Arc 2: Enter ID and The Gang
Chapter 7: Brightside
August 16, 1506
"Oi, Sabo, keep the end steady. Yeah?" Sam huffed in exertion as they lugged, what felt like, the millionth large plank of wood to their campsite. She cursed her small body again for not being stronger, but it would help a little with building muscle, right?
Doubtful, you need better nutrition to see anything in terms of strength. At least that's what your memories are telling me. Sam huffed out in exasperation, and continued to strain under the weight of the timber. If she was just a little older it wouldn't be so bad. Shut up, you're of no help right now. She grumbled back at Tizona.
"Sam lift it a little more on your end!" Sabo called over to her.
"I would if I had the upper body strength…" Sam grunted. "I'm gonna have to take a break Sabs." He let out a sound of agreement and they both dropped the plank of wood on the ground, collapsing along with the timber.
"Mann, there has to be an easier way to do this." Sabo sighed out as he adjusted his hat. Sam had told him to just leave it at the burrow for now but he refused to listen to her. Which was really not that surprising. Yeah, like who would want to listen to an Old Hag? Sam let her hand slam against her head.
"Hey, Sam! I know! Why don't you do that clone thing!" Sabo exclaimed, interrupting what she knew would be another pointless argument with a four year-old. He ran over to her to pull her up in his excitement. Sam froze as soon as she heard the pest cackling in her head. Yeah, Sam, why don't you bring me out to play! Her eye twitched in panic.
"Uh, Sabo…I don't think that would be a good idea at the moment…" No, no. I think it's a wonderful idea Sam! Get to it shitty duplicate, I wanna talk to my little bro! Sam withheld the sigh she wanted to let loose. You realize you sound like a complete psychopath right now?
"No! It's a good idea! We can get some extra muscle, and if you can make more clones that would be great!" Jesus, Sabs, you're killing me… Tizona cackled in her head again. He has the right of it. I think its time to let me have some freedom.
Sam tilted her head to the side in confusion. We'll if he runs away its your fault. She raised a thumb to her nose and the clone appeared in a flash of green. She seemed to be wearing the exact same outfit that she was wearing: blue vest, black long-sleeved shirt, and denim shorts.
"I AM FREE!" She yelled in triumph and proceeded to do a dance. Sam closed her eyes and placed an index finger to her forehead in exasperation. Her face turned red in embarrassment.
"Tizona-Chan, can you control yourself for even a minute?" Sam snapped as soon as she started to do cartwheels.
"NO! Shitty duplicate, thinking she can boss me around all the time." Sam sighed and shook her head. She turned to face a tree and duck her head to avoid the shame the 4 year-old was bringing upon her with her silly antics. Like she had never even been a respectable mafioso in another life.
Hearing her brother start cackling was the last bit of humiliation she could take, and turned around to wrestle Tizona to the ground while she yelled profanities at her. Sabo continuing to laugh only made her want the annoyance to disappear sooner. The four year-old had obviously been brushing up on her techniques, because it was surprisingly difficult to get her in to a choke hold again. She would probably have to deal with her sniping at her for the rest of the day, but she could handle that more than Tizona making an ass of herself for the rest of the time she was out and about causing mayhem.
Sam laid panting on the ground after Tizona disappeared into a soft flash of green. You always ruin my fun, you Old Hag. This time Sam didn't even try to hide the fact that she talked to an extra personality. "I wouldn't have to if you just behaved yourself. Seriously where did you learn to dance!"
"Probably the same woman that tried to teach me." Sabo spoke up wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "Thanks for being so silly, Sam. I needed that today." He continued to laugh as he went to pick up the large plank and lifted it with a fraction of the effort it would take her. Sam got up and went to help him even if she was of little use.
"We'll need to do some fishing tonight, and get some more water." Sam idly commented. The campsite already in view. A feeling of relief washed over her. She knew that there were only 3 or 4 more planks to carry to the site along with the tools.
She had decided to be more cautious and ordered 2 saws (something that Sabo would not be touching if she had her way), a hatchet, whetstone, and a couple other of things in terms of building supplies. But nothing that would break the bank or be noticed if Outlook decided to get his head out of his ass.
"Do we even know how to fish?" Sabo asked as they let the log drop to the ground. Sam followed behind him and let her aching fingers stretch. She thought over the question and decided that her brother was right. They really didn't know how to fish.
"Mah, I don't know. Don't you just have to throw a stick with a string tied to it into the water?" She asked as she scratched the back of her head. Sabo looked at her like she was an idiot, it was sort of a novel experience for her. Sam had been leading the charge this entire time and she hadn't even thought about her not knowing how to fish would effect them.
Sabo started to laugh at her and shook his head.
"I guess we're gonna ask around, huh?" Her brother just smiled at her like she was a hopeless puppy.
"I planned everything else, you know!" Sam shouted after him as Sabo walked off still shaking his head in exasperation.
"Sure, Sam." He yelled over his shoulder with a smile.
"Pesky brat." She muttered to herself. And what the hell would you call yourself, Hag? Sam pinched her nose as she tried to push away the developing headache. She let out a long breath and set her shoulders.
"Wait up, Sabs!" Sam yelled and ran to catch him before he got too far away.
"How about you hurry up! I'm getting hungry. I don't think we want to know whose gonna canabalize who this time." He joked and bumped into her shoulder as soon as she drew closer to his side.
"Mah! I forget one thing and you'll never let me forget it." She complained as they walked to through the forest. It was early afternoon which was a good thing in terms of daylight. The days on Goa were usually longer, and the nights shorter. She wasn't sure what that meant in terms of an equator in this world, but it worked in their favor so she would just thank whoever for small favors.
"That's because it was something so obvious that I was surprised that you missed it. You planned everything else." He smirked and adjusted his hat. He always was a know-it-all. Tizona piped up in the back of her mind.
"Hmph. See if I get around to building any type of treehouse. Though, now that I've seen the material and used the tree burrow as shelter, it might be better to just build some walls around the burrow, and dig it out a little more. Then dig a hole from the top of the drop off to the bottom, for a type of entrance and exit." Sam continued to think out loud. See if Sabo had any ideas that might help. He was rapidly becoming somewhat of an idea gold mine.
"Yeah, I was wondering how you were going to get up into the tree. The only thing I could think of was some type of harness. Are you thinking more like a fort behind the tree? We could probably hack down one of the larger branches. Then layer some the smaller trees on top of it, anchor them on the larger branch, to make a pointed house. Then make a platform with the rest of it, if we can dig out the area around it." Sabo told her as he stuck his hands in his pockets. Sam nodded her head in agreement.
"So you're thinking we should build the fort on the backside of the burrow, and makes some walls to hide where we've been sleeping. So its like a secret hideaway when we dig out the underneath?" She added on as they were making their way through the forest.
"Yeah, then dig out a hole to the drop off next to the tree. As well as hiding the entrance where we sleep with some walls and a roof around the small drop off?" Sabo tilted his head to the side.
"Un, we could use the wood that I got to build the wall around where we sleep, and other logs and stuff we find in the woods for the front of the fort." Sabo looked thoughtful at the proposition, before turning to her with a smile.
"Hey, Sammy, wanna be my shipwright?" Sam blinked then frowned.
"No. I don't know the first thing about ships. Such an idiot sometimes." She muttered and shook her head.
"Come on! You're pretty handy when it comes to building things. You always been good at that stuff!" Sabo yelled after her as she speed up her pace.
"I'll be too busy taking care your foolish self to take care of a ship. Dummy." She yelled back over her shoulder.
"So you wanna be a doctor?" Sabo asked as he easily caught up to her. Sam scratched the back of her head and shrugged.
"I dunno, maybe. Do I have to choose right now?" She asked as she shoved her hands into her pockets.
"Nah, I was just curious. You gotta want something, right?" Sabo stated rhetorically. But it was a question that needed answering. What did she want from this life? She had the clues and journal that Rowan left behind, and she had the sword. But what else did she have to live for? Was that enough. Would she make any difference in the world with that goal? Stop getting philosophical, and pay attention. We're coming up to the Terminal. Tizona shattered her thoughts, and Sam looked around to see her surroundings. The brat was indeed right.
The first thing about Gray Terminal you noticed was the smell, it was always the smell. It was unpleasant in every sense of the word. Next was the thin film of pollution that stuck to your skin as soon as you entered the place, fumes from the plants that surrounded Gray Terminal filtered into the air like an unrelenting fog that seemed to try to choke the breath out of you.
Next was the squishiness of the ground because of the layers and layers of built up trash. Finally, there was the dilapidated buildings that looked like they were growing out of the trash itself. She didn't understand. With how much wealth was in the kingdom, High Town, and town center that there was this entire outlaying community. There were no programs to help these people like there would have been in her world, but even then those had their pitfalls. Sam shook her head. It wasn't the time to be getting political.
"So were trying to find someone to tell us how to fish?" She asked a bit confused. In theory it seemed simple enough, but she guessed that she was wrong with the way Sabo had been looking at her earlier.
"Yeah. We should probably go over to the docks to ask some questions. They might even have a few spare fishing rods, or at least tell us how to make them." Sabo told her as he set off to left. Sam followed behind him. He was sort of in charge with this adventure. Not that she minded all that much. She was just glad that she didn't have to lug wood any more.
It was only a few minuets before they got to the seaside. It had been a choice of hers to be close to a means of escape, because in the end that's what they both wanted. To leave here and never look back, which in her opinion, seemed like a dream. Oi, focus more on Sabo. He'll probably end up getting up to mischief if you don't keep a better eye on him. Tizona interrupted her wandering thoughts, again. Sam rolled her eyes and watched as Sabo approached a man with a frayed hat and a fishing pole.
He started talking, and Sam stayed where she was. To be honest she had no interest in learning how to fish. It always seemed pretty straight forward to her, if not somewhat boring. Though she suppose it was better than hunting. She didn't even know where to begin with uncomfortable wiggle her stomach gave at the thought of killing something fuzzy and cute. You are so weird, you can kill a person but not an animal? Tizona questioned in her head. Sam decided to respond this time. Animals are different. They don't have the capacity to understand they are being assholes. Usually if you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone. Humans have thought and reasoning processes. They understand they are being jerks and continue to do so. There was a sigh of exasperation and Sam tilted her head to the side. You make no sense.
Sam shook her head and turned to focus on Sabo. Only to see that Sabo had disappeared along with the weird fisherman. Her stomach dropped and her eyes went wide. She looked around her, and the breath in chest seemed to escape. She clasped her head in hands and tried not to panic. Damn it, Old Hag! You had one job!
"Shut up! This is not helping, damn brat!" Sam didn't even notice that she had spoken out loud. Pull me out, we'll search for him together. We will meet up here in 20 minutes . Sam didn't even think about the logistics of everything before bringing her thumb to her nose. There was a soft green light that flash into being. The dual image appeared in front of her and they stared at each other.
"Do we even know how far we can move away from each other?" Sam asked just now thinking that might be a problem. She blamed Tizona for infecting her with her carelessness.
"Now is as good as time as any to find out." The clone shrugged. Sam had to keep herself from gritting her teeth. She would have preferred to have some time to experiment, but this was all she had at the moment.
Sam darted down trash covered streets, searching for her brother. The docks were a pretty rough place to begin with. The pollution in the water surrounding Gray Terminal was pretty extensive from the waste that was usually dropped there. It still seemed to have people meandering around the area. Sam wasn't finding anything, and it was starting to worry her.
Calm down, I found them at a hole-in-the-wall bait shop a little ways from where we were. Sam was confused though, how did Tizona speak to her when she was out of her body. Was that a thing now? It didn't really matter thought. She had a brother to scold.
When she got to the shop, she saw Tizona standing in the middle of two buildings watching the shop in front of her. Sam turned to see Sabo talking animatedly to the man he randomly approached to talk about fishing. She shook her head at his enthusiasm. She would never understand somethings about that boy. So she stayed with her clone watching.
"So do have a range of where we can move?" Tizona asked as she crossed her arms and leaned against the building. Sam shook her head.
"Nah, we'll need to do some experimenting. Think you can behave for once so I can do that?" She asked a bit wryly. Tizona smiled brightly, and Sam noticed that her incisors were a bit larger than her own. So were they not perfect duplicates?
"We'll see. First lets just learn to fish before making any big plans. I can help with the building as well. I say we take it day by day. That's really the only way to do it honestly. We don't know shit about this fruit or it's power." Sam nodded her head in agreement.
She was so busy talking to her clone that she barely took notice of a messy black-haired boy pause in his stride and slowly walk backward to check to see if he was hallucinating.
The movement caught her eye and there was an annoying rattling in her mind. Like something was trying to get out, and she frowned at the sensation.
"Mah, can we help you with something?" They asked at the same time. The boy looked familiar, like she had seen him somewhere before this. Then she realized. It was the same boy that she had seen in Edge Town fighting with the other children.
He blinked at her in a tiny bit of interest before shaking his head, and continued walking.
"Hey, Sammy! I think I got it figured out!" Sabo shouted from across the street. The homeless man already heading away from Sabo in the other direction.
"Hey, Sam. What's Tiz-Chan doing out?" Her brother asked as he ran over to them. Sam rolled her eyes and looked over to the clone.
"You mind, or are we gonna have to do this the difficult way." Tizona sneered at her before disappearing in a flash of green. Next, Sam lunged for Sabo and grabbed his ear in a sharp grip. His complaining was effectively ignored as she dragged off back into the woods with her.
"Don't wander off with strange men, Sabo. You'll end up actually worrying me." Sam answered blankly.
"Ouch, Ouch, Ouch! I'm sorry! I won't do it again! You weren't even paying attention!" She glared at nothing as she took in his words. Tiz-Chan had been rather chatty today. Hey! Don't go putting this on me!
"Don't make me bring Tizona out again to find you, Sabo. Gray Terminal is a dangerous place, especially for kids. We gotta be careful when we're there." Sam grunted and let go of his ear as soon as they ended up at the stream. Sabo glared at her.
"I said I was sorry." He grumbled back and rubbed his ear. "Anyway, that strange man was nice enough to buy me some string and hooks to fish." Sam narrowed her eyes at him. That was an odd thing to happen in Gray Terminal. But she put it out of her mind for the moment as she watched her brother grab a branch off a tree and started doing something with the string and finally showed her…something.
"What the hell am I looking at Sabo." The disappointed puppy eyes he gave her made her feel slightly guilty.
"It's a fishing rod, Sam!" She tilted her head to the side and decided that he probably knew more than she did about fishing.
"Huh, so it is…" Sam agreed and watched as her brother rolled his eyes at her. He was so rude sometimes.
Sabo drew back the rod and flung the string, with a worm already placed on the hook, into the river. When the hell did he get it? Was it like a boy thing to just carry worms on them? It was only a couple minutes later that he had a rather large fish. It looked simple enough. Sam was sure she could probably do it as well.
She held out an open hand. Sabo unhooked the fish from the line, and handed it over to her. Sam knelt down and dug into the dirt for a second before she found a worm and hooked it to the line. She drew back and let it plop into the water, and waited.
Sam was never known for her attention span in either life. So it really didn't surprise her that she found this extremely boring. She was always the woman that wanted the results. Her mind was always flying with ideas and things to do. Fishing was not her type of entertainment. That's way when the line finally tugged it had her falling face first into the water.
Now, Sam hadn't known how to swim in her last life, but she was sure this wasn't what it was suppose to feel like.
It felt like all the strength within her had been drained. Not an inch of her body could move as she sunk lower and lower to the river bed. Her entire body felt like it was made of lead and was frozen. She worried that this might just be the end of the both of them.
How old were you when you died again? Do you not know how to be careful! Tizona's rantings were cut short when small arms grasped her middle and dragged her out of the river. It was in a blur of motion and color that she was slammed back to reality. Spitting on water as she laid on her side.
"…We won't speak of this again." Sam announces to Sabo as she chokes up mouthfuls of water. Sabo was too busy laughing his ass off to actually listen to her.
"Man, you sunk like an anchor! For all your good at things, Sam. You can really be an idiot sometimes, huh?" She scowled into the ground and pouted.
"Don't worry about it too much, I can do the fishing if you can do the cooking. How's that sound?" Sam shook her head.
"I suck at cooking too…" She lamented. Sabo paused in his lightheartedness and tilted his head to the side like he was thinking about something.
"Well I guess you really are gonna have to be a shipwright or a doctor, huh?" Sam glared at him before lunging.
"Ew! Sam! You're all wet!" Sabo shouted as she got him into a headlock and rubbed his hair roughly.
"What's that suppose to mean! You're wet too! That makes no sense." Sabo went limp in her arms and it was a big enough surprise for her to check on him. To make sure she hadn't hurt him. It was all for nothing though when he turned around and wrestled her into the dirt.
"Mah. Why do I put up with you again?" She asked as she saw a worm wiggling in the dirt next to her head. She had a feeling like she would be making friends with the insect population in the near future.
"Because I am now your key to survival?" Sam frowned. Damn, he did have a point.
"The gods have cursed me then." She felt a small rattle in the back of her mind when she said that, but it was pretty negligible for her to even think on it.
"Admit it Sammy! You love me!" Sabo cheered as he sat on her back.
"We'll see." She said bluntly.