Odd Eye (One Piece Fanfic)

-13- Please don't Swim; if you Can't.

"I think you two owe me an explanation," 

Titus seethed, his arms crossed and his eyes dark-- "a big, bloody one before I punch a hole into this moldy boat."

His hair dripped fresh with water and salt, his clothes blew cold with the bristling breeze that threw his hair around like an ominous death call.

Cross and Takara sat on their knees before him, looking at the ground with a deep-seated apology at their lips. Leer, shaking himself dry, seemed regretful.

Cross, drenched from head to toe, fiddled with his fingers nervously.

"I... ate a weird thing when I was uh, younger," Cross mumbled, "so now I can't swim."

"Uh-huh," Titus grumbled, "so why in the hell did you jump into the sea when Leer fell in?"

Cross shrank, unable to compose a response.

Titus snapped toward Takara. Takara flinched.

"I-I'm sorry," Takara stuttered out, fearful, "I have a metal spine and I'm technically still in rehab, and it's a heavy contraption so I can't move it well underwater, so--"

"Why in the world are you two playing pirate in the middle of the FUCKIN' SEA when neither of you can swim??" Titus screamed at the sea.

  "I can swim, but I don't like to," Takara corrected.  

"Oh, but Leer can swim!" Cross offered cheerfully.

"Then why did you jump in to save him?!?"

  ー  

"I didn't know you smoked," Titus chuckled, catching Takara loitering on the edge of the boat.

A cloud of grey smoke ballooned from his lips, clouding the blonde and making him cough-- Takara laughed at the sight.

His knife tucked into the wood sphere he was carving, he sliced off another neat portion from it, sculpting a strange, diamond shaped object.

"I do smoke sometimes," Takara supplied, taking another shot at it. "Are you bothered by it?"

Titus hummed in interest, "I do too, but I ran out of cigs."

"Unfortunately, this is my last stick so you ain't getting any from me."

"I ain't asking, ya cheapskate."

The two growled at each other in humorous hostility.

Cross and Leer were asleep atop the cabin, cuddled closely together with a thin blanket draped over them. 

The sea was quiet and peaceful, the winds brushed strong in his face. Titus eyed the fluttering mainsail struggling against the mast-- placing his hand at the shroud, Titus checked the compass and looked once again toward the sky.

"Shikke Island, was it?" Titus spoke up to Takara, "have you been there before?"

Takara's face fell.

"No, I haven't," he admitted, his eyes, leading towards the horizon. Nothing could be seen yet, the horizon was babylon-blue, conjoined with the bluish white expanse-- a sight as beautiful as it was, could get boring in the blink of an eye, "but I've heard rumours about the climate there."

"A rainy country?" Titus guessed.

"Yeah... why do you think?" Takara raised an eyebrow, noting Titus' concerned expressions.

Titus' lips curled up a little nervously, "well, I think we're in for a pretty bad storm."

  ー  

Sure enough, two little fishing boats didn't do well in the gale.

"Reef the sails," Titus yelled over the commotion, "further!"

The waves were horrendous and the twisting gusts were turbulent. The boats swung near capsizing with each careless step, and more often than not, Cross and Leer tripped dangerously over the edge. 

"Cross, the string's coming loose!" Takara hollered, fearing the two boats would come apart and be separated in this typhoon, "Leer, get into the cabin!"

Titus gripped the mast hard, eyeing the compass and the waves-- and to the cloud of black in the distance-- an island.

"Hard to starboard!" Titus called out, "grab the oars, Takara, we're not making it with the sails alone!"

Center of gravity was naught but pointless on the sea-- the boat swung nauseatingly, thrown about back and forth in the brine, trapped and blown around endlessly, unable to get anywhere-- Titus stumbled and picked himself up.

A storm at sea was hard to survive-- but Titus was a navigator, he had to keep calm in situations like these. Alone, he'd made it out of storms before-- but this storm was a notch above the rest and he now had another ship to steer with his.

Takara threw an oar to Titus, who caught it.

"You think we'll survive?" Takara raised his voice over the thunder that ripped across the skyline.

Titus gulped, "that still depends."

Takara was drenched-- and he didn't like it. His metal parts squawked irritatingly and whined in the dampness that stuck to little crevices.

His hair mixed with water and stuck to his face, a disturbing thread flowing into his eyes-- but he had no time to be worried about that.

"LEER!" Cross shrieked.

Eyes snapped in the direction of the scream.

The bear was in the air, far beyond reach. The tiny little beast was flailing near tears in the air, struggling to no avail as the gale brought him in a circle across, dipping down-- then promptly plopped into the ocean waves.

Silence overtook the three humans on board.

Cross screeched, bringing a foot overboard and leaping into the ocean after him, "Leeer!!!"

"Stop it, you idiot!" Takara grasped him before he was gone, throwing the child back on board and handing him the oar. turning back toward the sea, Takara feared the bear sank deeper, unable to fight the currents-- "Goddammit, I'll go!"

He shot a look at Titus-- Titus flinched, understanding a look of determination in those eyes. Trust-- and Takara eyed Cross again.

"I'll see you on the island," Takara promised.

He dove into the sea.