Ameliorate ✦ One Piece

46

"Could you, maybe, I don't know," Nami spoke, starting up suggestion number... Well, Akira wasn't sure how many they'd gone through by now. "Do something if we got you close enough to touch it?" The orange-haired girl asked.

"What?" Akira let out a small laugh that sounded like a mix of amusement and shock at the idea. "Can you imagine how much energy a thing this size has?" Her eyes widened once she realized Nami didn't intend it as a joke. "And even if I could do something along the lines of that, it's not a solution," she pointed out. "All that's gonna get us is to the bottom of the sea still inside this thing."

Sure, there was a chance the whale could open its mouth at some point if she drew on its energy. Some attempt at a struggle or resistance. But Akira wasn't willing to take the gamble on the chance of it possibly happening. Not if they weren't sure it would.

"Right," Nami gave out a small sigh as she realized it too. She focused right back on her maps and compass, trying to think of the next thing and hope this one wouldn't end up just another proposition with the both of them poking every possible hole into it until it proved useless just like all the ones that they'd thought of before.

Her concentration was interrupted a few moments later when the sound of screaming had both her and Akira looking towards the other shipwrecks from which it was coming. "Which one of them do you think it was?" Akira asked with a smile on her face as she relented in trying to see if she could spot the pair looking for the rowle which they needed.

She and Nami shared a knowing look between themselves, speaking in unison a moment later. "Usopp." They laughed together as Nami's focus went back to her compass, finger tapping against its surface as her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Something wrong with your compass?" Zoro's voice had the both of them looking over to see him climbing up to join them, carrying a rather long and large... Shovel?

"No," Nami shook her head in denial as she closed the compass up, focusing on him now and leaving it on the table.

"Good," Zoro said as he carried the large contraption over to set it on the railing of the ship while he grabbed some extra rope. "We need to be able to sail out as soon as I get this whale to open its mouth."

"Are we not going to talk about..." Akira stepped closer to get a better look under the light of the lanterns. "Whatever that is?" It didn't seem to be just a shovel alone but a contraption built out of a shovel and other spare wood they'd stored away for ship maintenance.

"What is that?" Nami asked once she finally noticed what it was he seemed to be working on still. "Besides a waste of our rope?"

Impatiently, Zoro turned to her with a sigh. "You said I couldn't get us out of here with a sword, so..." He sounded awfully pleased with himself as he picked the thing up and put it straight down against the deck, showing off its size which was nearly twice his own, if not more. "I made a big sword."

Akira had to hold in a laugh as she watched Nami scan up and down the length of the 'big sword' before her unimpressed expression returned to his smiling face. "What?" Her tone matched the look too. And this time it did make Akira crack.

"When the rudder is fixed," Zoro set the thing back down as he started to explain his idea in more detail. "I'll use this to poke that big punching bag looking thing on the roof of his mouth."

"The uvula?"

"So it's a girl whale..." Zoro muttered out thoughtfully while staring at the thing hanging off of the 'roof'.

"Oh my god, I'm surrounded by idiots." Akira shook her head in disbelief. How had any of them survived this long?!

"Whatever." Zoro got back to his work at once, ignoring their jabs and doubts as he stayed confident. "Then, we will be puked to freedom."