almost fell when Jack unexpectedly turned away from her.
"I'm sorry, but I can't.Is not meant personally. "
Jack hugged the perplexed Bunny one last time and that seemed to be the end of the conversation for him. He turned to go and only when he had reached the plank of the ship did he turn around again.
"Maybe that will help you further ..." he shouted, took something out of his jacket pocket and tossed it to Bunny.
Bunny caught the object in both hands, then looked at it in confusion. It was a little glass ball that looked a bit like a compass.
"This lock port leads you directly to the Grand Line. What you do with it is your business.", Jack added and jumped with a skilful jump over to the Black Pearl, which was anchored next to Miss Akyoo.
"Cast off, boys! We're going back to sea!" He shouted to his men and shortly afterwards the rattling of the anchor chain could be heard.
"Jack! Wait! Are we really getting to Rivers Mountain?", Bunny called after him and ran over to the railing.
"I did not say that.There's no one way to get to the Grand Line ... take care, love. Maybe we'll meet again! ", Jack yelled at the background noise getting louder and louder and took off his hat to wave goodbye to Bunny.
Bunny pulled her handkerchief from her head and did the same. The Black Pearl had already started moving and a large part of the crew stood on deck to say goodbye more or less loudly.
"We'll see you again! Thank you Jack!" Bunny shouted, even if she didn't know if he could still hear her.
For a while she stood at the railing and watched as Jack and his ship moved further and further away from the island and at some point were no more than a small point on the horizon. She had her headscarf pressed to her breast and only Norman, who approached her from behind and ruffled her blond hair, started her daydreams.
"You look so devout ...", he remarked with a smile and also looked out to sea."Do you think so? Well, I'm just glad to be back here and I can't wait to get started again!", Bunny replied with a grin and closed her hand around the lockport.
"And I have the feeling that from now on it will only go uphill ..."

The next few days were rather uneventful. When Bunny wasn't sitting in the lookout, studying the lockport on her wrist, she pored over Norman's Atlas and tried to recall Mr. Gibbs' words in order to properly record her itinerary. So she was sitting in the kitchen that afternoon as well, busy scribbling notes in her logbook while Joe slept next to her with his head on the tabletop. His changed behavior was starting to worry Bunny a little. Since their reunion Joe often seemed absent and unfocused and apparently he slept very poorly at night, because during the day he yawned in a tour and constantly nodded off without warning.But every time she asked him about it, Joe just waved it off and mumbled something about spring fatigue. On other ships you might have guessed scurvy or something like that, but because of Norman's balanced diet, vitamin deficiencies or other deficiency symptoms had no chance on the Miss Akyoo.
As if on cue, the plump Smutje suddenly stormed through the kitchen door and held up a brown jute sack with a scowl.
"Who is constantly grabbing our supplies without asking? When we drove off, the sack was still full of apples and now almost half of it is missing !!" he rumbled, scaring poor Joe almost to death with it.
"Admit it! You secretly sneak into the pantry at night and eat yourself fat and round. That's why you're always so tired during the day!" He snapped at Joe, who looked at him completely amazed.
"Now come down again, Norman. Why should Joe do something like that? And he really doesn't look fat and round, does he?", Bunny intervened and thus first caught Norman's attention.
"Then it was you! Or the dog! Or .." Norman ranted on, but Bunny cut him off again.
"You're paranoid! I didn't steal the apples either! Why should you? After all, you provide us with plenty of food. And Buster is more into steaks than fruit .."
"But who was it then? The apples didn't cut off by themselves.", Norman pointed out, sighed, sat down on the kitchen bench and took one of the juicy, red apples out of the bag.
"So either you are a sleepwalker and have eaten the apples yourself or we have a stowaway ..." thought Bunny and scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"Stowaway?" Repeated Norman and Joe as if from one mouth.
"It could be .. The ship is not that big, but somewhere you can always find places to hide. Perhaps one of us should lie in wait at night to find out what is going on here.How about you, joe You can never sleep at night anyway. ", the captain turned to his first mate, but the shocked expression on his face immediately revealed what he thought of this proposal.
"But .. what if the guy is dangerous? If he wants to kill me .." Joe stammered, digging his fingernails into the tabletop.
"One more reason to find him quickly before he strangles us all in our sleep. You can handle it! And if something happens, you just scream and we will be with you immediately.", Bunny replied calmly.
"Exactly, I'll lend you my meat tenderizer if you want.", Norman said, but this offer didn't seem to really reassure Joe either.
But all the howling and the chattering of teeth didn't help and so Joe crouched that night when everyone else was already sleeping peacefully in their bunks, trembling under the large oak table in the kitchen and peered fearfully into the darkness. For a long time nothing happened and Joe really had problems keeping his eyes open, but then suddenly she opened the door of the galley with a quiet squeak and through the falling moonlight Joe could see someone sneaking in.Based on the size, Joe immediately recognized that this couldn't be a human and the pirate hat on the suspect's head told him that it had to be either Buster or his evil twin brother. Without making a sound, the dog padded over to the refrigerator and opened the door with his paw with astonishing ease. For a moment he paused as if he were thinking about what he would like best and then he grabbed the can in which Norman always kept the leftovers from lunch. While Buster let the door shut gently, looked around once more and then crept back out of the kitchen as quietly as he had come with the can in his mouth, Joe thought feverishly how he could best stop him. Should he catch him immediately or should he follow him secretly and perhaps find his secret hiding place? Our detective decided on the latter and then ventured out of his hiding place to immediately pursue the culprit.When he peeked carefully out the kitchen door, Joe could just make out how Buster's spotted cock disappeared into the pantry. Aha! So the rascal had stashed his booty there. He would blow him up really nicely and for that he would certainly get big compliments from the rest of the team. He wasn't as much of a wimp as everyone thought! Joe crept forward on tiptoe, then gently put his ear to the pantry door. He was starting to really enjoy this detective game. Maybe he should retrain and forget about the shamanic powers once and for all. But just as he was about to start the big reconnaissance attack, he suddenly stopped dead. Was he just imagining it or had he just heard a voice in there? Buster was a pretty smart guy, but to the best of his knowledge he couldn't speak yet. To be sure, Joe again listened intently for noises behind the door and actually heard a faint murmur there, which could not have come from an animal under any circumstances.But a stowaway? Slowly, things got a little too hot for Joe and so he crawled past the door and over to the boys' cabin to fetch reinforcements. Norman was not at all impressed by Joe's premature wake-up call, but when he finally got what it was about, he jumped out of bed, armed himself with his walking stick, and followed Joe to the crime scene. After convincing himself that this mysterious voice did not only exist in Joe's lively imagination, he gave his comrade a conspiratorial look and raised his hand. Silently he counted down from three and then both stormed the pantry with a loud roar. What awaited them there took both breath away for a moment.
"I know you!", Joe exclaimed surprised when he finally found his language again.
It also took her stowaway a few seconds to recover from the shock and make a hasty attempt to escape.But Norman was faster, grabbed his arm and then held the wildly wriggling boy in a headlock.
"So, and this time you keep your pearly whites in check or I'll blow your breath away, you roast devil!" He growled and then turned to Joe, who was still looking at the other person completely perplexed.
"And you'd better get the captain out of bed. She'll be interested in this too."
Shortly afterwards, Bunny also reached the scene, but her eyes were still so sleepy that at first glance she didn't really understand who she was actually looking at.
"What's wrong?" She muttered and tried to rub the sand out of her eyes.
"We have visitors. An old friend ..", Norman replied and tightened his grip on the intruder's neck to finally force him to stand still.
Bunny looked over at Norman, then down a bit and finally her gaze stopped at a head with tousled blue hair and a rather sinister expression that was currently wedged between the strong arms of her smutjes.Bunny screwed up her eyes, opened them again, then blinked again. That was probably a bad dream ..
"You??"
_____
Backstage:
Ha, a cliffhanger at its best! I could easily start at GZSZ .. XDD But at my speed they would probably kick me out again after a week .. ^^ ° (And above all, I am not going to give up my talent for such a mess! XD)
So, I think that's my all-time negative record so far. The last chapter of this story was actually almost a whole year ago .. I am also very ashamed, because actually I really want to continue writing this story and finally push the plot forward a