Chapter Text
Robin had been able to see spirit animals since before she could walk. The ability was granted by a recessive gene found in approximately 5% of the population of Ohara. Now, it was found in only one place: somewhere vaguely east of Fishman Island, anchored in the small cove outside of an island called Ghoulop. Or, more precisely, aboard the Sunny Go.
Robin turned a page and took a moment to glance around the harbor; eyes opened and disappeared in whorls of flower petals across the Sunny , and throughout the docks. After the flurry of petals had passed, she smiled and opened her eyes. After a moment of reserved contemplation she returned her attention to the book she had picked up in the quiet town.
She had relieved Usopp from watch when they had gathered together for lunch, and he had been grateful for the chance to explore the peaceful town. She had been quietly thankful for the opportunity to sit on the deck and read her new book without any distractions. It was about soul theory, the ties between people, soulmates, spirit animals, and devil fruit.
Once, the Ohara Archives had, had extensive texts about “spirit animals.” The topic was treated as a phenomenon similar to that of the Klabautermann; a “mysterious” occurrence which was well-documented, but not well-studied.
Her mother had once told her that it was best to not mention the animal companions: it was unclear whether they were a projection of the viewer’s perception of the person the animal was associated with (the animals only appeared after the viewer spent some time in the company of the person), or if they were a constant reality. Regardless, the mentioning of them tended to yield awkward or uncomfortable results.
Robin had learned, through the years, that some spirit animals could take multiple forms. Usually, if a person was of a certain willpower or temperament, their animal would have two or more forms. The more she saw of the world, the more she suspected that those capable of wielding Haki were the ones whose animals most commonly took multiple forms. It seemed true of her crew, anyway.
One of the many reasons she had been drawn to the Strawhats, originally--those few years ago--had been that she could see their Spirit Animals the first time she met them. In fact, even the Strawhats that had joined the crew after her had been rare cases where she could immediately see their animal companions. Luffy had an eye and, what appeared to be, an instinctual understanding for things no one else could see. Or really, she reflected, for things even he couldn't see.
Robin set her book in her lap, took a sip of the fizzy mint drink that Sanji had left for her before he had disappeared into town, and glanced around the harbor once again. A large black heron--sneaky, dangerous, attuned to the wind and waves--swooped low over the rooftops. Robin watched the swoop and glide of the bird until it disappeared down into the low streets between buildings.
- - -
The thin older woman blinked through thick glasses at Nami, “What way is your logpost directing you?”
Nami looked up from the clothes’ racks and then glanced down at her wrist, “Why?”
“Well, Miss, if you’re headed slightly up you’ve caught the floating island’s pull. It moves, and so every now-and-then people will be drawn to it instead of Ishnari--the next island: they’ve got great sheep, a little place, just a week’s travel nor’east of here.”
“...And if I’ve caught the pull of the floating island?”
“You should be careful. There’s a low-hanging mist that surrounds the island. It drives people mad: they hear voices, see things.”
Nami rolled her eyes, and gave the older woman a flat look, “Things .”
The woman nodded, “Things.”
Nami’s eyes widened slightly in irritation, and she parroted back at the woman, “Things.”
Now the older lady seemed confused. She tilted her head like a bewildered owl, “Things…?”
With a sigh, Nami leaned forward, “So, how long do travelers need to stay here to let their logpost lose the floating island and catch, uh, the sheep island?”
“No one’s ever managed to make it switch over to Ishnari after it points to the floating island. If you’ve ended up with it though… They say that there’s a great treasure, and so you can often trade it for--Miss? Miss, where are you going?”
- - -
As the rest of the Strawhats returned to the ship, Robin smiled and her eyes followed the flight of the bright stained-glass wings of a giant dragonfly none of her companions could see. It was the first to return, but refused to settle; flitting around the ship, assessing for danger and comfort. It had a keen eye for both.
Nami stood in the center of the lawn, her arms crossed, with her weight shifting back and forth between her feet. She had something of interest to share with the rest of the crew: probably something involving treasure. Her fingers tapped out an impatient staccato rhythm against her biceps.
“Yaaa-hooooo!”
There was a familiar twang! accompanied by a high-pitched scream, followed by a smash-wham! and then, “Hee-Shihihihihi!” as Luffy--with Chopper an unwilling passenger--crashed onto the lawn.
The baby elephant following close behind Chopper, materialized at the edge of the lawn, trumpeted in amusement and waddled over to the small reindeer. Gently, it patted Chopper’s helmet with its trunk, and then skipped happily around the pair.
The black heron wheeled in tighter and tighter circles overhead.
The red colobus--Procolobus kirkii--which had been flung onto the the boat with the two youngest members of the crew, rolled around happily; seemingly unaware of the circling bird. It laughed, leapt onto the back of the little elephant, and then flung itself at the green tiger which had just returned to the ship. Before it collided with the large cat, it stretched, transformed, and it was no longer a small monkey, but a staggeringly large lion. Briefly, it flattened the tiger under its weight, and then lazily rolled over and off of the other giant cat. The tiger headbutted the lion goodnaturedly, and the lion rolled around on the grass in a lazy pile of King of the Jungle. Or Pirates, as the case may be.
The black heron landed on Nami’s shoulder, shuddered, and shrank down into a pack rat. It wiggled its small nose, and proceeded to run tiny paws over its nose and ears to clean itself. Definitely treasure.
A golden fox appeared gracefully on the railing of the ship, and with a fluid movement, ran along the siding until it could reach Robin. When it did, it made a small, happy, noise in greeting, and then scampered over to the green tiger where it proceeded to jump onto the large cat’s face. There was a brief kerfuffle which ended with the fox burrowed into the shoulder fur of the tiger, and the tiger sprawled lazily against the lion.
- - -
Spirit Animals rarely touched people they did not belong to. Even among most of the Strawhats it was rare. It happened--Robin was fairly certain that she had, had occasion to come into contact with every one of their animals--but, generally, they stayed apart. She had a feeling that, even if you were the closest of nakama, it was unnerving, or--perhaps--too much to be in direct contact with a part of another person’s soul. Brief contact was fine, but prolonged contact had the potential to be overwhelming.
There was, however, one notable exception: it seemed that Sanji’s spirit animal preferred Zoro’s company to that of the chef, and that Zoro’s spirit animal spent as much time with Sanji as possible.
The first time she had noticed, she had been taken aback. She had thought for months that Sanji’s Spirit Animal was a shark; swimming with the cook whenever he took to the sea. She had thought that Zoro’s was a fox. When she had first met the Strawhats, she had noticed the small golden animal curled around Zoro’s neck, and draped over his shoulders like an exotic fashion accessory.
When she had joined the crew as they left Alabasta, she had noticed that Zoro napped with a fluffy yellow duck in his lap. She had found it immensely entertaining that such a strong man should have such a soft spirit companion. Despite the incongruity, she hadn’t doubted that the small animal was Zoro's.
It wasn’t until Fireworks Island that she realized her mistake. For the first time, she got to see the Strawhats mingling with people that did not want them dead, were not oppressed, and did not owe any of Strawhats for rescuing them. She was a silent and amused witness to how the crew interacted with “normal” people.
After their initial foray into town, they had gone to gather Zoro so that he could participate in the festival as well. It had been an entertaining evening. When the crew had stopped in the town square so that they could rest their feet and enjoy street food, she had taken the time to note the location of their various spirit animals.
The most obvious animals were Zoro’s colossal green tiger, which paced through the square keeping a wane eye on the locals; and Luffy’s monkey, which leapt from cart to cart eyeballing the food and peaking behind curtains.
Sanji’s spirit animal was nowhere in sight. The man himself was flitting from cart to wagon and finding the most intriguing and delicious treats to bring back to the rest of his nakama. From seemingly thin air he managed to materialize a leg of some huge animal for Luffy to gnaw on. For Robin and Nami he brought brightly colored ice cream confectioneries, he even found a cloud of cotton candy for Chopper. With a casual flourish, he delivered both a cup of kukku bajji and an aspersion of Zoro’s character to the swordsman.
After socializing and snacking, Robin sat back from the conversation, letting herself enjoy the lively presence of the Strawhat crew and their animals. What she saw left her speechless.
Sanji was sitting in a circle of tittering women, but he was leaning back against the giant green tiger. It boggled the mind. Robin looked over to where Zoro was drinking from a tankard and listening to Chopper talk, and--sure enough--draped over his shoulders was his almost constant companion: the large golden fox.
He had, had the fox on him earlier… In fact, it was around him so often that she hadn’t noticed that it was present at the same time as the green tiger.
As she watched, Zoro stood up and accompanied Chopper to a stall selling festival masks. He talked with Chopper for a while; it seemed that they were discussing which ones would be good for the crew. Eventually, he laughed and handed the vender a couple Berī, and he was given a round panda mask. They walked away from the stall and Chopper gestured excitedly to Zoro, speaking enthusiastically and grinning widely. Zoro nodded, and the reindeer scampered off in the direction of Luffy. Zoro smiled for a moment, and then turned and strode purposefully over to Sanji.
“Love-Cook, time to go see the fireworks.”
Sanji cooed at the ladies arrayed around him, “Nothing could be as exquisite as these ladies! They truly are the most breathtaking fireworks I’ve ever laid eyes on!”
This statement was met with general giggling, and one woman laughed, “Oh! Sanji-san, you haven’t seen our fireworks yet! They really are quite lovely.”
Sanji didn’t miss a beat, “Of course! This island must have amazingly talented ladies to make such--”
Zoro leaned forward and held the mask against the side of Sanji’s face--effectively cutting off the torrent of praise.
Sanji turned to dislodge the mask and yell at Zoro, but yelped when Zoro reached around the blonde and snapped the rubber tie into place. Zoro grinned as Sanji gaped at him, and the women tittered happily, “It fits you!”
“Oh, a panda, how nice.”
“Keep it, Sanji-san.”
“Who’s your friend?”
Sanji stood regally, adjusted his suit, and smirked triumphantly at Zoro as if to say, ‘Your plan has failed: the girls like it !’ The fox that had been draped over Zoro’s shoulders leapt to Sanji’s shoulders, and then down to the shoulder of the green tiger where it affectionately nuzzled against the large beast. Sanji spaired Zoro a scaithing look before he turned to wish the ladies a good evening; he needed to return to his nakama.
As he did so, the tiger headbutted Sanji’s hip impatiently and Sanji moved with the motion back towards the rest of the Strawhats. The tiger, looking mighty pleased with itself, returned to Zoro’s side as they walked towards the docks to see the fireworks. The fox remained curled up on the back of the tiger, enjoying the view of the fireworks from the comfort of its green throne.
- -
After that evening, Robin was sure to track the creatures carefully. The duck, she was now certain, was Sanji’s spirit animal--usually taking the form of a soft yellow duck so that it could sit on or around Zoro when Zoro was covered in bandages. Something, she noted, which appeared to be a worrisomely common occurrence.
While the tiger often appeared aloof, if Sanji actually sat down with the rest of the crew (a rare occurrence), it was more than likely that some part of him would be unconsciously resting against the green feline. On more than one occasion, Robin caught a glimpse of a kudaryōjin at the cuffs of Sanji’s suit.
Eventually, Robin knew both Sanji and Zoro’s spirit animals’ patterns: If Zoro was napping or lounging on deck, Sanji’s fox would be using his shoulders as a couch. If Sanji was cooking--chopping, frying, mincing, scraping, smashing, carving--the kudaryōjin would be wrapped around one of his arms or his neck like an exotic piece of jewelry.
Robin wondered (amusedly, but not seriously), watching their interactions, if it hadn’t started as a way of harassing each other: one of the closest and most intimate bonds she had ever witnessed between spirit animals, and their humans spent their time bickering. Of course, with the insight gleaned from the animals, Robin was much more aware of the affection between her two crewmates than anyone else appeared to be; including (she was sure) each of the men in question.
- - -
Faster than her eye could track, Luffy’s lion transformed back into the small red-backed monkey and threw itself against the large golden fox. The giant ground sloth--largest of the Strawhat spirit animals--curled around the growing pile of animals on the deck, and closed its eyes contentedly. Nami’s pack rat leapt down and threw itself bodily onto the pile. The brightly colored dragonfly finally landed, alighting on the head of the monkey. And with a tired ‘woof’ the ship’s ancient akita flopped down on the pile as well, panting happily. The tiger’s tail twitched, but the beast didn’t complain about his position at the bottom of the heap.
Robin blinked at the animal pile (a somewhat common occurrence), and then directed her attention to Nami who had begun to speak, “So, we’ll be going through this dangerous fog… Which makes people see things, and then we’ll reach the floating island which is known to have a hidden treasure!”
Robin mused, “I wonder if it’s not cursed?”
“Ho-ho-ho! How exciting! I hope it’s not guarded by skeletons!”
Usopp frowned, “Wait. What, what was that first part? Wha-wha-uh… What will the fog make us see?”
Nami flapped a hand dismissively, her eyes already alight with the possibilities of untold treasure, “Who knows? ‘Things.'”
“Mystery fog!”
Franky considered, “Sounds like a hallucinogen. I might be able to make an air-tight chamber...”
Chopper jumped up and down, scolding Franky, “That’s dangerous! This is dangerous! We’ll need a doctor to take a sample before anyone breathes it in!”
“Mystery sample!”
Robin smiled, “Chopper, you are the ship’s doctor.”
Usopp nodded, suddenly much more comfortable with the whole proposal, “Yes. Of course, I always thought a sample was a good idea. I might be able to utilize the--”
Nami cut him off before he could get too carried away, “--so we’ll need to ask around and see what we can find out about the treasure. We’ll leave tomorrow!”
She clapped her hands together, and the crew was--for all practical purposes--dismissed. Chopper, Usopp, Luffy, and Brook debated the ‘mystery fog,’ while Franky meandered off; presumably to his workshop below deck where he could plan for an (inadvisable) air-tight chamber. With a flourish, Sanji praised both women, turned and threatened the men against entering the kitchen, lazily kicked towards Zoro who was napping in his path, ‘When had he fallen asleep?’ and disappeared to complete inventorying the supplies he had picked up from the town.
The crew’s animals eventually wandered away from their pile. As usual, Robin noted that the fox stayed plastered to the tiger’s head. She smiled, returned to her seat on the upper deck, and continued her reading.
- - -
It was decided that dinner should be an island affair, and the Strawhats hit the town. The Sunny was docked in a private cove, and the crew--en masse--descended upon the town. With none of the locals in obvious duress, the crew was free to befriend, bother, and surprise the townsfolk at their leisure.
Most of the crew had ended their exploration of the town in the local alehouse. Even Zoro had managed--somehow--to arrive shortly after the rest of the crew (although he had a tick to his face that suggested that his had been an interesting afternoon).
Sanji, surrounded by beautiful women, flirted and gossiped, while his spirit animal prowled the bar for snippets of information and hints as to what their next adventure would entail. The green tiger stayed near the door like a silent sentinel, watching and waiting; assessing and preparing for an unexpected calamity.
Robin turned her attention to the task at hand and smiled at the bartender, “So, tell me a bit about this floating island. We were thinking of trading for one of those logposts that point towards it.”
The woman grinned, flashing gold-plated teeth, “Ya might not want t’go girly. Ya see, no one is the same after they pass through the mists. I mean, ya stop seein’ and hearin’ the visions, but ya ne’er forget ‘em.”
Robin crossed her legs and tilted her head just so, “And what are these visions?”
“Don’t rightly know, m’self.” The scraggly woman rubbed a hand against the back of her neck and squinted at the ceiling as though it had the answers, “Just knows it about drives people mad.”
From behind Robin came a deep sweeping sound, and Robin hid a grin behind one of her hands, she didn’t have to turn to know that Usopp, standing atop a chair on top of one of the bar tables was gesturing emphatically: he had a captive audience. The Roc, hunched in such a small space, unfurled its colossal wings, and--just as the storyteller’s tales did--managed to take up the entire room.
She smiled happily at the bartender, “We’re all a little mad.”
The woman looked taken aback for a moment, and then grinned crookedly, “All the best folks are!”
- - -
Throughout the next day they researched in earnest. It seemed that no one on the island was a survivor of the mist. Not a soul could describe to the crew just what they were going to be facing, or experiencing, in the fog. To a man, however, the townsfolk insisted that it was dangerous.
They did, however, manage to find some interesting information regarding the treasure. Hidden at the base of a grove of trees shaped like a “W,” they would actually be digging for honest-to-Roger buried treasure.
Supposedly, a pirate captain by the name of Marvelous Helen had sailed these waters some fifty years ago, and she had specialized in raiding armored capital vessels. Since all the currency she stole was undoubtedly government coinage, and since it could be easily traced back to “Marvelous Helen,” she had, had to hide it so that she could return to the stash once the government stopped searching for it.
She had been, by all accounts, a local--originally from the sheep-famous island of Ishnari--and her given name was Lyra. She had traveled all the seas and had seen the world, but--because she knew that there was no way of accessing the floating island between Ghoulop and her hometown, except by arriving at Ghoulop at very particular times (or having an eternal pose)--she returned to her home islands to establish her secret base.
It was rumored that Marvelous Helen led a double life: that of a notorious pirate, and that of a Marine Vice Admiral: Lyra Scoresby. Due to her association with the Marines, she never did manage to retrieve her vast wealth, and so--to this day--it remained unclaimed.
There were some oddities to the story, and some contradictions, but enough of the legend was repeated to various members of the crew (from a variety of sources), that it added some credibility to the outrageous claims. The exaggerated bits: that she could fell an opponent while wielding a dagger at fifty paces, that she could know the heart of a man simply by looking him in the eye, that she was telepathic, or that she could spit fire & acid all came from different sources, and seemed somewhat more unlikely.
- - -
On a more practical level, Franky learned that the island was--most likely, approximately--ten hours away from Ghoulop. Nami recommended that they sail through the night, and approach the island early the next day. Brook offered to man the Sunny overnight, "It’s a skeleton crew!"
As the Strawhats approached the island, Brook was “dozing” in the bunk room while everyone else gathered on the lawn. The “Mystery Fog”--a name which was increasingly looking like it was going to be permanent--was a solid bank of clouds which rose several hundred feet into the sky in a conical shape that looked like a tornado turned on its head. Or maybe the top of an ice cream treat.
Whisps of the fog, stray tendrils that hung in the air in an unnaturally slow rotation, reached about fifty feet out from the main body of clouds. Nami assured the crew that the island was moving, but that it seemed to be steadily heading away from them, and as long as they kept an angled course, they’d be able to avoid being uncontrollably swept into the cloud bank.
Chopper, with the aid of both Usopp and Franky, managed to gather a small vial of the cloud stuff. It dissipated shortly after leaving the main column, and required several tries to gather enough that he could condense it into a studiable sample. But even then the small pool of translucent purple liquid did not survive long and evaporated at a rapid rate.
After several hours of testing (and several new samples), Chopper determined that the fog was not toxic. In fact, he could not find any trace substances within the fog that would suggest that it was anything other than colored water.
Was it odd, its properties nonsensical, and did it seem to break the physical laws of nature? Yes.
In the end, Chopper managed to find hint traces of an “element” which he described as, “pertaining to Devil Fruits.” He wasn’t happy with the final conclusion, because it didn’t clear up the issue of the fog being dangerous: it just verified that it was nothing that he’d know how to deal with (other than flushing an individual’s system and waiting).
Not knowing the nature of the fog made him cautious, but the curiosity of most of the crew (namely Luffy), overrode caution easily. Both Luffy and Nami’s enthusiasm raised the spirits of the crew, and by mid-afternoon they were ready to take the plunge.
Brook joined the living (yohohoho), and they braced themselves for, “Things.”
- - -
The first thing that Robin noticed was the small ball of fur perched on her shoulder. The animal’s head swiveled around, seemed to grin at her, and then nuzzled into her neck happily. ‘Ah' she thought, ‘Of course it’s a mongoose.' And a moment after that, ‘ em>Oh. You see ‘things’.'
- - -
The fog made a curiously intimate experience even more personal. You couldn’t see an arm-length in front of you, and the sounds of the ship seemed muffled in the clouds. Each crew member was suddenly confronted by a living piece of themselves. For the faint of heart, the sudden bone-deep understanding that each person had their own constant companion might be overwhelming. For the Strawhats, it was an intriguing experience, but hardly one worth going mad over.
The moment, while deeply personal, and oddly revealing, seemed to stretch for an eternity in the fog. Of course, in actuality, the experience lasted only a few short seconds, and then was abruptly shattered by Luffy’s excited yell of, “Amazing!”
This was followed shortly by Usopp’s panicked shout of, “We’re all going to die!”
Oh dear, Robin thought, he must have been in his Roc shape.
Brook’s exclamation of, “Oh, you’re so delightful. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Was almost entirely blocked out by Chopper’s yell, “How are there suddenly so many of you?!”
This was followed by, “Watch where you’re going, Marimo.” And “Tch, idiot cook, you’re the one that ran into me.”
There was a high pitch shriek followed by a small trumpeting and then Nami, “Franky, was that you?”
Franky’s answer was pained, “I touched something wet and slimey!”
This broke any tension that might have been building, and the crew began laughing.
Slowly, the fog cleared as the ship sailed out of the white mist, toward a small, nondescript, island that appeared to be floating on a layer of fog approximately five feet (1.5 meters) off of the ocean’s surface. The ship, now bathed in the bright afternoon sun, sailed with 18 beings instead of the usual 9. The Strawhats had been confronted--rather abruptly--with their spirit animals.
With the tall mass of fog behind them, they were free to gawk. Robin restrained Luffy when the captain began to make grabby-hands at the exotic creatures that were suddenly populating his ship. Her voice brooked no argument as she addressed the crew, “For the time being, I recommend refraining from touching them. It would be a shame if we were to accidently damage someone’s soul.”
Through the moment of shock that this declaration caused came muffled laughter, and the crew turned to observe Sanji whose eyes were watering as he tried not to laugh out loud. With the crew suddenly looking at him he could hold his laughter in no longer and burst into loud guffaws, “It’s green!” With this declaration he fell to the deck in amusement.
The attention that had been directed at Sanji swiveled and took in the massive green tiger standing beside Zoro. There was some general chortling, and then a rampant epidemic of laughter. Zoro blushed hotly and looked away from his ridiculous crew.
Usopp, grinning wildly, managed to clear his throat, and pat Zoro consolingly on the shoulder, “It’s still a tiger.”
Looking mollified, Zoro tsked at Sanji--still rolling on the deck--and crossed his arms. The tiger gently headbutted him, and he eyed the beast warily. He wondered, idly, if it would be possible to train with it.
Nami turned from rubbing the fluffy chin of her packrat to look at Robin, “What do you mean we might accidentally damage someone’s soul?”
“They might what ?!” Evidently, Usopp had missed Robin’s earlier warning.
“They’re Spirit Animals. Representations of a person’s soul.”
Zoro’s permanent scowl increased, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to duel your own soul; he wouldn’t want to damage it, chances are he needed it to complete his goal. Of course, if the tiger was his soul, it was probably indestructible. After all, he did quite a bit of meditating, and strengthening of the soul, or spirit, or whatever.
- - -
To be fair, Luffy lasted at least five minutes before his curiosity trumped his willpower. He yanked on the monkey’s tail, the monkey stole his hat, and--with the help of all the other spirit animals--managed to create an amazing game of keep away.
Over the course of the game, Luffy managed to jump on the back of the baby elephant, use the giant sloth as a slingshot, dump himself on top of the tiger, and step on the tail of the akita. Avoiding putting weight on the poor old dog’s tail, Luffy tripped and tipped over the railing--only to be caught by the gargantuan Roc. The bird dumped him unceremoniously on the deck, and the crew breathed a sigh of relief as the monkey toddled over and dropped the hat back on Luffy’s head.
The crew reacted to Luffy suddenly coming into contact with their animals with a general fondness. Luffy seemed completely unaffected, but each crew member ended up with wide smiles ranging from rueful and indulgent to dopy and amused. Luffy felt like an electric ray of sunlight; a huge personality that would eclipse lesser souls. But he was their nakama--their captain--and each crew member found that, instead of shrouding them in his brilliance, Luffy acted as an amplifier which made each stronger in turn.
- - -
There was an unspoken agreement that on this first day the crew would moor on the island, and exploration would happen tomorrow. After they had gotten a handle on suddenly having spirit animals. Robin, in particular, thought this was a wise decision. When complaints were made (mostly by Luffy, who took the whole experience in stride), she was quick to assure him that there was quite a bit of adventure to be had aboard the Sunny, given the addition of twice the amount of normal crew members.
When a spirit animal touched someone they didn’t “belong to” it sent a zing! of energy to that person, and both individuals had a close impression of each other. As nakama, the crew was able to deal with the odd intimacy of the act, but the intensity of the connection increased when you concentrated on it, and meant that it was not something that was sought out after initial curiosity had been sated.
The animals seemed thrilled to get to interact with the crew, and spent a good deal of time attempting to speak with Chopper. Chopper said that he could almost understand what they were saying, but that the “language” they used was different than normal animals. He was more likely to get impressions of what they wanted to say than exact words. He had admitted to Robin that the language was probably more advanced than any he spoke.
“Perhaps, Doctor-san, it is more primitive than any language you speak.”
Chopper shook his head in wonderment and laughed at the bright dragonfly that had flown over to comfort him. From across the ship, Usopp grinned at Chopper, and shook his head in wonderment.
When the animals came into contact with each other, there was still a feeling of closeness between crewmates, but it was something which the crew was already familiar with. Being able to see the interactions made the moments more obvious, but they were by no means uncomfortable.
Shortly after the crew began circulating amongst each other, Sanji made his way over to Robin. The fox was wrapped tightly around his neck and draped across his shoulders. There was a tension in the body of the fox which was not normally present when it lounged on Zoro’s broad back. Sanji’s concern was almost palpable to Robin who was familiar with the body language of both the man and the spirit animal.
“Robin-chwaan~! Do you think that they’ll need to eat?” He smiled broadly, and cocked his head to the side in inquiry, but the watchful eyes of the fox betrayed the deeper importance of the question.
“Sanji-san.” Robin smiled softly, “I’m afraid I don’t know. It’s unlikely that they’ll starve and die because you can’t feed them.”
Sanji’s eyes bugged widely, and looked completely petrified for a moment before Zoro’s great green tiger came up from behind him and headbutted his hip. He turned to scold whoever had run into him, his eyes immediately seeking out Zoro from across the deck, and the biting remark that was on the tip of his tongue was cut off by a harsh intake of breath. He looked down from Zoro to the tiger, and one of his hands fluttered to the lapel of his suit where he it gripped it with white knuckles. He licked his lips and took a deep breath, his cheeks flushing slightly, and his brow knit into a small frown.
Before he could formulate a response to what was happening, Zoro spoke up from his spot against the railing, “As if you wouldn’t ply your poison on even moreof the crew given the opportunity.”
“What did you say, shithead?” And, just like that, the spell was broken. Spirit animals momentarily forgotten, Sanji launched himself at Zoro from across the deck. Mid-flight the blonde burst into a bright halo of fire, and when his shoes slammed into Zoro’s blades there was a shower of sparks. Zoro rotated his blades against the fine shoes, and Sanji kicked himself up and over Zoro’s shoulders--bending forward and grabbing the railing that Zoro had been leaning against. Using his hands as an anchor point, Sanji swiveled his hips and brought his feet down in a sweeping arch towards Zoro’s head. Jumping back, Zoro avoided the scythe of deadly flesh, and waited for an opening.
As Sanji tilted his hips to begin a new strike, Zoro saw his chance. He darted forward, and blocked the cook’s powerful legs with the flats of his blades. He tossed the legs up and away from him; rolling his shoulders with the force of the impact. Zoro pushed himself forward with the momentum gained from colliding with Sanji, and shouldered the cook’s torso, hoping to send the slender--less slender now--frame flying into the water below.
Unfortunately, the sneaky cook was just as flexible as Zoro should have known he was, and Sanji’s spine followed the push of Zoro’s shoulder without tossing the cook into the water. Sanji picked up one of his hands from the railing, and rotated his body to spin with Zoro’s bull rush. Sanji, now performing a one-handed handstand on the railing, and facing away from Zoro, used his precarious position to his advantage and fell forward, curling in on himself, and bringing a heel straight over the railing and squarely into Zoro’s solar plexus. There was a rush of air from between the swordsman’s lips. Sanji grinned at Zoro triumphantly and hooked his free leg over the back of Zoro’s neck.
Zoro had a moment to contemplate Sanji’s triumphant grin before he was unceremoniously flipped ass-over-head and dumped over the side of the ship.
Zoro fell through a thick layer of the white fog, and hit the water with a mighty splash. He surfaced and snorted water out of his nose, and blinked his eyes through the sudden sting of salt. Shaking water from his hair he started swimming back towards the ship, intent on resuming the fight.
He stopped when he noticed a fin cutting towards him in the water. Curious, he held out his hand and let his fingers run against the harsh skin of the shark.
His spirit animal, because there was no doubt in his mind that the shark was his, nudged his fingers, and pushed him towards the ship.
There was a shout, followed by a nearby splash, and then Zoro was laughing at the irrate cook, bobbing in the water, teeth still clenched around a soggy cigarette. The cook spluttered and swam towards the ship, cursing all the while, “Shitty spirit animal.”
He raised his voice and shouted up at the ship, “Just because you’re a part of me doesn’t mean that I can’t fry you up into a nice stew.”
Usopp’s voice came over the edge of the Sunny, and filtered through the fog, “You guys alright down there?”
Zoro was fairly certain that he heard Nami, “Oh, just leave them.”
For the first time since he had been thrown in the water, Sanji looked over to Zoro, his eyes lit up and he grinned at the rumpled swordsman. He threw back his head and laughed, all irritation forgotten. Seeing Zoro out of sorts was one of his favorite things. And Zoro looked quite out-of-sorts: his hair was standing up every which way, and his robes were floating around him like a colony of green algae (possibly following its leader), and he looked like he hadn’t been expecting the freezing temperature of the water.
Zoro eyed the cook. The blonde’s hair was matted to his face, his suit was an expanse of wrinkles and salt stains, and he was convulsing with laughter; barely bobbing above the surface of the water. A huge sunny grin complimented his bright eyes perfectly. Well, the idiot clearly didn’t need to breathe.
Zoro, barely containing a grin of his own, splashed water over the laughing blonde. This was followed by violent sputtering, an undulation of the cook’s body, and a veritable tidal wave of water kicked at Zoro and into the air with Sanji’s powerful legs.
Seeing his cold and breathless future ahead of him, Zoro dove into the wave to meet it head-on. Once under the water he opened his eyes against the stinging salt, spotted a length of black-clad leg, and pulled the other man under the surface.
This was followed by much thrashing about and eventual retaliation. The two men spent several minutes attempting to drown one another, or possibly splash each other into submission. Neither was terribly effective in their attempts, and the “fight” was punctuated by side-splitting laughter.
The shark, having circled away from the pair, swam back and nudged Sanji towards the ship. Sanji turned to look at the huge beast, and reached out a hand towards it. The shark nuzzled into the cook’s hand, and Zoro’s breath caught at the sensation. So close. His hands. Trust.
Sanji turned to grab the rope hanging down from the ship. He spared Zoro a brief, completely indecipherable glance, and then hurried up the side of the ship. Perhaps the chef was as confused and effected as Zoro was. Zoro watched him go, treading water, and waiting for the black shoes to disappear into the fog. He would have stayed in the water a moment longer, but his shark nudged him impatiently, and he was suddenly very aware of how cold the water was.
Sanji’s voice came over the edge of the ship, and Zoro could swear he heard the smirk through the fog, “Don’t miss dinner because you’re too busy playing with your shark, Mosshead.”
- - -
Spirit animals, it turned out, did not need to eat. And it seemed that even with the white fog, they were not always entirely tangible. However, this did not stop Luffy’s small monkey from putting away almost as much as food as Luffy did. And, as predicted, Sanji dealt with the added mouths without any trouble.
During Usopp’s post-dinner story (an unofficial gathering that happened on a semi-regular basis), his small dragonfly transformed into the mighty Roc. Usopp, still adjusting to the idea that such a gigantic and intimidating bird was his, squawked and fell off the barrel which functioned as his impromptu podium--immediately leaping to the top of Franky’s shoulders in a blur of panicked scrambling.
The resulting amusement was taken in stride, and the crew--tired out from the adventure of meeting themselves--crashed on the deck. Luffy declared that it was nice enough to warrant a “camp out,” and the entire crew was enthralled by the sudden appearance of hanging lanterns and brightly colored tarps that Franky seemed to materialize out of thin air. The bright decorations hung across the deck of the Sunny and splashed the dark night in color and light.
After finishing the dishes, Sanji brought out hot chocolate and hot buttered rum for the crew, along with individual servings of ice cream. There were exclamations and praise from most, and he twirled happily under the gratitude of the women.
Eventually, Brook started up a round of singing, and the crew yelled and sang until they were hoarse.
As the night wore on, the crew began to doze off. Luffy lay sprawled across his lion, covered in playing cards, and snoring loudly into the night sky. Usopp, lying near the feet of the lion, held up his hand to look at the sky through the brightly colored wings of his dragonfly perched on a fingertip.
Thin blankets adorned most of the crew (courtesy of some disembodied hands). Robin lay on her reclining sun chair, a small lamp on the table near her and silently read. The hand not holding the book gently scratched at the mongoose she had finally gotten to meet. Franky muttered equations and rumbled quietly to himself in his sleep. Chopper had crashed on Franky’s chest, and Brook was sprawled haphazardly against the cyborg.
Nami opted for her bed, shaking her head at the huge pile which her nakama--plus their spirit animals--created. However, before turning from the railing and disappearing into the ladies’ bedroom, she spotted something interesting.
She had noticed, throughout the day, that most of the animals had been staying close to their respective humans. However, while Zoro had retired to the crow’s nest early (he had first watch) and Sanji was cleaning up the last of the dishes from his impromptu dessert… Both their spirit animals were with the crew. Or, rather, with each other and tangentially with the crew. Sanji’s fox had turned into a sunshine-colored duck, fat and fluffy--almost regal--as it sat atop one of the barrels beside the nakama pile. Snuggled into the soft-looking feathers was a small pipe dragon; a twist of pale green against vivid yellow. Nami smiled at the strange pairing. The two creatures seemed incredibly close, and much more affectionate than their counterparts. She tucked that new tidbit of information away, and covered her mouth as she let out a jaw-cracking yawn.
Turning, she opened the door to the ladies’ bunkroom, and offered a small finger-rub to the pack rat which hadn’t left her shoulder since they’d begun singing songs.
- - -
Sanji was beginning to wonder if there wasn’t something to the rumors that crews tended to go mad once they came into contact with the white fog. Robin had been rather knowledgeable about the phenomenon, and had acted as the voice of reason (as she so often was) throughout the day. But Sanji had been feeling out of sorts all day. His routine hadn’t been too terribly affected by the addition of his nakama’s spirit animals, but he had been feeling off, just the same.
He rinsed the last bowl of the evening, and set about wiping down the counters. He needed a cigarette.
After he was done, Sanji tossed the rag into the bin, tapped his cigarette on the counter to settle the tobacco, placed the filter between his teeth, and brought his lighter to bear. There was the crisp sound of burning paper, and then he let out a long smoky sigh.
Sanji leaned forward with his palms on the countertop and rotated his neck. After a short while of breathing and stretching, he began rotating his ankles. He might need to work off some of his excess energy if the feeling of wrongness didn’t subside.
- - -
The next morning saw Robin up bright and early, coffee cup in one hand, and backpack for exploring over one shoulder. Sanji flitted about the kitchen creating Pirate Bentos (upon order of the captain), and Nami had “borrowed” one of Usopp’s spyglasses so that she could search for any sign of a grove of trees in the shape of a “W.”
Usopp, rudely kicked awake so that he could fetch said spyglass, watched the island with a wane eye.
Chopper had, had the last shift on watch, and was groggily sipping at a mug of hot cocoa that Sanji had brought for the reindeer when he had brought Robin her drink.
Chopper was quietly talking to Franky about what the fog might be, and how the island floated above the waves. Usopp wandered over to take part in this conversation just as Brook walked over so that he could loom behind Nami, “Can you see anything, Miss Nami?”
Nami, startled, spun on a heel and whacked her staff sharply against Brook’s head. There was the resounding and hollow noise of the staff connecting with bare bone, and then a merry, “Ho-ho-ho-ho! You nearly took my face off! Good thing I don’t have one! Yo-ho-ho-ho!” ...Followed by another hollow thunk!
Franky had begun to describe how he would make an island fly, and Chopper’s tiredness was forgotten in the fervent excitement of Franky’s invention. With stars in his eyes he listened to the engineer describe waterfalls of cola and flying cities. Usopp’s excitement, an almost uncontrollable urge to describe his own flying castle, was palpable as he practically vibrated listening to Franky’s theorizing.
Robin tapped Usopp on the shoulder with a disembodied hand, and he turned towards her. She winked and covered her mouth with a slender finger before pointing to the railing where Zoro had fallen asleep sometime in the middle of the night. As she had suspected, Zoro had a golden ball of fur curled up around his neck and across his shoulders.
Usopp took a moment to digest what he was seeing, and then--realizing the significance of what he was witnessing--turned back to look at Robin in shock. His eyes wide as saucers, he motioned erratically, and mouthed, ‘What?'
She smiled mysteriously and nodded as if to say, ‘That’s all.’
With an audible, “Huh,” Usopp spared another glance for the sleeping swordsman, a small smile creeping across his features.
“Sanji, MEEEEEAAAAAT!”
And with that, the entire crew was up.
“Wait your turn shitty rubber.”
After the fifth time that Luffy was kicked away from the galley, only to return at top speed, there was a roar and Luffy hit the ground under the weight of Zoro’s tiger. He held his distinctive straw hat to his head, and shouted upon seeing the large beast.
“Why does Zoro get to eat first?!”
From behind Luffy, and across the deck, came Zoro’s shout of, “What? I’m not eating, idiot.”
“But-!”
Usopp elbowed Robin and unsubtly nodded his head towards the kitchen door where the green tiger was sitting lazily on the captain. It yawned, unintentionally showing off razor sharp fangs, and backed off so that Luffy was free--although it didn’t move from the threshold of the kitchen.
There was a shriek from the galley and a victory whoop as Luffy’s monkey came swinging out of the kitchen--a platter of foodstuffs clutched between its feet, “Mr. Monkey! You’re the best!”
Which is the story of how Luffy ate all the meat for the breakfast sandwiches and everyone else ended up with eggs. It was also the story of why Luffy ended up tied haphazardly to the mast while the rest of the crew ate and prepared for disembarkation (each of the crew’s spirit animals--in turn--brought Luffy things to snack on while he was tied to the mast).