[Episode] Proof of Friendship

Request:

Last time on Chewi's adventure, she returned to her hometown Notice; where she would go to reunite with her childhood friend, Erik Dubois Jr. With her childhood friend turned subordinate, Chewi aside from reminiscing with Erik she investigates a case that might have more to do with her than even she herself is aware of! This all started when two marines who were supposed to be her subordinate suddenly disappeared without a trace, and now that she is with Erik she doesn't seem to be too worried about the situation nor does she suspect the disappearances as anything more than an unfortunate coincidence.

Even if Chewi were not so optimistic it would prove difficult for herself and Erik to make heads or tails of this case- with no evidence or anything to go off of concerning the missing men. Exhausted from running in circles trying to solve this case, Chewi decided to take Erik to a ramen shop to discuss further action...amongst other things, little did Chewi know she'd get closer to the truth without lifting a finger.

"slurrrrpp...! mmmh...gotta say, Erik- I don't know if this thing will ever be solved for real." Chewi spoke after downing her second bowl of ramen, raising her finger to order another. "I sort of neglected to bring this up- but the disappearances were peculiar in a way that leave me with no idea where they could have gone- they're belongings, notes- nothing of that sort, I can't help but feel like i'm just running in circles chasing my tail."

A trip to the town's local ramen shop. One could see this seemingly casual outing as a date, but Erik knew better than that....hopefully. No, the ensign and his childhood friend now captain, Chewi were out discussing the case of those two missing marines. Erik did not really know how Chewi felt about this case, but to the green haired lad it felt personal! Two marines gone without a trace! The Green Labrador mostly focused on this part and not the part about how these two were coincidentally suppose to join the lavender haired woman's ranks.

"Hm?" Erik looked over to his captain, and before he could say more, the guy quickly noticed how Chewi was devouring her food! It made Erik look back at his bowl which was only half way down...and still his first. Dubois then picked more of the ramen up with his chopsticks and started eating again shyly. She always did have a big appetite, but to see her eating like this again after so long was kind of intimidating. Erik then nearly choked on his food at Chewi's next words. "N-no kind of evidence whatsoever!?" Erik asked, mumbling some as he still had food in his mouth. The ensign felt a bit discouraged after this news, looking down at his bowl before slamming a fist onto the table and stood up a bit.

"S-so what!? Evidence or no evidence, we'll find them, alive and well! I-It's the duty of us Marines to make sure that our own are safe." Erik claimed as he looked over to Chewi. He then sat back down, placing a hand under his chin as he pondered. "Perhaps we could go to their places of residence...I-I could maybe catch a scent and..." Erik begun mumbling to himself, at first it was kind of understandable, but after the "and" it started getting harder to decipher. Erik doesn't even remember if he told Chewi about his devil fruit, so the part about a scent may or may not go over her head....

If Erik were watching, the secret behind Chewi devouring her food so quickly would be revealed- she would seemingly swallow her entire bowl whole and chew for a few moments before spitting the bowl back out- however the bowl itself would be completely vine void of any cracks or even residue from the ramen, it'd be shiny clean like it just came out of the dishwasher- yeah must be devil fruit power! Despite her lack of eye contact as she rested her arms forward in a laid back manner- Chewi was still listening to everything Erik was saying.

Although he was passionate about it, Chewi couldn't share his enthusiasm- not really anyway, but Erik probably might not like it if she seemed to be less than worried about the situation. She'd turn to face him before taking his hands into hers with a beaming smile. "You're right, Erik! if you believe in them- so do I!...however" Chewi let Erik go before cupping her chin as she pondered.

"Going to their place of residence will be difficult while we are still on Notice, after all- these two soldiers were at two separate bases, one of them being the base I was stationed at, and the other being somewhere in the west blue, you have been on notice all this time right? So you wouldn't know- but being marines we don't have to sneak through reverse mountain to get to the other blues or even the grand line including both halves- as world government affiliates we can go straight through from Mary Geoise- although we still need proficient marine ships with seastone if we want to pass through places like the calm belt and...ah- I'm getting ahead of myself, the point is, it's highly unlikely the marine got lost trying to get to the North blue."

Chewi proceeded to dump all that information on Erik, although most of that wasn't specific to this conversation- she thought she would probably tell him about the way the sea works sooner or later though. "Anyway, it's about time we head out for our patrol, lets go Erik." Chewi sat up from her seat quickly but waited for Erik to be ready to follow, she'd proceed down a path between buildings towards the docks.

---

Somewhere else on Notice...
"There they are...looks like we didn't miss them leaving Notice after all." A mysterious figure would comment from the shadows to a baby den den mushi.
"Perfect, another bug for me to squash...get into position, that damned Erik, I'll make him disappear like the rest..."

Despite being a pretty observant person, Erik amazingly never noticed how Chewi was devouring her food. All he managed to see were those empty plates, imagining that Chewi was just a really heavy eater these days.

Erik was still sitting there pondering to himself as he thought of potential ways to go about this seemingly impossible investigation. He muttered to himself, but he was speaking so low that it was hard to distinguish. “Wah!” Suddenly, the green haired lad found himself knocked out of his little trance as his hands were taken into Chewi’s own. At first his face lit up. Holding hands...with her. He listened to her, but his mind was also wandering, all over w little hand touch. The lad then quickly shook his head to snap him out of yet another trance! This was his captain now which meant that Erik should be more professional. “R-right...” was all Erik was able to mutter out as his hands were freed. He looked down at them and clenched them a bit while Chewi rambled on, his mind on other things.

The ensign then looked back up to Chewi while she was halfway into whatever she was talking about. At first Erik looked completely lost, but quickly he shifted his position to look more like he was paying attention. “Right, Reverse Mountain...yeah..” Erik nodded before attempting to place his hand onto the counter, only for it to land on the edge of his ramen bowl which caused it to tip over! Luckily, Erik was able to jump out of the way in time, but ended up falling on his face in the process. “Mmffngg...” Erik mumbles before slowly getting up. “I’m...I’m okay. Ahh, right sure...back to our um...duty!” he said, chuckling nervously as he got on his feet to follow his captain out....

Unaware of the danger that is lurking..with their sights set on the poor ensign.