My epic return and whatnot!
Title: The Lovely Forest of Dead People
Theme: #19- Thorn
Claim: Robin
Words: 1800
Rating: T
Warning: Dead stuff and blood. While you’re at it, go look up Aokigahara. The moment I read the article on it, I just knew that would be Robin’s ideal vacation spot. :D
And Perona's too, perhaps...
It wasn’t anyone else’s idea to stop at the completely uninhabited island. The weird greenish haze that drifted around the waters was enough to give Usopp a dreadful shiver and the eerie silence that engulfed the ship once they were within a couple miles of the island made even Luffy calm down and stop bouncing all over the ship.
The thing was, it didn’t look like an island. It was more like a huge mass of trees- no shoreline, no beach, not even a cliff. It was as if a sea of trees had melded together and drifted out into the ocean.
It didn’t help when Zoro noted the faint stench of rotting flesh emanating from the tree-blob-thing.
“What a lovely island.” Robin said, leaning against the railing and peering through the sickly green haze.
“ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Nami yelled.
“We should stop for a while.” Robin continued on as if Nami wasn’t screaming in her ear. “Doctor-san, wouldn’t you say it would be an opportunity to gather more vegetation?”
“I guess…” Chopper muttered, covering his sensitive nose with his hooves.
“That place is giving off bad vibes.” Zoro said slowly, glaring at nothing in particular.
“Yoho… my bones won’t stop clattering!” Brook said as cheerfully as he could with the green haze filling their nostrils and making their eyes water (even though he had no eyes- skull joke!).
“I would like to at least have a look around.” Robin said wistfully.
“You’re crazy.” Nami decided. Sanji wisely chose to stay silent, torn between agreeing with the beautiful gorgeous Nami-san and siding with the graceful elegant Robin-chan.
“Ne, guys, that place looks exciting! There might even be treasure!” Luffy said, seemingly oblivious to the ominous wind blowing through.
“Treasure my ass! I’m going with Zoro and Nami on this one.” Usopp said.
“I never said anything about not stopping there.” Zoro said incredulously.
“TRAITOR!” Usopp fell over.
“Come on, bros, there’s no sissy pansy island that we can’t handle.” Franky said confidently.
“There’s not even a place to dock! Look! No beach!” Nami waved her arms at the mass of trees. The ship seemed to be approaching the island faster and faster until Luffy could have stretched his arms out and poked a tree if he wanted to. The foul odor intensified, making Chopper run for cover in the galley.
“And it smells like shit.” Usopp added in.
“Yosh. Treasure it is.” Luffy nodded.
“WHAT KIND OF LOGIC IS THAT?!” Usopp smacked him. And despite Nami and Usopp’s protesting, Franky dropped anchor and the Sunny halted right beside the trees, gently bobbing in the calm waves. Zoro volunteered to tag along with Luffy and Robin should they get lost in the forest.
Sanji laughed, nearly igniting yet another fight before Nami dragged him back to the galley to find Chopper.
“Jeez, damn trees smell like shit.” Zoro commented, pinching his nose as he swiped an opening in the thick line of trees with one sword.
“We’re gonna find lots of shiny stuff and cool stuff and maybe a giant beetle, too!” Luffy said happily, marching forward. He squeezed his way between the tightly packed trunks twisting around each other.
Hardly a minute passed before Robin noticed the silence.
“There aren’t any birds. Nor insects, as far as I can tell.” Robin bent down to examine the mossy dirt, bumpy with tree roots snaking around. The sunlight weakly filtered through the thick canopy above, giving the impression it was close to nighttime thought it was in the middle of the afternoon.
“Probably because the smell drives them away.” Zoro shrugged, facing a tree, seemingly puzzled as to why it was in his path.
“Guys! I found a sign!” Luffy called a little way ahead. Zoro bumped into the tree, cursed, and turned around to walk to the sound of Luffy’s voice.
Robin squinted into the darkness, frowning. If she looked carefully, it looked like there was a-
“Oooh! This is so creepy!” Luffy said in delight.
“Huh.” Zoro scratched his head. Robin picked her way over roots and rotting logs to peer over his shoulder. Sure enough, just as Luffy had said, there was a splintery wooden sign erected between two trees. The writing was faded and crude, but barely legible.
“Go back. Go back.” Robin read out loud. “Odd, I thought there wasn’t anyone on this island.”
Zoro shivered. “I don’t like this place.”
“Aww, there’s not even monkeys here.” Luffy pouted, disappointed by the lack of noise in the thick forest. He cupped his hands to his mouth. “MONKEEY! MONKEEY!”
Complete silence. Zoro shuddered and his fist tightened around the hilt of his sword. “Let’s go back.”
“You two can return without me. I’ll continue exploring.” Robin said, examining the sign.
“You’ll get lost if you’re alone.” Zoro said bluntly.
“It’s okay, we can just go over the tops of the trees!” Luffy grabbed his arm and launched himself above the trees, disturbing the still leaves and branches. Zoro shouted in indignation and flailed, secured in Luffy's grip.
“DAMMIT, LUFFY!”
“See ya back at the ship, Robin!” Luffy called down as he balanced himself on a thick branch before leaping towards the ship with Zoro in tow.
Within seconds, Robin was swallowed in the unnerving silence.
-X-
The first body Robin encountered was just a completely bleached skeleton, coated in green vegetation and completely undisturbed. She stared at it for a moment before carefully crouching down beside it.
“There isn’t a mark on it…” Robin said to herself. The person had died from a natural death, probably, seeing as it was lying in a position as if it were sleeping.
Robin stood up and looked up above her. The deeper she hiked into the forest, the dimmer the sunlight became and the thicker the trees bunched together. Nevertheless, Robin continued maneuvering through, curious about the lack of other vegetation and signs of life. The only plants she had seen were the trees and the fuzzy moss coating everything.
The second body she found was in the exact same condition as the first- untouched, undisturbed, and not a single bit of flesh left on it.
As was the third.
And fourth.
And fifth.
The forest was filled with skeletons, more and more appearing the deeper Robin went into the island. Yet there were no animals or signs of other human activity.
Soon bones crunched beneath her feet and her vision was greatly inhibited by the lack of sunlight reaching through the thick foliage. Robin flinched in surprise when something scratched her arm. She touched it with her finger and found it was bleeding. Cautiously, she took another step forward and was immediately scratched across the face by a thorny vine hanging from a tree.
“Whoops.” Robin muttered, feeling the blood trickling down her face. She turned around and a thorn caught her across the leg, creating a deep cut.
Wait, when did everything go dark?
Robin blindly found her way back where she came from, the only sounds her breathing and the rattling of bones she stepped on. Her exposed skin became warm with blood and the thorns around her only seemed to increase in number. She nearly choked when she realized how awful the smell of death had become.
Robin stopped moving completely and the scratching stopped.
No, that couldn’t be how the people died.
Could it?
After all, there were bones beneath her feet.
Maybe she should have gone back with Swordsman-san and Captain-san after all.
Hm, she seemed to be caught in quite a predicament.
Lovely.
Robin concentrated and stared off into the darkness, careful not to move an inch. Sure enough, a tiny pinprick of light appeared in the distance. Robin quickly stepped forward, ignoring the pains of the thorns grabbing-
Wait, were the vines grabbing at her?
Robin broke out into a sprint, stumbling over skeletons and brushing branches and thorns out of her way. Much to her surprise, she suddenly emerged into bright sunlight and nearly fell into the water.
How strange.
“OI!” Robin looked up to see Zoro waving at her from the Sunny. He lowered a ladder and Robin scaled it, the rope rubbing painfully against her scratched up hands.
“Whoa. What happened to you?” Zoro raised his eyebrows in mild surprise as he took in her bloody appearance.
“Thorns.” Robin said.
“Robi- holy fuck, what the hell were you- what happened?!” Nami gasped in horror. The other Strawhats began to emerge from the indoors. Even Chopper came outside, braving against the foul-smelling haze.
“Robin-chan, what happened? Who did that to you? I’ll kick their ass!”
“Nico Robin, you alright?”
“I told you! I told you not to go on that creepy island!”
“DOCTOOOR!” Chopper wailed upon sight of all the blood. “DOCTOOR- oh, that’s me… sorry. Robin! What happened?!”
“That seems to be the question of the day.” Robin laughed.
“I’ll go get the antiseptic and bandages! The cuts don’t look too deep!” Chopper panted, sprinting to the infirmary.
“I think the island is carnivorous.” Robin said thoughtfully, sitting down on the grass.
“What? It’s just a bunch of trees…” Nami glanced warily at the thick mass of trees.
“Precisely. My hypothesis is that the trees share a symbiotic relationship with a more dangerous species of flora within the heart of the forest, intertwining with each other into a transition subtle enough so that anyone who wanders far enough won’t be aware until it’s too late.”
“Where do you get these crazy ideas?” Nami groaned.
“Well, there were all the skeletons…”
“DEAD BODIES?!” Nami shrieked. She glared at Brook, who had opened his jaw to make a skull joke. “Don’t even!”
“It’s quite odd, considering that the haze and the foul stench would be enough to drive away any wanderers. Then again, some of the bones were quite old, so the conditions may have changed over time.” Robin said as Chopper flitted around her, cleaning up her cuts. She sighed. “Although I forgot to pick up a few bones.”
“So there’s no treasure?” Luffy spoke up.
“I’m afraid not.” Robin said gravely.
“This is why I keep telling you guys! Don’t go on the creepy island that smells like dead people! Stay away from the weird trees that kill things!” Usopp ranted.
“I thought it was a thrilling experience.” Robin said.
“THAT’S BECAUSE YOU’RE JUST CREEPY LIKE THAT!”
“It’s too bad. I would like to return to examine the plants more closely.”
“WHICH TOTALLY PROVES MY POINT!”
“Franky, we’re leaving. Now.” Nami glowered at Franky, sending him running to lift anchor. She stood above Robin and sighed, shaking her head. “All this time, I thought you were the sane one.”
“The island had such a lovely atmosphere.” Robin said almost dreamily as Chopper dabbed at the cuts on her forehead.
“ROBIN!”