Chapter 2

When they were close enough, they could see that most of the island was covered in grassy fields and flowers, but they were also near a long, winding river that seemed to lead them close to a dense forest much farther back.

"Let's follow the river," Nami called to them, having come down and was now standing with the others. "Those trees look like a good place to help hide the Sunny."

"Awesome!" Luffy cried out, pointing to the trees eagerly. "I've gotta climb one of those trees! They're huge!"

"Yeah!" Usopp agreed in relief. "This looks like a quiet little island."

"Yeah, it's nice!" Chopper added in brightly, a big grin on his face. "I hope the people here are just as nice."

"So long as there aren't any monsters here," Usopp added worriedly, glancing around as if he thought that there were invisible monsters starting to surround them.

"Ahh, no worries," Luffy said, now bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, ready to get off the ship and onto the grass. A few minutes later, the ship entered the forest, and was almost completely out of sight of the ocean. Once there, the three trouble makers jumped off without a second thought.

"Hey, hold on!" Nami called to them all as they rolled in the grass and laughed. "We don't know where we are! It could be dangerous!"

"Don't see what the problem is," Sanji said coming up with them. "We can see everything here, and there doesn't seem to be other inhabitants so far."

"Yeah, but Sanji," Nami said in worry. "This is the New World! Who knows what we could find here."

"Don't worry," said another voice and Zoro came sliding down from the crow's nest, a towel over his shoulders as he dried off the sweat. "They can handle themselves if there's anything here."

Soon, the rest of the crew got off the ship and back onto solid ground, but soon as they started exploring, the sky started to became darker and some clouds pushed and forebodingly crossed in front of the sun. Immediately Usopp stopped laughing and froze in mid-chase of playing tag with Chopper. He looked up to Nami and called, "Oi! Nami! That sky doesn't look so friendly! Are we in any danger?"

Nami glanced up at the sky before she frowned slightly. "I think that there's a good chance that there will be a storm later. If that's the case, then it's a good thing that we came here when we did. I don't want to be out in the middle of the ocean if a big storm hits."

"But we should be safe here right?" he called. "Not…" he added quickly, "Not that I'm scared or anything! After all, Usopp, brave warrior of the sea, always laughs in the face of danger!"

"For now we seem to be safe," Nami called, still looking up at the sky. "We might be here until we're sure the storm's passed. But as long as we keep an eye on those clouds, we should be just fine. But stay on guard guys! Remember, this is the New World, anything can happen here!"

"Phew. That's good." Usopp sighed in relief as he rejoined Luffy and Chopper.

"Does anybody know where we are?" Chopper asked merrily as he watched Luffy stretch his arm out to grab a high branch and rocketed up.

"It doesn't look like a place where people live," Robin stated, pushing her sunglasses up onto her forehead, her book still in her hands. "More likely a nesting place monsters."

"What?" Chopper cried out in panic. "You really think that there're monsters here?"

"YOW! Robin, you really need to stop scaring them for your own entertainment," Franky told her as she merely smiled back innocently.

Usopp secretly wiped his sweat away and forced a laugh. "Don't worry, Chopper!" he cried out, jerking a thumb to his chest. "Even if this place is swarming with blood-thirsty monsters, the brave 'Pop Greens Master Usopp' will be here to take care of them all!"

"Really…? Awesome, Usopp!" Chopper cheered, beaming up at him like he was a great hero.

"Come on then! Let's go!" Luffy cried out swinging from tree to tree, without any worry in the world. After spending at least a week at sea, it felt good to be on land and exploring the island. They wandered through the grassy fields, Chopper stopping to gather flowers, and looking for any other signs of humans.

"Do you think there are any inhabitants here?" Robin asked them.

"Doesn't look like it," Nami said smiling around at them. "If I had to guess, I'd say that it's uninhabited. And so far, I don't see any monsters." Just at that moment, Sanji came tearing out of nowhere, hearts in his eyes as he dropped to his knees and held out two large bouquets of flowers to the two of them.

"Though these flowers are beautiful," he cried out passionately, his arms outstretched to them both. "They are nothing compared to the beauty of you two!"

Zoro, who had been leaning up against a tree rolled his eye, sighing. "Dumbass…" he murmured, clearly audible, and suddenly Sanji's attitude changed from romantic to hatred as he spun around and glared at Zoro.

"What was that?" he demanded.

"You heard me, Mr. Nosebleed," he shot back.

"You wanna go, Moss Head?"