𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 || ᴏɴᴇ ᴘɪᴇᴄᴇ

𝕰𝖆𝖘𝖙 𝕭𝖑𝖚𝖊 𝕾𝖆𝖌𝖆 | ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 𝟷

SHE SAT UP ABRUPTLY, her chest raising up and down in a rapid speed as heavy panting left her lips. Riona place her hands on her chest, feeling her heartbeat increasing by the second.

Luffy quickly snapped his head to her direction, and ran over to her side. He kneeled down next to Riona, concern evident in her features.

"Rina, are you okay?" Luffy asked with a soft tone, his brows furrowed as he took notice of her distress. The young woman couldn't manage to utter a word to her cousin.

All she did was send him a nod, as if trying to convince him that she's fine, but Luffy can see right through her. Luffy let out a sigh, and took off his straw hat and place on her head as she took deep breaths. "Is it your mom again?"

Riona nods her head, lowering her head to the wooden planks of the small fishing boat. Her soft hand reached out to her sheath, where her sword is perfectly adjusted, and began fidgeting with the strands. He tilt his head to the left, his brows furrowed even more as he saw something in the distance.

"Hey, Rina, what's that?" Luffy asks, tapping her shoulder, and points his finger at the dark patch of ocean that seems to be growing larger as the seconds go by.

"Huh?" Riona turned her body around, squinting her eyes to have a better look. Her eyes widened and ket out a groan of annoyance. "You gotta be kidding?! That's a fucking whirlpool!"

"Damn..." That's the only thing that Luffy uttered out with a carefree laugh. He took a hold of the straw hat and place it on his head once again.

"It'll be really bad if this boat wrecks." He added with a nonchalant tone, earning a glare from her, but that only made him smile. "And on top of that, I can't even swim."

Her eye twitched, blinking repeatedly in a quick motion before speaking up. "Doesn't matter if you can swim or not, if we don't do something quick, we're gonna die."

Luffy nodded his head in agreement at her statement. "Well," He glanced around, placing a hand on his chin, trying to think of something.

"We have this empty barrel that I was going to fill with food later." He walks over to a barrel, took off the lid, and looks up at her. "We should totally use it for this."

"I don't see how that's gonna save us." The young woman muttered, rolling her eyes. "That thing is way too small for the both of us."

"But then again," She sighed, walking over to the barrel, hoisting herself into the cask. "It's either we try this and have a chance of living, or we wait around and get sucked into the whirlpool."

Luffy nods his head, smiling at her, then jumped into the barrel right next to her. Riona rolled her eyes and mumbled, "I swear, if we don't get through this, I'm gonna kill you."

***

Riona doesn't know how much time had passed since she fell asleep along with Luffy. It could have taken days or weeks, and she wouldn't even know.