Her Wanderlust Odyssey

And Off She Goes

'Sakura was running through a forest, not knowing her destination. Though she couldn't speak, all she could hear was gunshots and cannon fire all around her. She was in a war. Sakura felt her legs burning but her body was refusing to stop.

The end of the forest was nearing and it opened up to a field of fighting. Out of breath, she was shocked at the view. People who used to be allies are now at each other's throats. What used to be a peaceful piece of land, turned into a war zone in a matter of seconds. The look in every soldier's eyes was a look of anger, sadness, and fear, but all of them full circled back to the look of betrayal. And even though all she could hear was the sound of war, she could feel everyone's sorrow as they killed.

Then her body started running again. She couldn't do anything except watch as soldiers on both sides went down. Suddenly, she tripped on something. She looked at what she tripped on and saw a dead body. Her hand moved and took something out of his hand. It was a photo of his family, a family that was waiting for him to come home, but that day won't ever come.

Sakura looked up and saw a group of soldiers that were running towards her, weapons in hand. She desperately tried to stop herself as she unsheathed her dagger and picked up the fallen soldier's gun, but of course, her body was refusing to listen. Sakura started to sprint towards the soldiers.

Then it went dark.

Sakura couldn't see anything, but she could hear and feel everything that was happening. She wasn't running anymore, she was attacking. Her sight returned but all the soldiers that were running towards her were all on the ground, dead. She looked down at her hands, all she could see was blood, but it wasn't hers. She wasn't just a spectator anymore, she was a murderer.'

=~+~=

Kaboom!

The sound of thunder woke Sakura up from her "dream." Ugh. What the hell, there's no way I'm gonna be able to go back to sleep after that. She quietly got up, careful not to wake anyone else up. As she aimlessly walked around to get that dream out of her head, the ship would sway back and forth and the lanterns would flicker. There were some pirates walking down the hall doing patrols but other than that, it was quiet and dark. She noticed that a light was still on in a room down the hallway. She headed towards that light and found Marco still awake. "Why are you still up?" she asked.

He jumped a little and turned around. "Jesus Sakura, don't scare me like that, I couldn't even feel your presence."

"Sorry." Sakura walked in and sat on this couch near the desk he was working at.

"I could ask you the same question."

"I just had a bad dream. You?"

"Working, I am a commander after all."

"But all the other commanders are asleep."

"Oh, none of them are patrolling the night shift today?"

"No, the people that I ran into were all just pirates. Want a sip?" Sakura asked as she drank the bottle of saké in her hand.

"Um, no I'm good, but I don't think that you should be drinking to help you sleep."

"Eh, I'm not sure if I wanna go back to sleep, don't wanna have the same dream again."

"Well, then you can stay here, but if it weren't stormy out, you'd probably be outside looking at the stars, am I right?" he joked.

"Ha. You already know me too well."

As Marco accompanied her for the night, she found herself dozing off.

=~+~=

The next morning, Sakura woke up in Marco's study. Apparently, she fell asleep on the couch and a blanket was placed over her. The storm finally cleared up and Marco was nowhere to be seen. When the hell does he sleep? She groaned as she got up, "Ugh, I didn't even drink that much and yet I still got a hangover..." Sakura groggily made her way to the sleeping quarters to gather her stuff and change.

=~+~=

"Morning Sakura," Marco greeted as she walked on the deck.

"Good morning, I feel like crap!" she cheered.

"Why do you think that it's a good idea to drink while you have a hangover," he pointed out.

"Hey, it's free saké," she pouted as she took another sip of her drink. "Where's Whitebeard?"

"Around the corner, sitting at his usual spot." Sakura turned the corner to see nurses all around hooking him up to several IVs and an oxygen line.

"Good morning Whitebeard sir!" Sakura grinned.

"I thought I told you to call me pops," he remarked.

"But weren't you drunk? I thought you didn't actually mean that."

"I was about twenty-five percent sober so..."

"Well then, thank you pops! It was lovely meeting you! I better be on my way now, I'm already behind on catching this Mildred McCoy guy."

"Who?"

"Oh, he's an escapee that caught one of my friends off guard. She was injured in the process and even though that jerk has only a one million bounty, I'm gonna hunt that guy to the ends of the world."

"What determination you have!" Whitebeard smirked.

"No one hurts friends or family," she asserted with a serious tone. "Well anyway, I guess I'll actually be going now!" she perked up again. "Again, it was great meeting you al-," Sakura was unaware of how close she was to the edge of the railing and stepped right off.

People rushed to the edge of the railing to see if she was okay. Thankfully, she saved herself from falling on her boat by using Geppo. "Ha, sorry, I'm still hungover so..." she smiled sheepishly.

"Are you alright young lady?" Whitebeard asked from where he sat.

"I'm alright! B-but I spilled all of my saké," Sakura sulked.

"Good," Marco commented. "Just for your sake, here. My Vivre Card. In case you ever wanna have a drink again kid." Sakura's eyes lit up.

"Woah, I have the honor of having the first division commander's Vivre Card?! I guess I shall come back for a drink!" she laughed.

=~+~=

As everyone watched as Sakura sailed off, Thatch, the fourth division commander walked up to Marco. "Wow, who would think that you would ever give a marine a Vivre Card."

"She reminds me of my younger self, someone who was reckless and enjoyed drinking whenever they could," Marco chuckled.

"I guess we'll be seeing her often, I like the energy that she gives off, it's contagious," Thatch smiled.

[End of the short story The Whitebeard Pirates]