Wreck
Everyone was in high spirits as they sailed through the New World. It had been a few days since the events of Fishman Island, which had only proved that they were strong enough for the New World, and Luffy lay on the grass on deck.
A small warm breeze ruffled his red cardigan as the the sun bear down on the Thousand Sunny. They hadn't had any really bad weather yet, in fact it was usually sunny.
Luffy's stomach rumbled and he absent-mindedly patted it. Time to see if Sanji would let him have a snack. The rubber man stood up and dusted off his shorts. He put one hand on his hat to make sure it didn't float away.
He didn't notice the nice summer's breeze get a bit stronger as he headed for the kitchen.
"Luffy-san," Robin called from where she sat reading some old tome, "will you please tell Nami-san that the breeze has picked up after you beg some food off Sanji-san?"
Luffy didn't even question how Robin knew what he was going to do so he just nodded and ran up the steps to the kitchen, taking them two at a time.
"Be careful," Robin warned, "wouldn't want you to slip and bash your skull in on the Adam Wood."
Luffy ignored the archaeologist's dark thoughts and barged into the kitchen. "Sanji," he bellowed, "food!"
The blond cook sighed irritably and stopped cutting carrots, "we had lunch two hours ago."
Luffy scowled. "And?"
"And I'm not feeding the bottomless pit you call a stomach until dinner," Sanji yelled, aiming a kick at the younger man. Luffy nimbly dodged and ran further into the kitchen.
Sanji whirled around. "Out," he yelled.
Luffy tugged desperately at the fridge lock, praying that it would miraculously open. "Come on," he muttered urgently under his breath.
The breath was knocked out of Luffy as Sanji kicked him in the ribs. He rolled across the floor and into the wall. "Ow," Luffy said, rubbing his head. He stood up, his eyes darting to and fro as he searched for his hat. "Where's my hat?"
Sanji bent down and picked up the battered strawhat from the floor and tossed it over to his captain. "How about we compromise?" The cook asked,"I'll give you an extra serving of meat at dinner."
Luffy caught the hat and plonked it down on his head. "Thanks, see ya Sanji!"
He jumped over the steps and landed on the deck beside Robin. "It didn't go well then," Robin said.
The future King of the Pirates laughed, "I'm getting extra meat at dinner!"
"Good to hear," Robin said, "remember to tell Nami that the weather is picking up, I believe she's drawing maps."
Luff nodded and noticed Usopp and Chopper carrying fishing rods across the grass. "Hey guys," the rubber man hollered as he ran over, "wanna draw on Zoro's face while he's asleep?"
The sniper and the doctor immediately dropped the rods and the three raced off to find a marker. And the raced around the waves got slightly bigger, white froth developing.
"Found one," Usopp called out gleefully, brandishing his find to the other two, "let's find Zoro!"
Franky came out of of the bowels of the ship, wiping his forehead with a greasy rag, as they raced off. "Oi, Luffy can you come here for a second?"
Luffy waved the other two on ahead and walked back. "What is it Franky?"
The cyborg sighed, "we have a bit of a problem with the ship."
Luffy frowned, the merriness instantly gone from his eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Over the last two years when Hachi, the Flying Fish Riders and Kuma were guarding the ship it took a bit of damage and after two years of no maintenance these problems got worse and worse."
The rubber man crossed his arms. "Can you fix it?"
Franky sighed, "I'll order some Adam Wood at the next island but it'll set us back a bit, sorry."
"That's fine," Luffy said, his voice regaining its usual cheeriness. "Wouldn't want a repeat of Merry, right?"
Franky returned to the bowels of the ship to do some tinkering and Luffy went outside. Rain was starting to to fall from the sky.
He ran across the deck, nearly slipping twice, and climbed up to the crows nest. He slinked into what Zoro had converted into half a gym and half a bedroom and watched Chopper and Usopp at work.
A minute later he clapped his hands on their shoulders with a wide grin plastered across his face. They both instantly screamed and threw themselves to the ground.
Luffy bent over in laughter. "You should have seen your face!" Usopp weakly chuckled. Chopper giggled.
"And what exactly were you doing with that marker?" Zoro thundered, the noise had woken him up.
Luffy laughed and bolted for the door while Usopp was stammering out an excuse. Chopper and screeched and followed him.
Luffy jumped off the crows nest and hit the deck, his rubber body protecting him. He raised his hands and caught Chopper, both having too much fun to notice the rain growing steadier.
"Wait up," Usopp yelled as he slid down the ladder to the deck, Zoro right on his heels.
Luffy stretched out his arm and grabbed the door that led to the corridor where the boy's bedrooms where. The rubber man let himself be pulled along and slammed into the door. Chopper screamed as they flew through the air.
Luffy stretched out his other arm and grabbed the doorknob just before they hit it. The Devil Fruit users landed in the hallway. Chopper let the death grip he had on Luffy's neck go and landed on the ground. "That was fun," Luffy said with a grin.
Chopper breathlessly nodded and rose to his feet, the doctor opened his mouth to talk. He stopped when he heard the soft musical sound of the violin being played.
Luffy glanced behind him as Usopp dashed in behind them. "Zoro gave up and went to wash his face in the bathroom.
Luffy put a finger to his lips. "We're going scare Brook."
The three slowly approached Brook's room and Luffy slowly turned the handle. Brook was facing away from the palting the last verse of "Binks Sake."
Luffy slipped off his sandals and slowly crept towards the perverted skeleton. He slowly reached his hand forward and brought it down gently on Brook's shoulder. "I have finally caught up to you, 'Dead Bones Brook'."
Brook screamed and dived for his cane, only to stop when he heard Luffy's laughter. "Luffy, you shouldn't scare me like that! I nearly jumped out of my skin...though I have none!"
"You should've seen your face," Luffy laughed, "you jumped so high in the air."
"I think I'll need a cup of tea to steel my nerves after that."
As Brook was packing up his violin Usopp spoke, "I think I'll go harvest my Pop Greens."
"I need to grind some medicine," Chopper said, "sorry Luffy."
Luffy frowned as he shook his brain; he felt he was supposed to be doing something. He watched the other three leave, deep in thought.
Down in the bowels of the Sunny, Franky had fallen asleep on a bench. The shipwright's snores echoed as a small trickle of water began to fall through a small crack in a piece of wood.
On the deck dark, ominous storm clouds rolled through the early evening sky as Brook made his way to the kitchen. As the musician closed the kitchen door behind him a large wave smashed into the weakened railing at the side of the ship, cracking it.
The musician greeted the archaeologist and cook inside, oblivious to what was about to happen.
The future King of the Pirates slumped against the corridor wall, his face red as he struggled to remember what he was supposed to do. Something to do with Robin and Nami? Luffy listened to the distant sound of rain as he thought.
Rain.
Luffy's eyes snapped open and he raced onto the deck. Rain was pouring down from the heavens and a cold howling wind bit his exposed skin. Large angry waves smashed around the ocean.
Luffy sprinted towards the library, ignoring the rapidly increasing storm conditions around him. He smashed open the library door, drenched to the bone. "NAMI I FORGET TO TELL YOU THAT THE BREEZE HAS PICKED UP, I'M SORRY!"
Nami slowly put down her pencil, a vein bulging in her forehead. "And this was important enough to disturb me and my maps?"
The navigator turned around, fist raised to pound the rubber man only to stop short when she took a good look at him. "Luffy, you're drenched. How bad is it outside?"
Luffy shrugged. "I didn't take a good look at it."
Zoro stepped out of the shower, wiping his face with the washcloth. "Damn those idiots," he murmured, inspecting his face for any left over marker. He stopped short when he heard Nami scream.
Luffy froze when he took a good luck at the deck, the railings were gone and giant waves swept across the deck. Nami's eyes were widened in horror, she put a hand to her mouth after her scream.
Sanji burst out of the kitchen door, ready to defend his beautiful Nami-swan's honour. His cigarette fell out of his mouth as he stared at the hell in front of his eyes. Robin and Brook joined him a second later.
Chopper rushed out onto deck and instantly transformed into Heavy Point as a wave smashed into him.
Zoro rushed onto the deck, dressed in only in his boots and pants, his long coat and harakami missing. He held only one of his swords, Wado Ichimonji.
Below deck, the water rose over Franky's neck.
Luffy's eyes looked from side to side at the carnage. He spotted one wave carry a couple of Nami's mikan trees back into the abyss that was the ocean with it. Another smashed into the mast, sending splinters flying as it groaned.
Luffy was raised in a port town so he did something that was ingrained into his being in this kind of situation. He pushed past the others and into the kitchen. He picked up the transponder snail and roared into it, "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday; our ship is sinking!"
He slammed the receiver back down, already regretting his decision. They were pirates, what was the point of a distress call?
He ran back onto the deck. "Where's Franky and Usopp?"
"Usopp just went to look for him," Zoro roared over the waves, slashing one big one in half with his sword.
Usopp burst back on deck. "It's no use," he screamed, "the bowels of the Sunny are nearly completed flooded so we can't use Coup de Burst and I can't find Franky!"
"We're letting in water," Nami whispered in shock.
"The bowels of the ship," Luffy whispered, "...Franky."
With a growl Luffy's skin turned pink and steam rose from all over his body as the blood in his body was pumped ten times faster. "Gear Second," he announced.
"Zoro, Sanji; try and find Franky," he ordered, "everyone else try and hold down the ship." Lastly, he turned to Nami. "Nami, try and steer us out of here."
Luffy walked to the middle of the deck, a crescendo of waves smashing around him. He took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
"Gomu Gomu no Jet Gatling!"
The future King of the Pirates screamed as his fists hit the seawater.
As he protected his nakama.
Yesterday evening one of the radio operators of G-5 had found a call being transmitted a few hours away, a Mayday.
Smoker had been frozen to his core when he heard the caller's voice. Strawhat Luffy.
He had immediately ordered all units over to the transmissions locations. Anything else could wait, he wouldn't let the rubber man escape this time.
The sun was just rising over the edge of the horizon when they found the shipwreck. A few boards of wood thrown around, a few floating kitchen appliances and half a figurehead of a Lion.
After another few minutes of searching they found the infamous Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro unconscious floating on a piece of flotsam
They looked around but they found no other survivors.
Smoker ordered Roronoa Zoro to be placed in a holding cell and to be the first person to be notified when he woke up.
Two days later, Tashigi burst into his office saying that Roronoa Zoro was awake.
Smoker walked into the cell and stared into the pirate's shattered, soulless green eyes.
"Where are the others.?"
To the end of his days, Smoker would never forget the pure grief in the man's voice when he answered.
"Dead."
Sanji awoke on a snowy shore. His ribs ached like hellfire, his throat was beyond parched and his suit was in tatters. His body and mind were numb.
Next time he awoke he was being led into an operating room where two men were waiting.
One had long, spiky dark hair with two curly horns poking out. He wore dark makeup around his eyes and seemed to be wearing purple lipstick. Gas clouds hung around him.
The man finally spoke after men in yellow hazmat suits had put restrained him to the operating table. "Shurororororo," he laughed, "if you would be so kind."
The other man who Sanji felt like he had seen before held out his hand. A blue disk formed under his palm.
Sanji found himself thinking of the Baratie, the Going Merry, the Thousand Sunny and of all the people he had met on his travels. His thoughts drifted to the crew and the cook felt tears stream down his face.
"Oh god," the smoker croaked out.
"Room."
Brook had been falling for a long time. The light had long since vanished, that or he had gone blind. Though he had no eyes.
He couldn't move any of the bones in his body. The sea had robbed him of his strength the amount he had hit the water.
The skeleton felt that he had stopped falling, Had he finally hit the seabed?
Brook lay there in the darkness, his thoughts his only companion.
Had it been days, weeks, months, years?
He couldn't tell time at the bottom of this abyss.
As he often did, Brook wondered if the eater of the Yomi Yomi no Mi could even die if his body was already dead?
Would the pressure eventually destroy his bones to powder? Would he still be conscious even if he was just powder?
Would he live forever, trapped at the bottom of the ocean?
He wished he knew.
Brook had to hope that the non-Devil Fruit users had lived. That was the only thing that kept him remotely sane.
Robin… Chopper… Luffy.
Zoro… Sanji… Usopp… Franky… Nami
'I hope we can all meet again someday.'
Yohohohoho.
This one-shot was brought to you by Dying Grin.