I do now own One Piece
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I had changed my outfit after eating. Given we were about to embark on an island literally covered in fire, I figured it was best to scrap the hoodie and pants I was wearing. Instead I changed into a pair of black shorts and a white and black checker poncho. Underneath the poncho I wore my black bra. Then before I left the room I had added on my belt, which held my sketchbook and my fans, and I had braided my hair.
I had decided to leave Marimo under Chopper's care. It appeared to be the best option given where I was going, and I figured there was nobody better to take care of Maimo than the doctor of the ship. Said Doctor promised to take good care of my little fuzzy friend, so I didn't need to worry.
Apparently Zoro, Robin, and Usopp had drawn the short sticks. Only one of the three appeared upset about their short stick. Poor Usopp was sobbing, trying to swap with someone. I almost pitied him, almost.
"Katsu!" I blinked, looking down as Chopper ran over to me. "You really need to wear shoes if you're going!"
I puffed out my cheeks and frowned at him. "No."
"There's literally fire everywhere!" He yelled at me, "You might numb to pain, but that is no excuse to let yourself get hurt so easily. Your feet will burn to a crisp if you don't wear shoes!"
"I don't like them." I stated, walking over to Luffy and the others.
"Well then you can't go!" Chopper wrapped himself around my leg.
"I'm going!" I scowled at the Doctor, feeling him shake his head and grip onto me tighter. "Stop that!"
"You can't walk without shoes!"
I paused before an idea came to mind. "I'll piggy back on Zoro!" Chopper faltered, then looked over at Zoro.
The swordsman scowled at me, "Where's my hoodie?"
"My hoodie?" I asked.
"MY hoodie." He scowled at me, crossing his arms.
"Well, I don't know where your hoodie is, but my hoodie is in my room." I answered.
He turned away from me, "Go walk."
Chopper's grip tightened on my leg, making me turn to look at Usopp for a moment. Shaking my head I looked over at Luffy. Usopp needed his arms if we needed to fight, Luffy can use his legs. I wasn't about to ask Robin to carry me either, and Zoro was being a big baby.
"Captain!" I begged, "Piggy back?!"
"Eh?" Luffy blinked at me, tilting his head. "I can walk."
"No, me piggy back on you!" I practically cried, holding out my arms.
"Oh, okay sure." Luffy shrugged.
Chopper let out a breath and let go of me before running to Luffy. "Oi, Luffy! You have to make sure and carry Katsu! She refuses to wear shoes and she can't walk on that island. You have to make sure and carry her the whole time!"
"Yeah, she's a little weird, but that's okay." Luffy grinned, "I'll make sure she stays off the ground!" Luffy grabbed onto my arm and tugged at me. "Let's go! You gotta draw me fighting the samurai dude!"
I grinned and followed after Luffy. Nami had made a path made out of clouds for us to travel on, which was super cool and I needed to remember to draw that later on. Luffy dragged me into the mini merry just in time for us to take off.
Sanji had packed us all boxed lunches for while we were out, and he had even been nice enough to pack me an orange too! Luffy had already opened his box and was eating his food, though I suspect Sanji knew that was going to happen as there was an extra box he had given to Robin.
I looked down as we passed over the fire without a problem due to the clouds. "Ah, that's nice." I smiled.
"Are we going to be able to take these clouds on the way back?" Zoro mumbled, looking over the boat as we passed over the fire.
"If not, I can get us back." I answered, "I just gotta make sure and not over do it with my devil fruit powers." He glanced at me, ready to respond, then paused and frowned at me. I blinked before frowning back. "Why are you mad, Mr. Hottie?"
"Admit you stole my hoodie." He stated.
"I'll make you a new one!" I crossed my arms.
He stared at me, his frown still on his face. Clearly he still wasn't satisfied with me. "No naps."
My eyes widened before I groaned, "Next time I'll take Sanji's! I'm sorry, yours is just much more comfortable, plus I really wanted to wear green! Don't deprive me of naps!"
Ever since we met back up on Sabaody Zoro and I had become nap buddies. I felt that it was easier to relax when someone else was right there to watch my back, a small complication I acquired training with Arisu. It helped that Zoro happened to be super comfortable and he had no problem with me napping with him either, plus we appeared to normally nap around the same times. All in all it ended up perfect.
I could see a faint smirk form as he crossed his arms and leaned back. "Keep it." I blinked, relaxing a bit and staring at him. He was just going to let me keep it now? I almost looked forward to stealing it again. "Since you admitted it I'll forgive you, but don't take anymore of my clothes. Also, don't take the Shitty cook's clothes either. They stink."
"They do?" My eyes widened, Zoro nodded.
"Sanji doesn't stink, Zoro-" Luffy was cut off by a kick from Zoro, who coughed and stretched his arms letting out an apology.
"At least it stopped raining." Robin mused, a smile on her face. I nodded in agreement, thinking to the moment ago where it had been storming. It ended up passing by rather quickly, but then again the weather here will likely also be as crazy as before, if not crazier.
"Perfect search weather!" Luffy grinned, nodding along.
"It's too hot!" Usopp seethed. He was still quite upset that he was being forced to come, especially since there was already three people. If I was correct I could have sworn I overheard them say something about me not being trustworthy either, but I'm likely wrong.
I grinned this time, "Yeah, perfect. Ne, Mr. Hottie, if its too hot you could totally take off your top. I'll hold it for you."
Zoro rolled his eye at me, "You won't need to hold anything."
He didn't fight me on his name this time. Progress.
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When we reached the island I was taken back by the giant gates and the giant yellow and black trim over it as well as the big bold 'Keep Out' signs. It definitely didn't present itself as a place that should be gone into. On the top of the doors was a big sign that was labeled in big letters 'Punk Hazard' which confirmed we were indeed in the correct location.
The fire that surrounded us appeared much larger and stronger beyond the gate. Given the layer of sweat covering my body i was happy with my clothing choice. With anything more than shorts and my poncho I get the feeling I would have just dropped dead from the heat. There was no doubt poor Chopper wouldn't have made it, given this heat and his fur coat.
I moved to get out of the boat, but was haunted by Luffy letting out a loud noise of protest and he held his arm out. When I looked at him he gave me a big frown and placed his hands on his hips.
"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded.
I stared at him, "Walking?"
He shook his head, "Uh uh. Chopper gave me firm instructions not to let you walk, you have to piggy back the whole time because you're a little weird and don't like wearing shoes." I stared at him as he turned around and spread his arms out wide and crouched down for me to hop on. "I said you would piggy back on me the whole time, therefor you will." After a moment of me staring he just gave me a childish glare and turned around and moved his arms as if to hurry me up. "Just get on my back!"
Rolling my eyes, I hopped off of the mini merry and onto Luffy's back. I wrapped my legs around him and rested my arms on his shoulders. Instantly his rubber arms looped around me multiple times before they appeared to be in the same spot as before. I had forgotten that Luffy could do that, considering he is made of rubber. It was actually perfect, because he would still have use of his arms if we did happen to need to fight.
"The emergency alert must have come from in here." Zoro stated, walking up to the gate.
"This island is off-limits! Just look, Luffy!" Usopp cried, turning to look towards Luffy with his arms waving towards the keep out signs. "The insignia of both the world government AND the navy!!"
I curled my lip at the symbol, feeling a certain amount of disgust for it in general.
"Meaning that if anyone was here, they'd be government employees! No point going inside; lets turn back!" Usopp continued.
I frowned, shaking my head. "No." Usopp paused to look at me with wide eyes, practically begging me to work with him. "At the very least, I want to go. I think there might be something else here, for me at least."
"What do you mean, Katsu?" Robin asked, turning to look at me.
"The name Punk Hazard makes me feel like I've at least heard it before." I answered, frowning. "Though, if I am honest, I don't get the best feeling from it. But, if it's related to the other part of my memories, I would like to try to get them back."
I looked at Luffy, who had turned to look at me. "If you don't want to go through because of the high chances of it being government employees everywhere I understand, Captain. However, I will ask that you still let me go through and look. There might be something there to jog my memory."
Luffy stared at me, his tongue poking out as he panted dramatically. "You're not going alone, dummy. You can't walk around. Besides, I'm supposed to help you remember anyway! Also, can you take off my shirt? It's really hot."
I blinked, relaxing a bit before gripping his shoulders and nodding at him. "Unwrap your arms," I stated. When he did so, I lifted myself up enough for him to slip off his cardigan before slipping back down and us resuming our position of piggy back. Though before he wrapped his arms around me again I did take off my poncho.
The heat felt as if it was getting worse the longer we were here. Zoro had slipped off the top half of his clothes as well, though like he said nobody needed to hold it as it was help up by the belly warmer he had around him. Robin had also stripped off the shirt she had been wearing.
Zoro had already sliced down the gates by the time Luffy and I were better adjusted. As Luffy walked after him, I had noticed the sign that held the government symbol lying on the ground sliced up completely. A small smile formed on my face at that little fact.
"It's so hot." Luffy whined and I nodded in agreement.
If wearing shoes didn't make me feel terrible inside perhaps I would have actually done it this time. No doubt Luffy feels even warmer having to carry me around. I'll have to give him an orange later.
"It doesn't seem that this island was originally on fire..." Robin mused as we came upon the sight of what looked to be melted houses. It looked as if it had once been inhabited, though from the fires it definitely wasn't anymore. "Was there some sort of disaster? Or maybe an accident? This must have been a government facility at some point, but I doubt it still is with the fire."
"So were the big fences and warnings a sign that this place got dangerous once the fires started?" Zoro asked, "Or was it always a dangerous facility?"
"And the fact that the log pose won't point to the island is curious as well." Robin smiled looking over the melted looking buildings. Then she glanced at me, "Does this help anything?"
I shook my head softly, "No. Maybe the name was mentioned or something?"
"HELLLLOOOO!" I jumped as Luffy bellowed, holding his hand against his mouth to help project his voice. "Are you here, guy from before?! We're here to rescue you!!"
I frowned, nudging Luffy to get his attention. "It's hot here."
"Yeah, we know that Katsu." Luffy rolled his eyes at me.
"No, I mean didn't the guy say something about it being cold?" I corrected my statement, making Luffy blink then frown.
"Yeah, you're right. How does that make sense? Clearly it's hot and not cold!" He looked around then nodded, "Maybe he's an idiot."
"What kind of reasoning is that?!" Usopp demanded with a mouthful of food.
"Someplace cold on an island of fire?" Robin mused, glancing back at us. "Maybe he meant that his experiences were chilling."
I glanced at Robin, thinking about it with a hum while Usopp protested loudly to her thought. Nodding softly I mumbled, "That could be the case, but he really sounded like he felt cold. But you're probably right, Miss Robin."
Luffy stopped walking, making me glance at him only to see him gaping at something ahead of us. Narrowing my eyes I followed his gaze only to blink, my mouth dropping. Despite everything I've seen this was one of those things I never expected to actually see.
My eyes widened, remembering Luffy's request while we were at Fishman island. I tapped Luffy's shoulder softly not sure if I was even gaining his attention. "Did you summon one?" I mumbled, blinking before grinning and pointing upwards towards the dragon. "Captain! Get up on that dragon so I can draw you riding a dragon!"
"Absolutely not!!!" Zoro, Usopp, and Robin snapped looking back at me.
I felt Luffy nod in agreement with me, "Yes! Finally! Dragon!!"
The dragon looked down at us, smoke coming from around him. "Who goes there?"
Luffy and I gasped. I gripped his shoulders and leaned upward with wide eyes. "It fucking talked."
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End of Chapter 81!
Punk Hazard is upon us. I'm pretty excited for the upcoming chapters.
Any thoughts, predictions?
This is not edited.