A Thousand Treasures (One Piece)

Eight

Water connected everything. The mother of all nature. Plants couldn't bloom, creatures couldn't survive, and the lands wouldn't be tied. It formed the blood that moved through the human body and gave movement to the muscles beneath the skin.

To focus on that connection and feel as it travelled through every inch of the body. Feel the cool of the ocean breeze as it entered her lungs, and how her ribs moved while her lungs expanded. Feel the shift of the muscles in her hands as they flexed. The movement of her bones. Feel everything. Understand the way her body worked and felt. A self-diagnosis. She had to understand. To listen to that quiet hum ever in her ears and feel the gentle vibration against her stomach. To make sure everything was still working as it should.

Mixed eyes opened and a palm pressed to her liver, fingers slipping beneath the fabric of her fitting black crop top. The vibration couldn't be felt through the skin unless it was pressed. A gentle hum against the surface, the intestine firm. From what she could tell, everything was still operating as it should. Admittedly, that was fortunate, because if it ever stopped... She had no real way of fixing it. Though, the damn thing wasn't designed to break easily.

"Ria!" Usopp's voice came from the main deck, "Ria, hurry! We're almost there!" Moving off the floor of the girl's room, Desugurippu was fitted to her back and her belt of pouches and ammo cinched to her hips before she went to join the others.

Little Garden steadily grew closer. A mountainous island with various volcanoes and a thick forest. "Our second island in the Grand Line," Luffy grinned. Perched where he always was, on Merry's figurehead. They sailed further into the island via a canal through its center. The trees on either side were thick and stretched towards the sky. Obviously centuries old. The bushes grew to be up to her shoulders. "So, this is Little Garden."

"What's "little" about it?" Zoro voiced.

"Ahh... i-it's like a terra incognita. It's a thick jungle!"

"It's perfect." A grin settled across her features, "places like this always have some treasure stashed around somewhere. People like to hide it where they don't think it'll be found."

"Looks like an adventure to me," Luffy snickered.

"We should stock up on some food while we're here, too," Sanji informed. "We didn't get anything in the last town."

"We should find a barbecue restaurant."

"Seriously? An island like this isn't going to have something like that." Illyria raised a brow at the idiot. "This place is way too behind the times."

"We need to find food to cook later," Sanji agreed. "What are you even thinking?"

"But it seems dangerous to go ashore," Nami commented as she leaned on the railing beside Illyria. "Just look at those plants. I've never seen them even in encyclopedias."

CRAAAW! CAAAWWW!

A strange call echoed through the wood. Two voices shouting out and their hands covering their ears. "What was that?" Nami exclaimed.

"It's alright," Sanji soothed, "it's just a bird." A shadow grew over the ocean, blocking the sun from her skin. "And this is just a jungle. Don't worry." Mixed eyes lifted and looked pass the cook. Taloned feet half the size of her body drove towards Sanji's back. "What's wrong?"

One smooth movement and Desugurippu was pulled from its containment and flung through the air like a disk. The blade burying into the beast's head the same moment Sanji threw himself to the side. The creature collapsed as dead weight on the deck. Half the size of their ship, large talons, and no beak in sight. Instead, it had a head more akin to a lizard with a mouth full of sharp teeth. "It's not like any bird I've ever seen." The sole of her shoe pushed on the creature's head as she yanked the blade from its skull.