38 Chapter 38 - Reminiscences of the Past! The Lost Island and The Dragon’s Nest!

Author Note: I'm already feeling well and the stitches are healing normally! So let's write!

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A few hours earlier.

On a Marine ship, hidden by the rocks, a soldier was in the crow's nest using binoculars to see in the distance when he noticed an unknown pirate ship in the area. Yet, he managed to see that there was a little girl being welcomed in the village.

And he immediately recognized who it was, instantly reporting to the Branch Base.

Within a few moments, Eric was again at the Marine's Mobile Base, in front of Commodore Nelson Royale. Eric was particularly very stressed and irritated, as he had lost sight of the girl and this meant that his plans were failing.

Sitting in his chair, Nelson Royale was indulging himself with a large piece of meat when he spoke with his mouth full of food and a somber expression.

"Eric!"

Only being able to control himself not to behead this fat idiot, Eric took a few steps forward, coming within reach of the disgusting smell of chewed meat.

"At your service."

"According to your report, you guys couldn't find the girl and she should still be lost at sea by now, might not even be alive." And seeing that he remained silent, Nelson continued while biting into a piece of meat, "But in reality she- Cough! Arrgh!"

After choking on the piece of meat in his throat, Nelson coughed uncontrollably for a while, throwing pieces of meat onto the faces of nearby soldiers. And even onto Eric, who wiped himself with a piece of cloth, his expression beginning to look truly irritated.

"She's on Warship Island!" After regaining control, Nelson banged on the armrest with his fist and yelled, "Now go and get her immediately, you idiot!"

"Yes, sir..." Knowing that if he stayed one more second here he might actually cut this man's throat, Eric just slightly bowed and left.

'So you're still alive... my hopes have not been lost!'

°°°

Climbing the mountain, Nami carried the bag of meat dumplings on her back while Nojiko held Apis's hand on the walk. No matter how hard the little girl tried, all she could do was drag the bag on the ground, which could ruin the food.

"You guys are pretty strong, aren't you?" Seeing how Nami easily carried the food bag, Apis smiled at them.

"Well, we train a lot for that. The world is a dangerous place, so we have to be strong to deal with it." Nami smiled back at her. Not long ago she had this strength, but only used it to carry treasures from other pirates.

"If you think we are strong, then it's because you've never seen Noah." Nojiko also commented, remembering his daily workouts and how it always seemed an impossible feat.

"He seems to be strong, he is quite big!" Apis raised his arm while trying to imitate Noah, flexing the small biceps hidden under the clothes.

Talking a little more, they kept walking under Apis's direction to where his friend was, easily overcoming any obstacle they found along the way. Even when they reached the split passage, where the little girl used a vine to cross, they just jumped to the other side without much effort.

Shortly after, they arrived in front of a cave.

"This is where my friend is!" Apis commented with a smile as she asked Nami for the bag, so that she could go in first and calm the Old Dragon and then introduce them, "You can wait a little bit here, I'm just going to-"

And it was at that moment that she was stopped, held by the shoulders by both Nami and Nojiko.

"Wait…" Speaking with a serious expression, Nami closed her eyes to concentrate.

Nojiko also did the same thing, focusing all her attention on her hearing. Apis looked at them with a strange face, but by the way they were, she decided to remain silent. Her heart was also concerned about the Old Dragon inside, if something was happening to him and that's why they stopped moving.

And in an instant, they soon heard the voice of someone inside.

More specifically, a voice very familiar to them.

"Haha, no, my grandfather was not as old as you, definitely not!"

"Was he a dragon? Well, he was not the most beautiful human you could find around, but he was enough not to offend anyone."

"... he's in a better place now. He needed to rest ..."

"We will all always miss the past, right? ..."

Walking as slowly as they could, they entered the cave with silent steps. And they soon came upon a striking scene, which made all three open their mouths in shock for different reasons.

Noah, sitting on the ground cross-legged with an erect posture, had his sword lying in his lap. And more impressive than all this was what was in front of him. Looking at him with large yellow eyes was a large feathered dragon, lying on the ground resting.

"Ryujin..." Apis, who was more shocked than anything, was seeing the old senile dragon with a stranger sitting right in front of him. It was something she had never imagined.

And with the sound of her voice echoing through the cave, the man and the dragon suddenly looked in their direction.

"Oh, look who's arrived." Noah looked at Ryu (Ryujin is Grandpa Dragon in Japanese) and continued, "I was talking about them. And the little girl also came with the dumplings, I told you."

Nami and Nojiko, not understanding anything he was saying, were completely confused and shocked by what was happening. After all... was he talking to a dragon? Wait, the important part is that this is a DRAGON!!!

"Noah, this is usually the part where you explain things..." Nojiko spoke while keeping her eyes on the dragon, unconsciously not letting Apis move away from her.

"Yeah, this can really seem confusing." Rubbing his head slightly, he stood up while thinking, 'Even for me this is very confusing right now...'

"Ryujin... can you talk to him?" Apis freed herself from the grip of the two women and approached him, asking with curious eyes.

"Yes, for some reason I can." In fact, he already knew the reason. He just wanted to admit that he didn't know so that his ego wouldn't skyrocket right now.

"Ryujin, is this true? Can you really talk to him?" She asked the dragon, who just snorted with his nose and then she nodded in recognition. She was even more shocked by the capabilities of this pirate group she randomly encountered.

"Alright, so we're seeing a dragon. What's the big deal about that?" Nami tried her best to think that this was something normal and shrugged. Still, she was very curious about what was happening.

"Apis, could you tell us who he is?" Nojiko came out of the shock first and took Nami's dumpling bag and handed it to Apis.

And after she started feeding Ryu and everyone sat in different places of the cave, she began to tell the story.

"Some time ago I ate a Devil Fruit, called Whisper Fruit (Hiso Hiso no Mi). Since then, I can communicate with animals through the whispers they send me." She sadly looked at Ryu before continuing, "And I met Ryujin thanks to this ability. I was picking flowers in a field when I heard the saddest voice I had ever heard in my life, desperate and tired. And when I followed the voice, I found him here. He told me he had separated from his friends and that, since then, he has been looking for the Lost Island, where the Dragon's Nest is."

"But hadn't Old Bokuden said that the Lost Island sank a long time ago?" Nami asked when she remembered the long story that the old man could have been trying to tell until now.

"Ryujin said that the island will emerge again. He said that it was already time, but he can't remember where it is anymore. He's very old and doesn't have the energy to fly, but he always tells me that he wants to go back." Some tears appeared on Apis's face as she stroked the dragon's snout, "I want to help, but I don't know how to find out if this island even exists... The legend itself doesn't give any clues, and so I asked the Marines, when they came here, about it."

"And then they captured you because someone from the Marines is also looking for the Dragonite." Nojiko immediately guessed the rest of the story easily. It was something they had speculated about since they heard about it from Old Bokuden, they just didn't imagine that the legends were actually true.

"Exactly..." Apis nodded and also showed the pendant she was wearing, "It could also have been because I was wearing the pendant with a dragon claw, so they thought I would know something more. But I didn't tell anyone, not even Grandpa Bokuden. I just want to take Grandpa Ryu back to his home, no matter what it costs. He needs this, he has already told me that he will improve when he gets back there. So I will take him there, no matter what it costs."

'Poor girl...' Noah sighed a little with all the emotion. Watching something and feeling the emotion on the skin were two different things, so he felt a little sad about how she felt.

Sharing a glance with Ryu, he already knew why he hid the fact that he was going there to say goodbye. The burden of death was too heavy for those who remained.

And making a decision, in a mix of selfishness and kindness, he got up from where he was and walked to Apis.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm not a big fan of drama." Messing lightly with the girl's hair, he gently tapped Ryu's snout and smiled, "We are going to help you with this."

Slap! Slap!

Ignoring how Nami and Nojiko suddenly slapped their foreheads, Apis looked at him with bright eyes.

"Really?? Are you really going to do that??"

"Of course we are." He smiled slightly at her, his gaze went to Ryu for a moment before continuing, "And I have the perfect method for him to improve right now."