CH - 79

They all disembarked from the ship and waded through the shallow water until they climbed the mud into the actual woodsy environment of the island.

As soon as Grey stepped foot onto the land, he sensed something very powerful. "I can feel him," Grey said.

"Who?" Halcen asked.

"Shanks. He's here, on the island."

Halcen attempted to use his own Observation Haki, but all he got was blurring vibes. Nothing stood out to him. "You can tell from all the way back here?"

Grey nodded his head. "Trust me, he's here."

Halcen did trust Grey. As of late, he had been right about a lot of things. He needed to put faith in Grey. "Alright. That's good. Him still being here saves us a whole lot of hassle. Let's go find him."

The six of them began to proceed through the forest. They could hear all kinds of animal noises, mostly cries of panic. They knew something was wrong on their island. But they had nowhere to run or hide. They were out of land to escape to. Maybe they could sense what Grey could.

"You think my brother's here?" Bo asked.

"Most likely," Kazuki answered. "He is part of Shanks' crew."

"Grey, can you tell if there's anybody else with him?" Bo asked.

"No. It's hard enough sensing Shanks himself through all this death. I can't tell how many others are with him. But Shanks has a very unique energy. It's hard to miss."

"Let's keep moving," Halcen said. "We're bound to find answers the further in we get."

"We're on the right path," Grey said.

"Oh, God," Fein sad gagging.

Shira whined and tried to clear her snout.

"What's wrong?" Halcen asked.

"What Grey said was right. This place is full of death. We can smell it from here. And it's only gonna get worse the closer we get."

"Shit. You alright?"

"Yeah, it's just… it's overwhelming. It's hard to focus."

They waded through the woods cautiously. They had already come upon too many surprises along their journey thus far. They were sick of it. They wanted to be able to see everything coming from a mile away. But with Fein, Shira, and Grey's senses being overloaded; Bo and Kazuki being unable to see past the clustered trees; it was down to Halcen to handle the charge.

They finally made it out of the woods and everything around them became clear. They could see the sun and ahead of them for more than ten feet. They came upon what looked like civilized land. They looked about to see about a dozen giant white stone buildings of ancient design. The structures were about five to seven floors a piece and five hundred feet wide. They were clearly very thoughtfully designed, but they had long since been abandoned. Halcen wondered why.

As they moved past the ruins, Halcen and the others began to smell the stench Fein and Shira had this whole time.

"Oh my God, what is that?"

"Rotting corpses," Bo said. He'd been around it before. A Marine's life was full of those kinds of experiences.

"Something burning," Kazuki said.

And there, they finally discovered the origin of the smoke. There was a whole village of little wooden houses, and most of them were on fire. And in the middle of the dirty street was a giant pile of bodies, burning. The black smoke suffocated the scene.

"Oh my God."

Fein bent over and puked.

"Holy shit," Halcen said. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"It's just… a lot."

Shira gagged as well.

"Do I need to send you two back?"

Fein wiped his mouth and shook his head. "No, we need to go on. I need to be here when we find a place to bring the other's to safety."

"Good boy."

Fein growled.

"You're going to experience a lot of fucked up things traveling the seas," Halcen said. "Being a pirate isn't for everyone. It changes you. You're gonna need to get used to this stuff."

Fein nodded. "I'll be fine," he said with strained voice.

They continued on. The more they explored, the more it seemed like there wasn't anybody living in the area.

"What the hell happened here?"

"It looks like a massive battle."

"Whoever these guys were, they were armed to the teeth," Kazuki said.

Halcen took a second look. He was right. The bodies in the pile were all covered in leather armor. And there was a pile of weaponry set to the side; mostly axes and swords and whatnot. He looked around the area to see several cannons set up all over the place, some thrown off their sides. The buildings were pockmarked with cannon fire. These guys had been in a huge fight… and lost. Whoever they'd gone up against had been more powerful than they had expected.

"Well fuck," Halcen said.

"Do you think Shanks did all this?" Bo asked.

"It seems likely," Kazuki said.

"So question," Fein said.

"If these guys lost the fight, who's burning the bodies?"

"Hmmm…"

"It doesn't make sense. I mean, if we were to kill a bunch of people, why would we take the time to pile them all together and burn them?"

"I don't think Shanks would go out of his way for something like that," Grey said.

"So who did it?"

"I did," came a gruff voice from the end of the road