@cnigiri liked this post for a starter!
The winding canyons that the island of Rabirinsu were known for were, admittedly, quite beautiful in the setting sun. The massive quartz walls were streaked with an assortment of colors. Blue faded to green which transitioned to yellow which melted into pink which became orange. It was as if a giant child had decided to test their new paint set on them. It was chaotic and beautiful, and Ikkaku would appreciate them a hell of a lot more if she and Zoro hadn’t been staring at them for the past three hours.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” she shouted, glaring at a withered, pale yellow tree that stood in their path. She was sure of it now – that was the exact same tree they’d passed twice already. “How’d we end up here? Again?! This is absolute bullshit!”
The engineer yanked at her curls in frustration. The canyons were quite infamous. They held a rare ore that was supposedly capable of being smelted into a metal that was nearly as strong as Seastone, but they were also said to be dangerous. Some monster was said to have made its home within, but more than that, supposedly they were so twisted and confounding that event an expert navigator could get lost. Ikkaku had doubted they were that bad, but she’d still insisted on being the one to lead the way when Zoro had agreed to come along to protect her while on her little quest. She was no Nami, but she was pretty good at finding her way, and she’d made contingency plans.
Apparently, the stories had not been exaggerated. The trail of string she’d attempted to leave to guide them back? Something had chewed through it within a mile into the canyon. Arrows she drew on the wall? Wiped away or distorted. Trying to navigate by the position of the sun? The walls were so high that much of the sky was totally obscured.
“I swear, this place has something against me personally,” she grumbled petulantly, throwing her backpack to the ground. She’d knew she sounded ridiculous, but this was utterly frustrating and embarrassing. If the walls weren’t so damn high, she’d consider just climbing out, but unfortunately, anytime she considered building a makeshift grappling hook, her stomach would twist and remind her that she had a nasty fear of heights. With a sigh, Ikkaku sat on the ground and began pulling out some supplies. She’d at least come prepared for a few day’s travel. “And if we’re this lost when there’s daylight, I doubt we’ll have any better luck in the dark, so we might as well make camp.”
Looking up, she glared at the tree before turning to Zoro. “Think you could slice that up to make some firewood? It’s doing fuck-all as a landmark, anyway.”