One Piece: The Misery of Loss
Chapter 2
As the day dragged on, the Straw Hat Crew kept their hopes up that they would eventually pass through the storm that had forced them to remain indoors for the past several days. It was apparent that the odd purple rain wasn't imminently dangerous, but it was still rain and it was coming down even harder than before. As day turned into night, it became evident that it was not going anywhere anytime soon.
Nami sat next to a window watching the rainfall. She was growing tired of this weird weather. Luffy had spent hours playing in it, but it didn't seem to cause him any adverse effects. In fact, he had spent so much time out in the rain, that he had finally grown bored of it. After a deeply enjoyed goodnight kiss, he had elected to go to bed for the night, effectively keeping him out of trouble. Luffy had taken his hat with him when he left, and Nami found herself missing its warm embrace around her head. Most of the crew had followed their captain's lead and turned in for the night. The only three people remaining awake, Nami, Robin and Usopp, were gathered in the kitchen. The trio sat in different spots around the room. Nami, who was sitting in on the edge of the green couch looking out the window, pulled her eyes away and looked at the other two crew members in the room. Usopp sat at the dining room table tinkering on something that looked like one of the Impact Dial's the crew had received from Skypiea. He was so engrossed in his work that the Sunny could have been ripped from the sea and thrown back to the East Blue and Usopp probably wouldn't have noticed. Robin, who was sitting on the couch a few feet away from Nami, had her nose buried in a book. The older woman had an unnatural talent for finding books. As far as Nami knew, there were no books in the kitchen yet somehow, Robin had made one appear. Nami assumed that she used her Devil Fruit powers, but she wasn't positive.
The three people sat in a peaceful silence for what seemed like hours. Time ticked passed as Nami sat watching the rain splash across the deck. Nami found herself thinking about everything that she had been through in her life. She had been through some dark times, but overall, she was happy with how she made out. She was doing something she loved, with people she loved even more. Nami's thoughts drifted back to how they had met each of their crew members. Nami also wondered when they would meet their next member. She was so lost in her rain watching that she did not notice that Robin was talking to her.
"Miss Navigator?" Robin asked closing her book. She kept one finger on the page that she had stopped reading on. "Are you in there?" She asked. It took a few moments for Robin's words to register in Nami's mind.
"Huh? Oh sorry Robin." Nami said shaking her head. "What's up?" She asked rubbing the side of her head. Robin smiled and shook her head.
"Lost in thought huh?" She asked tilting her head. "Thinking about anything in particular?" Nami shook her head.
"No not really." She smiled. "Just… remembering. "What's up?" Nami repeated.
"I was saying that we should head to the library." Robin replied. She stood up and walked over to the table. Robin placed her book on the table before turning her full attention to Nami. Usopp continued working, but he kept glancing over his shoulder at Nami. It appeared that he wasn't as focused as Nami had thought.
"We could do that." Nami said a bit confused. "But why? Out of books?" She asked with a smile. Robin giggled and shook her head.
"Not at all. But I think it would be beneficial for us to go take a look through the collection of New World encyclopedias that I acquired from my time with the Revolutionary Army." She began walking towards the exit. "I can't remember if I have one about weather, but I figure it can't hurt to look." She said. Nami couldn't disagree. Research wasn't her ideal thing she could be doing right now, but it would help pass the time if nothing else.
"Sure." Nami said hopping off of the couch. "Let's go." She turned her attention to Usopp who was still messing with his Dial. "Hey Usopp? You coming?" She asked. Usopp grumbled under his breath and stood up from the table.
"I think that's a great idea. You can never know too much..." He said with an uneven tone. Nami knew that he was looking for an excuse to get out of going. "But its still raining and I don't think we should go that far in this stuff." Nami rolled her eyes.
"Come on you baby. Luffy was out in it for hours and he's fine." She said waving him over. "Its better than sitting in the kitchen all night." She said. Usopp sighed but didn't move.
"Yeah it didn't do anything because he's Luffy. No offense to Luffy, but he's crazy." Usopp said with a shrug. "That stuff isn't natural and you know it." Nami folded her arms and cleared her throat telling him to get over it. Usopp ignored it but after a few seconds she did it again. The second time was harder to ignore and Usopp's self preservation instinct was kicking in. "Do I have to?" Usopp pleaded looking to Robin for assistance. She nodded. Usopp let out another sigh and walked towards the ladder. "Fine, but if I die, you guys have to pay for my funeral." He complained. Nami scoffed.
"Like hell I do." She said shoving him into the ladder. His nose slipped between the rungs and smashed into the wall. He shook his head and turned to yell, but couldn't turn around. Nami held her hand against his back, shoving him into the ladder. "Just get climbing already. I want to go to bed at some point tonight." She said. Usopp started climbing.
"Nami! That hurt you know?!" Usopp called over his shoulder. Nami ignored him and positioned herself to start climbing.
Usopp reached the top of the ladder and opened the hatch that led to the roof. He opened it and climbed out. Rain bombarded the area around him as he felt his clothes beginning to dampen. Usopp walked over to the railing and glanced up at scene around him. His eyes scanned the dark sky. "Man, will this storm ever end? It feels like we have been stuck in it for days." He said to himself. He heard Nami and Robin climb out of the hatch and walk towards the library. Usopp sighed and took a quick look around the ship. He WAS supposed to be on watch that night after all. He should make sure that everything was okay, as long as he wasn't alone for too long. He finished scanning the ship and was pleased to note that everything was the way it should be. "Good. Everythings quiet." He said as he looked at the sea in front of the ship. "And I can see sunlight around an island up ahead. That's good. It will be nice to get out of this storm." He turned and started walking towards the library. He took one step and froze. It took him a few moments to realize what he had just said. Usopp spun around and looked again to make sure that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. His eyes widened. His eyes were right and he could only think of one thing to do. "HOLY CRAP! Nami! Get back out here. There's an island up ahead!" He called running for the library.
Nami and Robin stood on front of the hatch that led down into the kitchen facing the front of the ship. Their eyes were locked on the amazing sight that was laid out in front of them. Usopp was standing behind them pointing at the island.
"See? I told you there was an island up ahead!" He said triumphantly and terrified at the same time. "And the storm is going nuts around it. You can't tell me I'm crazy!" Usopp demanded. When he had first told Nami, she had called him a crazy lying idiot. There was no way that they had reached another island already. According to the information that Nami had read about the layout of the New World, they shouldn't have reached another island for at least another day and a half. She knew it was going to be soon, but not this soon.
"Well you're definitely right." Nami said not taking her eyes off of the island. "There IS an island, but I'm more concerned about the weather around it." She said as shiver went down her back. "Something is seriously wrong with that place. This can't be natural" Nami glanced over at Robin who was staring at the island with a look of wonder on her face.
"This is truly amazing." Robin said breathlessly. She appeared unable to pull her eyes away from the sight in front of them. Nami turned her head back to the front and felt another shiver run up her back. She was cold and wet, but this was too amazing to ignore.
"Yeah, amazingly creepy." Nami responded. She felt herself wishing Luffy was with her right now. His cheerful attitude would have made this situation considerably less terrifying.
The Straw Hat Pirates had been sailing through this storm of purple rain continuously for the past few days. It was a strangely calm storm, but it never showed any signs of passing or breaking up. It had just been a continuous blanket of gray clouds in all directions since they entered the storm. However, the island directly in front of them was completely untouched by the storm that encircled it. A solid circle of moonlight and perfect weather surrounded the island like a barrier. Just outside of this barrier, the island was surrounded on all sides by this never ending storm, but instead of being smothered by the torrential purple rain, it stood like a beacon of light in the darkness. Which was fine. In their past adventures, the Straw Hat's had come across islands that were untouchable by any kinds of weather. But this place was a different story all together. Instead of simply being underneath a hole in the clouds, the island ahead of them appeared to be producing the storm. More specifically, the sea around the island was spewing out the gray clouds like smoke from a cannon. The clouds poured out of the sea in a never-ending stream, reached a certain point in the sky, and drifted away from the island. The only reason that the trio was able to see the island in the middle at all was because of a break in stream of clouds. There was one spot in the wall of clouds that formed a doorway leading to the island. No clouds erupted out of the water in this one spot, but the clouds produced from the nearby sea quickly covered up the gap it would have left in the sky. It was as if the island was inviting the pirates to enter the eye of the storm. The trio stood in silence staring at the spectacle in front of them. Robin was the first to break the silence.
"As incredible as this is, we should probably wake up the rest of the crew." She said blinking her eyes and turning away from the cloud producing sea. "We have to decide whether we are going to dock on this island or not." Robin said thoughtfully. Usopp stepped forward.
"No. No, no, no, no, no, no." He said shaking his head with each word. "Robin? Do you see that?!" Usopp exclaimed pointing at the clouds coming out of the water. "There's no way that I am going in there! That island just looks like its waiting for its next meal. What happens if we go in there and the entrance closes up huh? We will have no way of getting back out!" Usopp shouted. Robin crosses her arms and places her hand on her chin.
"Possibly, but then we can't see anything beyond the opening sitting in front of us. There may be other entrances. " Usopp raised his hand to respond, but Robin continued talking. "Besides, its just storm clouds. We should be able to sail right through it." She said as she shook her head. "Regardless, it's not for us to decide." Robin said turning to Nami. Usopp took this chance to jump in again.
"Oh yes it is." Usopp said. "We all know what will happen if we wake up Luffy. He will want to explore that death trap! If we just let him sleep, he will never know about this and we can continue our journey away from the scary island surrounded by deadly clouds. We have skipped islands before right?" He said nodding. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Let Luffy sleep and we can just forget this ever happened." Nami shook her head.
"First off; no we have never skipped an island." She smiled. "Because Luffy wants to explore every one that we see. Secondly: as creepy as that island is, it IS Luffy's decision. End of discussion." She said as she opened the hatch to go back into the kitchen. Nami glanced over her shoulder at the island again. It looked like a beautiful island, and there were no cities as far as she could tell. It looked like an ordinary island inside the circle of clouds. Honestly Nami was kind of excited to take a look at the inside of the storm. She had never heard of storm clouds emerging from the sea like this. As a Navigator, it was her job to understand weather patterns, so the chance to study these strange clouds was a rare opportunity. And like Robin said: if the cloud door did close up, they should be able to sail right through the clouds to escape. Problem solved. Hopefully.
She jumped down into the hatch and landed on the floor of the dining room. She stood up and headed for the door. Her clothes were completely drenched from standing in the rain for so long but she didn't really care. Nami was more than happy to go and wake the others up. It was an intimidating island and having Luffy around would make her feel better.
"Honestly, I like the idea of getting out of this rain." She said to herself as she opened the door to the leave the kitchen. She sighed as she looked out the door and saw the falling rain. "I am so sick of this damn weather. I am ready for something sunny and warm." As Nami walked out of the door, she heard someone climbing down the ladder into the kitchen. Judging from the grumbling, it had to be Usopp. Nami broke into a run as she made her way to wake up the rest of the crew. A smile spread across her face at the thought of Luffy seeing a new island. He was always so happy to see a new island on the horizon. The more she thought about it, the happier she got. By the time Nami reached the door leading to the men's dorm, she was quietly giggling to herself.
"Well, this isn't foreboding at all is it?" Sanji said with his hands in his pockets. Nami had woken up the entire crew and they were now gathered on top of the kitchen where Nami and the others had been before. They were all staring at the island that lay before them. The purple rain continued to bombard the gathered crew, but none of them seemed to notice. Sanji turned to Luffy. "So captain, are we planning on going there?" He asked calmly. Luffy laughed. He was sitting on the railing with his feet dangling over the edge.
"Oh yeah." He said confidently. "We are going there right now! Let's set sail!" He called as he spun around on the railing and pushed himself off. Luffy ran for the ladder that would lead him back down into the kitchen with a huge grin. Usopp jumped in front of him and blocked his path before he could reach the ladder.
"Woah hold up!" He said as he held out his arm to keep Luffy back. "Look at that!" He said pointing at the island. Luffy turned his head around and shrugged. His smile had shrunk.
"Yeah I know. It looks awesome and I wanna go there." He said excitedly. Usopp shook his head.
"No its not awesome, its terrifying!" He said putting his hand down. "The cloud pouring out of the sea is one thing, but the freaking island that is completely untouched by all of it is even worse. I swear that whole island looks like it's going to gobble us up if we go anywhere near it. Hell it's probably cursed!" Usopp took a deep breath and crossed his arms. "Just hear me out here Luffy: I say we pass this island up. I mean we have more than enough supplies to last us until the next island. There's no reason to tempt fate here Luffy." He said pleadingly. Luffy cocked his head at Usopp.
"Come on Usopp. Where's your sense of adventure?" He said turning his body to face the island. "Don't you want to see what's inside of those cloud wall? It will be just like Sky Island!" Luffy said with a cheer. Usopp sighed.
"If it's just like Skypiea then we have serious trouble waiting for us." Usopp decided to give it one more try. "Look, I just don't think it's a good idea to run headlong into a place that we can't even see entirely. I say we-" Anything else Usopp was going to say was cut off by another cheer from Luffy.
"Nope! Let's go!" He shouted as he dashed forward away from the ladder. Luffy made a running leap and sailed over the railing. He landed on the balcony below them. Usopp groaned and covered his eyes with his hand. Nami couldn't help but smile at Luffy's foolish behavior. She heard Robin giggling.
"There he goes." Robin said with a smile. she turned to face the rest of the crew. "Shall we?" Usopp pointed in Robin's general direction with the hand that wasn't covering his face.
"No!" He said sternly. Brook quivered in the corner.
"I'm with Usopp." The skeleton said, "I don't like this place. It makes my skin crawl. Except that I have no skin!" The skeleton said as he broke out into laughter. Franky shook his head.
"Sorry bros." He said as he grabbed the railing with one of his large hands. "This place looks way to sweet to pass up. Plus the captain says let's go, we gotta go." He said as he hauled himself over the railing and followed after Luffy. Usopp opened his mouth to say something else but Zoro spoke up first.
"Alright." He said with a smile. "You know that there's no changing his mind at this point. We might as well just get going." Nami nodded.
"Pretty much. Come on you guys, lets get going. I want to get out of this rain as soon as possible. I'm sick of this crap." She said walking towards the ladder that led back into the kitchen. Everyone agreed and began moving towards the ladder themselves. Everyone except one. Zoro remained frozen in place, staring forward at the clouds. He remained outside, staring at the clouds spewing out of the sea. After a few moments, he snickered.
"Looks like we might get our chance to beat down some clouds after all."
Luffy sat in his favorite spot on top the Sunny's lion figurehead as the ship drew closer to the gap in the clouds that would allow them to land on the island. His back was to the crew and he was anxiously waiting for the moment where the ship would pass between the walls of cloud. The entire crew, save Luffy and Usopp, were dead silent with their gazes fixated on the grey clouds around them. Luffy was getting more excited by the moment and Usopp continuously objected to the current course the ship was taking. It was becoming more and more apparent that the Straw Hats were not fond of the path chosen by their captain. Sanji was the first, besides Usopp, to voice his opinion.
"Hey Luffy," Sanji called as he put a cigarette in his mouth. He tried to light it, but the rain swiftly extinguished it. He sighed and put his lighter away. "Maybe this isn't the greatest idea in the world." Sanji turned and looked at the crew. After a few seconds, he noticed that Robin was missing. Sanji instantly became worried and looked around to find her. He finally found her a couple levels up walking towards the library. Sanji felt himself calm down and he nodded. Satisfied that Robin was safe, he turned his attention back to Luffy. "Something about this place doesn't feel right." Franky nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. This is SUPER creepy." The cyborg said looking around at the purple rain. His attitude had changed considerably from before. The closer the Sunny drew to the island, the more nervous he became. "Something just feels... off." The cyborg said hesitantly. Luffy laughed in response.
"I know." He said to the crew's collective surprise. He launched his head back and his neck stretched so the he could see his crew. "Isn't it awesome?" Luffy asked with a stupid grin before his head snapped back to its original position. Nami shook her head. She glanced around at everyone. No one was comfortable. She had to say something to Luffy and she knew it. Nami sighed and climbed up to the top of the figurehead. She stood on the top of the figured head behind the mane, a few feet away from Luffy.
"Come on Luffy." She said pleadingly. "Everyone's on edge and I think it's a good idea to turn back. We can still just go around this island." Nami said softly enough that the others couldn't hear. She tried to make her voice seem as scared as possible to appeal to Luffy's sense of protection. Frankly she wasn't scared of this strange island no matter what the clouds surrounding it were doing. However, the others were right: something about this island felt unnatural. Not scary, just… off. As if the island didn't belong here. Nami figured the least she could do was try to change Luffy's mind. Sadly her plan did not work. Luffy looked over his shoulder at Nami.
"Why is everyone so scared of a little island?" He asked genuinely confused. His question surprised Nami. She hadn't expected him to say that. "We have had way scarier adventures than this haven't we?" Luffy stood up and turned to face Nami. "It's just an island with some clouds around it." Luffy lifted his hand and pointed to the sky above the island. "And look, its not raining there. You want out of the rain right? You said you were worried about your hair." He asked looking at her head. "If we go there before going back into the storm, then your hair can dry, even though it's already perfect." Luffy said with a big smile. Nami felt her cheeks turn a little red and she cleared her throat. It was cute how he was thinking about her. Luffy lifted his arm and placed his other hand on his bicep. "Besides, if we run into anything really scary, I can just beat it up." He said with a large grin. Nami couldn't stop herself from returning his smile. She smiled and nodded. Clearly, he was set on this course and nothing she could say was going to deviate him from it.
"Alright Luffy." She said gently. "If you really want to go there," She paused and looked back at the crew. Their faces still had a tinge of worry, but they all looked ready to take on whatever they met on the island. "Then we are right behind you." Nami grabbed Luffy's hand and stood beside him. The pair looked straight ahead for a few seconds before hearing a commotion behind them. It was Robin calling for Nami.
"Miss Navigator?" Robin called as she jogged across the deck. Luffy and Nami turned around and looked at Robin. Nami noticed that Robin had a book in her hand. Her finger was in between two pages. Before anyone could ask where she went, Sanji ran over to her.
"My sweet Robin!" He said as he gently grabbed her hand. "I was so worried when I realized you were gone. I thought something terrible had happened." Robin smiled and shook her head.
"Nothing terrible." She said plainly. Robin held up the book she was carrying. "Just wanted to do a little bit of quick research." Robin slipped her hand away from Sanji and walked around him. Miss Navigator?" She asked as she walked forward.
"What's up Robin?" Nami asked. Robin pointed to her wrist.
"The Log Pose." The older woman said. Nami eyes glanced down at the object on her wrist. "Are any of the needles pointing to that island?"
"Pointing to the island?" Nami asked aloud. 'Wait that's right!" She thought as she brought her wrist up and turned towards the island. 'I never checked to see if this was the island we were heading for in the first place.' She looked at all three needles. She gasped as she realized that none of the needles were pointing to the island. "What?" She asked. "N. None of the needles are pointing to it Robin." She turned back to the older woman. "Does that mean something to you?" She asked. Robin nodded.
"Yes, it does." She said holding up the book. She opened the book up to the page that she was holding and laid the book across her hand. "An island surrounded by strange cloud formations that no Log Pose can detect." Robin said mysteriously. She snapped the book shut. "I know where we are. There's only one island that it can be. Valori: the island of the Storm Birth." Franky cocked his head at Robin.
"Storm Birth?" He asked. "I have lived on the Grand Line my entire SUPER life and I have never heard of an island called Valori. And I sure as hell have never heard of any island birthing storms." Chopper began hopping up and down next to Robin.
"Yay, Robin can tell us why the clouds are so scary here!" He exclaimed. His cheerful mood disappeared quickly when Robin shook her head.
"Sorry Doctor." She said closing the book. "That's all I know. It's a long lost legend that no one talks about anymore." She held up the book. "The island in front of us shouldn't even exist. It's a story that sailors came up with to explain storms suddenly appearing out of no where." Zoro, Nami and Franky groaned. Zoro looked at Robin.
"Robin, if you didn't know anymore, then why did you get our hopes up like that?" He asked. Sanji who dashed over and stood between Zoro and Robin quickly answered his question.
"Don't you dare blame my dear Robin for that." He demanded standing up to Zoro. "She told us it's name, that more than you have done isn't it you useless swordsman?" Sanji asked. Zoro met Sanji's challenge and opened his mouth to respond, but Usopp stepped up and cut him off before he began.
"All right you two," He said trying to diffuse the situation before they began fighting. "This really isn't a good time for this." Zoro scoffed and turned away. After a few seconds Sanji stepped down too. Sanji took a few steps and turned around.
"Look, we are all nervous, but that's no reason to-" Sanji's words were lost by someone shouting on the front of the ship.
"Here we go!" Luffy shouted. "THROUGH THE CLOUD DOOR!" He screamed as the Sunny neared the pathway through the clouds. His hand still gripped Nami's; reassuring her that everything was all right. The crew fell silent and looked around them as the towering walls of clouds began obstructing their view. The walls of cloud grew darker and more menacing as they moved through the doorway. The darkness of night grew darker and darker as they sailed through he gap. The wall of clouds was far thicker than they appeared to be. As they sailed further in, the Straw Hats noticed that they could no longer see the way that they had came in. It was shrouded in pure darkness. The only path that had any illumination was the path forward. No one dared to break the dark silence that had enveloped them. After a few moments of silence, Brook's terrified voice squeaked.
"Well then." He said slowly. "I suppose it's too late to turn around... isn't it?" A single gigantic crack of thunder shattered the silence and caused the crew to cry out. It was so loud that the ship itself shuddered. Nami shivered.
'Man this is weird.' She thought squeezing Luffy's hand a little harder. Suddenly, Nami gasped as a thought occurred to her. Thinking back to the last few days, she simply assumed that it did not happen in storms with purple rain. A chill ran up her back she realized, that was the only crack of thunder that they heard since they entered the storm.
Vice Admiral Omoide stood on top of the primary mast of the Marine ship. He stood static against the onslaught of purple rain. He stared at the sky as if waiting for a sign. He had not moved in hours. The marines were just starting to believe that the Vice Admiral had lost his mind. Suddenly a single, gigantic crack of thunder echoed across the sea. It appeared to have come from all directions at once. As it passed, a smile crept across the man's face.
"Well then Straw Hat Luffy." He said aloud. "You had better prepare yourself." He held out his staff. "Because I know exactly where you are. And I am coming for your head."
End Chapter 2