Kapitel 30: Kamabakka people

Once on the island, Laffitte had already hidden himself deeply inside the ship. Not even Akane's observation haki could find him as he seemed simply terrified of what he could encouter on this island.

She didn't blame him as he had probably heard rumors of what happened to the men who inhabited this island. Unaware of this, Ban still had the characteristic smile of his, as he looked around at the scenery.

Everything around them was pink. The air, the ground, the grass. Heck, even the animals were pink. The strangest thing would be the way the creatures acted around each other. Though one was obviously male, it acted coy like a female. It was quite unnerving to say the least.

As if completely oblivious to all the strange things from this island, Ban just hummed as he went forward. In the distance Akane spotted a few figures seemingly skipping about without a care. Knowing what kind of people were living here, Akane preferred to avoid them. Unfortunately, the inhabitants had already noticed them and were happily running their way.

The people stopped in front of them, a creepy laugh coming from them as they acted as coy as they could. The only problem being how they looked. The looked like big men wearing make-up and wearing woman's clothes.

They stared at Ban like a predator looked at a prey. Heavy pants escaped their mouths as it seemed like they could drool any second now.

Even Ban who had been completely laid back was starting to get the chills from this situation. He cast his gaze towards Akane, who looked away, avoiding his blaming eyes.

"You knew, didn't you?" Ban exclaimed as he began to use her as a human shield.

"Ahahaha, sort of." Akane responded as she scratched her head to hide her uncomfortableness.

"Don't act like that now! Keep them away from me, their gazes give me the creeps."

Ban rubbed his arms hard to rid himself of goosebumps, not that they would disspear anytime soon.

From the crowd of Okama in front of them, a big man-woman stepped forward. He wore a red wig, pink glasses in a wing pattern and a frilly purple dress. His face was covered in make-up.

"My, my, what delicious looking guests we have here? Don't you say so my candies?" The man said.

"Yes, Carol-sama!"

"Carol-sama!"

"They would look nice in a dress."

"Don't be shy, boyo."

Ban shivered at the excited responses of the crowd in front of them, especially when they were seemingly pulling out all different kinds of dresses, shoes and make-up out of nowhere.

"And you, foxy girl. Iva-sama told us about you. Such a pretty candy, to have Iva-sama speak so highly of you. Why not stay here for a while, right my candies?"

Carol or otherwise known as Caroline the queen of the Kamabakka's, yelled at the crowd behind him.

"Yes, Carol-sama."

"Ofcourse Carol-sama!"

"They're so cute, Carol-sama."

All kinds of exclamations were made. Akane smiled uncomfortably at the scene, especially since Ban still used her as a human shield. Not that he was hidden all that well as she wasn't even half his size.

Once invited by Carol, Akane and Ban stayed at the castle that stood in the centre of the island.

Inside the castle there were many rooms of which there were also ball rooms, dining rooms and a massive throne room. As they walked into the throne room, Carol went forward and sat down on the throne. The people that were walking behind them were dispersing to the sides, giving Akane and Ban enough space to feel at ease.

Even so, Ban still didn't move far from Akane as he could feel the stares crawling all over his body. From time to time, Akane could feel a shudder coming from behind her as Ban's grip on her shoulder tightened.

"Ban, calm down. It's not like they're going to eat you." Akane said as she tried to remove Ban's clenching hands from her shoulder.

Ban looked around at the Okama standing on the side. The looks they gave him were frightining as they contained a kind of feral hunger. He could even see some of them hidding frilly pink dresses behind their backs.

"No no no, I'll be much safer if you stick close to me. Can't you see the look in their eyes? How can you even think I could be safe from them?"

Ban tightened his hold on Akane's shoulder and stuck close, trying his best to avoid looking at these frightening people around him.

Fighting knights? Sure. Fighting Devils? No problem. Fighting sea kings and acting as a cook on a pirate ship? Souds fun. Being treated as food on a market by creepy man-woman? No thanks, He'll keep his distance. He didn't have a problem with most things, be he prefered to stay in his own comfort zone, thank you very much.

Akane sighed and chose to ignore Ban's antics and began to chat with Carol. It was mostly about their stay on the island and about Iva. The stay would be till the og pose adjusted and she had been granted permision to reside in one of the chambers inside the castle. The ship would be left as is, as Akane had informed Carol that someone was already keeping an eye on it.

Concerning Iva, so far there was little word about his whereabouts. The only thing so far was that he had encountered a marine ship. Contact after that had been lost. Chances were that he had been captured and taken to impel down, a inescapable prison of the marines. The only positive point bout that, was that he was still alive. And if Carol's words could be trusted, Iva could escape whenever he wanted.

Satisfied with the answers and the temporary lodging she had procured, Akane called it a day and was guided towards the guest room in the castle. Once in front of the room, the one leading glanced as Ban and asked if he really wanted a shared room.

Ban could feel a shiver run down his back as he could feel the okama's eyes roaming all over his body.

"I am sure." Ban said as he avoided the gaze, suppressing the shivers from coming back.

"If you say so. Call me if you change your mind, Candy-chan~"

The Okama left, leaving Akane and a creeped out Ban in front of their room.

Akane chuckled as she went inside the room, Ban followed closely on her tracks.

"I told you it would be bad. You didn't listen and still wanted to go with me. Happy?"

Ban shuddered as he dashed into the bathroom, feeling a desperate need to clean his body. He could still feel their gazes and felt dirtied and harassed.

"I'm going to bed. Once you're done disinfecting yourself, come to bed."

Akane undressed herself and slipped into bed, waiting for Ban to return so they could have a nice rest together.