Hunger

Chapter 5

Several minutes earlier...

Columbina learned that their names were Sanji, Luffy and Zoro and that a fourth companion was stationed on their ship The Going Merry on the other side of the island. Usopp, they'd called him, had been the one to cause them to have an unexpected detour.

Was this Usopp of age and was he spoken for? If he didn't have a lady love waiting for him somewhere, stashed away like treasure after he came back from his pirating adventures, she might be tempted to fill that role herself. Assuming she could haggle her way off the island, he may have just saved her skin.

She sat against a fallen tree, not caring if the bark put runs in her clothing; Columbina's travel outfit was nearly ruined beyond repair at this point anyway. She was thankful to be taking a breather, gauging whether or not The Strawhat Pirates could be trusted.

She'd been promised a decent meal once they all got their bearings and decided that attacking one another probably wasn't in anyone's best interest.

She sipped from a water flask she'd pulled from her rucksack, sharing some of the last of her travel snacks with her strange new companions. She didn't have anything left on her that was substantial, but the last few pieces of baklava she'd stored away was getting a better reception than she'd expected.

Straw kid had eaten the snacks with gusto, licking his fingers clean when he was done. She'd been lucky to snag a piece herself, the guy who called himself Sanji having to smack Straw kid's hands away before he'd taken more than his fair share.

It was her comfort food, something she'd whipped together the day before leaving Indigo Town.

"You're going to have to give Sanji the recipe for this-what did you call it? Bock-Laba?" Straw kid-the actual Luffy said, his cheeks stuffed with the pastries. For the second time Columbina found herself smiling among them. She'd never seen someone so in love with food. It was a simple thing that made her heart happy.

She snatched up one more piece before Straw kid devoured it first.

"Bah-klah-vah," she repeated for him, enunciating the first syllable, "And that's close enough," she laughed at him. Now that they were enjoying food together and he wasn't attacking her with his stretchy limbs, he was kind of a treat to be around.

She popped her piece of baklava into her mouth. It would hold her over until they made their way back to the ship, hopefully with her in tow. It was Succubus Hunger that she now had to worry about.

And gods be damned but they were all just a bunch of kids. No one here she could potentially feed off of. There was no way in the East Blue Hell she was was going to take advantage of them, despite the fact that Sanji seemed determined to turn her into some kind of prized MILF.

He and Zoro had gone to look for her weapons for her once she'd convinced them of her weariness, not that it wasn't the truth. If she played the part of helpless damsel with only the pretense of a capable fighter, she might be able to one-up the situation.

She was relieved when she saw them making their way back, a glint of metal visible in the moonlight.

"Bless you," she said as they approached her.

"Bless me?" Sanji grinned at her. "With your presence, Columbina? Absolutely. Any chance I can get a kiss on the cheek for this?"

Columbina laughed. "Sorry, but I think you're far too young for me, Sanji." She looked between him, Zoro and Luffy. "Your cook always like this?"

"Practically with anything that presents as female and available," Zoro said. He was holding her weapons in the honte mochi grip, blades facing out. Placing his thumbs on the area where the blades met the hilt he released the weapons and they flipped into gyakute mochi, his grip now backhanded. To an ordinary observer it could have looked like perhaps he was relinquishing the blades, preparing to hand them back to her. The subtle move betrayed the fact that he knew how to use them and he was demonstrating this to her.

Perhaps he was a serious martial artist after all and not some child running around with dangerous toys.

"I won't be fighting you," she leveled her gaze with Zoro's. Winning his trust would be the hardest it seemed. Not that she could blame him. "All the same I'd like to have those returned. They belonged to someone dear to me."

Something crossed his expression she couldn't quite place. His gaze flitted briefly to his swords, now strapped back to his hip. His eyes then met hers again.

"Sorry," Zoro said, "But you don't get them back until you've convinced us you won't use them again."

"Fair enough," she said, making a gesture of acquiescence with her hands. "I'm sorry again, by the way. If that helps at all."

"She did give us pastries just now. She fed us," Luffy stated, "She's okay in my book."

"Come now, Zoro," Sanji interjected, "Does her beauty not convince you enough of her good nature? And besides, you were the one who startled her. You should be apologizing to this young woman."

"Looks aren't everything," Zoro countered.

Columbina smiled inwardly. He hadn't contradicted the beauty remark outright. Her enticement power was still working through him, but he was stoic enough to pretend he was ignoring it.

"Mature for your age. And that's a correct assessment. Thinking that beauty is the only thing that matters can absolutely destroy a person if they're not careful."

She stood, wanting to change the subject as quickly as possible and hopefully get a jump-start on whatever happened next.

"I have something you might be able to use for your ship, and I'm more than willing to give it up in exchange for my weapons."

She watched as they considered her, awkward silence permeating the evening.

"And the promise to not attack us again?" Luffy asked.

"Trust me, Straw kid. If I tried fighting you right now you should probably just go ahead and spaghetti punch me in my other kidney and get it over with. I'm in no state to be a threat to you, even if I wanted to be."

"Okay, then!" he said immediately, his demeanor cheerful and carefree. The fact that Zoro and Sanji cast each other sideways looks wasn't lost on her.

"Well Sanji and Zoro?" she asked.

"Captain's orders," Zoro said, finality in his voice. He looked at Luffy who nodded at him. "But the Going Merry gets repaired first. Then you get these back," he pocketed her sai in the sides of his own boots.

"Of course," she turned towards the shore and began to walk in the direction where her sailboat and its accoutrement hopefully hadn't completely drifted out to sea.

She hoped that panic wasn't displaying itself on her face at the fact that she was unarmed with her back turned to three strange men.

Columbina's thoughts drifted back to Buggy the Clown and how he'd gotten her into this mess and if she ever had a chance meeting with him how he wasn't going to walk away from her unscathed.