Chapter 050

Vivi shook her head frantically. She brought herself out of her stupor and continued eating, not really caring that much all of a sudden. It really was delicious. Sanji just shrugged and sat down with everybody. After lunch, Nami informed everyone that they should be arriving at Little Garden soon before disappearing below deck with Usopp. Luffy and Zoro said they were going to train a little. For the next half hour, Vivi was lost in thought, worrying about the state of her country. She didn't know how much the situation had changed since she last checked with Igaram. She wondered where he was right now. Was he on his way to Alabasta as well?

Nami and Usopp came back up again, and she suddenly realized how long she'd been spacing out. "That's amazing, Usopp! Your theories are pretty sound," she heard Nami say. "Do you really think you can make something like that?"

"Of course," Usopp said confidently. "I once built a great cannon that could destroy islands with a single blast. This is nothing in comparison." Nami ignored Usopp's habitual lying in favor of thinking about the potential that the weapon he was working on could have.

"Hey, look," Sanji said, looking out over the sea.

"What? Did you spot the island?" Nami asked.

"Nope. Just a dolphin," Sanji replied. They all looked in the direction he was pointing.

"Oh,Oh, wow, that's so cool!" Luffy said. "It's huge!" Nami looked at him in confusion. Huge? As the creature drew closer, she soon realized what he was talking about.

"Just a dolphin…" Sanji repeated as the marine mammal that was five times bigger than the Going Merry flipped over their ship. It disappeared into the water and soon resurfaced, swimming right towards them. It looked like it was about to ram the ship, but Luffy held his hand out at it and it slowed down, coming to a slow cruise next to them.

"Good boy," Luffy said, to the exasperation of the others and the sheer amazement of Vivi.

"How did you do that, Luffy-san!? Why did it listen to you?"

Luffy grinned. "It probably knows that I'm gonna be the Pirate King and decided not to take any chances," he said jokingly. Vivi was surprised at that announcement.

"Pirate King? Are you after One Piece Luffy-san?"

"Sure am," he said proudly. "Just watch. I'll be the first to get to Raftel…" he trailed off as an odd, wistful expression made his way onto his face. It seemed out of place on him. Vivi was about to ask what was wrong when Zoro spoke up.

"Hey, we've reached the island," he said. Everyone looked over the water to their destination.

"So, that's the second island of the Grand Line," Nami said.

"To be honest, I'm a little worried about what Miss All Sunday said," Vivi said.

"I wonder if there are monsters here," Usopp said fearfully.

"If there are, bring them back to the ship," Sanji suggested. "We're low on food since we didn't get to stock up at the last town."

As the ship cruised through a small canal leading into the uninhabited island, an eerie feeling overcame Nami. "This place looks like some sort of tropical jungle," she pointed out. "Why is it called Little Garden?" She took a look around, unable to quite shake the feeling that something was strange about the place. She suddenly heard a loud animal call, and turned her head upwards to see a gigantic reptilian bird bearing down on them. Usopp shrieked, and Nami tensed up as it swooped down in her direction.

"Mutton Shoot!" Sanji's kick sent it shooting through the air until it collided with a tree in the forest. The tree collapsed on top of it. "Shitty bird," Sanji mumbled. After that they heard a loud roar, and turned to see a tiger bigger than a mammoth making its way towards the canal. Sanji got ready for combat again, but as the tiger came closer, it collapsed onto the ground bleeding.

"What's with this place?" Usopp asked. "What could take down a tiger that big?"

"Probably something bigger," Luffy commented.

"Right," Usopp said. "I think I've just come down with "I-can't-get-on-this-island-itis."

"We should probably stay here until the Log Pose sets," Nami decided. Luffy completely ignored her.

"Sanji! Prepare our pirate lunchboxes. I can just smell the scent of adventure," he said with a grin. Nami rounded on him.

"Didn't you hear me just now, idiot? We don't know what's out there!" she protested.

"We also don't know how long it will take for the Log to set," Luffy replied. "It could be a while. We might as well make use of our time."

"Hey, would you mind if I came with you?" Vivi asked.

"Sure!" Luffy said as he accepted two small boxes of food from Sanji.

"You too, Vivi…" Nami said helplessly as she sulked.

"I really need to unwind and get my mind off of things," she said. "Come on, Carue, let's go." Carue looked at her like she'd just told him to jump into a pit of fire before obliging.

Before leaving, Luffy seemed to hesitate about something. He turned to the crew. "By the way, the conditions in this jungle seem really intense. Make sure to take precaution against the elements." Nami's jaw hung loosely. Was Luffy telling them to be cautious? That was…extremely out of character. As the three set out, Sanji called after Luffy.

"Protect Vivi-chan, Luffy! And bring back some good game if you can!" Luffy called out a quick confirmation and they left.

"I think I'll go do some hunting too," Zoro said as he jumped off the ship and over the water. He paused, and then turned back to Sanji. "Why don't you go scout for potential enemies?" he asked. "Since that Robin woman knew where we were going, it's possible that they've already sent assassins here. I'll keep a look out as well."

Sanji nodded at the idea, and then jumped off the ship himself before walking out in a different direction.

"And…we're alone," Nami stated sardonically. Usopp looked equally disturbed. "And I can't shake this unsettling feeling," she added. Usopp looked at her questioningly. "Little Garden…I swear I've heard that name before, but I can't quite place it."

"hey,Vivi, check this out!" Vivi strolled over and looked closely at the object in his hand. "It's an octopus shell!" he said.

"This is an ammonite," Vivi said in wonder.

"Right. Octopus shell," Luffy replied.

"Luffy-san, where did you find this?" she asked curiously.

"The stream here is full of them."

"But how could that be? These are supposed to be extinct!"

"It's probably a prehistoric island," Luffy suggested.

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