21 Green Island

"You have trained leg martial arts and your stamina is also really good. I want you to return to the ship every half hour. I would have given this job to Zoro but his sense of direction isn't suited for this job." Liam explained.

"You didn't have to explain the reason." Zoro shouted at him with his face turning red. Usually, he would have gotten angry but for some reason, he didn't get any when Liam tells him about it.

"Anyway, can you do it?" Liam asked.

"Don't worry, I've got it covered." Sanji nodded his head. With his running speed, it really wouldn't problem to run around this island.

"Anyway Luffy, be ready to use Gomu-Gomu no R….. Where did he go?" Liam turned around while speaking but before he could finish, he didn't see Luffy.

"He flew away the moment you started giving Sanji that task." Usopp helplessly sighed.

"That moron! Doesn't he know how many monsters live in that island?" Nami slapped her forehead and shouted.

"Don't worry, I have already expected this. Anyway, we will explore the island together and after we finish our exploration, let's just search for the most chaotic place on the island and we will find him." Liam gave them the order as the ship finally got close to the island.

"You couldn't be more wrong about that." Zoro answered he went near the anchor. As the ship drifted closer, he finally threw the anchor into the sea and they finally jumped down from the boat.

Of course, Nami and Usopp used the stairs.

"Man, this island is green." Liam looked at the front and he could see nothing but green grass, green trees, and even green insects.

"Let's go around the island!" Liam pointed at his left and walked toward it. Others casually followed him as they made their way through the vines and trees.

Screech!

Suddenly, Zoro moved to the right and unsheathed his sword. The sharp end of the sword collided against the scales. The snake backed away but the sword didn't even manage to cut its scale.

The snake was completely green which was the reason why they couldn't sense it.

"Guys, be careful!" Zoro reminded them and took out all three of his swords. Liam swiftly moved back and Sanji moved to the side. At this moment, they covered Nami and Usopp in the middle.

"Usopp, use the fire! Snakes and trees are weak against the fire." Liam spoke.

Usopp who was trembling with fear suddenly gained a boost in confidence.

'I can't live in fear. I need to start a fire.'

"Fire Star!"

Usopp immediately shot a ball that caught fire when he shot another one to hit the first strike and create a spark.

The fire landed on the tear but because the tree was so green, it didn't catch fire at once rather it only managed to move several animals away. Most of them were insects but some were snakes as well.

Screech!

Suddenly, a snake jumped toward Nami but before its fang could touch Nami, Liam caught its tail. The snake wrapped its tail around his arm with its instinct but it only made things easier for Liam.

Pat! Pat! Pat! Pat!

He smashed the snake into the tree until its head exploded. Sanji noticed something when he saw Liam's hand.

"Are you afraid of snakes?" He asked.

Liam's hand was literally shaking just like how Usopp's legs trembles.

"No, I am not. It's just that snake caught my hand hard." Liam was startled for a moment and hurriedly shook his head.

Others noticed something but decided not to say anything. It wasn't hard for them to see that Liam was actually afraid of snakes. After all, Liam had trained his hands the most, so it would be absurd that the grip of the snake would make shook his hand so much.

"Anyway, we need to finish these snakes. They are still staring at us." Zoro spoke as he rushed toward the snake. He only took one sword in his hand and slashed it up.

The snake dodged the slash but at this moment, Zoro took a step back and slashed horizontally. This time, his blade managed to pierce the scale and the green blood came out of the snake.

Seeing that, Liam was surprised. He didn't expect the snakes to have green blood. He couldn't help but frown not knowing why everything here was green.

But, he didn't waste much time thinking but rather started fighting against those snakes. After a few minutes, they finally killed all of those snakes and walked away.

"Don't you think this forest is quite strange? The air is so heavy here." Nami spoke.

"Not just air, even the gravity seems quite strong on this island. It is not surprising to find this kind of island in the Grandline but the East Blue? I feel like something is definitely wrong with this island." Liam responded.

"S-s-s-s-shouldn't we go back to the ship then?" Usopp shuttered as he asked.

"Of course not! Didn't you hear what he just said?" Zoro asked and jumped but he couldn't even jump more than two feet.

"The gravity here is strong that means if we train here, we would get stronger a lot faster."

"Now that you mention it, we could get a lot stronger if we train here." Liam turned his head at Sanji and asked "Can you bring those weight training equipment here when you return?"

"Okay!" Sanji nodded his head.

"For now though, let's explore more about this island in case there are some hidden dangers." Liam spoke as they continued to advance toward the forest.

After a long journey inside the forest, they encountered a lot of different animals. But surprisingly enough, none of those animals were going deeper into the forest, especially at the hill.

While they were moving around, Sanji went to check the ship many times.

This got them curious and they decided to go there. Since it was a hill and the gravity was higher, they were struggling to move especially Nami and Usopp.

Surprisingly, Nami asked Liam to lift her. She said it would be good for training while only she knew what she wanted. So, they continued with Nami on Liam's back.

But after two hundred meters, Liam and Usopp started struggling. It was getting harder to reach the top. Usopp gave up at three hundred meters. The gravity literally smashed his nose on the ground.

Zoro lifted him up and climbed the hill. As they went up, at the four hundred meters mark, Liam almost collapsed on the ground.

"Let's take some break before moving on." Zoro suggested as he was also a bit tired from lifting Usopp.

"Nami-San, please let me carry you!" Sanji immediately rushed toward Nami and shouted with lusty eyes.

"Never!" Nami punched him.

"Oi Nami, why are you only making it harder for Liam?" Usopp asked while panting.

"I am not making it harder for him. I am helping him train and besides, I will never let Sanji lift me with those lustful gazes." Nami shrugged her shoulders and spoke.

"You couldn't be more right." Zoro nodded his head and agreed.

"Oi, Marimo, are you saying that I will harm Nami-San?" Sanji glanced at him and spoke with a cold tone.

"Even if you don't, your perverted nature might." Zoro's veins almost came out when he heard Sanji calling him by that name.

"Humph! I will never let anything hurt Nami-San." Sanji snorted.

"Zoro, are you ready?" Liam asked.

Zoro narrowed his eyes and asked, "What about you?"

Liam slowly stood up and removed the weights from his forearm and legs.

"I don't think I can climb up with these. I will take them while returning to the ship."

"Alright then!" His words made Zoro's passion to get stronger and soar. He immediately stood up and lifted Usopp on his shoulders.

"Want to race?" After that, he looked at Liam and asked.

"Alright!" While Nami get on his back, Liam agreed. He took a deep breath and counted.

"Three…. Two... One!"

Whoosh!

With the last count, both of them started running with their full force.

"I am going to win." Liam shouted as he sprinted as fast as he could.

"Hell no! I am going to win." Zoro sprinted as well to catch up to Liam. Although he was stronger than Liam, it didn't mean his speed was faster.

After all, he still hasn't forgotten how much leg training Liam has been doing constantly. And, due to losing those weights, his speed was getting faster as well.

'There is it.' Liam's eyes brightened when he saw the peak. Since this was only five hundred meters tall, they were basically moving on a straight line with few turns at the top.

'I won't lose.' Zoro laughed blazed with fire as he picked up speed but on another hand, Liam started losing. His stamina couldn't keep up with Zoro's. Even though he was faster, he couldn't maintain that speed on this hill.

His legs were giving up. They were trembling but he was holding on. He had noticed one reason he could win and there was no way, he would give up that easily.

"Hah! I win."

Zoro shouted as he jumped to the top. But suddenly, he couldn't help but notice that his hands were actually empty.

"Haha! I win."

Although Liam stepped to the top later, he was still holding Nami on his back, or rather, Nami was holding him tightly. But after he reached the top, his legs gave up as he fell on his face.

Thud!

...

Hello readers, if you haven't noticed it till now, I have a P*a*treon where I have uploaded three extra chapters. You can check it out. The link is in the synopsis.