Author's note: I haven't written fanfiction in a very long time. This one is in a very different style than my usual stuff, and there's a lot of spoken dialogue, which is odd for me.
In any case, here it is! This is in response to a writing prompt a friend of mine gave me, about a character dying and an obituary. I didn't bother writing an obituary; I wrote a ficlette instead!
Warnings: Character death, non-graphic and in the past.
Pairings: Hints of Usopp/Kaya and Luffy/Nami.
They had not all been together for years--not since their captain had achieved his lifelong goal and become the most feared and renowned pirate the world had seen in a long time. And after that, they had slowly begun to splt apart, each returning home or finding a new calling in life. The captain was never quite the same again without his "nakama," and the rumor was that he had gone back to the village of his childhood to live with those shadows from his past.
It was there that those who hunted him had finally caught up.
News traveled faster with the improvement of technologies, and so it was only a few days later when the nearest of the crew heard the news. Not very far away was Syrup Village, where there resided two of the group; Usopp had returned there for the sake of love, and Chopper had followed for friendship. The little reindeer and Kaya had together opened a small hospital in the village, and become well-known for their doctoral abilities as a team. Meanwhile, however, Usopp's health had declined to the point that, by the time the news of Luffy's capture reached them, Kaya was busy caring for patients by day, and four children and a very ill husband by night. She often said if not for Chopper staying there, she would never have been able to handle it. Merry had, at first, been a great help; he had passed on before the youngest child was born, and she tried not to think about losing the butler whom she had thought of as a father.
Chopper heard the news about Luffy first; he met the messenger at the main entrance to the hospital and waddled slowly back to Kaya, who was reading over some notes in a nearby room. When she saw Chopper's face, she dropped everything and sunk to the floor.
"Oh Chopper, please say it's not one of the children."
He shook his head slowly and she let out an audible sigh of relief. Then she swallowed the lump in her throat and watched him, waiting for him to explain his reaction to the message he had received.
His eyes were blank and wide when he finally met her gaze. "It's Luffy," he said, and his voice was barely recognizable through the fight to hold back tears. "He's... been caught."
Kaya blinked, and then nodded, assuming what was meant; she said, "You can go help if you want. Take Usopp, if you think he's up to it. You should be able to--"
"No," Chopper interjected, and his voice was so serious that she fell silent instantly. "You don't understand. Caught. Captured. That's it."
"That's... it?" she asked slowly.
The tears won the fight, and spilled out violently down Chopper's furry face. As though telling her would make it final, he instead produced the note the messenger had given him, stumbling to her and handing it over.
Her dark eyes scanned the words and she uttered a soft "Oh my goodness" before looking back at Chopper. "He's been executed."
At that, Chopper began wailing, standing in front of her and crying with the kind of emotional pain that only an unexpected loss can bring. And she could hardly move, but she hugged him gently, unable to shed any tears in the presence of such sadness. It was so sudden; no one had even been warned that it was going to happen. The execution must have been decided upon almost as soon as he was captured, she thought; otherwise, everyone would have rushed to his aid and saved him from... whatever had happened. However they had done it. She thought it was impossible, really.
At some point Chopper sniffled and took a breath, then looked up at her and said, "We have to tell Usopp." And so, despite the difficulties she knew they were about to face in doing so, they went together back to the mansion and found him sitting on the sofa in the parlor, smiling blankly at the children who were playing hide-and-seek and using him as base.
Kaya almost cried every time she saw him, but it was even harder today; he had no idea what they were about to tell him, and she wasn't sure if he would register it even when they did. Chopper said the brain damage had been caused by one too many blows to the head; Kaya could hardly argue, but she truly missed the man she had fallen in love with, and wondered frequently if he was still in there, somewhere.
"Usopp-san," she cooed, after sending the children to their playroom. He turned his head to watch them leave, and muttered something under his breath that sounded like a disjointed jumble of nonsense. Kaya grabbed his hand tightly and repeated, "Usopp-san," until he looked at her.
"Hm?" he asked mildly. "Kaya?"
With a sigh, she said, "Yes, it's me, and Chopper too."
Usopp nodded and smiled at Chopper, but then turned back to Kaya. "Something's wrong," he said slowly, and she was relieved to see that he was able to pinpoint that much. It would make it so much easier to explain what she had to say.
"Yes, there is something wrong," she said gently. "It's... how should I say this? It's..."
"Luffy," said Chopper. "It's about Luffy. Remember him?"
Scandalized, Usopp said, "Of course I remember Luffy! I...," and he took a deep breath, trying to regain himself, "I remember most of it... we were... really good friends, back then. I miss him."
Kaya shut her eyes to try to block out the thought. "Usopp-san, listen... it's bad news about Luffy." The long-nosed man's eyes focused clearly for a moment--an uncommon occurence. Kaya took it as a sign that he was listening and said very plainly, "He's been executed."
The silence that followed was a long and painful one, in which Chopper gurgled with fresh tears. Usopp only stared into Kaya's eyes and she watched as he slowly understood, his eyes moving from attentive to confusion, and finally to disbelief. He pulled in breath slowly, apparently fighting to understand. And then he said, "Luffy's dead," and when Kaya nodded, he too fell to sobbing and heaving, along with Chopper.
And so it was that Kaya found herself sailing, for the first time in her life, headed for Fushia Village, where the crew was supposed to assemble. She refused to let Usopp go with only Chopper as assistance, and so brought the children as well, which was sufficient to keep her mind from returning to the depressing meeting that was ahead of her.
Under normal circumstances, she might have thought Fushia a lovely place--a quaint little town, smaller than her own, with little wooden buildings and a large port which was, on the day they arrived, packed full of ships. Even Usopp, who had been silent for the whole trip, crooned in admiration of the veritable fleet that overpopulated the bay. Most of the flags were black, Kaya noted with apprehension, and only one was Marine-style, and it was only when she saw a distressed orange-haired woman below that she realized they were all there for the same reason. They were all saying goodbye.
Nami greeted them at the dock with puffy eyes and a little boy clutching her hand shyly. The child saw Chopper and began to laugh, and the laugh was so familiar that Nami silenced him immediately and Usopp swayed a bit, as if about to faint. The little boy frowned and pouted, his wide eyes still fixed on Chopper. The reindeer shuddered and looked away.
Soon the others approached; the green-haired man Kaya remembered from long ago, and other people she had never seen before, and they all had the same expression that Nami wore when they greeted each other. An elegant woman with shining black hair placed a hand on a blonde man's shoulder, whispering something gently as he cried soundlessly. Usopp hugged each of them, followed by Chopper. They were embraced tightly by a large blue-headed man of whom Kaya was slightly frightened, and then by a woman with similar-colored hair who was dressed in clothes fit for royalty. Kaya stood on the sidelines, watching as they all congregated together, talking in low tones to each other about the one they had lost.
She sighed; she was not a part of the gathering, and although she had cried her share, she felt as though she should not intrude on the sadness of those who had known him best. So she left the ragtag family and began to walk, scanning the crowd to see just who had come for the farewell.
She saw an old merman, shifting uncomfortably and talking in a brash voice to a Marine with pink hair. The two acted as though they had been friends all their lives, telling stories about the hat-wearing boy who had been such an influence on both of their lives--be it positive or negative.
Nearby, a young man with a nose Kaya noted as being similar to Usopp's stood in prisoner's colors and said, "I regret ever being against him," to a man who was idly snapping fire into his fingers as salty tears made rivers against his freckled cheeks. Kaya was so busy staring at the two that she hardly noticed where she was going, and bumped into a young woman as she walked.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Kaya apologized.
The young woman smiled sadly and shook her head, her brown hair tossing past her ears. "Don't worry about it," she said with a strange accent. "We're all preoccupied. My name is Aisa, by the way." The sorrowful smile fell from her face as she asked, "So what were your ties to him?"
Kaya gaped at the woman and did not answer.
The brunette almost laughed and said, "Is it the wings?" When Kaya nodded, the young woman twirled for her to see. "I've been getting that reaction a lot since I got here. But I don't care; I wanted to be here. Luffy saved my entire race once."
"I... I gave him his first ship," stammered Kaya in a delayed response to the question. "He saved my life."
Aisa nodded and said, "Everyone here has some kind of relationship to him. Look how many of us there are... and even more who probably didn't come. I don't think he ever realized how many lives he touched while he was traveling."
The fire-making man dashed past them then, and they both turned to watch him help a stooped old pirate with only one arm move his way into the crowd. Of course the pirate argued the whole way that he needed no help and was just fine, and of course the other man paid no attention. When finally they stopped, the first said, "Thank you, Ace."
"I never thought you'd outlive him," was the reply, and the older man sighed deeply before moving on slowly through the crowd.
Excusing herself from Aisa, Kaya continued her march past the onlookers, pausing to allow an ape-man to pass. When she saw a man with slick black hair pushing glasses up the bridge of his nose, she dodged back into the crowd and began to find her way back to Usopp and Chopper.
When she found them, they were standing at the edge of the water, and everyone was turning to face the same direction. She hung back away from them; this was their grief, and not hers. As if sharing her feeling, the large crowd, spanning miles of the small town, hushed its sobs and sorrowful conversations to watch the seven--the faithful crew members and best friends--each light a candle and send it out to sea.
They all cried until their eyes ached and their heads swam; they all stood for hours; and then, finally, they all turned as one, breathed deeply, and laughed.
They laughed and said, "Do you remember when...?" and "That time, on that island!" and "It was the most hilarious...!" They hugged each other and talked of times past, battles won, and goals achieved.
The crowd watched in stunned silence for a long while.
And then they all joined in.
Thanks for reading! Flames will be used to roast soy hot dogs. And I don't much like this fanfic, so I'm not pretending it's anything magical. So if you don't like it, that's fine with me!