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Chapter 38 - Chapter 38 : Salvaging A Family

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"There's really an Island in the sky!" Luffy yelled.

"Well, not really, it's more like a sea," Robin explained.

That only made us even more confused than the concept of an island in the sky. Robin explained that she'd never seen one herself, but she had heard about them.

"You shouldn't worry about the Log Pose, you should worry about how we're going to get there," Robin told Nami.

"I'm telling you, this thing is broken," Nami insisted.

"It's not," I spoke up. "There really may be an island up there. The Log Pose is never wrong."

"When I think about it, I remember Mom and Dad talking about an island in the sky once," Rose said.

Luffy and Usopp pulled a coffin over from the wreckage of the ship, and Robin began examining it. She carefully opened the box and meticulously reassembled a skull from the fragments inside.

She's amazing.

"This man died 200 years ago, around the age of thirty. He most likely died of a sickness. You can tell because his teeth are intact," she explained. "His teeth are covered in rubber oil. This is a custom from the South Blue."

Robin took out a small book and scanned through the pages, finding a picture of the ship that fell from the sky.

"All that just from a skull," Nami said, amazed.

The ship started sinking, and Luffy almost drowned. We pulled Luffy back to the ship, and he showed us what he had found.

"Look! Look!" he yelled, thrusting a paper into my hands.

"Relax." I took the paper and scanned it. "It's a map of Sky Island."

I showed the others, and they were just as surprised. Nami pointed out that even if we had a map, we couldn't get there.

"You're the navigator, you figure it out," Luffy told her.

"We need more information, like Robin said," Nami told him. "Since the ship sunk, we're just going to have to salvage it."

Usopp went and assembled some makeshift diving suits. We only had four, so Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and I were going down into the wreckage, and the others would stay and watch from above.

"Good luck, guys," Nami said as she pushed us into the water.

We slowly sank down. Along the way, we saw giant sea monsters. Chopper called in to check on us and make sure we were able to answer him. We slowly came to a stop at the ruins of the ship.

We were forced to walk in the silence of our own tanks, and it was rather unsettling. Once inside the ship, we started to look around. Some guys showed up, but they were easy enough to get rid of. Everything inside the ship crumbled upon touching it and made it hard to learn much.

This looks like a bust. Still, I bet Robin would like it down here.

The room we were in was suddenly penetrated by a huge claw.

"What the hell's going on?!" I yelled up to the others, but no one answered.

Next thing we knew, the room started to fill up with air. When the room dried out, we decided to take off the barrels.

"What's going on? Is someone else trying to lift the ship?" Zoro asked.

"I hope Nami and Robin are okay. Rose, too," Sanji worried.

I let out an audible growl and got stares. We tried to call the others, and no one answered. One of the walls exploded, and a monkey came into the room.

"Who dares cause trouble on my turf?"

"Cool, a monkey," Luffy said to what I now realized was a human.

"Do I really look like a monkey?" the man asked, getting excited.

"More than a real one," Luffy told him.

What does that mean?

We got to talking and had a good time under the sea in that ship.

Rose's POV

We were waiting for the boys to surface when a huge turtle showed up and ate the ship they were in.

"AHHH! They got eaten alive!" Chopper yelled.

"This is a nightmare!" I said, cowering in the corner.

The ship started rocking and getting pulled in by the turtle.

"If we don't cut the hoses, we're going to get pulled in," Robin told us.

"We can't! Zoro and Steve are still down there. They may be alive, have some faith!" I yelled at her.

I thought she liked him. She's ruthless.

"Rose," Nami called me. "You and Usopp cut the ropes to ensure our safety."

"You're the devil!" we both yelled.

The sky suddenly became very dark. A shadow was cast as far as the eye could see. We started screaming and flailing around, trying to figure out what was happening. There was a thud and Luffy landed on the deck with a bag tied to his back.

"Let's go! We're leaving!" Steve yelled, climbing back onboard with Zoro and Sanji.

They started talking about a crazy gorilla. They didn't even see the giant turtle nearby.

"That monkey was probably Masira. He came to salvage that ship," Usopp explained.

We started getting the ship ready so we could set sail. Luffy woke up and started helping us.

"You're not going anywhere!"

Masira jumped out of the water and landed on the ship. "You think you can steal the treasure from me?!"

Masira's men started screaming at their captain and pointing to the sky. When I turned around, I saw them, three giant men with wings.

I'm gonna take a nap now.

Steve's POV

THUD

I looked over and saw Rose pass out and fall onto the deck in a heap. Chopper and Zoro ran over to check on her. The rest of us ran to the oars and paddled as fast as possible to get to safety.

"PADDLE FASTER!"

When we saw light pass through the clouds, we finally came to a stop.

"Yeah. That was scary."

We looked over and saw that damn monkey. We ran up and threw him off the ship and told him not to come back. We dumped all the junk from the other ship on the deck to examine.

"This is all you brought back? It's trash!" Nami yelled.

"This was all there was," Zoro told her.

"We don't need rusted old swords and an octopus. We need a logbook or a diary," Nami said, bemoaning all our hard work.

"Come on, that stuff was cool," Luffy yelled as Nami kicked his suit of armor.

"You are all morons!" Nami yelled, stomping up the stairs.

Robin stopped her at the top and placed something in her hand. It was an Eternal Pose to a place called Jaya. She had apparently stolen it from the monkey-man's ship.

"You're the best, Robin!" I yelled from the lower deck.

"Thank you, Captain."

"Again, please call me Steve," I told her.

Luffy started yelling at Nami that he wanted to go to the Sky Island, not Jaya, since he didn't want the Log to get recorded over.

"Luffy, we can go to Jaya and get information and leave before the Log resets," I told him, trying to calm him down.

"Onward to Jaya!" Luffy cheered.

We started heading for Jaya, and I went inside to take a nap. Unfortunately, before I could fall asleep, I was interrupted.

"Hey, little bro, let's talk," Rose said, entering the room.

"This is the men's room; you're not supposed to be in here. And you could at least knock," I told her.

"Doesn't matter, listen up," she said.

"Fine, what is it?"

"Robin
 Stay away from her."

Excuse me?

"What?" I tried to make sure I didn't mishear her.

"I see how you look at her
 Don't get too close to her."

"Since when do you tell me what to do?!" I yelled, crawling out of my hammock.

"I'm your older sister, I can tell you whatever I want. I don't want you hanging around with that woman!" She fought back.

"She has a name, you know!"

"Regardless, she's way too old for you!" she said, pointing out a fact I was already aware of.

"You don't think I know that? So what. I don't care how old she is. I feel something, and that's all that matters," I told her.

Of course, I knew Robin was ten years older than me. I didn't care. As they say, age is just a number.

"Come on, Steve! Grow up and stop having stupid fantasies."

"Oh, like yours with Zoro!" I told my twin.

"What, I can't be attracted to a man? I am a grown woman, you know! That reminds me, if you can tell men to keep away from me, why can't I tell women to stay away from you!"

"Because I'm a brother, and that's what we do! We look out for our sisters!" I told her.

"What, try and control my life!" she yelled. "Screw you! Guess what, Zoro and I were already seeing each other before I joined you guys!"

WHAT?!

"So now you're keeping secrets! Both of you! I can't believe this!"

I thought he was my friend!

"Where do you think you're going!" Rose yelled as I stormed up the stairs.

"To kill Zoro!"

"Stop! Get back here!"

I ignored her and stomped out onto the deck.

"Hey, Steve, wanna play tag?" Luffy asked.

"Shut up, Luffy!" I said, pushing past him.

I found Zoro training on the upper decks.

"You son of a bitch!" I ran up and punched Zoro in the face. "I trusted you!"

Zoro fell to the ground, and I jumped on top of him and began delivering more punches.

"Why'd you lie to me?!"

Zoro rolled me over and punched me. "What are you talking about!"

"You told me you were just her friend! I told you to stay away from Rose!"

"She told you?"

"Yeah, and you told me you were just friends! What the hell!"

"That's because she asked me to keep it from you! Glad to see she manned up and stopped letting you control her life!"

I rolled Zoro over and went to punch him. "YOU BASTARD!"

I was kicked off Zoro and crashed into the nearby railing.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" Sanji yelled.

Sanji was holding Zoro back from coming at me, and Luffy and a Heavy Point-transformed Chopper were stopping me.

"Move, Luffy! I'm gonna kill him!" I tried wrestling out of his grip.

"Stop!" Luffy said, pushing me back. "You're being stupid!"

"ENOUGH!"

Rose yelled, storming up to the deck. "You're both wrong! Just calm down!"

"You!" she yelled, walking up to Zoro and slapping him. "How dare you talk to my brother like that. I asked you to keep it a secret so that this wouldn't happen, and when I tell him, this is how you react, you gloat. I thought you were better than that, Zoro."

He put his head down, and Rose walked over to me and slapped me as well. "And you. Stop it. We may be twins, but we are our own people. Stop trying to control my life, and I'll stop trying to control yours. You and I
 we're the only family we've had for so long
"

I thought back to that day.

"Remember, Steve, you look out for Rose, okay, and you look after your little brother, alright, Rose?"

"They told us to look out for each other," I said, starting to calm down.

"Exactly. But they didn't tell you to lock me away in a tower," she said, looking at me with sad eyes.

Everyone was starting to calm down. I was still a little upset, but Rose was right. I had to let her live her own life. There's nothing wrong with looking after her, but she's capable of making smart decisions, like who to date.

Doesn't mean I have to like the guy.

"Now you two." Rose pulled me and Zoro toward each other. "Say you're sorry."

We both stared at each other and begrudgingly shook hands. "Sorry."

"Wow, great effort, guys," Usopp deadpanned.

THUNK

A group of seagulls crashed into the deck, surprising everybody. Chopper ran over to them and found they'd been shot. Usopp told him they likely had been shot and just happened to die over the ship.

We arrived at Jaya a few hours later. It was awkward getting used to Rose hanging all over Zoro. I mean, she did it before, but now it just felt different. As we approached the island, we saw more and more pirate ships docked along the bay.

"This place looks like fun!" Luffy yelled, jumping off the ship with Zoro not too far behind.

Nami went after the boys to make sure they didn't get into trouble. Sanji wanted to go with Nami, but Usopp and Chopper insisted they needed him to protect them. I was in the men's cabin, changing my shirt as I had gotten blood on it during my fight with Zoro.

There was a knock at the door. "Hello."

I turned around and saw Robin standing in the doorway. I was embarrassed because I had no shirt on, and Robin was looking at me.

Awkward.

"What is with you girls barging in here?" I mumbled. I turned around and looked at her. "Like what you see?"

"Are you always this flirty?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Only with you," I said, throwing a blue shirt and black flannel on. "What's up?"

"I'm going shopping. I thought I should let someone know." She turned to leave.

"Hey, wait! You want a hand?" I asked.

Please say yes.

"Sure, why not," she said.

Score!

We went to the upper deck and began to depart the ship.

"Where are you two going?" Sanji asked.

"Robin is going shopping, and I'm helping her," I told him with a smug look.

Sanji glared back at me and then backed off. Despite our agreement to stay out of each other's love lives, Rose still gave Robin a look as we walked away from the ship.

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