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

Chapter XXXVIII: Sabaody Archipelago

Jaune watched it come into view over the distance. What he had expected was a chain of islands spanning the sea. That was not what laid before them. Massive trees, taller than Jaune had ever seen before, rose from the waters like wooden titans. Their roots rose above the ocean's surface, sprawled about and covered in a dense green moss — or that was what he assumed at this distance. Overhead their branches tangled together nearly becoming a single mass of leafy limbs.

"There's bubbles!" Nora ran to the railing. Just as she said, the air around the trees was filled with bubbles floating about. Even on top of the trees, Jaune could just make out the sides of even larger ones resting there.

"Is that where we're headed?" Jaune asked, turning to Blake.

She held up her wrist with the log pose attached, the needle pointing toward the trees. "It has to be. The map shows this as Sabaody, and it's where the log pose is taking us."

The Barrel continued over the rocking waves, taking them closer to the massive roots. Soon, they were in range of the massive spheres floating down around them. Nora was the first to reach out for one, clearly expecting to pop it with her outstretched finger. To her surprise, and joy, it molded around her hand for a second before bouncing in the opposite direction. In no time she had grabbed another and started a game of volleyball with Neo.

Now that they were close enough, Jaune could actually make out people walking around the tops of the roots. The strangest part was how they seemed to use the bubbles. It was difficult to tell from where they were, but it almost looked like they had contraptions for using them like transportation.

"We should use this opportunity to stock up," said Ren, walking over to them. "We've been going off of what little Penny was able to get for us, and I would like our situation to be more comfortable."

"And I need more parts for Cardin's mace," Ruby chimed in. "I couldn't get the launching mechanism to work properly and wasted some material on it."

Cardin, who had been lounging nearby, opened one of his eyes. "Launching mechanism?"

Ruby spun toward him with her hands held out. "Shush! No spoilers!"

With that, they began organizing themselves into groups. Reaching the roots, Ruby and Penny were the first off the ship, heading off in one direction. Ren, Nora, and Cardin got off after them, the latter most being declared a pack mule by Nora, much to his chagrin. Finally, Sun, Neptune, and Neo stayed behind to watch the ship while Jaune and Blake headed out to explore.

"The trunks are numbered," Blake pointed out. Jaune followed her gaze and saw '420' in a bold white font. Although, the zero at the end did not look the same as the others. It was poorly painted and drooping in sections.

"I guess that will help us when returning to the ship. This all sort of looks the same to me." Jaune glanced around, taking in the nearly identical trees that surrounded them. Blake seemed to agree, her eyes darting about as they tried to figure out where they should go.

***

Oscar laid against the bottom of his boat, panting and clutching his chest as he tried to catch his breath. The voice in his head was rambling on about something, but he wasn't listening. No, that had gone out the window when a beast big enough to swallow him whole had surfaced from the water. Some weird glowing green barrier had appeared long enough for them to escape, so Oscar was starting to believe the voice in his head might be an actual person. On the other hand, the experience was still vivid in his mind. Adrenaline coursed through him, making everything feel both sharp and distant in his mind.

"That was," he breathed out, "That was horrible, scary, dangerous, and — and amazing."

"Yes, brushes with danger can be exhilarating, but do not lose yourself to them. If you throw yourself into perils, you might perish before we get to the marines."