CHAPTER 5: PLAN
The Going Merry crew were on the boat again, sailing the vast blue sea. They were coming closer and closer to their destination. Zoro could almost smell the coming danger and adventure, and he relished the thought.
The rest of the Going Merry crew was even busier than before. Nami’s desk was filled with charts and maps, even blue prints of the Marine Force Centre, and loads of books. Usopp was more engrossed in his inventions that he sometimes ignored the fact that it was mealtimes. Chopper would often do training with Sanji on his fighting skills, and Sanji would also take the opportunity to give his leg a few practices. Sanji’s meals became tastier than ever, probably because of the idea that they might not survive this mission. It was obvious that everyone was quite uptight about this oncoming mission.
“You’ll see, Luffy. We will succeed in this mission. Give us strength.”
The Going Merry crew gathered in the meeting room. Nami had the blue print of the Marine Force Centre placed on the meeting table. Usopp eyed at the blue print in wonder and amazement.
“Wow! Where did you get this blue print? I don’t remember you asking that ol’ Doggan about any blue prints.”
“That’s because I didn’t ask him,” Nami said in an as-a-matter-of-fact way. “I tried to jot down everything I heard from Doggan about the structure of the Centre and I tried to do a rough sketch of it.”
“You’re really good,” Sanji said, impressed.
“Alright, crew. Back to business,” Zoro said, bringing them back to reality. “What do you have for us, Nami?”
“OK,” Nami said as she pointed a spot at the corner of the blue print, “see here? This is the entrance to the Marine Force Centre. Of course, we are not going to enter there. Security there is as tight as ever. As Doggan said, the Centre is on top of a hill in the middle of a very vast island. And there must be a way up from below the Centre, may it be a tunnel or a cave or whatever. Doggan said that he had taken the tunnel through from one of the kitchens of the Centre. I estimated about more than three kitchens, as the Centre is quite big. And either of their tunnels will lead us inside the building.
“All we have to do now is split into groups and go into those tunnels. We will all meet at this section that leads to the higher prisons. Be careful not to stay long in the deep prisons where Doggan used to be, if your tunnel so happens to lead to that way, because that place is a total nightmare. After that we’ll split up into groups again and set up some tasks for each group. One group will have to check if coasts are clear, the other will scout the area and find the exhibit centre, which Doggan did not reveal to us where, and if necessary, a group who can provide some distraction.”
“Usopp might the perfect candidate to become the distraction unit,” Sanji said, grinning from ear to ear.
“What?! Me?! Why me??” Usopp was quite offended.
“Because you run like the wind and you’re able to lure the guards faraway enough for us to find the exhibit centre.”
“Oh, I do the hard work while you guys get the target so easily,” Usopp growled. “Why don’t you ask Chopper to do the job? He runs faster than I do.”
“I will not be someone else’s bait!” Chopper said indignantly, sending the crew into fits of laughter. Zoro, the cool guy of the crew, only smirked.
“Alright! Enough serious stuff for today! Who’s in for dinner?” Sanji asked. As expected, everyone agreed with both hands up.
Sanji cooked a storm, as usual. There was thick mushroom soup, grilled lemon chicken, steamed fish, salad a la mode, boiled fish eggs with gravy sauce and red wine to go. The crew ate to their hearts’ content. After their ‘exclusive’ dinner by yours truly—Sanji, the crew resumed to normal tasks: Nami back to analyzing the Marine Force Centre blueprint, Usopp back to his gadgets, and Chopper morphed back to his battle mode and occupied himself by double-checking his kit while waiting for Sanji to finish doing the dishes so that he can train with him again.
Zoro took out his swords and did a few swishes with them. He started out with two swords, then slipped the third sword into his mouth and swished it around even more vigoriously. He leapt from one place to another, practicing all his moves. He remembered the move he used to defeat Mihawk last time on the island of One Piece. It was quite new and came out of his head quite by accident: The Triple X Slash. He tried that move and as he went on, he felt even more prepared for their mission ahead. His sword moves became more and more intense until at a point, he thought he was about to reach out to the heavens into Luffy’s welcoming arms…
His deep thoughts and his intense moves stopped dead in its track when he heard Usopp’s loud protests. He noticed that he was so engrossed in his training that he accidentally knocked over a number of bottles used by Usopp to concoct his catapult bullets.
“What in the world do you think you’re doing?! You almost got me killed!! Now you’ve ruined my stuff for my bullets!! Argh!! You even spilled the chili water for my chili bullet on my shirt!! Argh!!”
“Gomenasai, Usopp. I wasn’t looking,” Zoro apologized coolly as he put his swords away.
“Darn right you’re not! Someone get me some water!! Taskete (Help)!! My shirt is burning!!”
Zoro suddenly felt the sharp twine of pain again in his stomach. He had overdone his training. He staggered towards the lime orchard and hid behind the thick lime bushes, not wanting to let any wise guy—Chopper, for the matter of fact—to see him in this state. He sat down and clutched his stomach hard, breathing hard, trying to hold on to the pain.
“Here, drink this,” Sanji suddenly appeared from behind with a glass of yellowish-white liquid. “It’ll make you feel better. Don’t worry, I came alone.”
Zoro took a sip and said, “This is good. What is this?”
“Honey-milk. I’m drinking it too,” Sanji replied, sipping another glass of the same coloured liquid.
“You…You too…?” Zoro eyed at Sanji in disbelief. Sanji nodded.
“Let’s just keep it between us.”
“Land ahoy!”
Everyone stood at the deck and watched. In front of them was an island which had a tall hill in the middle. Although it was still quite for them to see clearly, they could make out an outline of a large building bearing a flag of the marines. Zoro smirked and got his swords ready. They have been sailing for about three days and two nights. Finally, their patience paid off.
“Guys, here we are. The Marine Force Centre.”
Everyone cheered. They had a brief moment of celebration before finally getting their act together. Nami and Usopp ran to get their newly-improved gadgets and Chopper prepared himself by muttering encouraging words to himself to give himself confidence, reminding himself not to morph unless necessary. Zoro and Sanji feasted their eyes at the sight of the Centre.
“We’re finally here,” Sanji said with a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Zoro agreed.
“For Luffy.”
“For our Luffy.”
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