The Curse of the Fruits (A One Piece Fanfiction)

Chapter 23

Kaede

"Not really. Can we just stay like this for now since I won't see you for a while after we hit Sabaody?" I say and I let out a yelp when Zoro moves me onto his lap.

"You don't have to ask." Zoro says kissing my forehead. "How long's this time gap going to be?"

"Just over two years. I can stop in to visit a couple times but I don't know how many times and to what degree I can visit." I say and Zoro raises an eyebrow.

"Degree of visit?" Zoro asks.

"It's the way I categorise if I can just be a voice, if I have an appearance but not solid form, and the last one's if I can pull of a solid form." I say.

"As long as I know you're okay then I can survive but it would be nice if you could visit once and a while." Zoro says and I smile.

"Don't worry I'm planning on visiting." I say snuggling into Zoro's chest.

"You better." Zoro growls lightly as he tightens his arms that are wrapped around me. We fall into silence just enjoying each other's company until we both drift off. I stretch my arms before opening my eyes to be greeted by the sight of an empty crow's nest. I climb down to the deck and notice that everyone's sitting on the deck.

"Morning Kaede. Did you sleep well?" Robin asks looking over her shoulder at me.

"I did surprisingly. Totally thought I'd get a cramp in my back." I say ignoring Sanji who was noodle dancing everywhere.

"Screw catching food I just want to eat it. Sanji dinner." Luffy says throwing his rod onto the deck from where he and Usopp were fishing while Chopper and Brook were on standby with nets.

"Hey look. There's a big school of fish down there. We finally hit the jackpot." Usopp says and I take a seat on the stairs as I watch the horizon.

"See as they say good things come to those who wait." Brook says.

"I change my mind." Luffy says back on the railing with his fishing rod. "Wo there heading straight for us."

"You wanna try Nami?" Chopper asks as the navigator walks over. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure but something feels off here." Nami says and I nod before thinking of something.

"Hey Nami we're almost near the Red Line, right?" I ask and Nami looks over at me as we both ignore Luffy's whining about the fish swimming right past.

"Yeah, we're getting close. We should be there some time today." Nami says and my eyes widen slightly in realization.

"That looks bad." Zoro says and I look up at the sky where he was looking. The sky was starting to fill with dark clouds and I can already hear slight rumbling.

"You're kidding me." Nami says.

"What is it? Don't just make a scary face and say foreboding things like that." Usopp says and in a second the sky is dark while whirlpools are everywhere.

"It's a sea snake current." Nami says.

"Okay but what is that?" Chopper asks.

"A pain in the ass to deal with." I say pretty much groaning.

"Brace yourself." Nami says just as the water in the center of the whirlpools shoot up into the sky.

"The waves, looks like they're alive." Zoro says.

"I get why they're called sea snakes." Franky says.

"This is quite the sight." Brook says.

"Awesome," Luffy says and I shake my head.