One Piece: Plant island

2

LxH]

"Let's go, Hancock. We gotta try to find the best fruit on the whole island. Then we can bring it back for Sanji to cook with." Luffy said with a goofy smile, eager to find something to eat.

"Of course, I will follow you everywhere," Hancock yelled as she ran after him excitedly.

Together, they raced through the forest, eager to find an area dedicated to edible plants, but to no avail. Luffy threw out the idea of asking someone for help, but there was no one around. Hancock was suspicious of this. That doesn't make sense, an island as valuable as this should be filled with people looking for something. An island with every plant known to man... It's more valuable than an island of gold.

As they continued to run, the surrounding area slowly changed from a forest-like biome, into a more tropical one. They had been running for almost 20 minutes now, and they hadn't seen any other people or any plant of interest. Not to mention, they didn't know what plants were and weren't safe. Just when they were about to give up and head back to the ship, a little shack became visible in the distance.

"Woah, look at that! Maybe there's someone there, I think we should go check it out," he said, eager to finally find something worthy of calling adventure.

Hancock made no protests and ran with him through the dense overgrowth of the tropical rainforest. Once they reached the little shack, Luffy knocked on the door.

"Knock knock knock Hey is anyone in here!?" He shouted as he violently pounded on the door.

It was a light, wooden door, that probably didn't protect very much. Luffy pounded and pounded on it until it shattered. Ignoring the lack of response, he walked into the shack which was pitch black on the inside. Luffy went in to explore, while Hancock stayed at the door. Luffy's eyes snapped back to the door when he heard Hancock scream in pain.

"Hancock!" he yelled desperately.

He just managed to reach her and catch her within his arms as she collapsed. He sat her down and looked outside the door for answers. Out of a bush, came a middle-aged man in jeans, a white t-shirt, and white sneakers. The man was as typical as you could get. He had spikey, red hair, grey eyes, and he approached them with his hands in his pockets. Luffy looked at the man angrily.

"What the hell did you do and why?"

"It's my job to defend the Climate Controller I won't let you through, y'know!"

"Climate Controller? I don't know anything about that. What the hell are you talking about and what does that have to do with why you attacked Hancock?"

"Wait... You're not from here?" he says, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"No," Luffy says bluntly, still confused at what the guy was getting at.

"Oh, well anyway, the Climate Controller is that little hut, y'see. Inside is tons of buttons and switches that control the climates of various parts of the island. It's what allows us to maintain every plant because many of them are grown in different places around the world. If anything at all is messed up in that room, the entire island could be destroyed. I'm sorry for attacking you, but it's my job to defend the Climate Controller to prevent that from happening."

Luffy released his balled fists, relieved that it was just a misunderstanding. He looked down at Hancock, who hadn't said a word yet. He looked her up and down, looking for what it was that hurt her. Lodged in her heel, was a needle, doused in some sort of liquid. She had been poisoned, all for some mistake. He took it out and looked back up at the guy.

"We just stopped by this island and we were looking for a town. I just ran through the forest and this is the first building I saw. I had no idea. I'm sorry," he said apologetically. He continued, "Please, I need some help. There was some sort of poison on the needle, right? What can I do to help her? Is there an antidote?"

"No need to worry, it was just a paralysis solution that will make her unable to move or feel her foot for about an hour, it's used for restraint, not for murder." the man said with a smile.

Luffy blew a drawn out breath of relief. "That's good. How about we start over. I'm Luffy. What's your name?" he said cheerfully.

"Oh, me? I'm Zonbi. Nice to meet you." the man said with a warm smile.

Hancock tensed up. His smile was like nothing she had ever seen. It was almost hypnotizing. It was like everything around them froze when he smiled. The swaying leaves and branches, the dancing grass, all of it froze in place at the sight of his wonderful smile. She was to scared to speak up, so she let the two talk.

"Great! Well, Zonbi, I'm about to head back to the ship, you wanna come with us? You gotta meet the rest of the crew." Luffy offered generously.

"Sure! My shift is about to end anyway. I'll come along." Zonbi said excitedly as if he hadn't had anyone to talk to in a while.

"Alright Hancock, get on my back," Luffy said, kneeling down so that she could climb onto him.

She did so without question. Hancock sat on his back and wrapped her arms and legs around him. Once she was secured, he stood up, causing her bare breasts to press softly against the creases of his back, completely flustering her and making her face turn a dark shade of crimson. With this, they started walking back towards the ship, there was a long walk ahead of them.

Hancock spoke up. "So anyway, why aren't there a lot of people around here? You'd think a lot of people would hop at the opportunity to get any plant they want."

"Well, it isn't like that. Y'see, we regulate what people can or can't get, or else it would be dangerous, y'know. And you don't see many people around because..." He hesitated as if just thinking of it pained him. "Well, there's this plant thats causing people to hallucinate and attack loved ones. A few have killed their families, only for the effect to wear off and them to kill themselves after they've realized what they've done. People are hiding in fear of accidentally coming in contact with the plant, they don't know much about it, so they can't take any cautionary measures to avoid it. The main attraction of the island is out of order and the island's economy is in danger of ruin."

Hancock grew worried. They had been running carelessly through the forest just a few minutes ago. Luffy didn't say a word; no one did. The trees and bushes moved past them as they contemplated the what the chances were they had run into the plant.

"But don't worry, I know a few people who are part of a team that is trying to figure out what's wrong and fix it," he said, trying to get her to calm down.