Chapter Text
Chopper and Ussop were practically running to the rest of their crew, who were chilling on the sand.
“Guys!!”
“Gu-hmpf”
Both of them shouted at the top of their lungs until Usopp tripped and face-planted in the sand. Chopper skidded to a stop, spun around to check on his friend, then hurriedly turned back and continued racing toward the group.
“Guys! We found-!”
“We found something really cool!!”
Ussop cut Chopper off, now standing next to him, seemingly back from skidding against the sand from his fall.
“Hey, slow down..”
Sanji replied, calming them down before they blabber on about something, their voices overlapping, so no one understands a word they get out. Seemed like something Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy had in common.
“What is it?”
Nami finally questioned, now that the two weren't running over each other trying to compete on who could speak the fastest.
“We found a really cool ship!”
Chopper yelled out with his arms thrown up in exaggeration.
“Ohh. . . that's all??”
Nami paused mid-sentence for any other answer. She wasn't even all that surprised when she didn't get one.
“Uh-Well,” Chopper paused, tilting his head with a frown, then popping back up with the same amount of enthusiasm with a grin, “it looks really cool! Also, it's empty for some reason . . . so it could’ve been the shout earlier.”
“Ooh, how's it look?”
Franky finally indulged in the conversation, interest now caught at the thought.
“Oh! Well it looke–..””
Wait a minute.. He said it was empty? Nami pondered to herself, drowning out a lot of the conversation besides the words she deemed important, “huge”, “it looked expensive!” and “it looked really empty.”. . . Dollar signs practically formed in her eyes as the only thing she could think of was how much mon- resources would be in that ship.. Yeah.
“WE SHOULD CHECK IT OUT”
She yelled abruptly whilst standing up, basically vibrating at the thought.
“Huh?.. ”
The rest of the crew that hadn't heard her inner monologue just stared at her in confusion and concern.
“Nami, what are you talking about?”
Sanji tilted his head.
A small laugh erupted from their archaeologist, her hand covering her mouth, sitting far from them, observing.
“It seems like our navigator has been having her own thoughts about this ‘mystery ship.’”
Her hand covered her mouth as she smiled to herself at the sight of Nami’s reddening face.
W-Well, I just thought that maybe.. There would be.. Useful resources there?”
She questioned her own words with a shrug, an upside-down smile worn across her red face.
“Ahh, Nami-Swan always thinking ahead for all of us!!”
Sanji cried out, breaking the awkward silence for his own swooning.
That, she was grateful for.
“Yeah, I guess we could check it out.”
Franky added with a hearty laugh, cutting himself off mid-sentence.
“So.. we go-?”
“Yes.”
And that's how they got to the ship after what felt like hours of walking nonstop, and it was exactly as they described it.. VERY LARGE, surprised they didn't notice sooner from exploring the island earlier, but then again, it was far from where they had their own ship anchored, seemed like they didn't really want anyone to see them, too bad..
Welp, finders keepers, and they were pirates.. If they didn't want their stuff stolen, they should've had someone left behind to fight off intruders. Was what they thought at first until they climbed up the large, almost pitch black ship to find soldiers . . . everywhere
“Ohhh-”
“I THOUGHT YOU SAID IT WAS EMPTY?!”
They all braced for a fight, taking out their weapons and readying their devil fruits-..
“Well, we thoug-”
“WAIT, I CAN'T CHANGE OUT OF BRAIN POINT.”
Chopper screamed out in a panic, drawing the attention of the soldiers.
“And I can't summon any arms..”
Robin gasped
“Alright, we’l-”
“Wait, guys, they aren’t attacking?”
Franky cut off Sanji. Gosh, was no one allowed to speak today?
“Oh, wait, he's right!- They're just staring..?”
And for a few seconds, they just stared back at the soldiers they were once freaking out over.
“Oi, what's going on back here?”
A mystery voice called out, the sound of footsteps echoing across the ship as they made contact with the metal flooring, making them jump.
“We don't mean any trouble- what Zoro?!”
“Oh, just you guys, yeah.”
“What do you mean, ‘yeah’, how’d you get here, and where's Luffy?!”
Nami hissed out while clenching her fists, a looming threat he didn't quite like.
“Well.. he got lost..”
“That's all you have to say for yourself?”
She threatened, a manic grin carving itself into her face whilst she cracked her knuckles.
Zoro scratching his neck with his non-resting hand.
“O-oh, well I mean..”
Well, after that happened..
They quickly discovered that the floors were made of a seastone mix, which, of course, Franky found fascinating, clearly taking in the craftsmanship that went into the ship. It honestly seemed very well taken care of, but it just gave off a strange vibe that Sanji couldn't shake off, as though there was something bound to happen. Certain parts of the ship even seemed familiar, but there wasn't anything that was coming up in his mind. The inside of the ship was very green, riddled with different shades of the damned color from carpets to regular decor. The person who made the ship must be obsessed or something.
“This place doesn't seem to have much jewelry..”
Nami sighed sadly.
“Don't worry, there's a bedroom, maybe then you'll find something there to fill your greedy soul..”
Zoro mumbled out the last part and garnered two killing glares sent his way.
“Uh huh, yeah sure..” She rolled her eyes.
“Wait, there's a bedroom? How do you know?”
“Eh, I kinda just came across this ship and explored the inside. The soldiers are chill, but the hallways were so confusing, I basically stumbled on it.”
“Yeah, we can tell.”
Sanji glared at looking him up and down at his tattered clothes.
“What was that?”
He turned to glare at the blonde curly freak.
“Oh, sorry,” crossing his arms tightly, and tilting his head. “I didn't know you were challenged. I thought you heard me-”
A voice erupted from the end of the hallway that came to a three-way.
“Who are you all?!”
There stood in front, of them a frightened dark brown haired maid clutching the bounds of towels to her chest.
“Why are you all here? Who are you?!”
“Oh, madam, please relax. We mean you no harm.”
Sanji jumped in before anyone else could answer, bowing his head smoothly in apology.
“We are only looking.”
“Yes! Please don’t call anyone, please?”
Usopp held his hands up in surrender with a slowly dying smile on his face. It sounded mostly like a plea than anything.
The maid took a few steps backwards, her eyes darting to the opposite halls, shaking her head, as they edged closer, reaching her hand into her back pocket, but before she could even take out anything, a flash of air bounded past her and behind, grabbing her hand and snail out from her pocket before she could even understand what had happened.
She gasped as a green blur rushed past her.
“Yeah, we’re not doing that,” Zoro spoke from behind, slowly inching around her, tossing the transponder snail up and down in his hand.
“Oi mosshead, you treat her with respect!”
Sanji growled out
“She was going to call someone!”
“Well, you could have been better!”
“Could you guys stop arguing for one minute? She disappeared!”
Usopp cut them off, pointing to the spot the maid used to stand, a towel left behind.
“Crap, he’s right!”
Nami screeched
“Split up, we can’t let her alert others!!”
The rest of the group that hadn't already left nodded and split into teams of three, each taking a different hall. Nami, Ussop. Sanji, Zoro, Robin, and Chopper.
“Try to avoid getting seen again!”
Zoro and Sanji
“If you didn’t pull that crap back there, we probably wouldn't be in this mess..”
He growled out through gritted teeth.
“Yeah, you’re right, we’d be in a bigger one.”
Zoro smirked at the glare he received before taking a left straight into the library, a dead end.
“Wrong way, dumbass.”
“YEAH I KNEW THAT SHUTUP. And either way, maybe she went in there-’
Sanji walked up to the clear doors and tugged and pushed at them, then turned to Zoro.
It’s locked.
“ . . . ”
“DON’T EVEN”
Usopp and Nami
“Oh my-” Nami bent over, hands on her knees, gulping for air. “How big is this place?!”
Usopp stopped beside her, equally winded. “I-I don’t know… or how that girl can run so fast… I'm not built for this.” He practically wheezed out.
“Oh, look. A soldier uh- maybe?..”
Usopp asked in question.
“No- wait, actually?.. Yeah, maybe..”
They walked up to the soldier on the other side of the hallway, their faces filled with mock innocence.
“Hello, sir?”
Nami snapped her fingers in the man's face, forcefully dragging his attention to them.
“Have you seen a girl with brown hair wearing a uhh-”
“Maid outfit,” Usopp whispered
“Uhh yeah, maid outfit, she was holding a couple of towels?..”
The man just stared down at the two of them.
“Um, sir??”
It took about one minute before they realized the guy wasn't gonna respond.
Robin and Chopper
They were probably the only ones who were going the right way, but only because of Chopper's heightened sense of smell. They ran through the halls of the ship, tailing right behind the maid who was surprisingly fast for all the layers of cloth she had on. A little while ago, she threw the towels at them in an attempt to distract the two after her.
“Hey, stop! We aren’t going to hurt you!”
“Leave me alone, please!”
She took a sharp left a few feet down.
“Wait up-! Whoa..”
The maid led them to a room that seemed to be the control room, a place full of screens and wires strewn through the room, screens showing Nami and Usopp walking through the halls, of Sanji and Zoro arguing near the library(?). From voice recordings to weaponry, the place was huge and even had a hidden camera connecting to the front of the ship.
“All this must’ve taken hours..”
Robin finally spoke, her head turning to view the rest of the room.
They could even see Franky, who was observing the outside of the ship, walking closer to the console of buttons, which looked very complex..
“How does anyone even understand any of this?”
Chopper spoke up.
They seemed to have completely forgotten about the maid they were after in return for the new room. . .
Fast footsteps rushed towards them, shocking them out of their thoughts, to turn around to be met with a soldier aiming a fist straight for their head.
Chopper and Robin gasped as they jumped out of the way, making the soldier punch straight through the console system, sending an alarm blaring through the halls, to outside.
“The system!”
Chopper rushed to the console, trying to right it, pressing whatever seemed right as the soldier next to him tore his arm out from it and readied his arm back for another punch straight for the reindeer's head.
“CHOPPER CAREFUL!”
Robin hissed out in a hurry as she grabbed him, once more making the man send another hole through the computer.
“Leave it!”
Just barely when she finished speaking, another alarm screeched, a countdown shown on the screens morphing as one.
“Wh-what happened-?!”
“Doesn't matter, let's go!”
Sanji and Zoro
The lights on the walls flickered as they changed from a calm yellow to a flashing red as alarms screamed from what felt like everywhere.
“What happened? Why in the world-?!”
Zoro winced whilst covering his ears in a flinch.
“Not important at the moment, we need to get out of here!”
Zoro immediately turned to run in the opposite direction, but just got himself dragged back by Sanji.
“What about the others?!”
Sanji snapped
“Well, I WAS going to get them, but then you stopped me.”
Zoro growled out with a huff.
“Wh- YOU WERE GOING THE WRONG WAY??”
“Yeah, sure, I was.”
“Let NOT have this stupid argument right now and actually search for the others-”
Nami and Usopp bursted from the opposing hallway.
“THERE YOU GUYS ARE, CMON LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!”
They didn't even get a word out, they just got dragged along...
“Wait, N-Nami-swan, what about Chopper Robin an-”
“THEY'RE ALREADY OUTSIDE. ROBIN SAID THE PLACE WAS GONNA BLOW-”
“OH”
Well, that definitely made them run faster.
“But weren't there other people?!”
“No time, they're probably outside!”
They darted through the halls until they finally reached the top of the ship, bursting through the doors, jumping off the deck, and.. It almost felt like as soon as their feet touched the sand.. A loud booming rang through, silencing their chatter as their ears rang. It was deafening; time slowed for just a few moments as they huddled together, trying to take a grasp at what was happening.
—-----------------------------
Sanji panted wildly, trying to take a breath. His lungs convulsed at the smell of iron and ash, looking down at the ground. Flicking his head up to see a huge piece of debris fly over their head, someone was yelling at him, but he couldn't hear; everything felt muffled. Turning to see Zoro with his mouth wide open, mouthing things he couldn't hear until he felt someone harshly drag him up onto his feet.
The fire was the only thing able to light their way as the sun set quickly.
The walk back was torture, the only sounds being choppers sniffling the waves on the beach and the hitching breaths of the crew.
All those innocents.. And there wasn’t even a single scream. Why didn’t they run?
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