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"We've seen countless beaches and sails through the oceans from the other side of the world and you want to go to a beach for a vacation?"
It's a valid meltdown from Helmeppo's part. The man in kneeling in anguish on the ground and filled with deep regret. This is a tragedy, a horror of the reality. Which he wonders if he still could be saved from.
"It's famous for having pink sands all across the beach!"
Helmeppo clutches his hands over his heart. He truly can't be saved anymore from this force of nature called beaches. And Koby.
"Isn't it interesting? I really would like to see it with my own eyes," Koby adds. His excitement is through the roof. The flyer on his hand clutched into a roll.
"Pink, you say?" Helmeppo glances to Koby's hair then coughed and falls down dramatically. "Khh- Even I can't run away from pink. If this is how my life going to end..."
Koby laughs and crouches to pokes. "What's wrong with beaches and seas? I bet you'll have so much fun you'll throw up."
Weirdly feeling suspicious, Helmeppo peeks up his eyes. "Throw up?"
"Garp-san and Bogard-san will be joining us!"
"ANYTHING BUT THAT OLD MAN!"
Helmeppo gets up and grabs Koby's shoulders really hard. His life is on the line. He might die for real if that's how it's going to be. Forget vacation or endless beaches, Garp will make it hell somehow. The running, the swimming, the terrible jokes- shivers running down his spine.
"Koby, listen. It's not too late to reconsider-"
The pink-haired pokes the sun visor right in the middle. "I lied. This vacation is only for us and the crew." That innocent smile can be so cunning sometime. "Now the pink beach vacation doesn't sound so bad anymore, right? Helmeppo-san."
The realization dawns in. This is his fate.
The man roared.
"KOBY, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
"The sun is bright! The sands are pink. The drinks are cold! And who's ready to have fun!?"
The crew roared back to Koby's motivational speech and-
"Wait, is that really motivational?" Helmeppo cuts in.
Koby elbowed him with a grin. "Who care about what the narrator said? The time is ours and we have this vast beach for ourselves thanks to Garp-san special connection."
"Really? That old man goes that far?"
Koby smiles, "I lied. I simply asked and we're just lucky. Come on, adventure awaits us!"
To be fair, Helmeppo has reconciled for the last two days. There's nothing wrong with a vacation on a pink beach, he thought. He could still chill enjoying the sun and iced drinks, living the life, enjoying the vibes-
"Stop dragging me around, you little clam!"
"I heard there's a cave nearby here," Koby adds.
Helmeppo curses, curses, and more annoyed curses. His gaze lingers to the crew having fun chilling and playing balls.
"I thought you came all the way here for the pink sands?" he grumbles, trying to reconcile for the second time.
Koby lets him go. His mood is through the roof, though there's no roof above them at the moment. They navigate the beach to the more secluded area. The rocks are black and sharp, scatters around, and spiking.
"What are you saying, Helmeppo-san? Sands are just sands even if they're pink."
Helmeppo swears Koby's mocking him right now. He stomps, follows close behind. "Then why the hell did you advertise pink sands to the reader when it has no correlation at all to the story? You're misleading all of us!"
Koby made conscious decision to not replying. "This is where the story really starts. There's a rumor going on that this cave can grant wishes. I thought it'd be fun and well, might as well."
Hearing that doesn't settled in well with Helmeppo. The man lifts his visor up to sneaks a doubtful glance.
"You believe that?"
"It doesn't hurt to try," Koby shrugs.
"I have a bad feeling about this."
The two goes further and makes a right turns towards the cliff. Koby's right, there's actually a small and short entrance just there.
"To think that this place exist," Helmeppo spoke first. It's really quiet in this area. Even though the other side of the beaches are crowded.
Koby turns his face to Helmeppo, a wicked little grin. "Smells like treasure already."
"What are you, a pirate?"
"I'm just joking." Koby waves his hand down. He beds down to peek inside before completely went in.
"Hey, wait for me!"
Surprisingly, inside the cave is huge. Helmeppo squints his eyes around trying to see until a light flashes across his eyes and it spooked him.
"Won't you stop fooling around!?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Koby laughs, "I'm also mesmerized."
The now weak-willed blond sighs. "You're having fun, aren't you? Also where did that flashlight came from?"
Koby lights the path ahead of them. It's dark and the pink sands are fading. "I have it in my pocket. There's wind coming from inside. The circulation is good."
"Now that you said it, it's not that humid in here," Helmeppo agrees. "We're going?"
"We're going."
There's nothing special as far as the walk. A cave is a cave and this one is just a normal cave can be found everywhere. Nothing is special or impressing.
"The sand are whites now," Koby mentions.
"Very cool," Helmeppo replies flatly.
Koby turns off his flashlight. "But isn't that looks cool?"
The end of the path is bright and feels warm. Helmeppo still isn't interested of all of this.
"Looks like your adventure isn't much of an adventure after all."
They arrive in an open space where the sunlight shines from above. The light hits the body of water pooling in the middle.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Koby kneels near the water and scoops the water. "This is seawater," he says after smelling it.
"Doesn't it mean this connect to the ocean?"
"Yeah, it's not unusual."
"And what's supposed to grant wishes in this cave?"
"Curious, aren't we?" Koby teases and elbows him. "Though, it's probably just a joke. To make people curious and to see this beautiful sight."
It does make sense but also no, Helmeppo thinks. "Yet that rumor alone isn't enough to make people gather here. Those pink sands are superior."
A brief silence fills between them. It's very quiet and peaceful. Like a warm embrace, enveloping blanket-
"Alright that's enough," Helmeppo cuts in. Again.
"Um, I think you're making the narrator angry..."
"Who cares? Come on, I don't want to waste my precious vacation here." Helmeppo turns around and walks away first.
Koby can only smiles and shakes his head. "Wait for me- huh? Wait, Helmeppo-san!"
"What now?" Helmeppo turns around to see Koby's running away around the water and kneels. He shifts his weight. "What do you found?"
"A treasure!" Koby jumps and waves the bottle he spotted. He makes a run to Helmeppo. "Message in a bottle. I've always wanted to find one of something like this. We're so lucky. My wish is practically granted."
Helmeppo scans the bottle with little interest. "Good for you, Koby."
"What do you think is inside? It looks pristine," Koby said excitingly. "Perhaps a message from the departed?"
Helmeppo frowned, "Done say something so eerie like that. Hey, why are you opening it now?"
Koby pulls out the wooden plug out. It's like unboxing new gears from the HQ. He drops down the rolled paper onto his palm.
"That paper survives better than me during drills," Helmeppo comments.
The paper is browned, smells funky, but sturdy enough to be unrolled without it shattering.
The two stands shoulder to shoulder.
Koby lets out a squeals. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing, Helmeppo-san?"
"Looks like a map and is probably a map," the man shrugs, still not fascinated even until this point. "Could be Laugh Tale."
"You understand nothing, Helmeppo-san," Koby said, his tone turns smugly along with that grin. "Only pirates would think this is a map to treasure, to Laugh Tale perhaps. Even if so, this robbed the fun. Luffy-san will be the one to go there."
"What are you trying to say? What are you going to do with that map?" He pointed to the paper as Koby rolls it back into the bottle. Sealing it inside once again.
"This is," Koby answers and turns around to throw ot back to the water. "That was a mysterious map. Nothing more, nothing less. It's just a map."
Helmeppo frowned even more. "Are you serious? You're not curious or anything? There could he treasure somewhere."
"We're not pirates, you know? I'm not interested in treasure. Are you, Helmeppo-san?"
Helmeppo eyes follows Koby who's already walking ahead with flashlight in hand. This was weird. The whole thing of it. It's as if everything is out of order. Very unlikely.
A bit unsettling.
He quickly follows. "Then what's the point of all this? We're wasting times."
Koby laughs. His answer is so out of it that Helmeppo dared not to press further.
"For the beach episode, obviously."