Coronascend

A great, beautiful and majestic ship sailed at great speed across the great Dolly Sea. The ship was made of dark wood with a golden anchor and helm. Along the sides of the ship, beautiful wave patterns were carefully and densely crafted from silver and bronze. The plain black sail stretched as the wind blew hard against it.

A boy sat nonchalantly at the bow of the ship as it bobbed up and down with the mighty waves of the east. His back was to the wheel, which occasionally turned with the rudder. 

The waves bounced the ship up and down, and the boy, Dolffie, smiled faintly as a small island came into view. As they approached the island, he jumped from the bow onto the deck to watch the wheel. The wind blew hard against the short black waves of hair that flowed from his navy du-rag. He was dressed in loose grey harem pants with a drawstring waist and wide, flowing legs, and a dirty-white knee-length tunic torn down the middle, exposing his entire front and chest. 

On his chest, a large black tattoo spread across his body, covering both legs up to his knees, his arms and hands up to his elbows like veins and wild tendrils. He walked calmly into the ship's cabin and the ship began its slow descent into the sea. The cabin was large, although there was only a single old desk and chair in the middle.

He sank into the chair before leaning his head back and closing his eyes. The ship descended slowly into the depths of the sea, and he could see it through the small, circular window. Many fish, shells and corals hit the ship, but it sailed on as if it were on the surface.

He finally opened his eyes as the ship came to a halt, still below the surface of the sea. He sighed before opening one of the drawers on his desk, taking out a small old bag and getting to his feet.

He tied the small bag around his waist at his side before walking out of the cabin, caressing the old table gently.

He opened the iron door, stood on the deck and looked around. His ship was now at the bottom of the sea, wondering fish swam by in the water, but none could enter. A shimmering, scale-like liquid barrier surrounded the ship, preventing anything outside from entering.

"Alabast..." he called softly.

The ship responded through the barrier, glowing faintly.

He walked forward before jumping onto the bow with ease. He stood on it and looked around, coral, fish, seaweed, shells and more, it was a beautiful sight to behold, but it wasn't what he had come for.

He looked up and there it was, Bogo Island aka Baby Island or... the Floating island. The only Eastern Dolly Island that didn't touch the bottom of the sea, it floated, just a few hundred metres below the surface. 

Dolffie took an old map out of the bag by his side and opened it. The map was old and worn. It showed the directions from the West to the East, but when he lifted it, pointing it to the bottom of the island and looked at it. It changed quickly to show a map of Baby Island itself, its towns, forests and villages, all sketched in black ink except for one point. Near the edge of the island, inside the Iron Fortress of Bogo, was a red dot with the initials 'A.D.S' underneath.

He smiled before putting the map back in the bag. Alabast, his ship, understood their next move and slowly began to ascend towards the island. He was still standing on the bow as they slowly began to be enveloped by the island's massive shadow, but Alabast kept going, finally stopping when they were only a few metres away from making contact with the island.

Dolffie quickly prepared himself, looked back at his ship and ordered: "Wait here". The ship responded by glowing faintly again and, as if wishing him luck, it broke off some of the scales on its barrier and let them float and rest gently on his du-rag, carefully blending in with a slight shimmer.

He smiled before leaping into the air, and in a split second, the scale barrier broke to let him through, and in another it quickly closed to prevent any water getting in. As he swam up with ease, the ship began to slowly sink back to the bottom, waiting for his return.

He swam and swam until he finally washed up on the island's dock. No one batted an eyelid as he crawled onto the sand-beige coated aluminium deck; he guessed it wasn't the first time a foreigner had done this. And although he'd swum a few metres, his clothes were partly damp and he wasn't tired.

He jumped onto the deck before looking around; the dock wasn't anything special, nor was it large, just surrounded by a few small ships that Alabast's wake could easily destroy. There weren't many people around, so he guessed he was in one of the small villages, probably Oga Village, the smallest on Baby Island, to the west. But there was a problem: that wasn't where he wanted to be. He needed to be on the east side of the island, in Ora Village, which was close to his destination, the Iron Fortress of Bogo.

He was bad at reading maps, but he didn't know he was that bad, he got the east mixed up with the west, he must be the first Crown Aspiring Sea Pest ever to do that. But it was too late to go back to Alabast and correct their (his) mistake. He (Alabast) was probably at the bottom of the sea by now anyway.

He sighed before heading into the small village. He knew it would be an annoying hassle to get all the way across the island, so it better be worth it.

"What a pain!" he grumbled to himself as he walked, scratching his head. The village wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. Fish vendors and shops lined the streets, giving the village a stinking fish smell.

The Dolly Sea was the villagers' only means of survival. They struggled to hunt land animals and were mainly skilled at gathering herbs and fishing. The sea was their home and their life, so they were the most reluctant village on Baby Island, refusing to leave or advance. They are almost afraid of change.

Thump!

As he walked absentmindedly, he bumped into someone. Their entire faces, except for their eyes, were covered by a thin, opaque, silky mulberry cloth and an off-white headscarf that hid their hair and neck. After getting some distance between them, Dolffie realised that the person didn't appear to be a villager; they definitely looked like a foreigner.

They wore a cool-white satin blouse with long, knee-length, flowing bell sleeves, attached at the waist to flowing shoji white trousers by a red and white wide obi belt with a small carrot pin in the middle. The trousers were bandaged tightly with a grey tinted cloth from the ankles to just below the knees.

It was the first time Dolffie had seen such a form dressing and he was genuinely curious as to where this person was from, but before he could apologise, let alone ask personal questions, he felt a small breeze as the person moved past him at great speed, taking his small bag with them.

'A common thief, huh' he mused before turning his gaze to the person, whose eyes locked with his, and before they could process it, he grabbed the wrist of the hand holding his small bag. The ridiculously long bell sleeves did an excellent job of concealing the theft, but Dolffie could see right through it.

"There's no money in it, Carrot." he said in a somewhat amused tone.

The person turned to face him, their golden yellow eyes locked with his silver grey, marble-like eyes.