The Silver Haired Pirate

Chapter 28

The rain was still pouring. It was coming down quite harshly, but all the more refreshing. Aki could barely hear the voices from the town square since the pitter patter of the rain that splashed against the ground was quite loud.

But he could make out the voice of King Cobra who was, no doubt, yelling at the top of his lungs so that the people that surrounded the plaza could all hear.

After a few more minutes dozens of footsteps began to approach the group of pirates. Several Alabastans surrounded them carrying stretchers and looking quite worried. Aki, who'd been sitting on the ground leaning against a barrel, looked up at the newcomers and smiled at them.

"W... why are they all right here?" One person asked

"They're more injured then I thought." Aki ignored them and instead opted to listen in to the Marines who were also staring at the pirates. It seemed like they really wanted to take them under custody, but a swords-woman had stoped them. No doubt their superior. 

Aki flashed her a smile causing the girl to blush and quickly look away. He suddenly felt someone pulling him up by the arm, which caused him to look forwards again. Only to be met with someones gaze.

"Hello..." Aki said uncertainly. 

"Ah! She's awake!" The guy yelled, dropping Aki onto the ground again. Luckily Aki caught himself before his butt could connect with the stone path.

"'she?'" Aki mumbled to himself suddenly feeling a bit depressed.

"Sorry ma'am," began an older looking person, "it's just with your eyes all closed like that it was hard for us to tell if you were awake like that."

Aki smiled at him and chuckled, "It's no problem, and I'm not a woman. I am flattered though."

>>>>Time Skip<<<<

When the other Strawhats woke up, the first thing they noticed--besides the bandages and warm beds they were laying in--was the missing person.

"Where's Aki?" Asked Chopper when Vivi entered the room. Vivi smiled at the reindeer and noticed the others leaning in as if expecting her to answer. She sweatdropped at their eagerness, but responded nonetheless.

"He said he wanted to go walk around and jot down any new plants he could find. Said something about making new recipes for Sanji-san."

When Sanji heard this he immediately began spinning around the room like a psycho, waving his noodle arms around spewing nonsense of Aki's new found love for him.

Zoro grabbed his sheathed katana and smacked the cook on the head. "Shut up, it's not like thinks of you like that or anything."

Sanji retaliated by kicking the swordsman in the back, when Zoro turned to walk away. "What did you say marimo? Don't say things you don't know are facts."

"Isn't that what you were doing?" Nami asked watching a fight unfold. She would've stepped in, but she was too tired. Instead she turned to Vivi. "So it's true he just left like that?"

Vivi nodded and unfolded a piece of paper she had in her palm. "Yeah, he came by earlier actually with this. He said to give it to Chopper." Vivi then pointed to a bowl filled with herbs and flowers that was by the door. "He also brought that in."

Chopper's eyes sparkled and he hopped over to Vivi who handed him the creased paper.

"Dear Doctor," he read, "on this sheet of paper I've listed out herbs that I found while walking around that I figure you can use as medicine. It turns out Alabasta is a garden of health, it only took rain to make the plants bloom." Chopper gapped at the note. The others were pretty shocked too.