Screw It, I'm Going Out to Find It!

Chapter IV: Sea Legs

They were forced to stop at a small island's port before traveling to, Blake had told them, Reverse Mountain. Spirits were low and so was the contents of Jaune's stomach. Before he had even a moment to recover, he was quite literally kicked off the bullhead by Neo. He supposed he deserved that.

"How do you plan on being a pirate if you puke your guts out like that, Arc?" Cardin asked gruffly.

Jaune slowly stood up. "First, k-keep your voice down about that. S-second, I'll take care of it."

Blake brushed past him. "Take care of it before we leave. I refuse to smell something that rancid again."

Jaune had no clue how he could solve a lifetime of motion sickness in one day, but he decided he did not want to argue with Blake's glare. Might as well look around the shops for something.

Ren volunteered to stay behind and clean their bullhead while the others went about the island. Blake quickly set out to get some charting supplies, Ruby wanted to stock up on ammo, Ren got Cardin to do some shopping for what they were unable to bring, and they got Neo to agree not to do anything too illegal with whatever she chose to do. She only caved to their request when Jaune pointed out that if they had to run from the marines, it might be before he figured out how to not throw up the moment they took off.

Jaune made his way into the bustling streets, weaving through the passersby and tilting his hat down to hide his face. It had been only earlier that day they had left, but they lived in a modern age and his face could already be plastered all over the web. It was difficult to know if that reached the Grand Line, but they weren't there yet.

He ultimately decided to find some over-the-counter medication to help calm his stomach. The issue was he had no idea where to look. Not a single one of the streets he passed showed any signs of a pharmacy and buying drugs from a random person was a shortcut to a disaster. He could only imagine taking one before spewing nonsense to his friends about something utterly ridiculous, like becoming a ninja and striving to be the leader of his village or whatnot.

Most of the shops were reminders of just how close to the Grand Line they were. They were tailored to sailors who planned to support themselves on a sea faring vessel. Despite being a harbor town, there was a lack of tourist shops, instead he saw various dust shops, weapons stores, produce markets, and places for common sailing goods like rope, cloth, and lumber. He paused at one of those places, halting his search for pharmaceuticals to purchase a large, dark cloth with some white paint. He couldn't comfortably afford any other colors without losing most of his spending money, so he decided they could figure that out later.

Now carrying those with him, he was regretting not waiting until the end to buy them. The sun was beating down on him even with his hat for shade and the heavy metal can was weighing down his arm. After two total hours of searching, he decided to take a quick break. No one could fault him for wanting a bite to eat, right? As most of the buildings, in terms of not shops, were hosts to bars, so he found a small stall cooking seafood instead.

The lady who owned the stall, a stout woman with piercing eyes, was far kinder than she first appeared. He ordered a simple meal, shrimp with some sort of sweet sauce, and stood to the side while he waited. She got to work, throwing the shrimp with some spices into a pan over the fire. While the shrimp cooked, she began going through a crate of fruit to make the sauce. She suddenly spat out a few choice words, making Jaune think she was probably a sailor at one point. She then threw one of the fruits behind her into the trash.

Jaune tried to make small talk while he waited. "Does that happen often: fruit going bad?"

She shook her head, pulling out a different fruit, that he could now see as a plum, to chop up. Her voice was a bit coarse. "It's all the weird stuff that happens over in the Grand Line making its way over here. The fruit randomly changes to look weird and, from what I've heard, tastes terrible."