The Exploration of a Lifetime [Social]

It had been a long-winded journey across the stormy ocean for the brown-haired drifter. But, his hike was at an end as he stepped onto solid ground after having walked on air for more than a few days. The eternal log pose that he pocketed after having confirmed its instruction, had led him true. This was the island of Apodis, known for its massive city, Apodis Port, filled with marble buildings and grand statues. It was a heavily populated city, and finding his way through town would not be easy, considering the town’s unfamiliar atmosphere. Of all the islands that the drifter had visited before, Apodis set itself just slightly apart, as it stood on the border of where Paradise met the Calm Belt. The weather’s unpredictability so close to the island could likely be credited to its location. But, that was no matter of concern now, as the weather on the island itself was pleasant enough. It was getting late in the afternoon when he arrived, and he hoped to find a saloon before sunset.

The drifter had not eaten for days, and his empty pit of a stomach was growling violently in complaint. Just a while longer… He thought to himself, as he walked through the crowd of relatively shorter people. His tall height and broad stature often stood out in places he visited, and Apodis Port was no exception. However, he did not draw as many eyes towards himself as he thought he would. It seemed as if the people had grown too used to ignoring the ever-growing crowd around them to even notice him walking amidst them. It was all the better for him this way, of course, as he wished to maintain a low profile wherever he went.

With a large pouch for a bag carried over his shoulder with a rope, he followed the noises of ruckus and laughter, the tell-tale signs of a tavern. His tattered black cloak and baggy pants had grown crusty from drying off in the sun after having bathed in the storm. His bandages over his exposed torso, however, still felt wet against his chiseled abs. Following the sounds of life from the cheerful building, he reached an establishment strangely named “The Lonesome Goat”. The name solicited a sarcastic smile on the drifter’s lips, as he shook his head and ducked to enter the relatively small door. Luckily for him, the ceiling inside was raised enough for him to have plenty of room to stand up straight. But, after his first glance around the room, which was met with surprisingly few onlookers, he realized that this tavern had the same flaw as most others he visited: all the chairs were of the same size.

With nowhere to seat himself above ground, he spotted an empty spot on the floor across the room. He decided to walk up to the bar and requested ten orders of the largest dish they served. The drifter had built up an enormous appetite from his pilgrimage across the ocean, and no matter what the item was, he was sure it would sate his hunger. He then followed his plan and crossed the seating area, planting himself onto the floor in the far corner of the room.

Even seated, he was almost as tall as some of the shorter people sitting in chairs. He scanned the room to listen in on useful conversations, as that was the aim he was here to follow. His mission was to gather information regarding the location of a certain person, however, he could not let his intentions regarding that person become clear. And so, eavesdropping was a good start before he resorted to asking direct questions.

When an unexpected fit of laughter exploded near the center of the seating area, his gaze turned towards it. Noticing a big-boned black-haired man to be the source, he perked up his ears to listen to his less-than-sober tales of wonderment regarding the west coast of Apodis. From what he knew of the target of his search, he may very well have to tread upon those lands. And so, any information the drunkard blurted out, accurate or not, the drifter would listen in closely to.

The carousing of the inebriated man had drawn the attention of the entire tavern’s consumer base. This brought an ever-so-slight frown upon the middle-aged bartender, who was most likely the establishment’s owner. The more attention the drunkard drew to himself, the less money the customers spent on indulging their appetites for booze and stale food; instead delivering their patronage to the story-teller with the most important currency of all, their time.

When the drunkard invited his audience to come look at the “proof” of his expedition, a small crowd began to surround him, completely blocking the drifter’s already disadvantageous view. As curious as he was to go see this souvenir, he was certain he had seen far more surprising and unbelievable prizes on his countless adventures across the seven seas. His inherent venturesome spirit could not hold out for long, however, as the crowd grew more and more dazzled by what the performer had to show. When a redhead who had previously displayed disinterest in the man’s tales inquired curiously after this object, the giant, black-cloaked man couldn’t help but cast his massive shadow upon the crowd, snatching himself an advantageous view as he towered behind the audience.

His eyes almost literally sparkled when he laid his gaze upon the piece of paper that looked all too familiar to him. It was a token of another era for him, a blast from the past. The markings on the crusty, yellowed paper seem to shift like serpents in his eyes, as he searched desperately through his memories to recall where he had seen this map before. It had the general outline of the island that was Apodis, as shown on a modern map, however, the geography of the island's content seemed different than what it was today. It was a duplicate of a map he had run into many years ago when he sailed the Grand Line with his long-forgotten crew mates.

The young woman stole the words from the tip of his tongue when she asked after the map’s origins. When the man informed her proudly of his gutsy trip “across the border”, the drifter finally interjected with words of his own. ”Say, stranger. How would you like to be my guide across this ‘border’, and take me to where you found this map, and perhaps even to where it’s leading? I have a strange feeling that I know what we might find there.” His sudden and unexpected request caught the audience and the performer himself off-guard, not realizing the large-framed man had been standing behind them this entire time.

The drifter had often been a gullible fool when it came to matters that he took a personal vested interest in. However, in this case, he had already suspected the validity of the drunkard’s tall tales. It was more likely that the man had chanced upon the doubtlessly legitimate artifact whilst carrying on with his usual vices such as gambling, or perhaps even pick-pocketing. His suspicions were confirmed when the nervous man conjured up excuses as to why he could not set out on a second expedition into the wild. Nonetheless, as far as he was concerned, the map was still the trickster’s property, and so he couldn’t discredit the man without proof.

Regardless of whether the big-boned alcoholic wished to guide him or not, the drifter just knew he had to find his way to this mysterious land. No matter the obstacles, he was sure he had faced worse and come out unharmed. If it was a matter of the Marines guarding this border, the drifter was not worried. In what felt like another life, he had thoroughly trashed some of the best officers the Navy had to offer before their combined efforts had led to his defeat. He had no doubts that the venture into the wilds of Apodis would not turn out to be any more detrimental to his health than deadly combat against a good portion of the strongest fighters in the world.

Having no fear of any consequences, the drifter was about to call out the tale-teller on his bluffs, when the young woman who had been showing a keen and almost unhealthy interest in the map swiped it from its owner’s possession. When the drunken man stood agape, the drifter quickly took advantage of the situation. Not wanting to condone such obvious and shameless robbery, the drifter removed a small, but hefty, pouch from his pants’ pocket and placed it in the deprived buffoon’s open palm.

Feeling the weight of the coins brought instant relief to the aggrieved victim of robbery, and his outrage settled into a disapproving frown. However, the drifter’s now closer presence had seemed to intimidate him into complete submission, realizing the true difference between their stature. ”I’m sure you won’t mind if this lovely young lady buys your map, will you?” Feigning acquaintance with the lady to take advantage of her newly found possession was no longer an option, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t save her from potential trouble in order to gain favour. The nervous liar simply nodded in agreement, failing to find his composure from the overbearing presence of the drifter.

The drifter then turned to the girl as the crowd started to disperse to the relief of the tavern-owner and the drifter himself. He extended his hand forward to offer a handshake while half-expecting the bold lady to defiantly ignore it in order to display her willfulness against his towering size. ”My friends call me Gray. I’ll be relying on you to be my guide, Miss…?”

Gray had expected at least some form of resistance from the crowd as they were forced to disperse upon the young lady’s acquisition of the map. But, the complaints and grumblings of the scattering crowd was hardly anything Gray couldn’t contend with. When the young lady introduced herself as “Cherry”, Gray could see the derivation instantly. Red hair, red fruit… It was either a nickname, or her parents weren’t the most creative. Then again, he could not fathom what his own parents had been thinking when they named him “Gray”, which happened to be his true name.

Gray was never the type to introduce himself falsely. If he had cause to hide his identity, he would simply refuse to share his name. However, he strongly believed that starting an acquaintance with a false name would simply open the door for more falsehoods and lies to enter the relationship. He was caught off-guard, though, from the sensation he experienced when the young lady accepted his handshake while revealing her name. Gray felt an abnormally high body temperature against his skin from the woman’s touch. And since he was nearly certain he couldn’t hear any violins playing, this couldn’t have been a meeting destined by fate, or a match made in heaven. While the temperature may have been potentially scarring to the average man, Gray barely felt its tinge. It was more plausible that the woman was marking herself as someone to be feared by showing off what was most likely a devil fruit’s ability. Nonetheless, Gray simply pretended to not even notice, since he barely even felt it, and shook her hand just as firmly.

When Cherry declared her intentions to exit the establishment in order to set off on their adventure immediately, Gray motioned her to hold momentarily. He then walked towards the counter, where the bartender had busied himself again with his menial tasks, and waved him over. He then dropped a few silver coins, more than enough to pay for the food he had ordered earlier and made his request. ”I’m going to have to take those meals to-go. Can you pack all of it into as big a bag as you can find?” The bartender hesitated for a moment, but once the value of those coins had clicked in, he complied immediately.
A large comically large bag was prepared for Gray outside the door, a strong smell of roasted meat emanating from it. Two young boys and three girls of around the same age had painstakingly dragged the take-out bag outdoors. As they huffed and puffed, they earned a bow of gratitude and a warm smile from Gray. Gray dug out a large piece of meat from bag and began chewing through it like a rabid carnivore. He then proceeded to pinch the mouth of the large bag along with his own personal bag together, and swung both bags over his shoulder with a single hand, carrying the weight as if it were a big ball of sponge.

He then turned towards Cherry and nodded his head in readiness, nonchalantly playing off his enormous feat of strength that had left the bag’s previous carriers’ jaws on the floor. ”Let’s head off before it gets dark.”

Lugging a massive bag around him that barely held together, even with its considerably thicker weave of hemp and flax, was not exactly the most comfortable walk. But, a starving stomach could not be left unsatisfied. It was a shame that Gray did not get to enjoy a few barrels of Apodis’ finest drink, as he often liked to do upon his first visit of an island. But, once Gray had realized a more valuable prize awaited him on the island, he had no time to spare. He had to confirm his suspicions on what awaited him and his new companion in West Apodis.

When Cherry inquired after his plans for overnight accommodations, Gray snorted and smiled. ”You’ve got yourselves in a bit of trouble, young lady, having incurred debt with me. I plan to have you take me to West Apodis immediately.” He consumed a large chunk of the fleshy meat that he held in his right hand, chewing on it shamelessly while talking with a mouth full. ”We can plan our route while walking out of town, no?” He had a nagging sensation that the red haired troublemaker had plans of her own that may not have involved Gray.

To make his own intentions clear as he spoke, his brows furrowed while his lips maintained a smile. ”Besides, that map you’re holding is technically my property. And like it or not, I aim to keep an eye on it.” He let out a guffaw, regardless of how Cherry reacted to his subtle threat. It may have been a threat, but there was no violent undertone to it. He simply had enough confidence in himself to keep up with her, if she tried to slip away with that precious artifact.

His steps quickened a bit, prodding Cherry to pick up the pace as the light of the stars now defeated the sun’s evening orange hue. When they reached their first dark corner of the city, Gray switched his luggage over to his right hand, pointing his robotic finger forward before turning on a hidden flashlight on the finger-tip that illuminated their path. It wasn’t that Gray could not see in this level of darkness, he simply found it amusing to use his robotic gadgets whenever he had the opportunity to do so. It had been a while since he had the chance to use some of the other features of his mechanized arm. However, the flashlight was a well-worn tool, which he often used through overnight storms as he traveled across the sea on foot. The storm on his journey to Apodis this afternoon had been the last time he had engaged the torch.

As they walked, Gray decided to break the ice that he may have hardened by his earlier playful threat. ’So, Cherry was it? What do you do when you’re not out drinking or robbing maps from drunk liars?” He hoped his joyful expression would keep her from being offended by the somewhat sarcastic tone he had employed in his query. Whatever her response may be, Gray would give it his full attention.

A whiff of steam and smoke and an ever so slightest hissing sound, one that no average human would’ve been able to hear, caused Gray to turn his head towards the bratty woman, as she stubbornly crossed her arms and walked a few paces away from him. His earlier suspicion was almost confirmed, that she must have some sort of devil fruit power. But, he was now starting to suspect whether she actually had full control over it. The heat she dispensed in their earlier handshake may not have been intentional, and considering the fact that she acted like she didn’t even notice the steam that was emanating from her shoulders, he couldn’t even be sure if she realized her loss of control on her power.

This was all assuming that she wasn’t simply pretending to not notice her power’s effect, which was a strong possibility considering her allegedly underhanded excuses to delay their expedition. Nonetheless, Gray realized it would be poor manners for him to throw her over the deep end so suddenly, forcing her to drop everything and go with him on a possibly dangerous adventure. And so, he sighed and smiled in response to her complaints, all this time pretending to not have noticed her steaming aura, as hard as that may have been.

”Very well, Cherry. You can stop by your home, but I’m coming with you. I will respect your privacy and not enter your home, but I will be waiting outside until dawn. If you try to escape during the night, believe me when I say this…” His eyes intensified, and he glared at her firmly, his comparatively larger stature adding to the intimidating effect. ”...I’ll know.”

Gray then smiled again as if nothing had happened, and continued on, expecting his guide to now direct them to their detour. Gray recalled her earlier comment about how stealing was no habit of hers and chuckled to himself. ”I suppose I’m going to find out by tomorrow morning if you are a thief or not.”

Later, upon her mention of his flashlight, he nodded proudly and tweaked his wrist, rotating it a complete 360 degrees to show off the mechanisms of the machine. ”It was a gift from a good friend of mine after I lost my arm.” Regardless of whether Cherry would ask how he lost his arm or not, Gray would simply continue. ”I’m thinking about getting an upgrade. Might change the design a bit. This one is starting to look a bit outdated if you ask me.”

Gray cast a quick and cautious glance towards Cherry's bosom, where she was safeguarding his "property" so dearly. He swiftly averted his gaze, though, so as not to be mistaken as lecherous or inappropriate. His thoughts turned forward towards the contents of the map. If his initial guess was correct, the map was, in fact, identical to something he had seen when he sailed under the command of his captain. On an uninhabited island in Paradise, they'd met a man who had clearly lost his sanity to the isolation from civilization. Upon his rescue, he had rewarded the captain with a map just like this one, only in a much more dilapidated condition. The man spoke in riddles, mentioning how this island was in one sea, but also another. And on this island was a golden cube that told the history of the island in context to the world. At the time, Gray's captain and his crew had paid little heed to the man's rambling, and the map was lost amidst the heaps of other charts and books that the scholarly historian of their crew had gathered.

It was not until Gray laid eyes upon the map that Cherry had captured, that he remembered this event that took place decades ago. He then also came to the epiphany that the island that was in one sea, but also another, might very well have been Apodis, which is located on the border of Paradise and the Calm Belt. And after having discovered many poneglyphs, the stones upon which the history of the world is engraved, he realized that might be what the "golden cube" in the riddle was referring to.

Having put together much of the history of the world and the secrets behind the Void Century alongside his crew mates, Gray could not live at ease knowing that there was more to the picture than what they had found. Every discovery they had made, had shifted their perspective on the history of the world. And knowing that this priceless artifact may exist on Apodis, Gray could not sit idly by. His curiosity was like a child, being read a fairy tale, but being told that the end of the story would be told the following night. No child could resist the urge to pry for the ending, no matter how short the wait; and Gray was no different in this regard.

When twisting his wrist in order to boast its flexibility, he had accidentally folded his finger up, causing the bright light of the torch blind both him and Cerise for a split second during its rotation. While his robotic arm offered inhuman capabilities, it was not without its glitches and quirks. The involuntary finger-folding was an odd side-effect of the incalculable input into the nervous system as his robotic wrist performed feats his real one could not. He had enough mechanical skills and knowledge to perform regular maintenance on the machine, but his skills were not nearly thorough enough for him to debug such errors in the arm’s operation.

Before he could apologize for the blinding effect of his flashlight, Cherry bumped into an elderly woman in her moment of blindness, knocking the poor lady back on her rear. A soft thud on the stoney street suggested she had landed rather safely, something possibly having broken her fall. Or perhaps she simply had an ample butt to cushion her fall. Either way, before Gray could offer a helping hand, the flustered young girl responded with a swift apology and an arm to assist the old lady’s climb. Gray had mistaken Apodis to be the type of place where people didn’t forgive accidents easily, especially if they were the injured party. But, from how quickly the fumbled woman accepted the apology and granted her clemency, Gray had to reconsider his original judgment. At least until he noticed Cherry curiously eyeing the short, greying woman scurried away without exchanging many words. He was tempted to ask if she perhaps recognized the old lady, but he decided to pay it no mind, deeming it none of his concern.

As the distance between each streetlight grew, the quality of the buildings grew poorer and less well-maintained. He suspected they were nearing the outskirts of town, and from the looks of it, unlike many large cities, the suburban region of Apodis was a class below the core city. With the area pockmarked with trash and litter on the streets, the atmosphere was begin to transform into something he had become too acquainted with over his travels. He was by no means a neat person himself, so he could not judge the residents of these streets for their poor hygiene and lack of tidiness. When the red-haired girl made an obviously sarcastic remark about hoping he did not have a sensitive nose, he responded simply with a silent smirk and an expression that clearly said ”I’ve smelt worse.” It was the truth, as the smell of a mountain of rotting corpses smelled far worse than what Apodis had to offer so far.

As they neared the end of the city, the road abruptly ended, as if it had simply been cut off and replaced with a patch of dirty grass. He curiously scanned the surroundings to see remnants of what might’ve been there before it was so artificially removed. But, he noticed no signs of such artifacts. Perhaps they merely decided against constructing the road any further?

As Cherry turned sharply towards the right, walking now along the circumference of the city, Gray followed closely, his mind still inquisitive regarding the road’s end. ”That is a strange way to end a road. I would’ve expected at least some sort of closure to it. It looks like the city officials just gave up on this part of town.” His comments were not questions, but rather notes he was making out loud. He did not expect Cherry to respond. As they walked through a pleasant change of scenery, Gray enjoying the soft rustling of the poplar trees’ spade-like leaves, he was not ready for a jerk back to reality. But, it came nonetheless, once they had crossed the relatively peaceful grove.

Seeing the mountains of trash and the overwhelming stink of all manner of wastes, Gray’s eyes widened and his nostrils flared. He then turned to the foolishly smirking woman and reflected her smile as he responded jokingly to her welcome. ”If this is your home, you really need to learn to pick up after yourself. Gehahahaha!” As his gaze skimmed the infinitely dirty landscape of the slums, Gray’s brows furrowed and his smile all but disappeared. ”You know, this place reminds me very much of a town I once visited in the North Blue. Although, at least the folks on that island didn’t ignore the existence of such a dung heap.” The mention of North Blue sparked a curious query that Gray had wondered about. ”Have you ever been off the island before, Cherry-chan?” He half-expected her to change the topic, but he asked the question nonetheless, hoping to hear an honest answer. Getting to know his guide and her experience with the outside world could never be a bad thing, could it?