up as he grabs a handkerchief, from his suit's breast pocket, and bites it in anticipation. "What happened to Nami-san, Vivi?!"
Vivi quietly sighs as she looks over Nami. "I'm not sure; I think she got sick from the sudden climate change. It could be deadly if the symptoms are left unchecked. Does anyone on the ship have any medical knowledge?"
Luffy and Usopp point to Nami, so Vivi looks at them in disbelief. "Are you serious?! What about you Rose?!"
She slowly shakes her head before she looks to the redhead. "Sorry, I don't know how to treat her illness."
Luffy nods before he turns to Sanji. "She should be ok if she eats something good, right Sanji?"
Sanji looks over Nami with a soft look on his face. "Well, I can make her meals that are easy enough for her to digest, but that's only nursing. It can't actually cure her illness. Since I don't know what her exact illness is either, I don't know what meal would be best for her..."
Vivi takes the thermometer out of Nami's mouth then widens her eyes. "This is bad, her fever's rising!"
Usopp steps up frantically. "There are doctors that can help her in Alabasta right?!"
Vivi nods. "There are, but we won't be able to get there for at least a week! We can't let her deal with this for that long!"
Luffy looks at the others in confusion. "Is it that painful to be sick?"
Usopp and Sanji tilt their heads in confusion while they speak simultaneously. "I don't know, I never got sick before."
Vivi looks at the boys in shock. "Are you three even human?! Of course it's painful! Fevers like hers are worse than normal diseases too! This could put her life at risk!"
The guys immediately widen their eyes at this before they start panicking.
Usopp and Carue run around the room in a frenzy while Luffy looks at Vivi in shock. "IS SHE GOING TO DIE?!"
Sanji cries comical tears while he shouts. "WAAH! PLEASE DON'T DIE NAMI!"
Rose twitches an eyebrow in irritation of the noise, before she whacks all the guys on the head. "FUCKING KNOCK IT OFF!"
The guys rub the growing lumps on their heads while Rose crosses her arms over her chest. "Panicking won't help Nami! Look, we just need to bring her to a doctor, and she'll be fine."
Vivi nods in agreement. "We can detour to another island and find her a doctor."
"No..." Everyone freezes at Nami's weak voice, and turns to the navigator to see her take the rag off her head as she sits up.
Luffy starts smiling in relief. "Alright, she got better!"
Usopp whacks him on the head. "No she didn't!"
Nami ignores the guys and points to her desk. "Take a look at the newspaper in the top drawer of my desk."
Vivi goes into the drawer to grab the newspaper then freezes when she reads the front page of the paper. "W-what?!"
Sanji walks up to her. "What happened? Is it about Alabasta?"
She slowly nods as she keeps her eyes on the paper. "This isn't right... 300 thousand soldiers from the royal army have switched sides and joined the rebels... There were originally 600 thousand in the army against 400 thousand rebels, but now the situation completely switched."
Nami nods as she stays in bed. "That paper was from three days again. Sorry for not telling you sooner, I didn't want your worries to get worse. We need to get to Alabasta as fast as we can, understand Luffy?"
Luffy nods with a small frown. "Yea, this sounds pretty bad."
Usopp looks at them in shock before he looks at Nami worriedly. "I know the situation's bad, but if your fever's rising then you need a doctor Nami."
She shakes her head with a smile, as she swings her legs off the bed, then gets up. "It's ok; I'm a little better now. I think it was just a heat stroke. I'll be fine without a doctor."
She starts walking to the door then stops to smile at the guys. "In any case, thanks for worrying about me."
The others watch her walk out the door while Luffy tilts his head in confusion. "She's all better now?"
Usopp shakes his head. "Of course not, she's just putting up a tough front."
Vivi keeps her attention on the newspaper while she clenches it so tightly that the paper's starting to rip. "It's not enough to just go to Alabasta anymore. If I can't get there in time, then a million of my people will be killing each other for no reason!"
Luffy widened his eyes in shock. "A million?!"
Sanji looks at her softly. "That's quite the burden."
Rose walks up to her and pats her on the shoulder. "With the eternal pose, we have no problem getting there right? Then there's no need to worry."
Vivi blinks in surprise at her calming grin, before she lets go of the paper, and slowly nods. "Right, then let's-!"
"HEY, EVERYONE! WE GOT A PROBLEM, COME OUT HERE!"
Everyone freezes at Zoro's voice then run out to the deck to see him on the upper deck with Nami.
Zoro doesn't move from his spot as he looks down at the others. "We need to take the helm and steer the ship south!"
Sanji twitches a curly eyebrow at the command. "Why should I take orders from you moss head?!"
"Just shut up and do it! We gotta lower the sails, so we can catch wind from the port side!"
"Got it!" Usopp and Luffy call out as they go to lower the sails.
Sanji heads to the helm then turns to Nami, who's looking out into the ocean. "Why the sudden change in course Nami-san?"
She quietly pants while she keeps her brown eyes on the horizon. "I have a bad feeling in the air. I think there's a storm coming up ahead."
After Luffy lowers the sails, he walks up to Nami, and pats her forehead, then immediately recoils it. "OW! Hot! Hot! We need to bring you to a doctor right now!"
"That's just my normal temperature Luffy!"
Rose tiredly sighs then walks over to them. "The redness on your face is your normal skin tone then?"
"It's just from being in the sun too long!"
Sanji looks over Nami worriedly. "Nami, I know you want to help Vivi, but you shouldn't push yourself too hard."
"I told you I'm fine!"
Usopp looks over them nervously. "Nami, I think you should-!"
"JUST SHUT UP AND TURN THE SHIP AROUND! I'M FINE DAMMIT!"
The others rush to turn the ship around until they start heading south.
Vivi goes to the upper deck then looks at Nami for a brief moment before she turns to the others. "Guys, I'd like to talk to you if that's alright."
Everyone shifts their attention to the princess as she continues. "I know it's not my place to make requests since you allowed me on the boat, but with the emerging crisis in Alabasta, I need to go there as soon as possible."
Nami pulls on a weak smile while she nods. "Of course, we'll get you there just like we promised."
The others stayed quiet when Vivi spoke up. "I'd like us to go there as soon as possible, which is why we need to find a doctor for Nami immediately. Once Nami gets better, we'll head straight to Alabasta. That's the fastest way for us to make it there right?"
Luffy nods with a toothy grin. "Yea, can't get much faster than that!"
Usopp quirks an eyebrow at Vivi's decision. "Are you sure? Aren't you worried about the million people in Alabasta?"
"Of course, that's why we need to get Nami to a doctor as soon as possible. You're alright with this too right Rose?"
Rose nods with a grin. "Not a problem, I think this is faster too."
Vivi nods before she walks over to Nami. "I'm sorry for making you worry, but please don't overexert yourself."
Nami slowly nods. "Sorry about this Vivi..." She started to collapse but Vivi caught her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to keep her up.
Before anyone can say anything, Luffy looked out onto the horizon and widened his eyes at the sight. "WHOA, WHAT'S THAT?!"
Everyone looked out in shock to see a giant hurricane passing the place where the crew was moments ago.
Rose couldn't take her eyes off the storm that they almost sailed into. *Wow, storms really do pop up out of nowhere on the Grand Line!*
Usopp widens his eyes at the direction of the storm. "Wasn't that where we were heading?!"
Sanji slowly nods as he keeps his eyes on the hurricane. "That's exactly where we were heading a minute ago. Talk about a close call."
Vivi looks at Nami in shock as she keeps her arms around her to keep her up. *Incredible, storms on the Grand Line are unpredictable, but she managed to sense the storm coming.*
Luffy snaps out of it first before he smiles at the crew. "Alright, let's set sail to find Nami a doctor!"
"YEA!" The crew continues heading south to find a doctor while Vivi leads Nami back to her room.
Rose watches the girls head inside then goes to the back of the ship while she comes up with her next move. *Ok, if we're going by the manga then we should be in the Drum Island arc by tomorrow. If I can at least master getting others to fly, then I can help Nami get to Dr. Kureha's castle faster.*
She grins at the plan, then looks around for something to practice with, then finds a small wooden crate. When she looks inside the crate, she finds that it's empty and grins in satisfaction. "This can work."
She focuses on the box until the wind starts picking it up for a second, but it quickly drops it. She groans in frustration then accidentally uses her wind to pick the crate up again, and throw it towards the stairs where Zoro was! "Watch out Zoro!"
The box managed to hit him in the face before he could react in time, but before he lost his balance Rose rushed over to him, and grabbed him by the arm to stop him from falling. "You ok?!"
He nods while he rubs his aching face. "What the hell are you doing now?!"
She points to the cracked crate, that's by their feet. "I'm trying to get used to making other things fly. I was using the box to practice, but I accidentally threw it without thinking. I'm sorry about that."
He looks down at the box in confusion "Seriously? You can't make yourself fly, but you're trying to make others fly?"
She furrows her eyebrows at the question as she crosses her arms over her chest. "Yea, so what? Being able to get others flying is more useful, especially in a fight."
He quirks an eyebrow at the mindset. "Have you ever even been in a fight?"
She shrugs at the question. "I've been in plenty of fist fights, sword fights though not so much."
Zoro blinks in surprise at the answer, before he picks up the crate. He ignores the confused girl as he puts the box down a few feet away from her, then takes a few steps back. "In that case, think of the crate as your opponent. Imagine how you want to use your wind to send it flying then do it."
Rose widens her eyes at the idea before she nods, and gets in a stance. She focuses on the box, until she manages to lift it a few feet into the air with her wind, then she throws a punch towards the direction of the box to create a gust of wind to send it flying!
Before the box could fall into the water, she managed to catch it with another gust of wind then placed it back on the deck with a happy smile. "Whoa, I did it!"
Zoro nods in approval then chuckles. "Looks like your power can be useful after all."
She scowls at his snarkiness as she gets her arms ready to try again. "Shut the hell up, I'm just getting started! At this rate I'll control my wind in no time."
He smirks at the confidence before he points towards her feet. "In that case, you better get started on getting control of your own flying."
She freezes, then looks down to see that she's flying a foot into the air, and then face palms. "Oh come on!"
She rakes a hand through her bangs while she groans. "At least I'm not skyrocketing again..."
"Hey Rose, you're flying again?! Make me fly too!" She and Zoro turn to Luffy's voice to see him waving at them from the front of the ship.
Rose nods as she waves back. "I'll be there in a bit."
She turns to Zoro and bows her head. "I'm sorry again for throwing the box at you, and thank you for helping me practice. I can help you out with your training later if you want."
He shakes his head as he grabs his weight and starts lifting it. "I can train on my own. You should worry more about yourself before you fly off the ship."
She nods as she grabs the railing while the wind lifts her feet up to make it look like she's doing a handstand on the railing. She acts like this is normal as she pulls along the railing to to go towards the front of the boat. "The offer's open if you change your mind."
He sweat drops at her pulling the railing to move to the other side of the ship, before he gets back to lifting his weights. *Looks like we picked up another weird one...*
Rose focused on pulling herself along the railing until Luffy stretched his arm around her waist and pulled her to him, Usopp and Carue.
She lightly blushes at the embrace when her wind puts her down, and pulls herself away. "T-thanks, so you want to go flying again?"
Luffy nods, along with Usopp and Carue, and causes Rose to quirk an eyebrow at the duck. "Wait, can't you fly on your own Carue?"
He shakes his head, only for her to sweat drop before she shrugs. "Sure, why not? Just promise not to get mad if I accidentally drop or throw you."
Luffy and Carue nod while Usopp takes a step back. "On second thought, I think I'll just watch."
Rose nods as she takes a step back then starts focusing. *Ok, so imagine what I want to do with my wind then do it.*
She raises her hand up causing a gust of wind to start lifting Luffy and Carue off the deck.
Stars start forming in Luffy's eyes as he's floating into the air. "This is so cool!"
He tries to move around on his own, but the wind won't let him go anywhere. "Hey, why can't I move?"
Rose giggles as she moves her arm, so that they move around in a circle. "Sorry, it's my wind that's lifting you up, so I'm the only one who can move you around."
Luffy blinks in surprise before he pouts. "Aww, no fair."
She and Usopp laugh at his pouting when the door to the kitchen opens to Sanji. "Dinner's ready guys."
Rose accidentally broke her concentration and threw Luffy and Carue at Sanji, and has the three of them to crash into the kitchen! "Shit!"
Rose and Usopp rush into the kitchen to see the three of them groaning, as they get up and rub their aching heads.
"Are you guys ok?!" Usopp asks.
The guys nod while Rose looks at them nervously. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that."
Luffy laughs while he shakes his head. "Don't be, that was fun! Can you make me fly ag-?!"
He was cut off by a roundhouse kick to the head courtesy of Sanji. "Don't give her flight requests!"
The blonde turns to Rose with hearts in his eyes. "I don't mind people flying at me if you're the one that's flying Rose-chan."
Usopp sweat drops at the chef's declaration. "Didn't you sort of give her a flight request?"
Rose chuckles as she grabs her dish. "That's ok Sanji, if you don't mind I'm gonna eat with the girls."
Sanji grabs a tray that's holding Vivi's dish, and Nami's bowl of soup, and grins at the wind girl. "Of course, hopefully this special soup will help Nami's fever go down too."
Rose nods as she opens the door for the blonde chef. She follows him below the deck to eat with Nami and Vivi, while Sanji reluctantly goes back to the kitchen to take care of the guys for the rest of the meal.
**********************************************************
After the girls finished eating, Vivi grabbed the tray from Nami's lap so she can lay down in her bed. "How was the soup Nami?"
Nami softly smiles as she gets herself comfortable. "It was great. What about you guys?"
"It was really good." Rose says as she grabs the plates. "I'll go get rid of these."
Vivi nods as she places a new rag on Nami's forehead. "Thank you."
"No problem." She heads out of the room and out to the deck. Once she's outside though, she freezes and looks up in awe of the night sky that's filled with more stars than she's ever seen in her life!
She couldn't wipe the huge smile from her face, as she almost tears up, from the beautiful sight that she never found in her home world due to light pollution. *Oh my god, if this is a dream don't ever wake me up!*
She snaps out of her thoughts to Carue's quacking then turns to see him staring at her with a worried look on his face.
Rose chuckles before she softly smiles at him. "I'm fine Carue, just enjoying the view."
The duck nods before he goes off to play with the others. She quickly makes her way to the kitchen and puts the plates in the sink.
"How's Nami feeling?" Sanji asks as he's washing the dishes.
She grabs a rag and starts wiping down the plates "She's ok, she enjoyed the soup you made."
"I'm glad she liked it, but you don't need to help Rose-chan, I can take care of it."
Rose nods as she puts the rag down then starts heading out. "Thanks Sanji."
She quickly goes outside and rushes to the railing to stare at the stars while she ignores Usopp, Luffy and Carue's game of tag. *Wow, this is amazing! I wonder if the constellations are the same in this world.*
Luffy stops playing when he sees Rose staring at the sky, then walks up behind her. "Whatcha doing?"
She jumps in surprise then turns to him. "Oh hey, I'm just looking for constellations."
He tilts his head in confusion. "What are 'constipations'?"
Rose starts trembling from holding back from laughing before she points to the sky. "N-not constipations, 'constellations'. They're a group of stars that create a pattern in the sky."
Luffy widens his eyes at this before he looks up at the millions of stars above them. "Stars can do that?"
She nods as she continues her search for a constellation. "Yea but not only that, there are also ones that have a story behind how they're made."
"Really? Like what?"
The brunette grins at the question as she keeps her head to the sky. "Like the story of Hercules. He's a demigod who fought through twelve difficult labors, which include battling giant monsters, in order to atone for his sins. After he passed the trials, he became renowned as one of the greatest heroes of all time. Years later when he died his father, Zeus, the king of the gods, immortalized his son's accomplishments by creating the Hercules constellation."
Usopp and Carue froze, after overhearing the story, then they rushed over to her.
"Are you serious?! What kind of monsters did this hero fight against?" Usopp asks.
Rose grins at their excitement as she takes a seat on the railing. "I'll tell you right now."
*****************************************************************
Vivi changes the rag on Nami's forehead, then takes the thermometer from the red head's mouth. *Her fever isn't going down... I hope we find a doctor soon.*
Nami starts coughing then sits up while Vivi pats her back. "Take it easy Nami. Here, drink this." She hands her a glass of water which she finishes in one gulp.
"Thanks-!" She freezes then looks around the room worriedly.
Vivi looks to the worried navigator in confusion. "What's the matter?"
"It's too quiet outside! Something must be wrong with the idiots!" She starts lifting herself off the bed, but Vivi gently pushes her down.
"You shouldn't move around Nami. I'll go see what they're up to, so please stay here."
Nami reluctantly nods as she stays in bed while Vivi goes up to the deck.
The princess looks around, then freezes when she sees Rose sitting on the railing and telling the three guys, who are sitting in front of her, of Hercules' second labor.
"And that's when he sliced off the hydra's head, but every time he managed to cut off one of his heads two more grew in its place. In order to kill the monster once and for all, he and his nephew Iolaus worked together. Hercules would slice off all the heads while Iolaus used a torch to burn the nubs so that no more could grow back. Once the heads weren't able to grow back, the hydra was declared dead and the trial was completed."
Luffy looks at her with stars in his eyes. "Whoa, that's awesome!"
Usopp snickers as he crosses his arms over his chest. "That's nothing; I took down two sea kings at the same time, when I was a kid, with nothing but a kitchen knife!"
Luffy turns to him in shock. "Really?!"
Rose grins at the lie. "That's something I'd like to see. How'd you pull that off?"
Usopp shakes his head with a smirk. "Oh no, you finish your story then I'll tell you mine."
"Got it, after killing the hydra Hercules went off to the next labor, which was to capture the Ceryneian Hind. This is a stag with golden horns that's well known for its incredible speed."
Vivi blinks in surprise at the storytelling before she goes back to the girls' room.
"Well?" Nami asks.
"Believe it or not, Rose is managing to keep Usopp, Luffy, and Carue quiet by telling them a story about someone named Hercules."
Nami blinks in surprise before she places a hand on her forehead. "I must be getting delirious from this fever. I just heard Luffy and quiet in the same sentence, and it wasn't to tell him to shut up."
Vivi laughs at the statement before she gets ready for bed. "I'm surprised myself. We should take advantage of the peace and get some sleep."
Nami nods as she settles into bed, and quickly falls asleep with Vivi following suit in her own bed.
********************************************************
After Rose finished her story, the group listened to Usopp's story of how he took down two sea kings simultaneously with a kitchen knife until they started laughing.
Rose claps as she finishes laughing. "That was an awesome story Usopp. Thanks for telling it."
Usopp nods with a smile. "Always a pleasure to tell an eager fan of my accomplishments. Your story was really fun too. I didn't know stars could tell stories like that."
"Yea, they can tell a lot of awesome stories. I know eighty seven others, but there might be more out there. I can tell you guys another one tomorrow if you want."
Usopp nods as he and the other guys get up. "Sounds good, I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat. Good night."
"Good night." Rose waves Usopp and Carue off as they head inside, but Luffy takes a seat next to her on the railing.
Rose raises an eyebrow at the company as she watches him get comfortable. "You're not heading to bed yet?"
He shakes his head. "Nah, I'm not tired yet. Besides, I want to find Hercules."
The brunette blinks in surprise before she nods with a smile. "Alright, let's see if we can-!"
She cuts herself off when she starts floating away again, until Luffy wraps an arm around her waist to pull her back by his side, while her wind still keeps her afloat. "Hey, it's not fair to fly off by yourself."
Her freckled face light blushes at the embrace before she looks up. "It's not like I'm flying on purpose..."
Luffy tilts his head at the sudden flush on her face. "Are you ok? Wait, you're not getting Nami's fever are you?!"
She quickly shakes her head while keeps her focus on the sky. "I'm not sick, my face just gets like this sometimes! Let's just find Hercules." *Dammit, I hate getting so embarrassed from a hug!*
He blinks in confusion before he shrugs and joins her in the search for the constellation. He looks around, then points to a random star in the sky with his free hand. "Is that it?"
She shakes her head. "Nope, that's not him."
After the twentieth time pointing to a random star Luffy groans in frustration. "Man, this is hard. How do you normally find them?"
The wind girl shrugs to the question as she looks to him. "To tell you the truth, I've only seen it a few times in my life. Not a lot of stars come out in my hometown, so when I was a kid my parents would take me on trips to places where a lot of stars can be seen. We would then find the constellations with the help of a star chart. It's pretty hard to find something like Hercules on your own."
He starts to understand, but he's started to grow curious about the girl in his arm. "Why do you like stars so much?"
She softly grins as she stares at the sky. "I've always thought they were beautiful, they kinda give me something to look forward to. Both my parents being astronomy professors definitely helped. Still, this is the first time seeing this many out at once. It's really awesome."
He nods. "Yea, it's cool. Hey, why don't we fly up there for a closer look?"
She chuckles before she shakes her head. "I think it's best to wait until I don't have to worry about accidentally throwing you. When I get a little more control of my wind, then we can get a closer look, deal?"
"Yosh!"
Rose finally manages to land on the railing, so she pulls away from Luffy's embrace, and gets off the railing. "We should head to bed now, we got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
"Right, tomorrow we'll find Nami a doctor. Good night!" He heads inside while Rose waves him off.
Before she heads inside, she looks up at the sky once more while she touches her necklace. *I can't believe only one day passed in this world. If all of this can happen, then I'm even more excited for Drum Island!*
She couldn't stop the smile that has spread onto her freckled face as she rushed inside to get some sleep while she eagerly waited for their arrival to Drum Island.
TO BE CONTINUED