One Piece : Safety second

It had been a few days since the Whisker pirates departed from Bedrock Island. Other than Jerry's unsuccessful attempts at pranking Tom, which almost always blew up in the former's face, their journey was pretty uneventful.

Tyke had thought someone might chase them, but it seems they gave up on them. It seemed pretty weird, but when you thought about it, it made sense. 

Why would you chase a group that's led by a guy who loves blowing things up? Tyke still remembered the aggrieved faces of the soldiers that followed them to the dock when they took off.

One of them was even crazy enough to jump into the water and chase after them. Obviously, he almost drowned and had to be saved by his comrades.

Seeing the clear horizon under the night sky, Tyke glanced at the deck and saw everyone sprawled out, including Della, who had taken a liking to their group, especially their vice captain.

"Hmph, morons! They have no sense of vigilance!"

Well, everyone was sprawled out except his captain, who was usually the one that slept the most. 

"...I'm over here."

"Of course! I was just testing you!"

It would've been better if he were normal, which for Tom's standards is just less weird. Tom rarely turned his transformation off for the past couple of days and was trying hard to get his eyesight back to normal.

Tyke looked at Tom, who was looking down at the deck, and asked,

"So, how's it going?"

"How's what going?"

"Your eyes. Are they better?"

"Well, kinda. Blocking off the other senses somehow improved it."

For the past few days, after Jerry gave up trying to prank him, Tom started closing off his nose and ears to try and focus on his eyesight, and it definitely helped. This moment was one of the few moments he took off the clip and earplugs.

At this point, Tom had come to some sort of understanding about his problem. His eyes did not get bad, the haze was just a type of fog that was everywhere. There were places where it was thicker and places where it was thinner.

Tom was only able to figure that out somehow because he was able to see the fog more clearly. He could only think that dying had something to do with it. With that thought in mind, Tom muttered,

"Maybe I should try dying again. It might get easier to get my eyes under control then."

"Hmm, maybe you should."

"...Did you just tell me to die?"

"Wait, you said--"

"You bastard! I knew it! You were acting weird at the island as well! Throwing my gold around everywhere!"

"...."

"Got nothing to say for yourself!?"

"...."

Seeing Tyke just deadpan at him, Tom leaped away from the helm and landed on the deck, next to Jerry.

"Jerry! Code red! That guy is planning a mutiny!"

"Nihihihi, that's right. I'm the captain now…"

Let alone having his vice captain play along, Tom heard something absurd coming out of Jerry's mouth. Letting out a wry chuckle, Tom shook his head and decided to stop messing around.

"Stupid Tom, you were never fit to be a captain…"

Tom thought he heard wrong. There was no way Jerry was dreaming about taking over the ship. They might have some differences from time to time, but when push comes to shove--

"Shut up and go make me my food, Tom…"

'This little shit!'

Someone was definitely dreaming of mutiny, but it wasn't who Tom was trying to just mess around with. Taking out a rope, Tom tied Jerry to the main mast of the ship and plopped down on his chair.

"What we are stealing is the millennium crab. It's said to be delicious…"

Tyke watched Jerry show no signs of waking up and still mumble in his sleep even after being picked up and tied to the mast. Applauding Jerry inwardly, Tyke thought,

'Maybe I should get some sleep too.'

**********

The next morning, when Tom woke up, he noticed that Jerry had gotten himself free from the bindings and was hanging around with Yuuki at the edge of the ship.

"Yuuki-san, will we really catch any fish like this?"

"Patience, Jerry. All good things come to those who wait."

"That sounds stupid. Why should I wait for food?"

"Well, because you ate my special bait. If we had that, we could have gotten a few fish at this point already."

"Hihi, I was feeling a little hungry."

"...Hungry enough to eat raw worms?"

"Well, the stomach wants what the stomach wants, Yuuki-san."

"I don't think that's how the saying goes."

"Well, it's okay. You'll understand in time."

Hearing their conversation, Tom decided to give Jerry a pass. He was finally making other friends after all. Deciding to take a day off from training as well, Tom was about to lie back on his chair when he heard Tyke calling everyone for breakfast in a cute frilly apron.

Getting up, Tom started heading towards the kitchen when he heard Yuuki and Jerry snicker as they went past Tyke. Turning his head to where the laughs were coming from, Tom shouted,

"Hey! Stop making fun of Tyke!"

"If you want them to stop doing that, why don't you give me a different apron?"

"That's the only one that fits you, you big tree!"

"...."

After breakfast was done, Tom was about to get back to sleep, but unfortunately for him he wasn't able to, as they started sighting an island in the distance.

**********

When they got near the island, the Whisker pirates dropped their anchor and got off the ship.

The island, as much as they could see at least, was filled with slanted trees. Some were slanted so low that they were almost buried underground.

"Tom-san, look! The trees are very cool!"

When Jerry looked at Tom after saying that, he noticed the latter was still in his transformed state and was smelling around.

After sniffing around for a moment, Tom turned to Della and asked,

"Hey, is this the island you were talking about?"

"No? I think it's the next one?"

"Why do you sound doubtful about it?"

"...Uh, I've never been outside my island before now, tehe."

"I think I'll just leave you here."

"What?! No! You can't do that!"

Ignoring Della, Tom turned to his crew with a wide grin and said,

"Get ready, that loser Hansen is here."