Voyage Name: Harvesting Arrangements
Location: Saboady Archipielago
Participant(s): Solo
Description: Sofia will start to scout the Forgotten Jungle at Sabaody, to see if she can make business there. She's interested in setting up a harvesting farms here, however, she had heard that this place is populated by dangerous animals, hence why nobody else has done it so far.

So, in order to figure out a way to make that farm, she will try to investigate how she could somehow put those animals at bay. Maybe domesticate them? Or use some sort of repellent? Something else? She'll look into the options.

Registration thread: https://strawhats.rpg-board.net/t1854-harvesting-arrangements

Sofia had been at Sabaody for some time now, and she has gotten a fairly good idea of what sort of business she could set up here, and one of those ideas was to become a supplier of the special tree sap from the which the bubbles were made. However, there was a problem towards trying to achieve that. The only available place left to harvest it was in the Forgotten Jungle, which was overrun by dinosaurs and other large carnivores.

But, she wanted to give it a shot. After all, it was the only way to make herself a space in the market - she had to make her own niche.

She went with Anna over to the edge of the Forgotten Jungle, which was a relatively safe area, and allowed them to check the place out. The animals inside typically didn’t get this far away from the central area of this bubble, hence why the other, populated bubbles, didn’t have constant wild animal problems. Sofia assumed that it had to be due to fear, people could’ve probably tried to hunt them with guns and the sort.

As she looked over the wilderness, she held her chin.

“Do you think it would be possible to get some sort of animal-repellent made?” she wondered.

“Like what? If it existed, someone would’ve made it already, don’t you think?” the tiny Marine answered.

“Yeah, I guess so. I was thinking like something like fires and torches or the sort. Animals don’t like fire, right?”

“True, but what if you start a jungle fire, eh? What if it gets out of control. Fwoosh. No more Sabaody.” Anna replied. “We have firefighters though, yeah. But I doubt they’d get all the way in there to fight the fire. It would be quite the disaster.”

Sofia nodded, then looked to the ground and then the sky, as she dug into her thoughts for ideas. “Maybe we could make a new bubble? Make this one smaller, and split it, for example.”

“Probably.” Anna then said. “But how expensive would that be? Do you know anyone who could even do that?”

“...No. Just tossing ideas.”

“Hrmpf.”

The noble then rose a finger. “Let’s analyse the central problem.” she said. “The carnivorous monsters. They’re carnivores, right? Not omnivores or something else?”

“Carnivores. That’s what they taught us in school.” the Marine explained. “Why do you ask?”

“Alright. And have to eat something, right? What do they eat?”

“Meat, obviously.”

“No, no. I mean that, they have to eat other animals, right? But if they are all carnivores - that’s a problem!”

“Why? They can just eat each other, right?” Anna pointed out.

“Yes, but that’s not sustainable!” Sofia stated. “The total number would just twindle if that was the case, right? There has to be herbivores or something in there as well, or the animals are actually omnivores.”

“I guess. But what herbivores?”

“...I think nobody knows yet, because nobody has gotten into the Forgotten Jungle yet to figure that out…” Sofia muttered. “But it would make sense, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, I get your idea there.”

The tall one then nodded. “I’m just brainstorming here. We just have to figure out what of these things we can use to our advantage.”

Anna then flinched and then chuckled, to turn around to face straight towards Sofia. “What about we bait the carnivores away? They seem to be not very picky with what sort of meat they get, right? Considering that they go after humans.”

“Oh! That could work! How would we get bait, though?” the other asked.

“We can fish for it! There are plenty of huge fish in the sea. Or we can just pay someone else to do it - that’s probably better for us.” Anna explained. “So, what we do is, we get a load of fish and leave it in view of the place we’re going to collect sap from. Then, we go do the thing and harvest, and the monsters go and eat the fish. Then, we leave, before the fish is gone.”


She then put her hands on her hips. “Masterful, ain’t it?” the Marine boasted.

“I like it a lot.” Sofia replied. “We could maybe only deploy the fish if a monster comes, and keep it saved up until then. We wouldn’t want to attract them too soon, no?”

“Ye. That could also work.”

“Now, the issue is to get all of that fish over to the place, and where to harvest with the fish strategy.” Sofia pointed out.

“But hey, at least we got a plan now, eh?” Anna reminded, with a smile. She seemed to be very proud about it.

“Yes, yes.” Sofia replied. “Anyway. I think the best option would be to just to do it at the edge of the bubble of course, so that escape is easy. But, how would we do with the fish? Just dump it all at the same time? That seems so wasteful. There should be a better way…”

Anna scratched her temples. “I don’t know. We have to put it there only when a monster comes around, right?”

“Yeah.” Sofia replied.

“How would we do that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe keep it in crates and open them when they arrive? With some sort of quick-release?”

“Nah, that won’t do. They’d smell it already, and we’ll end up attracting them.”

Sofia then clapped her hands together as she realized something. “Bubbles! We could put them in bubbles! That should isolate the smell, right?”


Anna nodded. “Yeah! Nice going.”

“Alright then.” the noble then mentioned. “What we can do is then to fill a bunch of bubbles with them, and go to the place, and just toss them a bubble to keep them distracted.”

“Wouldn’t they be able to see that we’re just throwing them bubbles and come after us instead?” Anna asked.

“Right. We should hide then.”

“They’d still see from where we are throwing them, though.” Anna said. “Once we throw them, that is.”

“We could prepare them beforehand, hidden in different places.” Sofia mentioned. “Covered in leaves and stuff. And when it’s time… We shoot them, popping the bubble. That should release the smell and draw them away.”

“Ah, I see.” Anna then mentioned. “We’d need a marksman, then.”
“Aren’t you one? You’re a Marine, right? You should know how to handle a gun.” Sofia replied.

“Yes, I’m a Marine! But I’m not the best with a gun, okay?! I can shoot, yes. Maybe not targets that far, though. What if they hear me shooting and come after me instead, eh? I can’t do it. What if they go after whatever shooter we manage to get? It’s not a good idea, Sofia. There has to be a different way to do it.”

She then held her chin. Maybe they could have them float over the jungle, and then pop them in the sky? No. The branches could get in the way and they’d end up with no fish. There had to be a reliable way to deploy it.

The girl held her chin again.

Until she got a bright idea.

“I got it!” Sofia then blurted out.

“What is it?”

“You know how squids spit out ink when they are under attack, right?”

“Yeah.”

“We do something similar. We have all of the people harvesting, and when it’s time to run, we pop the bubbles. Or, bubble - we have one big one. Easier like that - just one bubble to pop. And we camouflage it. So that they can’t see it before we got to run.”


“That could work.” Anna then replied. “And we bring that big bubble around like a balloon, right? With the right bubble, it would be pretty light.”

“That’s right.” Sofia replied.

“I think it could work.” the little one then said. “But, we’d have to test it right. I wonder who we could hire for that.”

“We’ll do it ourselves.” Sofia noted. “It saves money. They’d probably ask for a premium if it hasn’t been tested before - but if we test it and it works, then we can hire them for cheaper.”

“O-ourselves?! Are you out of your mind?” Anna exclaimed. “Nuh-uh. I’m not doing it. I’m fine with being the supervisor and all, but I’m not getting myself in trouble like that. It’s not called the Forgotten Jungle for nothing, you know.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll do it myself, then. Just, help me with getting the fish and the bubble, please? You know Sabaody better than me.”

“Y-you’re going alone?! You want to die or something?” Anna barked back. “Are you nuts?”

“No, not really.” she replied. “I’m just confident.”

“Confident about what? Getting away?”

Sofia then made a warm smile.

“Confident you’ll come with me anyways.”

“H-huaah!” the loli yelled out, in frustration. Sofia knew her too well. And, originally, she sort of wanted to not go and convince her little henchwoman to do it for her, since she seemed to be much more of the adventurer type than her, given how she was a Marine and all. But apparently, that wasn’t the case. So, she had to go herself. And within, she was very scared. She normally wasn’t the sort of person to get into trouble like this, but, in a controlled situation like this, where she had a friend and plans, she felt more confident. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Hopefully.

---*---

The next day, after some shopping at the market, they got a bubble-balloon, full with fish, along a set of sap-collecting equipment. Anna apparently already had one of her own.

“How nostalgic.” the Marine mentioned, as she tugged the balloon behind her, which was covered with a coat of leaves. “I’ve seen my pops use these tools before - I sometimes went and collected some sap from the trees in town too. This would be the first time that I go to the wild ones. I wonder how much we’ll get?”

“Maybe a bucketful?” Sofia wondered.

“A whole bucketful?” Anna asked. “That would be a lot. You know how much savia is needed to make each of these bubbles? The answer is: very little. They’re just a thin layer of the stuff. So, a bucket would make a lot of bubbles. It would make our trip way worth it.”

“Ah. Nice.” Sofia then replied.

“And now, the moment of truth.” Anna mentioned, looking at the gate towards the Forgotten Forest. “You better keep a good watch. Here, hold the balloon now. And here’s a knife.”

“Ready?” the loli then asked again.
Sofia wasn’t ready at all. She was extremely nervous - but her expert poise let her contain it. What if she didn’t see the attacking monster in time? Or she messed up popping the balloon? Or the plain just fails horribly somehow?

“Yes, I’m ready.” she replied. “Let’s go.”

And then she turned 180 degrees and started to walk away from the gateway.

“OY!” Anna barked back. “You’re not getting away now, eh? Not after getting this far. Hey! I’m talking to you, don’t keep walking!”

The tiny one rushed up to her and grabbed her dress by the back of its waist.

“Wait right there.” the Marine said. Sofia remained silent, just staring in front of her. “You’re coming, alright? I know it’s hard. But it’s what you want to do, right? It’s part of the dream, right? You’re going to back off now, here?”

Sofia then sighed. But, inside, she was crying with relief, that Anna would take these risks with her. She was so grateful. But she couldn’t show it, because she was always fairly stoic and ladylike - and she wouldn’t break that. She wouldn’t know how to react if she did.

“Alright.” Sofia eventually mentioned. “Let’s go.”

“OK. OK.” Anna replied. “Now turn around - yes, just like that. And let’s get inside. One two… three!”

And with that, they both leaped into the Forgotten Jungle.

---*---


“No monsters so far.” Sofia whispered, as she looked around. “How are you going on your end?”

“Three buckets!!” Anna chuckled, glancing at a moment to a pair of shut buckets. “Well, I’m on the third right now. Soon full!”

“Grea-” the other was going to reply, before there was a rustle in the branches high above them.

Sofia looked upwards.

And see saw the feet of a dinosaur, falling a great velocity, before it slammed on the ground, sending her and Anna flying across the ground a few feet from the shockwave.

“FUCK!” Anna yelled out, as she got herself up from tumbling a few times, and start to try to collect the buckets - soon recovering the two that flew from her into her hands.

Sofia looked around, finding that the balloon had been propelled twice as far as them, and was still flying away.

Then, she heard a massive roar boom down from behind them, blasting a gust of putrid breath.

She didn’t even turn to assess the creature, she had to get out of there - now. Her mind was blank, and her body was moving out of sheer survival instinct. She started to dash as quickly as she could away, straight ahead, as she felt the earth quake with each of the steps of the beast.

“THE BALLOON!” Anna yelled, carrying two buckets and running, having left the third behind. Sofia turned to look at the Marine, finding her to be running diagonally away from her.

She understood the reason for that quickly - she was splitting up. The monster couldn’t possibly chase the two of them at the same time.

Then, behind her, she saw it. The dinosaur. As large as a two-story building, scaly, gray. And chasing Anna. Between the two of them, it had apparently chosen her.

Sofia then looked back to the balloon with a twitch, which was gently drifting away, to then pounce towards it with the knife in her hand and pierce the bubble, making it drop to the ground with a wet splat, sending all of the fish it had within it to the ground.

The beast then stopped chasing and turned to her, curious. Then, she could see its nostrils expand and hear the suction of its inhalations.

It seemed to have worked. But then, the monster then turned back to Anna, who was still running away, and started to chase her again.

It didn’t work!

Why?! - But there was no time to think about that. She had to save Anna, that dinosaur was going to -

She saw another one pop out from behind a tree across Anna, going towards the Marine.



Sofia stood still. Paralyzed.

She didn't know what to do.

There were two dinosaurs now.

She didn’t want to die. But she didn’t want to leave her friend to die either. But with two of those after her now, what could she do? She then put her hands to her mouth, and breathed in.

“THROW AWAY THE BUCKETS!” she yelled out. “THE EXIT IS RIGHT OVER THERE, COME!”

Anna shook her head, as the first dinosaur started to close in on her.

“THROW AWAY ONE!” Sofia insisted.

And she did, towards the noble, but she was too far away for that to matter. And then, the second dinosaur reached her, its shadow looming on top of her.

To then...

...jump over her...

...right in front of the first dinosaur, to run towards the pile of fish!

Then, that first one start to run after the fish as well. It didn’t want to lose it to this other one!

“GET THAT BUCKET, SOFIA!” Anna bellowed seeing that they were now in the clear.

“I’M ALREADY CLOSE TO THE EXIT!” she replied.

“THEN GET BACK!”

She shook her head. She couldn’t. She was too much of a coward to. But then, she managed to think of an excuse.

“It’s close! We can get it after they leave!”

“THEY’LL JUST BE BACK, SOFIA! GO GET IT NOW!”

The two monsters were now fighting each other, next to the pile of fish.

Sofia inhaled.

This was the chance. If she was going to for it, it had to be now. But she was scared. But she had to just tuck that feeling into the back of her head for now and go for it.

She then bit her lip.

And ran.

Everything became blur, she had been running more than she had ever before, and running straight towards an ambiguous pair of battling monsters. Which could kill her. Which she was running away from before, yet she had to run towards it now. It made her already racing heart beat even faster. She started to feel dizzy, and her legs started to feel like gelatine.

But she kept on running.
Until she reached the bucket, and she took it, and started to run back. As fast as she could. The trees passed by her, the air was whistling in her ears, and Anna was waiting at the exit, holding the door, with her face red and tired, drenched in sweat, and looking at her, waiting.

And then everything started to fall upwards, and become dark.

---*---

Her eyes started to open again - they felt heavy. And her body ached. It felt like it was laying down. And all she could see what white.

“Doing alright there?” someone asked. Some male, chipper voice. Mint? It was Mint.

She was at the Marine station?

“You’re going to owe me another favor now, eh?” he chuckled.

She turned her head to a side, finding curtains and a white cupboard embedded in the wall. She then turned to the other side, and found Mint in a white jacket seated next to her, with a smile.

“You’re at the Marine's medical bay.” he giggled. “You fainted. What were you doing out there anyways?”

She didn’t want to tell him.

“Just a few things.” she replied.

“Hah. Anyways, you should be alright. I checked you up and nothing’s wrong. Just fatigue.” the doctor then chimed in. “You could take a nap here. But then you got to go home, ok?” he chuckled.

“Okay.” she replied, and closed her eyes.

Then, her eyes bolted open.

“Is Anna alright?” she asked.

“Yes, she is. But she’s sleeping right now. Don’t worry.” Mint replied.

Sofia nodded. Then, she closed her eyes again. And slept as well.

[EXIT]