[Maru & Nas] The Desert Adventure: Part I

[Nasakeshira]

Corvun bobbed up and down, drifting in, and out of sleep. The passage of time was surreal. He'd be asleep and wake up with the sun and then go back to sleep and wake up with the sun still there. Had days passed? Or was it a quick nap, Corvun began wondering if it was all a dream. Perhaps its the afterlife, he was currently in limbo. Sentenced to drift forever in this plane of existence. Dreams and reality began to mix, and Corvun had stopped trying to remember. What was I doing before? Corvun fell asleep yet again.

As if being pulled over a cliff by an insurmountable weight, Corvun's consciousness tumbled through the haze and into reality. Waking, as if his heart and brain had just been zapped by a lightning bolt. He rolled over onto his back and off the piece of driftwood. The first thing Corvun noticed were the lack of stars. It was dark, so dark he couldn't even see his hand in front of him and there was no moon, I must still be dreaming, he thought to himself. He lie on the ground, conscious, for what seemed like an eternity. Unsure of himself Corvun rested his tired body on the sand... sand. Corvun had just realized the softness beneath his body. The soft grainy texture of fine sand. He took solace in the fact that he could recognize something in this profound ocean of the mind. He lied on the ground with the simple comfort that he must be alive, because they don't have sand in heaven or hell. And then there it was, with all its glory a light broke on the horizon. The sun had began its slow march across the horizon, and with the rising of the sun, Corvun's mind finally broke free of the fog and haze of his surreal existence. Finally, enough there was enough light for Corvun to examine his surroundings. Sitting up he looked left and then right and turned his body around to look behind him. His feet were pointing towards the ocean, and to his left and right for miles he could see driftwood. Pieces of the ship that was blown to kingdom come, and with it supplies from the ship washed onto the shore.

Corvun's stomach gurgled, the onset of hunger, oddly enough, gave him strength. He struggled to his feet, stumbled a bit, and then stabilized. Corvun was still far from his normal state of mind, he was in survival mode. The duality of his laziness and lust for battle were silenced in his mind. His only focus was recovery and thus he stumbled and fell along the beach side. In a matter of minutes he found a can, without a second thought he used a piece of wood and bust open the top. The can was filled with black beans. After downing the can and swallowing every bean, he went back to one of the dead bodies and pulled off a canteen. Corvun drank the water and tossed it. Falling to his feet, he rolled into some shade and went to sleep again. When he woke up it was high noon, and it was blazing. Where the water met the sand steam began forming. Corvun yawned, besides from being a little dehydrated and starving he was normal again.

"Gotta find some clothes... clothes clothes clothes clothes clothes." He repeated to himself five times. The seawater had finally dried and he was getting his full strength back. He again scanned the area and scavenged the dead. Corvun began throwing the pieces of clothes he found on top of the taller driftwood to dry. In a matter of minutes he had a long-sleeved shirt, it was loose fitting and some boots. Tearing up some linens he made a makeshift face mask to protect against the sand. Corvun feeling proud of his work, suddenly sighed and slumped his shoulders, "I hate walking. Especially in this heat." He began walking alongside the beach. "Why don't I just transform." Relaxing he tried to transform, but couldn't. He gave up almost immediately, and with a sigh he began his scavenger hunt along the beach.

With his sense of time restored, he judged he'd been looking for an hour, so he sat down. "Stupid desert. I mean the summer is awesome and all but this is just too hot." He entertained himself by talking to himself. He complained about the issue at hand and started talking about Clause. "I hope he's doing fine." The waves had deposited yet another item. Corvun had the feeling he'd regret it if he didn't check what it was. Getting closer to the waves on the beach he waited for them to recede one more time before dashing forward grabbing the item covered in seaweeds and dashed back out before the water could touch him. "Stupid sea, I probably swallowed some sea water thats why I can't transform." He continued to complain as he dragged the rather familiarly weighted object towards his resting spot. Tearing away the seaweed he discovered it was his Sen Katana. They had a little wear and rust from the seawater but the case and combination of seaweed must have kept it in tip top condition. Slinging it over his shoulder the Black Feather again began traveling along the shoreline.

Corvun guesstimated that he had been walking for another three hours, and with no survivors yet assumed he was the only one to survive. Eating and drinking the rare canned goods and water bags. With his journey probably being miles he had finally come across something... quite peculiar. A panda lying out on the beach under some shade, around him was a stockpile of food and water, kicking back and relaxing acting all cool as he ate a lot of not so fresh food. Corvun suddenly remembered, he had used a panda as a stepping stool when fighting Wild Wolf. Relaxing he approached slowly, the closer he got the more he realized, that the panda was just a costume. There was somebody inside of it... I don't feel like fighting, my feet hurt, and I'm still thirsty. Why does trouble and hard work follow me wherever I go? As Corvun thought this he unconsciously scratched at the scars he received as a slave. Well I might as well see if he's friendly. Maybe he'll share? Ha ha ha ha ha ha eh. Seriously though I'll starve to death. Clearing his throat and being polite as possible, "may I have some food plea-" Corvun uncharacteristically putting effort forth, dove for the food.

[BlacKitten]

One little panda, two little panda, three little panda, a circle of adorable pandas danced around the bamboo stalks, happily celebrating in great bliss. With their claws, they gripped upon the bamboo stalks and knocked it over, onto the forest’s floor. Dozens of little pandas scraped the outer bark of the bamboo with their teeth, and they munched onto their favorite food in the whole wide world.

Looking at his own hands, Maru noticed that he was not wearing his panda costume. For so long, he whimsically pretended to be one of them, the pandas, and he had almost forgotten what he had looked like as a regular human being. His first friend was a panda, treasuring every second he spent playing with him. So gentle, pandas were always friendly around him without the slightest of trepidation, always giving cozy hugs. Thus, Maru held deep attachments for many animals, even more so than humans.

All of the sudden, the pandas looked at him in curiosity. Dashing at him on all four paws, the tiny army of pandas began pouncing onto him, hugging and gripping onto him. Outnumbered, Maru couldn’t move any of his limbs, and his vision was clouded in soft panda fur. Not much longer, everything went black, sinking in a deep and murky void. It was empty, yet it felt like an ocean was crushing him from above as he sank into a deep abyss.

“…” Feeling lightheaded, Maru remained lying on large chunk of wood that was drifting near the shore. Sleepy and drowsy, it felt like waking up early in the morning. Feebly opening his eyelids, he found himself awaking from a placid dream. Too bad reality wasn’t a dream because he felt dizzy as if he had been skyrocketed beyond the clouds and fell from the heavens. His memory was blurred, but the huge chunk of splintered wood beneath him instantly reminded him of the past. Everything went boom! He recalled the deafening sound of that angry explosion that had completely demolished the ship. What’s even more impressive was that he was alive! Whether his soft panda suit cushioned the damage or his good fortune was superior to anyone else's, the fact that he was breathing with a healthy pulse gave him comfort.

While Maru had no way to tell time mentally, his stomach told him that approximately fourteen hours or more had gone by since the last time he devoured the food within the ship, judging by his current hunger rate. In other words, he had been sleeping for an entire night! This was awful! His skipped dinner; this was a nightmare! Oh well, fortunately, he ate enough food in that ship to compensate for dinner. From the morning sky, the sun was rising, telling him that breakfast was coming soon! Breakfast… the most important meal of the day! A sudden surge of motivation ran through his veins. Standing up, leaping off from the wooden board that was the makeshift for his bed last night, Maru was prepared to hunt down for food like a hungry tiger.

“Huh?” A new surprise popped up as Maru suddenly felt his energy being drained out of his body. Was he sick? Clumsily, he stepped out of the water while his energy returned back into his body. “… Mmm," Reconsidering that thought, he felt perfectly normal now. What was going on? “That was unpleasant! I-I don’t understand…” Such an unusual sensation, it felt like a wave had just washed away his energy in a heap. Perhaps he was simply tired.

The paws of his feet sank in to the soft sand as the intrepid Maru scouts out for anything interesting in this prosaic desert-like environment. Glancing around his surroundings, he immediately realized the unfortunate truth that this was an actual desert! Just like pandas, Maru did not like high temperature, and he would usually seek for colder temperatures. Besides, wearing a fluffy panda suit was the most inappropriate attire to wear in a desert. Obviously, Maru had to hurry up, preparing to survive in this terrain before the sun hits noon, the hottest point of the day.

Placidly sauntering along the edge of the shore, Maru had scavenged several wooden crates that were abandoned; they probably came from the ship’s cargo. The wooden crates are severely damaged, and food supplies were spilled out. Definitely not the freshest food one may have, but they were a luxury if one considered that this was a desert wasteland. Shoving the supplies in the damaged crates, Maru stacked the crate on top of each other then carried all of near two firm-standing cacti that were covered in sharp deadly needles.
During the next hour, the hard-working panda obtained very important crates of supplies that were essential for survival, water! Crate that contained dozens of bottles of water, they were the key to survival that probably doesn’t exist anywhere else in the desert. Besides, drinking the seawater would simply be suicidal. Maru had also found a large, white, soaked, torn-up sail that originally belonged to a ship. The sail was only a fragment of what it should be, but the large piece of cloth was put to good use by the crafty hands of Maru. He used the large sheet of cloth as a roof by piercing opposite ends into the needles of the cacti. Crawling underneath the cloth, it provided a nice shade for him, and the color of white was the worst color to absorb heat from the sun, keeping things cool for him. With his own little tent-like shelter with a stockpile of food and water, Maru was prepared!

It was breakfast time, and Maru chowed down on the supplies of food that he had previously accumulated. With this, he could probably last for at least a few days, but he would soon need to find a way to leave this island. As soon as the sun struck noon, the temperature rose to its harshest point of the day. Even with the roof, the blazing sunlight could still penetrate the cloth to a certain extent. The scorching hot sand boiled the water upon contact near the shore, at least steam rose up to indicate its wrath. Sand beneath Maru’s shade were the coolest, yet Maru felt like he was sitting in a boiling pot. One could get a wicked heat rash without this tent. Maru had chosen to keep his panda suit on, or else he’ll be terribly sunburned to the point his skin would melt off from his flesh.

Even though it was lunchtime, Maru's stomach was still full from breakfast, so he remained laying down, resting beneath the roof, using a wooden crate as a pillow and another wooden crate as a footrest. Half napping and half daydreaming, Maru posed a question to himself, “If I survived the explosion, were there any other survivors?” It seemed highly unlikely to be surviving under this temperature unless the survivors had their own little shelter too.

Maru’s sharp ears quickly picked up the sound of someone approaching him, but he remained still like a stuffed animal. Partially too lazy to move, Maru simply waited for the arrival of the stranger. Not bothering to look, he heard the sinking footsteps approaching slowly towards him. Afterward, Maru heard this person trying to speak in a polite manner, “May I have some food plea-” The question was cut off as the unknown stranger plunged in for Maru’s food without warning!

Sluggishly turning his head towards his unwelcomed guest, Maru instantly retracted his feet from his footrest and shoved the wooden crate using the extension of his legs at his wild guest. The crate slid across the sand, tripping the guest off balance, plunging the stranger into the sand, face first.

[Nasakeshira]

With potential food and water on the line, Corvun quickly recovered from having a crate kicked at him, on a normal day he could of effortlessly dodged such a lame attack. He stumbled through the dirt and jumped on top of the panda, slapping him and throwing weak punches, the panda had soon fought back and now sat on top of Corvun. The defeated's stomach growled loudly and he also moaned in response, if he lost the fight. He'll earn his sympathy, Corvun had dubbed this plan, Operation Lazy Bones. "Food, please?" Corvun had submitted to the all powerful panda, if there's one thing he could do while being even lazier than lazy, it was kissing ass. "Oh great and... uh wonderful.. Panda lord?" As Corvun ended that sentence he tried one sweeping motion to get onto his back, but to no avail. He was either to weak or the panda was to heavy. "I beseech thee to let me... eat a meal swiftly and uh... not starve to death?" His eyes sparkled it was time for the finishing blow of Operation Lazy Bones, "I grow weaker every moment the longer I go without food, and what kind of monster would let a man starve to death when he could save him with his piles of canned food. Surely you can a test to the fact, that you are no monster?"

********

There were two people crouched and viewing the scene below playing out on the shore. They wore black veils around their neck, and had dark skin. One of the observers was an older man. His hair was still black but becoming intertwined with strands of gray. The other a young one, he was skinny but toned and his hair was as dark as the night sky. The older one fidgeted as he asked the young one a question, "another one?" The young one nodded in response, "keep an eye on them. If they come in land, alert us and we shall capture them. Do not confront them, we do not know if they're bad men." Again the younger one nodded quietly. The older one with a brisk pace, quickly and sharply turned and jogged away. Clearly he was uncomfortable being around the shore, the younger one did not suffer from such afflictions. So the silent boy was made to watch the shore. And he watched silently, remaining vigilant, his sharp eyes let no detail be unseen. He watched the older man until he was out of sight and promptly turned his eyes towards the two men on the beach.

[BlacKitten]

Fascinating, there was an actual survivor from the explosion, maybe. Was this poor, wounded man from the ship that was engulfed by the devastating explosion, or was he an inhabitant from this island? Nevertheless, this lowly meager human, wearing ragged clothing, was in a horrific condition. Maru didn't even wish to look at him, but Maru’s skillful eyes noticed that the man carried a giant container of countless of katanas. One can easily tell the that the sword was a katana by its distinctive curve of the blade and the length of the handle. While a katana was not traditionally within his martial art system, Maru had always wanted to see one up close. Out of all the type of swords, a well crafted katana was probably one of the sharpest blades of them all because their blades were bent and hammered into thousands or perhaps a million layers. Traditionally, they were made out of special steel known as Tamahagane, produced from iron sand, a source of iron ore. The sacred art of forging one of those blade would take days or weeks, and they were extremely expensive. While Maru was trained under one particular style of martial arts, his passion led him to research countless of other martial arts and weapons. Still... WHY DOES HE HAVE SO MANY KATANAS? He had only two arms! How does he plan to use them all?

After Maru knocked the unwelcomed guest off balance when shoving a crate towards the man’s feet, the enervated man desperately crawled himself up. As he stumbled through the dirt, the stranger jumped on top of Maru, slapping and punching him in a pathetic and feeble manner. The soft fur of Maru’s suit cushioned the blows to the point where he barely even felt it. While it was superfluous for the young panda-wearing Maru to respond, his martial art instinct kicked in, forcing his limbs to defend on its own accord. As if his body had a mind of its own, this was what they might call muscle memory.

As a fellow martial artist, Maru immediately saw the obvious flaw in the man’s way of fighting. That flaw was that the stranger leaned forward too much; his balance was tilted forward, caused by the desperation of trying to hit Maru. Just as a fist breezed by, Maru intercepted his timing and stepped diagonally forward, being on the outside of the offender’s punch. His master called this as a ‘V-step’, stepping diagonally 45 degrees while facing the opponent at an angle. With his footing eating his opponent’s territory, Maru effortlessly tugged the offender’s force towards the same direction as the punch was intended to travel. Meanwhile, Maru’s footing caused the exhausted opponent to trip over his solid stance, and the man collapsed to the sandy ground in a heap. The panda was too lazy to prolong this foolish nonsense any longer, so Maru ensconce himself on the man’s back, pressuring Maru’s weight on top of him. This one-sided scuffle was over; Maru was the victor.

At the moment, Maru was one of the few people who knew how comfortable it was to sit on a human. The ‘chair’ was a little too low for his taste, but this man makes a great chair for him, much better than sitting on a hard wooden crate. Shortly afterwards, Maru heard a rumbling, deep, hollow growl, but this growl in particular was too quiet for it to be his own. Besides, he had just eaten a while ago. Peeking below him, it came to his realization that the depressing sound came from the hungry man beneath him who was starving! Maru knew too well how awful it was to feel hungry. An empty feeling in the stomach; it felt like a wild animal was trying to break free from the inside. That was what hunger felt like to him.

Signaling his existence that he was still alive, the man pleaded like an old beggar, “Food, please? Oh great and… uh wonderful… Panda Lord?” As soon as the hungry being finished speaking, he attempted to turn on his back, but it was futile as long as the panda was around. This was the first time that Maru was ever called a ‘Panda Lord’, a nice nickname. The poor old beggar continued his pleading, “I beseech thee to let me… eat a mean swiftly and uh… not starve to death?” As if a lightning bolt had just stuck Maru’s heart, his eyes grew teary beneath his panda suit, but it was not visible from the outside. The starving man used his last breath to speak, “I grow weaker every moment the longer I go without food, and what kind of a monster would let a man starve to death when he could save him with his piles of canned food. Surely you can test to the fact that you are no monster?” Slightly nodding, Maru agreed. Dying from hunger was the worst way to die.

The reticent and sanguine panda thought to himself, “Not to worry! I have plenty of food and water for the both of us! I’ll show this man how kind-hearted a panda can really be! I shall not disgrace the panda race… even though I am not really a panda... Perhaps we can be friends! Yay, I hope he’ll be my friend!” Leaning his weight towards his legs, Maru stood up, relieving the pressure on the man’s back. “First things first,”After speaking for the first time, he ripped the crooked lid off a dirty wooden crate, revealing a stack of water bottles. Grabbing a bottle, Maru loosened to cap a bit before handing it over to his new buddy on the ground, “Drink it! Water is a lot more important than food when it comes to survival. My name is Maru, and I assure you that Maru is not a monster.”

While their first encounter was not too friendly, the unknown stranger and Maru had soon formed a different impression of each other. The sun was still blazing hot, but Maru’s tent should be enough to protect the both of them for the meantime. Maru absolutely abhorred the hot weather; he much preferred to be in a winter climate. It was better to freeze to death than be burned to death. If it wasn’t for the stockpile of water, he’ll probably dye from all the sweat loss. The only reason he did not remove his panda suit was to prevent direct skin contact with the sun. Pretending to be a panda sure was difficult!

[Nasakeshira]

Corvun's Operation Lazy Bones was a success! Corvun now sat side-by-side with the panda and scooped out various food stuffs from multiple cans. Beans and corn, corns and beans, corn and bean, and the ultimate-super rare can of carrots. He could fill his body slowly refill with energy every time he swallowed. Grabbing a bottle of water he put it to his chapped lips and began washing everything down. By the time he was finished about ten cans and two bottles of water were totally emptied of their contents. Corvun made a belch of satisfaction. Licking his fingers he decided to talk to this weird panda. "So." He dried his fingers on his clothes, "my name is Corvun. What's yours? Why do you wear that panda costume?" While talking to the Panda, the Black Feather stretched. "What was a supposed World Noble's ship doing in the South Blue?"

It was indeed a World Noble's ship or more accurate to say, a courier ship of a World Noble. No Noble would travel on such a musty and bacteria ridden ship. The ship's primary cargo was a super destructive bomb, one that easily blew up two ships and sent the passengers sky high. One might ask, why would a World Noble bother with anyone in the South Blue? Well of course for their own pleasure, the ship was en route to the Pirate Market. The bomb would be dropped off and detonated. How many pirates could this bomb kill if set off in a crowded area? That's what they intended to find out. In addition, they were to collect any survivors and return to them as slaves.

Corvun listened to the Maru's reason for wearing the suit, he constantly nodded while he listened. "So if you love something you should show your love by wearing a costume of them." As the conversation went back and forth, the sun began to set, the two thought it'd be a good idea to start a fire. So they gathered some wood, once it was all piled up they looked at each other, "you know how to start a fire?" He asked Maru. It was just another hot day on the beach. The two of them fell asleep side-by-side.

In his dream, he was holding onto a piece of wood that kept him a float on the water. The waves were choppy and it was getting stormy, the waves were twenty feet high they thrashed and tossed him into the air. It was weird though, he had the strength to resist and fight while being covered head-to-toe in sea water. Again he was flung into the air as he was falling he woke up. Opening his eyes, the Black Feather felt something was off. His eyes were adjusted to the dark, but his vision wasn't perfect. Something scurried! Just now! What was that? Corvun drew a sword from one of the many. "Damn it." He nudged Maru with his foot, "hey... hey wake up. Wake up you fat panda." Nothing moved for awhile so he relaxed, "maybe it was just my imagination." Standing up straight he swung his blade, the weight was different and it didn't cut through the air cleanly. "Totally rusted through." He stabbed the blade into the ground and closed his eyes. It must have been twelve minutes before Corvun started dozing off again. The sea! The sea! It is the weapon of Poseidon! A slow baritone chant began. It swallowed Corvun whole and spat him back out again! Brrrring it on! I'm a god, I'm a god too! I will not lose this fight to you Poseidon! It was just like the play he had seen when he was a kid, before he took up the path of the Bushin.

Corvun woke up with a gasp, his heart was pumping, and he broke out in a cold sweat. He had never had such a weird dream before or is this what they call a vision. Relaxing, he put his head down again. He hadn't even noticed that he sat up again. Deciding it was probably best to rest, he tried to sleep again. When suddenly, "FOR CAPTAIN! FOR THE WILD WOLVES" The howl broke the silence of the desert night. A ragtag group from Wild Wolf's crew had come to get their vengeance, for lost crew members and separating them from their beloved Captain. The group was close, very close. They must have spent hours sneaking up on them. They saw the fight on the ship and must have realized that they were no match for him, if he was a match for their Captain. About several blades impaled the wood behind Corvun. Narrowly dodging he escaped, "come on guys, it wasn't my fault the ship blew up." Reasoning skill, ten. Their ability to listen to reason, one to one and a half.

"Don't be deceived by him, he's without his weapons and he's cornered!" These amateurs couldn't even whet Corvun's appetite. Mumbling, "first I can't transform after waking up in a god forsaken desert, and then I starve for a day and a half, and then what the hell. I'm attacked out of nowhere." Corvun dodged their blades, he remembered his Grandpa giving him a real sword and telling him to attack. He easily disarmed Corvun and as the years went on he eventually forced him to use a thin wooden branch to fight him. This was pretty much the same situation, grabbing wrists and attacking the pressure points on the arm causing them to drop their weapons, but he didn't count on their burning souls. Filled with determination they stood up again and picked up their blades with opposite hands, "I was left handed anyways!" One of them, yelled. He charged, swung, missed and went crashing into the piles of food. The "left-handed" swordsman got an idea. Unable to kill him directly, he reasoned that they could kill him when he's weakened. Making weird hand signals they all ran towards where he was sleeping. Confused Corvun stood there, wondering what they were doing in this dark moonless night. It looked like they were digging something out of the sand. Soon they ran off into the distance, cheering, and laughing. He walked back to his sleeping spot. Something was different about the place, it seemed more roomy, looking over at his new roommate, "fat sleepy panda."

[BlacKitten]

With his new buddy sitting next to him, Maru scrutinized his guest who’s chowing down the beans and corns from several cans along with a bottle of water. By the time the guest was finished eating, he began his series of questions after licking his fingers; “So, my name is Corvun. What’s yours? Why do you wear that panda costume? What was a supposed World Noble’s ship doing in the South Blue?”

Pointing at himself, Maru answered, “My name is Maru! My first friend was a panda! However, my panda suit was designed to confuse my opponents. If you suddenly see a panda out of nowhere, you’ll be stunned by the randomness. This panda suit is extremely comfortable too, except on a desert. And, I’ve no clue as to why a Noble’s ship was in the South Blue, but Maru did not saw any Nobles. I snuck on the ship because there was food in there!” At the end of every sentence, Maru’s guest, Corvun, nodded to indicate that he was listening. Typically, Maru would deny that it was a costume, saying that he was an actual panda, but he didn’t felt the need around Corvun. Despite knowing him for such a short time, he felt comfortable around him.

Corvun concluded, “So if you love something, you should show your love by wearing a costume of them.” The conversation between Corvun and the panda prolonged until sunset. Maru made certain that he did not reveal too much information about himself. There were some things that were best to be kept hidden. For example, Maru had never mentioned that he was responsible for the explosion that obliterated the two ships.

Both of them soon came to the realization that they might need to start a fire. He assisted Corvun into gathering some wood, but that didn’t go so well. They were on a giant desert! Where were they supposed to find wood? There was nothing but cacti and sand. During their futile hunt for wood, Maru was searching elsewhere, away from Corvun to cover more ground.

Scratching his stomach, the lower corner of his eye caught something black. Looking down, he saw these black markings in contrast of his white fur, located on his stomach. “Eh? What is this?” Four rough zigzag-like markings were shown visible. Where did these markings come from? It wasn’t there a minute ago. Surely he would have noticed it a while ago. “Hm?” As soon as he traced his fingers around the markings, thin black lines followed his fingertips, appearing quite clearly on his fur. This was impossible! “What are these lines, ink? More importantly, is still going to stain on my fur?”

Sauntering towards the edge of the shore, the experimenting panda gently splashed seawater directly on the enigmatic black lines on his fur. While he intended to scrub the ink off his fur, the black ink vanished effortlessly beforehand. This was no ordinary ink if it was ink at all. Slowly stoking his index finger across the white fur on his midriff, black lines followed once again. Nerve-rackingly curious yet terribly puzzled, he stroked his fingers across the sand below him. Nothing! Not a drop of ink was visible on the sand. Strange! What did this mean?

Maru glanced upon the drifting object in the ocean; it was wood! A chunk of wood that must had been the remains of the destroyed ships. Everything made more sense now. Corvun was probably referring to the scattered chunks of wood on the beach. Most of them had already drifted towards the beach, and this was definitely enough. Grabbing what he had come to find, he gathered up a all of the dry chunks of wood, hugging them in his arms.

Returning back to his tent, Corvun had gathered a pile of wood. Maru stacked his pile upon Corvun’s pile, but there was only one problem. Corvun and Maru exchanged glances at each other as Corvun was the first to ask, “You know how to start a fire?” Returning his glance forward, the panda did not carry any matches with him.

Darkness soon engulfed the sky, and the two wanderers slept side by side in the tent placidly. Personally, the giant stuffed panda bear was pleased that they didn’t start a fire since he preferred the cold temperature, same with actual pandas. Unusually drowsy, the sleepy panda dozed off to sleep along with Corvun. Throughout the night, Maru was within a deep and dark slumber; almost nothing could wake him up. Another dream was conjured up within his mind. Rapid images, a slideshow, revealed to him of his recent past. Images of that fruit, the disgusting fruit that he ate on the ship was shown to him briefly. Afterward, the images of the black ink was vividly shown, black as midnight yet vulnerable to water. Everything went pitch black as he felt himself sinking in an empty abyss. A void of nothingness, the sensation of an ocean pressuring him from above was the same as his previous dream. What did this all mean? Blinded by nothingness, he saw nothing. He heard nothing, and he smelled nothing. Suddenly, it all clicked to him! He knew what it all meant!

As soon as the fiery sun ascended from the horizon, Maru was awakened by the rays of light aimed towards his eyes. He definitely knew that he had a peculiar dream last night, but what was it? The more he attempted to remember, the more the dream faded. There was something important about that dream; he knew that he realized something. What was it? “… Eh… I can’t remember anything! Everything is hazy.” The tent seemed a lot voluminous than he previously thought, almost roomier. “HOLY BAMBOO STICKS!” Maru yelled at the sight of his surroundings! Food, water, and wooden crates were all… gone! More accurately, most of their food supply was gone, but barely anything remained. Think…. What was the most logical explanation for all of this? Maru gasped, “What if I ate everything when I was asleep?” He glanced towards his stomach for the answer. Judging from his current hunger rate, he had not eaten anything for the past nine hours, and his stomach would never lie! There was only one other person that could have ate all of this, Corvun! The panda frantically shook his roommate awake, “Corvun! Did you eat all of our food supply?” Even if he did eat them all, why wasn’t he fat?

[Nasakeshira]

Corvun's breath swirled in the darkness of the night. Yawning he lay down in his spot again. The soft sand had taken his imprint, closing his eyes he tried to convince himself that they could attack again, but sleep, it felt so good right now, and thus he nodded off. Dreams did not come to him this time and before he knew it, Maru was shaking and blabbering at him. What does he want so early in the morning, Corvun thought. Rubbing his eyes, he yawned. "Mmmmmmm... sh! Too much noise... Ah. That's better, now what's wrong?" His eyes were still closed, slowly opening they adjusted to the light. The scene before him was not pretty, but it made sense. "We were attacked last night." Standing up, "they were some of Wild Wolf's surviving crew. They were pretty weak, but it was dark. They ran off into the night a bit later. I didn't bother chasing or stopping them, because you know."

The Black Feather dusted off his pants. "We should scavenge what we can and prepare to get our stuff back." Looking as if he was about to do something, Corvun jumped into the air and plopped back down on the floor. "I think it'd be better, if we just lay here. Starving to death isn't so bad after all." Having a flashback to the day earlier of overturning and checking dead bodies for food and water caused Corvun to shutter, the memories were unpleasant. "It's almost as bad as being forced to work for someone else without any pay." Rolling over he put his face in the sand, as the sun slowly rose on the horizon, so to did the temperature. Again, he turned turned over, "we don't really have enough things to carry with us anyways. Lets just eat what's left and carry the water." Corvun was struggling to get to his feet, giving up he let his head slam into the sand. Trying again he kicked his feet up and with a little effort was standing. He thought about offering his hand out to Maru, but decided not to. Panda's are fat and heavy, was his reasoning. He waved at Maru, indicating that he intended to start this journey right now. Making his way up the first dune, he now had quite a view. This had to be the tallest dune for miles, for he could see far into the distance, he turned around and looked into the sea. He felt as if he could see the curvature of the Earth standing this high up, but that must have just been his imagination for he wasn't nearly as high as he thought he was. For the first time Corvun had looked inland. A trail of small footsteps that lead deeper into the desert were directly ahead of him.

********

The young one had turned around and began running through the desert as soon as Corvun had made his way to the top. He had watched the transgressions during the night. His keen senses had alerted him to the encroaching pirates, waking him and allowing him to observe from his vantage point. As he retreated, he left a single trail of footprints in the sand. They were light though and in a few seconds would begin to disappear.

Now a safe distance to observe, the young one reflected on the time he had watched them. He felt as if he actually knew the,, they were good people who had never fostered ill will, at least from what he had observed. The older men in his clan had said men are as whimsical as the wind. They can blow against with you and in the slightest moment change and blow against you. Heeding his elders' advice he had decided to not approach them and bring possible misfortune into his clan. Taking a sip from his water bag he continued to retreat further and further as they closed the distance between them. He was sure now that they were following his footsteps that he left behind.

********

"It feels like we're being lead like sheep somewhere." Corvun's feet were lightly touching the sand as he slid downhill. He was developing a technique that let him step softly in the sand. After all the one they were chasing must have been quite fleet footed to leave such transient prints, and so they marched deeper into the challenge that was the desert. A hunt if you will, it was indeed a type of hunt. For what? They were soon going to find out.

[BlacKitten]

As Maru shook the unconscious sleeping roommate, Corvun slowly wandered his mind back into reality, “Mmmmmmm… sh! Too much noise… Ah. That’s better. Now what’s wrong?” Finally, he opened his eyes; it was the best way for him to understand why Maru was freaking out from the food shortage.

“We were attacked last night.” Corvun bluntly explained while he stood up wobbly; his whole face appeared to be coated in a layer of fatigue. Those sleepy eyes and lack of balance proved it. “They were some of Wild Wolf’s surviving crew. They were pretty weak, but it was dark. They ran off into the night a bit later. I didn’t bother chasing or stopping them, because you know.”

Violent and bloody thoughts were arousing within the panda's vengeful mind,“Wild Wolf? I’ll give them credit for surviving the explosion and having the guts to steal from us. Next time, I'll slaughter them all.” Knowing that there were other survivors gave Maru the impression that they weren’t alone on this island. Ever since Corvun woke up, the cranky panda remained silent as if he was too speechless to say anything. Maru was angered at himself for not waking up to stop the theft. Come to think of it, why did he had such an unusual dream last night?

“We should scavenge what we can and prepare to get our stuff back.” Corvun intentionally jumped into the air as the man plopped back to the sandy ground. “I think it’d be better if we just lay here. Starving to death isn’t so bad after all. It’s almost as bad as being forced to work for someone else without any pay.” Saying such a statement caught Maru’s rebellious attention, “What did he just say? There’s no way that we’ll die in a desert of all place, at least not me. H-how can Corvun say such a thing? Does he have any motivation to live at all? Even if we were going to die, I would rather find those Wild Wolf pirates to take back their food supply. On the off chance that they ate them all, I would simply kill every last one of them and devour their flesh and bones if that’s what it means to survive! If Corvun dares to surrender his life so easily, then I will simply devour him, so his death would not be in vain.” As a side note, Maru can get extremely cranky and grumpy if he was hungry or if someone stole his food! This panda warrior was a lot more dangerous when he feels hunger. Friend or foe, he would kill anyone if it means survival. Also, Maru tended to speak in the first person when angered while normally he spoke in the third person.

Corvun explained his next course of action, “We don’t really have enough things to carry with us anyways. Let’s just eat what’s left and carry the water.” After those depressing words, Corvun stood back onto his feet which he seemed to struggle doing so. Without wasting any time, he left to start his journey, and he waved his hand at Maru to indicate that. Before Maru left, he prepared two other belongings. First, he carried the white ragged sail cloth that was originally their roof to ward off the sunlight. Tying two edges around his neck, he wore it as a cape. When the merciless sun ascends to the sky, he planned to use his white cape to ward off the rays by using it as an umbrella, hanging it over his head.

Not only was Maru grumpy about the food thieves, but walking even deeper into the desert drove him towards the border of insanity. He detested the hot temperatures since the air was so hard to breathe. Without a proper boat or ship, there was no way off this island, so they might as well explore the desert if there was anything worth exploring at all. Likewise, there was no possible way for those Wild Wolf pirates to leave this island either. Thus, it was only a matter of time before they encounter them, hopefully. Once they do, Maru ensures that the Wild Wolf's fate were sealed under the merciless, vengeful act of his bloody revenge.

The cranky panda noticed the obvious but faded footprints made by someone else’s, and he was certain that Corvun noticed them too. It would be hard to not notice anything in this prosaic ocean of sand. However something was odd here. Who made these footprints? If it were from those Wild Wolf pirates, then surely he would be seeing a lot more trails of these sunken pits, but this trail belonged to only one person. Does this mean... there was someone on this island other than the pirates, besides Corvun and Maru? In fact, it doesn't even have to be one person, there might even be a civilization in this desert... which was doubtful. However, if such a radical assumption was true, there was a good chance that there might even be water deep in this desert, perhaps even food! Though, he highly doubt it, better not to have his hopes up.

[Nasakeshira]

The sun was high overhead, it was so hot that sweat would evaporate before they could even start perspiring. Spending a life of luxury underneath a neat little sail had almost erased all memories of scavenging the beach, but the current situation had quickly reminded him of his drastic measures to survive back then. With this knowledge rediscovered, Corvun had wished he brought a hat or something instead. His makeshift mask was falling to pieces, the march had been a silent one, "hey pandaboy, have you noticed yet?" He stopped talking to rip off his mask. Looking at it for a second he just dropped it at his feet and continued walking. He looked to his partner, he had taken the sail and used it as a portable tent. Muttering something along the lines of why didn't I think of that. He totally forgot what he was going to say. Reaching the peak of another dune he stopped for a second, the dainty footprints disappeared in a strong gust. "Hmmm." He raised his hand and touched his chin and to his surprise it was rough, hair had started growing. It was to be expected though. He had spent so much time being stranded, that he had forgot about shaving. His beard was becoming lengthy. I bet once we get to town the chicks will dig it. Coughing to clear his mind of such thoughts he refocused. The footprints had just disappeared in middle of the desert. Suspicious. There is no sign of turning or a changing path. Perhaps we've slowed down and the desert had already erased such a path or was it something more sinister? A ploy to lead us to certain doom? Nah, the only encounter with other living things so far were the Wild Wolves, and they aren't smart or clever enough to set a trap. They're brash and straight forward people after all. Remembering what he said to say, "ah! Have you noticed that we've yet to encounter anything... alive, besides the Wild Wolves of course." Something clicked in Corvun's head. Ah ha! It's been an illusion a trick of the desert! I've read about them before, the desert sickness that slowly attacks your mind, once you've been dehydrated, you can only see grand illusions of your deepest desire. Whether it be civilization or a water park. "Maybe we've contracted desert sickness, or was it desert insanity?" Stroking his goatee, that he assumed was forming rather nicely despite the lack of voluntary, what was the word? It escaped his mind. Dismissing it, he went back to contemplating the possibility that they might die in middle of the desert, due to chasing a hallucination. "We've been following a hallucination this entire time. Yes, yes that's it. Tricking ourselves we believed that a single set of footprints would lead us to our adversaries." Clearing his throat, he prepared to finish his theory, "thus, we've no idea where those wolves are." Opening his mouth to talk, he closed it quickly. The Black Feather usually wasn't one to conspire or theorize difficult theories such as this one. Perhaps the desert sickness really was getting to him.

********

The young one, Alibabba, watched the man and weird creature march right into the trap the clansmen said to lead them to if they ventured into the desert. Picking up his pace he had dashed ahead of them gliding along the sand and over the dune. They should be falling right, about now! He could hear them give a yelp of surprise as the ground disappeared from under them. They should now be in a pit full of snakes, these ones bred to only incapacitate instead of kill. Any of the desert dwellers would have noticed an obvious trap, and even if they didn't the way they traverse the sand would allow them to glide right over it. It was a sort of counter measure developed during the clan battles, but after years of developing the technique, it has become the natural way to travel.

Alibabba put two fingers in this mouth and blew hard, a high pitched whistle echoed throughout the desert. Before long a few older men appeared behind him, Alibabba followed behind closely and looked into the pit. The weird creature seemed to be immune to the snakes, but the man was out cold. "Alright lets tie them up and get to our camp." The leader of the group said, climbing down the pit they tied them up. Although the panda gave a little bit of fight he eventually wore down, perhaps a snake had finally bit him. They were now bound and tied to a pole and carried across the desert. The trip was an hour by foot without any cargo, but with it might take awhile. "Alibabba, hey Alibabba pay attention, go on ahead to the camp. Tell them to prepare two extra meals and some water, we have prisoners." Nodding he rushed on ahead of the adults.

********

Corvun remembered falling and looking at the sun through a window and then falling to sleep. Slowly waking he felt strange, as if... he was walking on his wrists and ankles. Now he knew something was off, to not alert such guards he opened one eye and looked around. Their were men walking in a convoy with spears. They wore black veils around their necks and their skin was dark from spending days under the sun, "ugh..." Corvun opened his eyes completely. He looked straight up to the Panda's stinky costumed ass right in front of him. He gagged at the smell, and that definitely got their attention. "Please, either let me walk or put me on the other end of this stick, because only god knows where this panda has been. I mean I like the guy, but his stink is no joke."

They looked at each other, "you won't have to worry about it. We're almost there." The one leading the group spoke, "we usually do not approach outsiders and especially... those who wield such despicable weapons as yourself, but when we do we're a welcoming people. That is if you are good people yourself. We the people of the Jarahazar clan, are in the midst of cleansing the great desert of our enemies of the Moun Tobsidian clan." Corvun was now on the verge of throwing up, "I see. Holy wars, holy wars, are- can you just put me down? I promise I won't run." His back touched sand, finally. They still had him bonded as they slid the pole from their cuffs. "You will be presented before the clan elders, the chief, and the wise ones. Then your fate will be determined. Until then you will remain secure." Keeping the panda on the stick, "we might just eat this strange animal. Its meat will be of the... well, we will find out tonight." The men dispersed as large tents appeared over the horizon. Stumbling, Corvun was almost on the verge of tears. He wasn't cut out for this travelling without preparation and heat of the moment exploration stuff. If they really are wise they'll see that I'm a good man and offer me shelter. He walked with the two beside him.

[BlacKitten]

Holding his white sail up high over his head, Maru sauntered down the desert with a shade to ward off the direct scorching sunlight. Whenever Maru’s arms were too tired to hold, he lets the sail lie on his head, still functioning as a shade. Corvun, on the other hand, was taking the sunlight head on, but unlike Maru, he didn’t have to wear a panda costume. The panda suit was breathable, but it wasn’t heat proof. Astonishing, Corvun’s skin was not burned off from his fresh yet. How does he survive in this heat?

“Hey Pandaboy, have you noticed yet?” Corvun asked.

Maru thought, “Noticed what?”[/i] While he wasn’t ignoring the question, his mouth remained silently closed. The more one speaks, the more thirsty one gets. Thus, Maru had decided that he should not speak at all, or he’ll die from dehydration. Even if it was minor, he had to do everything he can to survive in this anti-panda environment.

While tailing Corvun from behind, Maru noticed that his partner halted at the next highest sand dune.


“Ah! Have you noticed that we’ve yet to encounter anything… alive, besides the Wild Wolves of course?”

“Well… I saw a bunch of cacti, does that count?” The droopy panda answered the question within his mind but not verbally. Maru couldn’t stop thinking that what if a ship or boat sailed by at the coast while they were wandering in a wasteland of sand. Oh well, it was too late to turn back now. If they decided to turn around and retrace their footsteps, all of this walking would have been in vain. This was all or nothing. Either they found some oasis, or they became corpses.

“Maybe we’ve contracted desert sickness, or was it desert insanity?” Corvun posed the possibility, “We’ve been following a hallucination this entire time. Yes, yes that’s it. Tricking ourselves, we believed that a single set of footprints would lead us to our adversaries.” The man wrapped his theory up after clearing his throat, “Thus, we’ve no idea where those wolves are.”

“… Eh, you would think that a gang of pirates would make a lot more than a ‘single’ set of footprints. Also, I doubt that that my hallucination would be the same as yours.” Knowing himself, if Maru was hallucinating, he would be seeing lots and lots of food. Cacti would appear like apple trees or candy canes. Oh wait… that was called a mirage. Regardless, he would be seeing lot of food and pandas around him if he was hallucinating.

As the panda caught to Corvun, the both of them marched side by side with the last bit of energy that remains in their body. Suddenly, the panda lost all sense of contact to the sandy ground. His steps no longer sunk into the soft grainy sand anymore. The heat must have really altered his brain. Looking left and right, Corvun was nowhere to be seen. Maru was terribly confused… until he looked down. “WHA!” A prodigious pit was right below him! Where did this came from? Very slowly, Maru hovered down deeper into the pit as he held onto his white sail as a parachute, “Corvun was right! I’m hallucinating, but I didn’t know my imagination was this vivid!” Down below the pit was an army of hissing snakes, slithering on their bellies in a zigzag motion. Since Corvun hit the bottom first, the snakes initially slithered towards him, unintentionally leaving room for Maru to not land on top of the snakes.

Inevitably, the panda descended to the bottom of the pit, cornered against a wall. While he frantically tried to climb out, the chunks of sand crumpled each time he gripped them. As the snakes surrounded the poor panda, Maru cowered at the edge in despair, wrapping his white sail around his body like a blanket. Snakes were cool, and he wasn’t afraid of them. The problem was… the venom! By the particular shape of the snake’s menacing face, he could tell that they were packed with venom. Oh snap!

What a horrible way to die! As the snakes coiled around his limbs, several of them instantly pierced their malicious fangs into the panda’s fur. “I’m dead! I’m dead! I’m… huh?” Lying on the ground, Maru played dead like a possum, but he felt no pain. Not the slightest of moment was made; he even held his breath to prevent his chest from rising up and down. Remaining still as a Corvun’s corpse, he didn’t move at all! “…This is awkward…I see… my panda suit saved my life! It’s too thick for their fangs to pierce all the way through! Phew… these snakes startled me for a moment! Still… How am I going to get out of here? Is Corvun still alive? Aw, I better wash my panda costume in case there is venom in the fur.”

Soon afterwards, people were staring down at him from high above. They didn’t resemble the Wild Wolf pirates at all. Who were these people? All of the sudden, Maru sprang to his feet, pointing his paw towards the strangers, “WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE!?" A voice was heard, ordering the man, “Alright, let’s tie them up, and get them to our camp.” Several of those desert strangers came down the pit as they split up into two separate groups. One group was dealing with Corvun’s motionless corpse, and the other group was all pointing their spears at the talking panda. These people all wore black veils over their faces, masking their identities.

Raising both of his arms up high, Maru pleaded, “I’m innocent!” Without warning, Maru unexplainably collapsed to the ground, motionless. The men traded glances at each other before approaching the panda corpse. All of the sudden, Maru popped up from his possum state as he uppercut a man’s chin, “BUT YOU’RE GUILTY!” The attacked man collapsed to the ground, rubbing his chin, but he was still conscious. The other two warriors were instantly alarmed, pointing their spears towards Maru.

Standing in a neutral stance, the panda held his arms at chest level, guarding his center as he faced his opponents. “I’m in a bad mood,” Maru warned them in a serious and deep tone of voice.

Two spearmen rushed in to attack. Intercepting their timing, the panda untied his white cape off his neck, and he fanned the large white sheet over his enemies, blinding them temporarily and distracting them for a split second.

As two spears pierced through the sail, Maru lunged himself right between the two sharp points, and he fired two vertical palm thrusts simultaneously at the two figures, hurling them away at a distance with a white sheet over their bodies.

BAM! A sharp pain struck at the back of his skull, as the panda collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

[Nasakeshira]

The Black Feather sat before a council of old people, they sat under some shade provided by a giant tent that had the sides open. The table was made of sandstone, it was giant and pretty. It was formed in a half-crescent shape, so as the one they spoke to would sit on the side opposite of the arc. These Jarharararazarian's were no barbarians or tribal folk. They knew their stuff and had a sense of beauty that would probably be shared by many outsiders. After taking a note of the table Corvun again turned his attention to the council who sat before him. They had spent their fair share of years in the desert, their skin and presence showed it. The man sitting in the center of the half-crescent arc said, "I am the Jarharazar clan chief, Amon." Looking to his left an old lady spoke, "and I am the Jarharazar's wise one. Paimon." There was silence for a bit they did not bother to introduce the ones sitting next to them. The old lady spoke, "do not worry young one, these people are not going to be involved in any decisions made with you." The old lady's voice was sweet and comforting. Just how he imagined a stereotypical grandma who baked pies. He felt as if he could trust her, she raised her hand and a plethora of women came to her. They leaned over so they could listen, "yes mother." The oldest one spoke, respectfully and formally. They disappeared and came back, with plates of food and a keg of water. Starving and thirsty, the Black Feather almost ate the plate and destroyed the cup licking the insides for every drop. Remembering what his escort had said earlier, he stopped. Shaped up and finished eating in a more respectful manner. Amon and Paimon smiled, they knew well what it was like to be famished, starved, and sunburned in the desert. Corvun resisted the urge to abandon all table manners and eat like a caveman, it was hard. After all in less than forty-eight hours he nearly starved to death, nearly died from dehydration on multiple occasions, and was attacked in middle of the night. Not to mention the stomach problems that came with the inconsistent meals, diarrhea and constipation just to name two. Besides the sound of his chewing, it was silent. Sitting back the Black Feather, looked to the right and left. It was pretty active when I entered. Where did everyone go?

Amon probably guessed at his inquiry, "everyone left to the pit. That weird animal that we caught with you, the one that talked, they are preparing to eat him." Nearly spitting out his mouthful of water, Corvun laughed. They're going to eat Maru! Ah ha ha ha.... eh. Swallowing, "that weird animal is a panda and its just a costume of that animal. Inside is a man." A look of alarm went across all their faces before they smiled and started laughing. An elderly man who's face had a thousand wrinkles and braided silvery hair, stood up and grabbed a cane made from wood... Huh. Where would they get wood in this desert? About as slow as a snail, "he's leaving to inform to check if the meat they have procured is of non-human origins." Clearing his throat, he began coughing. He had a wad of mucus in his mouth. He almost immediately made the decision to swallow, now that that was cleared up, "as you know. Outsiders are wild cards. Here in a place where we don't get many visitors. They could be spies, from other clans. Men who carry bad intent and hope to bring their malevolence to everyone in this world. Those who have a free spirit and make decision on a whim. These are just some examples of people who, in the past wrought doom and created dangerous situations for us. Then there were those kind of heart, strong, and always willing to help. Bringing great benevolence to our clan. The one who brought such fortune came when we were in dire straits. We had been ousted from a water hole, we were dying of dehydration. She did not fight any of our rivals in combat, but she battled with words. She brought peace and prosperity to the both of us, she helped unite us to fight a larger clan and negotiate a peace treaty with them. Both of them are our allies today, and we share the watering hole with little conflict." Amon leaned back who had progressively moved forward as he explained the history of his people. "So what does this have to do with me? My companion and I are just trying to find a way off this island." Paimon looked to Amon and nodded, she began speaking, "we're going to judge you. If you are a bad man we shall execute you here, if you are good we would like to ask for your help."

"So have you come up with a verdict?" She shook her head back and forth, "you were starving and on the verge of dying in the desert its too soon to tell, but you are doing good so far." She leaned forward, she had been leaning back more and more as she spoke. "Please would you walk with us," Paimon stood up and politely gestured for him to walk with her. Walking side-by-side she lead them outside, the sky was a beautiful array of orange, pink, and purple and every shade in between. She left no footprints in the sand as they ascended a hill of sand. From there she turned in a full circle smiled and sat down. "For as far as the eye can see, from horizon-to-horizon. The sunsets on every side. A beautiful thing, beautiful, beautiful thing." She grabbed a handful of sand, lifted it above her head and let the sand fall through her fingers and disappear back into the infinite void. "You know. I wasn't born on this island." Looking up at him she patted the ground beside her. "I was born an island in the North Blue. A little place called Lyneel. We have a legend on that island. It was one of the liar, Montblanc Norland. Have you heard of it? A man who journeyed across the world for the King, Queen, and nobility of Lyneel. His ventures took him across the Grand Line, and there was one island in particular which he had spoken of. It was about a city of gold. When he brought the king there, the city of gold was nowhere to be found. Oh dear, I'm rambling now aren't I. He was found guilty of lying to the king and was banished. I had a friend who was the descendant of Norland. He left the island a long time ago and he claimed that he would clear his family's name of such a shame. He left to prove the legend of the island that was blasted into the sky." Lying down she looked at the stars that were beginning to appear overhead. "I chased him a year later. I began working my way to the Grand Line with a crew of my own. While traveling we shipwrecked here, my crew and I were accepted by the people and without even realizing had made a home here and we even solved some problems of the clan." She took a deep breath, "through my experience as an outsider I became a Wise One and one to judge outsiders. Its because I know of the outside world and I am not so naive, surviving out there at times can be many times harder than surviving in this desert. You carry with you a great pain not just of the body but of the heart and you have scars that are proof of this pain on your body." The Black Feather nodded he had no idea where she was going with this. "You have no place here to help us. You're neither guilty or not guilty. You walk the path where on a moment's notice you can become one or the other. So I shall send you on your way across this great desert where you can find what you seek. I pray that this journey will help you find your inner self and perhaps your panda friend will discover something as well." She stood up, "enjoy the night. Rest for three days and then leave. I will leave Alibabba to guide you." Paimon courteously bowed and dismissed herself. Her wisdom was seemingly as vast and as deep as a blue. It raised questions, what was the point of that story? Does she already know what we'll find? He stood up and followed her. Two teenage boys intercepted him and told him to follow. Following them he instantly recognized what was happening. Dancing, drinking, eating, drinking, flirting, and flirting; they knew how to party like sailors. The place they partied at had more structure than the rest of the area. The seats were carved out of rocks and it was like an amphitheater. In the center was a giant bonfire which men and women were using to cook, people were dancing with spears and singing. He looked for the old men and women that sat at the table none of which were there? The two boys who he turned around to were already shrugging as if they didn't know the answer to his question. They took off and left him alone. "Well I guess that means, I'm not guilty?" He was hungry again and he made his way for center stage.

[BlacKitten]

Engulfed in a black haze, there was nothing… He saw, heard, smell, felt, and tasted absolutely nothing. This was true nothingness. Something told him that he was falling very slowly as if he was sinking in quicksand. It took quite a while for him to realize that his eyes were actually open. Whether his eyes opened or closed, he saw the same pitch black surroundings. He was relieved to be alive, unless the afterlife was a stupid black void. Ironically, seeing the same blackness over and over, he knew that this was just a dream, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t wake up.

Suddenly, everything clicked to him. He remembered of what he had forgotten since the last dream. Everything was like a metaphor. As of right now, there was nothing because he hadn’t created anything yet. Without something, there was nothing. Raising his hand, his real human hand, he circled his finger in the nonexistent air. He wanted it to be a big bright sphere. Just as he imagined, a glowing sphere had appeared the moment he dropped his hand. The illuminating light expanded throughout the entire void, and everything became white as pure snow. Maru was the creator. At last, he wanted to wake up.

Feeling dopey, dozy, and draggy, it required all of his willpower to accept the fact that he was in reality. Awakening, Maru found himself facing towards the darkened blue sky. Or was it a black sky? Was it nighttime already? Garrulous voices sounded from every direction, surrounding him. As the panda tried to move his limbs, he failed to do so. “Huh?” Lying down, he saw foreign people all around him, all of them with darkish toned skin. Many of them held spears in their hands, some with bows and arrows. While he couldn’t see as to what’s underneath him, he felt a long bulky pole-like object that he was lying on top of. Feeling his wrists and ankles struggling against the strong ropes that tied him on the stick, Maru was flabbergasted. “Err…,” What was going on here?

Immediately, he recalled upon the memories before he was knocked out. They were ambushed by those… desert people. Corvun! Where was he? Never mind that, he should be more worried about himself. Dozens of voices were heard as he tried to make out what they were saying:

“What is that creature?”
“Do you think it’ll taste good?”
“I heard that it can talk.”
“He could be dangerous!”
“Let’s cook him!”

Did he hear that wrong, or did Maru just hear someone say, “cook him”? Lifting his head up, he saw a pile of wood… WOOD? Where in the desert would these people obtain wood? Ignoring that question, the panda saw a man kneeling down towards the pile of wood with his back facing him, so he was unsure what he was doing. Though Maru had a pretty good guess as to what it was. CRACKLE! Blazing flames wildly appeared as the desert man stepped back for safety. Reddish orange flames illuminated the surroundings as Maru was extremely feeling a tense of unease in his heart. After giving it a second look, he saw two sticks standing vertically on opposite sides of the fire. Both sticks possessed a ‘V’ shape on the top, pretty convenient for placing a pole across it with something like… a panda strapped on it. Eating a panda… that was a high crime! How dare they?

Two desert men approached the panda on opposite ends of the branch-like pole. Kneeling down, they gripped upon either ends of the long stick to lift the creature off the ground. “NO! I... WON’T.. LET YOU!” Immediately, Maru struggled against his bondage, but it was futile. There was no way for him to accumulate enough strength to rip out of these thick ropes. In his mind, he wished for these ropes and this pole to just vanish. Maru used all of his physical and mental strength against his restrictions as his life depended on it. “I CAN’T DIE HERE! NOT NOW!” He panicked.

POOF! Suddenly, Maru’s arms and legs broke out of their bind as his limbs burst outwards. Alerted with trepidation, the two desert men leaped back away from the panda immediately, astonished by what happened. But… something didn’t feel right. It wasn’t that he broke out of it, and he no longer felt a wooden pole aligned with his spine as if everything that restricted him was just… gone! Well, Maru was free, so he wasn’t going to complain about it. Leaning up, the panda was in a sitting position, rubbing his wrists.

The two desert men obtained their spears as their pointed the tip directly at the panda in a threatening manner. Both of these men charged right at him, and from the looks of it, they were planning to slaughter the creature, and then eat it.

Meanwhile, something distracted the panda’s attention as he looked down. He was sitting on a solid, flat, rocky ground, and these strange lines were beneath him. A long, ragged rectangular shape was the image of the outline below. Actually… it was the exact shape of the pole that he was tied down to. Maru was deeply clueless and puzzled by this strange enigmatic phenomenon. There was no time to think as he had two maniacs trying to stab him with spears. “I AM NOT FOOD! YOU’RE FOOD!” Maru’s paw suddenly gripped upon a long bulky pole of some sort when he attempted to stand up. Whirling and spinning the long pole around with both hands, Maru accidentally whacked the two offenders from both directions at once since he had a longer reach with this… pole? “ROAR!”

What the devil was going on here? Maru desperately wanted answers now! Scrutinizing the large staff that he was holding, this object seemed awfully familiar… Jerking his head back at the ground, near him, it was gone! Those ragged lines were gone! This violated the laws of science, impossible! HOW WAS THIS HAPPENING? “… I’m so… confused!” First the stick was gone, and now it was in his possession… this made no sense at all. “I’ll think about this later. Now is not the time to be flabbergasted!”

Every single desert people were alarmed by the panda’s rebellious behavior as they all held onto their weapons, ready to attack the creature at any given moment. All of them had a vicious warrior-like glare; most of them seemed to have fighting experience.

Maru immediately widen his stance as he held his four meter pole, gripping it tightly with both paws. The distance between his hands were should-width long, and his stance was wide and low as if he was doing a squat. His elbows were completely bent as he held the weapon at chest-level. He held the weapon at the furthest end of the pole with the other end sticking out, pointing at the enemy. This was the typical battle stance with Maru’s martial art style. Within his fighting system, there existed a weapon known as the Dragon Pole, and his master taught it to him as the first weapon form of the two. Since carrying a twelve foot long pole was not convenient for travelling, the panda never really used it in combat before.

Outnumbered, Maru paid close attention to his surroundings, so he wouldn’t get whacked in the back of his head again like before. As four spearman charge towards him from the front, back, left and right, the panda bear stabbed his pole forward, at the closest enemy within his range. Since he had the obvious range advantage, his weapon struck first against the enemy’s abdomen. Immediately shifting his stance, he rotated his entire body, and logically, the furthest end of the stick would travel much faster than the panda himself, whacking the spearman from an angle. Quickly retreating his staff, the panda deflected the thrust behind him in a downward block, and then he raised the butt end of his staff upward, whacking the spearman at the chin. As the fourth spearman bought enough time to enter Maru’s territory at a dangerously close distance, he was able to reach the panda with the given range. To solve this issue, Maru ducked down, avoiding the forward thrust of his foe. Spinning low, his slammed his pole at the opponent’s popliteal fossa, sweeping his opponent off balance.

Since they used spears, the spearmen’s main attack was nothing but a thrust of the sharp spearhead. While they were trying to slay the panda, attacking the creature any other way would not have been fatal at all. Likewise, Maru’s pole can only deal out blunt attacks that would cause broken bones at best, not an ideal weapon for killing. Unfortunately for the bear-like creature, this was far from over as several other warriors were aiming their bow and arrows at him at a far distance. This was something that not even Maru can avoid.

Before they fired, an elderly man stepped in, holding out a hand to halt their actions, “Hold it! He is human!” With those few words, it was as if every warrior had lost their fighting spirit. Everyone was dumbfounded and said the same word in unison, “… OH…”

Unsure what just happened, Maru sighed in relief, “phew… I nearly died…” The panda settled down his makeshift weapon as he was careful to not threaten these people in any way. He wasn’t stupid enough to fight against bows and arrows, unless it was one on one. Being surrounded like this was absolutely impossible unless they have lousy aim. Still… who was this elderly man? With everyone halting their weapons through his words alone, was he the leader?

10 minutes later…

“YAY!”
“YEAH!”
“PARTY!”
“HA HA HA!”

A boom of cheering and chattering consumed the surroundings as every dark-skinned people enjoyed the fun. Primitive instruments that resembled drums, maracas, and tambourines were being played with a moving and lively beat. The rhythm was something one would expect with ancient tribal people, and their presence seemed rather primitive. People sang, not with lyrics, more like humming and shouting in a high chirped battle scream. Some of them danced, and others, like Maru, were eating like there was no tomorrow. Unlike certain people, he was not the type to devour anything that contained alcohol since he was still a tad too young for drinking.

Chowing down the delicious, homemade dishes of food and drinks, the high-spirited panda rejuvenated instantly. With so many flavorful dishes which carried a mouthwatering aroma in the air, the panda had completely forgotten that he was attacked by these same people. Likewise, these benevolent people, who were showing hospitality, seemed to have completely forgotten that they were trying to eat a panda ten minutes ago. Maru had also forgotten all about Corvun.

The party ended with everyone collapsing from being drunk, fatigue, or if you were Maru, stuffed from eating too much.

[Nasakeshira]

The next morning Corvun woke up with the worst hangover ever. He moaned and groaned as he rolled over in the sandy amphitheater. Kids were trying to withhold there laughter and keep quiet. Lazily responding he grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it, they squealed and ran away. Another one of small frame approached the drunken man sprawled across the desert sand. He squatted, grabbed Corvun's arm and put it over his neck. Slowly dragging him up and out of the pit. Corvun fell asleep again in the process of transportation. When he woke up he was lying next to several other men who had drank too much last night. A young woman and a young man were distributing a weird concoction, it was a yellowish-white, milky substance. From observing everyone's reaction, he guessed it smelled and probably tasted worse than a devil fruit. Everyone eventually gave in and drank it, they put their head down and seemed to go back to sleep. Finally, it was Corvun's turn. His head felt like someone just smashed every molecule and cell in his brain with a hammer. The first man who had taken the concoction had already left. Kneeling the lady lifted the hungover man's head and put a cup to his lips. Sniffing, he nearly gagged at the putrid substance that was in the cup. "Drink, it'll end your hangover in a few minutes." He put his lips to the cup and the young woman put the cup full tilt and made him drink it by pinching his nose, he struggled to breathe and eventually swallowed. It was bitter. Bitter beyond belief and after swallowing it felt like he had a rock sitting in his stomach. "No throwing up." Swallowing down the creeping stomach acid, he felt woozy. The Black Feather was defeated by a couple of young people and their medicine! The darkness consumed his consciousness and he fell asleep again. He woke up rejuvenated, as if he had another full day of sleep, but they had only moved onto the next person. Standing up he stretched, the man continued dolling out his weird hangover medicine as the lady grabbed a spear and escorted him, "follow me. Our Wise One has asked us to show you our daily life for the next two days." Her tone indicated a hint of distrust, "tread lightly on the sands." As they exited the reach of the tent, she kept him just within distance of her spear. Walking side-by-side. Close enough if he did anything suspicious that she could strike. "So when do I get my weapons back?" She eyed him but did not reply, they continued the rest of their trek in silence. Walking along the spine of a dune, she st. "We train daily to hone our spears and hands to fight against those who would be our enemies. We also use it as a way to understand one another. The Wise One claimed that you would be strong, with our without your weapons." She dug her feet into the sand, "I don't think your much without your swords." Swords seemed to disgust her, she was looking down on all swordsmen! Corvun scratched his chin, "I don't feel like fighting right now." He lay down on his side, propped his head up with his chin, "how about, uh." He scratched at his increasingly lengthy facial hair. "What ever happened to the fat Panda? I remember seeing him last night." Rolling over onto his belly, he yawned. Turning his head he peeked with one eye at his escort, she was still tense ready to strike if he did anything suspicious. "How about I tell you of the outside world? In exchange you can tell me all about the desert life. What's your name?" Her eyebrow raised a bit, he obviously piqued her interest. "I am Zafina." She relaxed a bit and let her guard down, the Black Feather smiled. "Have you ever heard of devil fruits?"

[BlacKitten]

Earlier than anyone else, Maru wandered around under the dark morning. His stomach was still full from yesterday’s party, so this time, he wasn’t searching for food. Wanting to be as far away from the others as possible, he isolated himself into an empty area where the ground was still solid. The desert sand from further in the distance seemed as prosaic as always. Honestly, it felt like being trapped in an island of nowhere.

Recalling the past moments ever since he stepped foot on this tormenting desert, there had been several incidents that he could no longer ignore. Sitting down in a comfortable posture, the panda stroked his fingertip across the rocky ground, and black lines followed his fingertip like before. This was the first unsolved mystery.

Second, when he was restrained on that pole, it remembered it vanishing along with the ropes. Even during the chaos, he still recalled to that moment. The fact that he was alive must mean that it wasn’t an illusion. That wooden pole had truly vanished. Since the pole was behind his back the whole time, he wasn’t able to witness the phenomenon with his own two eyes. However, his eyes did manage to see the contour lines and details of that pole that was printed on the ground at that time. The lines and the disappearing pole were definitely connected. Those lines were the same lines that he can produce with his fingertip.

His mind was still stumped. That wooden pole somehow turned into a two dimensional drawing of some sort? All of the colors and mass of that pole were gone during that state. However, in order to save his behind, the pole mystically morphed back into its original state when he wanted to use it as a weapon as if he summoned it back into reality. That meant… it technically didn’t disappear; it just… turned into a drawing? Diagram? Sketch? How did it happen? None of these made any sense. If he were to tell anyone else, they probably won’t believe him anyways. Then again… those people did witness the pole vanishing from sight.

In conclusion, he was potentially capable of morphing ‘things’ into ‘lines’ and he had the power to reverse this effect. Well… that made no sense at all! Also, what was the purpose of the black ink from his fingertips? What was that supposed to do? If he can turn stuff into that peculiar sketch with the same ‘ink’ that he can produce with his fingertip, did that mean he can create stuff by drawing a sketch, using that ‘ink’? Seemingly impossible, but what else would this ink serve to do? The more questions Maru asked, the more confused he became.

“This sure is sketchy!” Staring down at the ragged lines he made, it was nothing more than a sloppy, enclosed, shape that had no meaning whatsoever. What was that supposed to be, a rock? POOF! A grey, dull rock suddenly appeared before his eyes. “WHAA!?” What is this… magical phenomenon? This rude rock scared him! Where did it come from? Picking the magical rock off the ground, he scrutinized it carefully. Solid, heavy, rough, this astounding masterpiece was most definitely a rock!
Squeezing it in his hands, he tried to make this object disappear, but it didn’t work. His mind went blank, “…”. Chucking the grey rock over his shoulder, the panda pouted, “…Stupid rock…” Crossing his arms in irritation, he pondered upon something he could draw.

Suddenly, he heard a sharp piercing-like whooshing sound along with multiple fragments of rocks crumpling on the ground. This sound was not something he expected a rock to make. A normal rock would sound like a pebble bouncing off the ground a few times before halting to a stop. “Huh?” Maru curiously redirected his eyes towards a tall man, who was standing behind him. This dark-toned man held a spear in his hands, and judging by his posture, he must have pierced that chunk of rock with the tip of his spear.

“What are you up to, creature?” The man questioned the panda in an interrogating manner as if he suspected Maru to be doing mischief. His glare was hostile and merciless.

[Nasakeshira]

Zafina and Corvun exchanged stories, for the better part of the day. She talked about the skirmish and the battles with Moun Tobsidian, and how the clan battle started. Moun Tobsidian was a rather large clan almost as large as Jarahazar and it's allies combined. They decided to raid an outpost and encroach upon allied territories. With their quicker and better organization the Moun Tobsidians had struck multiple outposts and villages. Taking smaller watering holes around the borders of their territory. Den Den Mushi's are pretty rare in the Wastes, so they use messengers to run and deliver messages. The result is a slow network of communication and a sluggish response to Moun Tobsidian's attacks. Recently they managed to fight themselves into a deadlock, that was of course after losing a major watering hole.

Corvun told Zafina of Devil Fruits, pirates, marines, the current state of the world, those sorts of things. Right now it was the, Great Pirate Era, inspired by Gol D. Roger, men and women of all classes and all places were becoming pirates to obtain the One Piece. The greatest treasure hidden at the end of the Grand Line. To do that people were training and seeking superhuman power. He looked over at Zafina and noted that she was much more relaxed and calm right now. She didn't look like she was gonna stab him the moment he tried to gain a little distance. "I ate one of those devil fruits. It allows me to turn into a raven." He stood up and imagined himself flying and as free as a bird. Imagining his skin turning to feathers and his body feeling lighter, light enough to float. With all his will and imagination, the Black Feather couldn't transform. Grunting with effort nothing happened. Sighing he fell back, for some reason he couldn't turn into a bird. Why not? He picked a feather out of his hair. A single strand of hair turning into a feather was all he could muster. He handed her the feather, "well. Something's wrong with me. I can't transform." It was silent for a moment, it was also quite peaceful. Even while visiting a land currently at war, it was peaceful. "You were looking for your friend ,yes?" He nodded, "well..." She started walking away, "come with me then." Corvun rolled over to his belly and pushed himself to his feet. It wasn't long before they came upon Maru. He had adapted well, he had one of their spears and was dueling and practicing with the clans folk. It seemed everyone wanted to have a go at the newcomer. His style was clearly different than anything they had ever faced before. Maru's principle of martial arts was based in the strength and sturdiness of his stance, while they were focused on remaining nimble, never really attacking his defense but the openings in it, the one currently dueling Maru seemed to dance and whirl around Maru. Trying to create an opening to attack, he poked at spots he was unsure of. As Maru was swinging his giant stick it suddenly disappeared. Everyone's jaw dropped in awe, Corvun raised an eyebrow. Their was no sleight of hand and it seemed as if he had no intent to make his weapon disappear. The only other options left was that he had eaten a devil fruit.