One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Forty Nine [Rewritten]

-Chapter Forty-Nine-

"Hold on a second, are you sure there aren't any boats around here? How long will it take us to reach the shore?" Usopp asked.

"The rest of the night" Vivi dejectedly responded.

"That's insane!" he cried out.

"It can't be helped, the least we can do now is keep moving and not stop" I shrugged, not seeing any other option.

"Thanks a lot! Thanks for the ride, bye!" Chopper waved back at the crab, the only one willing to thank it for getting us this far.

"Oh, shut up—he's the reason we're in this mess..." Usopp bitterly grumbled.

"Oh, come on, you can at least try and be thankful that he got us this far" I said, rolling my eyes as he only seemed to pout.

"What the..?" he soon questioned when the water around us suddenly started to shift before screaming as a giant fish came bursting out of the water.

"It's a Sandora Catfish—they're rarely seen by humans!" Vivi gasped.

"Doesn't seem that rare to me!" Usopp cried in fear.

"Why are half the animals in this country so big?" I pondered once again.

"Did I also mention that they love to eat human flesh" Vivi nervously added as we started to quickly wade through the water.

"You could have told us sooner!" Usopp snapped, desperately trying to move away from the giant predator that clearly looked ready to swallow us whole. We soon stopped though when we realize that the fish had halted in its attempts and was now starting to violently shake.

"Get off me, dammit! I can't see a thing with you hanging on so tight, Chopper!" Zoro cursed as he tried to pull off the reindeer that was currently clinging to his face out of fear.

"Dugongs?" I questioned, tilting my head as the small animals that we had first met before entering the desert came bursting out of the water. Violently throwing the large catfish into the air.

"What? Kung Fu Dugongs?" Usopp blinked.

It wasn't long after before we were seated on top of the now knocked-out catfish while the Dugongs pulled it through the water.

"They said they were just looking out for their fellow pupils" Chopper translated for one of the Dugongs that tried talking to us.

"Aw, that's so sweet of them" I cooed.

"Pupils?" Usopp frowned. "What? They think Luffy's our master? Please!" he scoffed with the roll of his eyes.

"You really want to argue with them?" Vivi asked.

"Yeah, why don't you try showing them your strength, Captain Usopp" I lightly teased, causing the sharpshooter to cough into his hand as he started to nervously sweat.

"Hang in there, guys! Just a little further!" he suddenly cheered, opting to ignore the slight giggling that came from a few of us.

-Later-

"Thanks a lot" Vivi smiled as she, Chopper, and I all waved goodbye to the Dugongs.

"You guys were of great help to us" I happily chirped.

"Bye, bye" Chopper waved.

"Now that things are going smoothly, can we make it in time?" Zoro asked, grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers together.

"I don't know...even riding Eyelash...I'm not sure when we'll get there" Vivi admitted, worrying her lower lip after a moment of thought.

"Well this is rather troublesome" I sighed as the others nodded.