Searching for Brothers [One Piece fanfic]

Chapter LXVI: Shishmani Island

Chapter 66:

Word count: 2.5 k

THIRD PERSON P.O.V.

To say it simply, Law was wrong.

They were not attacked like they all assumed would happen. The woods seemed eerily quiet, Clementine ducking her head to avoid the branch that hung over her head. At such a movement, her attention moved to the ground. Her eyebrows furrowing in disgust as she noticed purple slime sticking to the tree's roots, releasing toxic-looking purple hazy smoke.

Instinctively, she covered her nose with the white handkerchief she kept in her pocket, knowing it would be better not to inhale any of it.

"Bepo, be careful. Right here, there's some suspicious-looking growth. You shouldn't inhale any of the spores," Clementine softly warned, her eyes filling in worry for the polar bear mink, who had an enhanced nose compared to the other human in the crew. At her words, the mink's round ears twitched before avoiding where she pointed, covering his own nose with his orange jumpsuit sleeve.

However, Shachi wasn't too lucky. Having not noticed the slime until she pointed it out, his closed covered feet dipping into the liquid. And immediately, a sizzling sound emerged, making him shriek and fling his shoe off.

Clementine blinked in surprise as the white shoe flew past her head, hitting the tree next to her before pitifully falling to the floor. The blonde woman peered at it curiously, watching as the rubber of the sole melted right before her eyes.

"Why couldn't you warn all of us instead of just Bepo?!" Shachi cried out, checking his feet in worry. He wiggled his toes sadly, noticing that the purple slime had eaten through his sock, his big toe poking through the hole pitifully.

"Sorry."

Shachi sent the female a stink eye after noticing she didn't sound a single ounce sorry. Instead, Clementine's blue gaze shifted around the forest floor, seeing that much of the plant life looked toxic with the hues of purples and red. She crouched down, noticing a purple mushroom that seemed to glow a pale yellow, her hand moving to poke it out of sheer curiosity.

"If I were you, I wouldn't touch that. That mushroom only grows in areas filled with high levels of mercury and lead and will make you sick for the next week if you were to consume any of it. Just a touch against your skin would cause painful blisters."

Clementine's finger stopped millimeters away from the fungi before pulling her hand back, looking up at Law, who eyed her with somewhat of an annoyed gaze.

"I wasn't going to actually touch it," Clementine huffed, avoiding eye contact with the pirate before standing back up. Her cheeks were a soft hue of pink because of her embarrassment, however, it quickly disappeared as she placed her hand on her chin.

Her glance shifted to Law, the said man also having a thoughtful expression on his face as he scanned the area. "It's strange, isn't it?" Clementine muttered, the dark-haired pirate's attention moving to her, "these plants that look toxic are growing in these woods. But the trees don't seem to be affected too much." The teen placed a hand on one of the trunks of the tree, being able to feel its life energy humming against her palm.

Many of the crew tilted their heads in confusion, not understanding what she was pointing out. But Law's eyes narrowed, his own gaze shifting over the colorful array of plants, many of them familiar to him for being toxic. Seeing toxic plants in the woods and the wild isn't something unusual. However, seeing these specific plants was unusual.

If Law remembered correctly, the mushroom and the slime-like growth were only discovered and recorded in war-destroyed land that was filled with human-made radiation. They didn't grow naturally.