A/N: Well, here's another chapter. I actually managed to complete this one a couple of weeks ago. This chapter is mainly just an ecuse for silliness. I was hyper, and Morgana was drunk. Need I say more?
Neewho, I hope you enjoy said silliness. On with the story~!
Stumbling down the street with a snoring Adonis and a drunk Morgana was not Merry's idea of fun, but with Morgana's infectious laughter echoing through the street, and her slightly off-key rendition of Binks no Sake, he found that he was actually almost enjoying himself. It was dark, the stars were out, and the streets were mostly empty, so they weren't impeded on their way back to the harbour.
Quite suddenly, Merry felt the weight of Adonis on his shoulder almost double, and he turned to berate Morgana, only to find her no longer there. Looking around, Merry spotted her a little way off, wobbling towards a couple of Marines leaning up against a notice board and smoking. Groaning, Merry stumbled after her, heaving Adonis into a more comfortable position over his shoulder.
"You marines suck, you know that?" Morgana slurred, pointing a wavering finger at the two marines. The two men looked at each other with raised eyebrows, before scowling at Morgana.
"You better watch yourself, miss." One said coldly.
"Watch myself?" Morgana asked. "Watch you is more like it. Who knows what you stinky, cheating, scheming marines'll ge'up to next!" She hiccupped slightly, and grinned in a slightly demented fashion. "Y'know, you're reeeally stupid, too." She added, snickering.
"You do know we can arrest you and hold you without charge for twenty-four hours?" One of the marines warned, flicking away his cigarette butt and crossing his arms over his chest in an intimidating gesture.
"Tryyy it, pannnsy." Morgana taunted.
"That's it." The marine reached for Morgana, but she was gone.
"Eek! Quick, Merry! Run!" Morgana called over her shoulder, giggling.
Merry growled in frustration. "RUN? With this lump over my shoulder?" He demanded, elbowing Adonis sharply. The boy-haired man only groaned in sleep.
Morgana skidded to a halt and considered Adonis. "Oh, I know!" She enthused, bouncing over to a stack of empty barrels beside a storehouse. "If we put'im in this, we can roll him down t'the harbour!" She declared brightly, looking as proud of herself as if she'd just solved the problem of world hunger and invented a self-sailing ship.
"What?" Merry yelped. "We can't-!" He began, but Morgana had already stolen Adonis off him and was dragging him over to the nearest barrel. Merry was about to go after her, to try and stop her, when he felt someone coming up behind him. Already seething, He whipped round and slammed his heel into the marine's chest, sending him flying into a wall. His friend helped him up, and Merry turned to face them properly. "You know, I'm in a really bad mood, right now." He said, glaring at the two marines.
"Hey, wait a sec." The marine he'd kicked said, his eyes widening. "Isn't that-" He looked over at the notice board, and Merry couldn't help but follow his gaze. His mouth dropped open when he saw his own face depicted on a Wanted Poster, right next to Morgana's. "It's Seiseki Merry!" The marine gasped.
Merry ignored him and his friend, and strode over to the notice board. He took in his wanted poster, and wondered when the photograph had been taken. He knew it had been taken earlier that day, as he was wearing the same shirt in the photo. It was a forty-five degree shot, and his head was slightly lowered, a small smile on his face. Eventually, Merry decided they had probably taken it while he was out shopping for paint earlier that day. But he didn't' stand staring at the photo for long, and instead his eyes dropped to the figure below his name:
19,000,000 Beli
It wasn't a patch on Morgana's, but Merry hadn't expected it to be. He felt a little thrill go through him. No turning back now, he thought, and was a little surprised when that thought didn't cause even a smidgeon of nervousness to flutter in his stomach.
"Oh, god, then that must be-!" The marine's voice cut through Merry's contemplation and he turned around again.
"Gold Morgana!" The other marine gasped.
Morgana looked up from trying to force a lid onto the barrel over Adonis's head, and glowered. "Tha's GOL – D – MORGANA, you reeetards." She called, and finally managed to get the lid of the barrel to slot into its groove. She looked down at it in surprise, then grinned. "Wahey! Let's go, Merry!"
At the same time, one of the marines cried "Call for reinforcements!"
Rolling his eyes, Merry resigned himself to going along with Morgana's insanity as she rolled the barrel onto its side and shoved it off. Slowly, it began to pick up speed, tumbling down the faint slope towards the harbour. "Wheee!" Morgana yelled, her arms in the air as she raced after the barrel that had Adonis inside. Merry chased after her.
The barrel bounced over a rock in the road, and as it came back down it smashed, sending Adonis tumbling down the street a few paces, before he sat up, clutching his head and looking around blearily. "Wha-?" He slurred, clearly still drunk and obviously rather dizzy.
"Up'n'attem!" Morgana cried as she pelted past, grinning widely.
Adonis didn't respond, clearly not comprehending the garbled words. Merry slowed just enough to hoist Adonis up but the back of his t-shirt. "RUN!" He yelled. That, apparently, got through to Adonis, and he stumbled once before finding his feet and running after the others.
"Why're we running?" He called, his voice not quite managing to be a shout.
"Marines!" Merry called back.
Comprehension dawned on Adonis's face, but before he could respond in anyway, several marines sprinted out of a side street and formed a human blockade across their chosen path. Giggling insanely, Morgana drew out her jitte and, as she approached the marines, lashed out at one man's head. There was a loud crack, and the marine crumpled. Merry wondered if he'd ever recover fully from a blow like that. Another marine went to grab Morgana, but as he moved forwards, Morgana tripped.
Merry was about to curse, when he saw that instead of falling flat on her face, Morgana had simply rolled with the momentum of her fall and sprung back onto her feet, behind the blockade and was still running. "Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me!" Morgana sung over her shoulder, cackling as several marines turned and gave chase.
The rest of the marines, however, remained blocking the way for Merry and Adonis. Frustrated beyond belief with his immature, drunk captain, Merry decided to take it out on the marines. He launched himself into a handstand, then propelled himself off the ground, arching in midair, and slammed, feet first, into a marine's chest. Using him like a spring board, Merry kicked off him into another handstand, which had the added bonus of making the marine slam into the ground with extra force. He bounced slightly, coughing up blood, then lay still, struggling to breath.
Meanwhile, Merry brought his feet slamming down into a marine's head, smashing his face into the ground. He arched his back, straining his back muscles as he stood fluidly. He straightened out his shirt and smoothed out a few wrinkles, blatantly ignoring the marines that were surrounding him with angry looks on their faces.
He smiled pleasantly at them, and just as they were about to attack, there was the sound of several gunshots, and the marines fell in time to the deadly music. Merry looked round and saw Adonis with two matching flintlock pistols in hand, looking quite the deadly pirate, despite the slight flush in his cheeks from the alcohol he'd consumed. "Thanks." Merry said casually, despite the few marines that were still standing and charging towards them. One marine stepped close enough to slash at Merry, but the blonde boy dodged gracefully. Barely looking at the marine, Merry's foot smashed upwards into his wrists, forcing him to let go of his sword. Then, with his leg almost straight up in the air, Merry brought it crashing down again into the back of the marine's head in one fluid movement. "We should get going." Merry said pleasantly to Adonis. "Before our captain casts off without us."
Nodding, Adonis joined Merry as they began sprinting after Morgana. She had gotten a good head start, and was about halfway between them and the docks. She was still being pursued by marines, but a few of them had been beaten, and their unconscious, or possibly lifeless, bodies were the occasional obstacle for Adonis and Merry.
When the finally reached their ship, they found Morgana balancing surprisingly well on the gangplank, beating back the marines to stop them boarding and sabotaging the ship. "Bout time you slow-pokes got'ere!" Morgana declared, and Merry noticed that she seemed a little more sober than before, which was definitely a good thing, he decided. They cleared themselves a path through the marines with relative ease, and joined Morgana at the top of the gangplank. "Adonis, you ge' th'sail." Morgana ordered, and Adonis nodded and hurried off. "Merry, can you…?" Morgana gestured vaguely at the marines regrouping on the pier.
"With ease." Merry answered, nodding. With a grin, Morgana smacked one last marine off the gangplank and into the water, then turned and headed for the wheel. Merry shifted so he was stood on the deck of the ship, right in front of the gangplank. "So, which of you cowards wants to go for a swim first?" He asked casually.
The marines charged up the gangplank, swords at the ready, and Merry, smiling smugly, kicked it loose. The gangplank tumbled into the water, taking half a dozen marines with it. A moment later, the sail unfurled and the boat began to pull out of the dock. Waving cheekily to the marines, Merry couldn't help but chuckle at the outraged looks on their faces.
The Eternal Freedom cut through the waves, picking up speed, and soon, they'd left Kaigan Island behind. Merry joined Morgana and Adonis on the highest deck where the wheel was situated. "You guys let me take the first watch, ok?" He said, and when they both opened their mouths to protest, Merry held up his hand. "You're both drunk. Go to bed and sleep it off. I'll wake you both at dawn so I can sleep."
"Alright." Morgana agreed a little reluctantly. She handed over the Log Pose and went below deck with Adonis. Merry joined them just long enough to collect his 'journal-novel', as Morgana had taken to calling it, and retreated back on deck with a lamp to write. For a while, Merry found that he barely needed to adjust their course at all. They stayed mostly on track for the whole night, but as dawn approached, the weather started destabilising and Merry was jumping up every twenty minutes because the ship had somehow managed to get turned ninety or more degrees off course.
Finally, the sun peeked above the horizon, and Merry headed below to wake the other two. Adonis was reasonably good about his hangover, and simply staggered to the kitchen to get himself some breakfast, wincing in the dawn sunlight, once Merry had woken him. Morgana, on the other hand, only groaned and rolled over when Merry tried to wake her.
"Get up, Gana." Merry said again, shaking her a little. Morgana mumbled something that sounded like 'five more minutes' and hid her head under her blanket. "As captain of this ship, Morgana, it's your duty to get up on time and set a good example to your crew!" He said sternly.
Morgana shot him a disbelieving look, but tumbled out of her hammock anyway. "Like you need anyone to set you a good example." She teased, tiredly. "Bleh. My head hurts."
"Well, you did drink stupid amounts of rum yesterday. Remember?" Merry said sardonically, rolling his eyes as he began getting ready for bed. Morgana paused, then nodded, a grin slowly spreading across her face. "Oh, shoo." Merry said tiredly, tossing the Log Pose to her and collapsing into bed with a groan.
Giggling, Morgana scrambled out of the bunkroom, and quickly checked the Log Pose as she stepped outside. They were still pretty much on course so she headed to the kitchen. As she opened the door, the smell of frying eggs reached her nose and her stomach grumbled insistently. "Are you making enough for five?" She asked Adonis, who was stood in front of the stove.
He looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Good morning, Captain." He said, making Morgana beam. "And I can, if you'd like."
"Yes please." Morgana said quickly, dropping into a seat at the table. She folded her arms on the wooden surface and was asleep the moment her head touched them. Adonis shook his head and chuckled at her ability to drop off to sleep in an instant, and went to fetch enough bacon, eggs and hash browns for about four or five people to eat comfortably.
As the two plates hit the table, Morgana's head shot up, her eyes slightly bleary as she took in the plate in front of her. "Thanks, Adonis." She said cheerfully, digging in.
"You're welcome." Adonis replied, smiling happily as he started on his own, considerably smaller breakfast.
"Any idea what island we're heading to now?" Morgana asked between bites.
Adonis shook his head. "No one really wanted to talk to me about it for some reason. All I got out of one person was something about birds and 'terrors in the earth' but nothing actually useful." He said with a shrug.
"Terrors in the earth, huh?" Morgana asked, looking intrigued. "That sounds fun."
Adonis had to laugh. "You have a weird definition of fun, Morgana." He told her quite cheerfully, still chuckling.
"Pops kept saying that too, but I haven't got a clue what it's supposed to mean." Morgana stated with wide-eyed innocence, and a moment later they both fell about laughing.
When Adonis got his breath back, his brain caught up with the conversation, and he frowned a little in confusion. "You said your dad said you had a weird definition of fun, but… you couldn't have been very old when Fire-fist… um, died."
Morgana shook her head. "I hadn't even turned one. But Ace is dad, and Pops is pops."
It took Adonis a moment to understand, but then he nodded. "Ah, I see. Sorry, I just assumed…"
Waving him off, Morgana shook her head. "Most people do. It's ok."
There was a moment of silence, then Adonis asked quietly "Do you mind if I ask… Who…?" He began, hesitantly, then blushed faintly, and shook his head.
"Can I trust you?" Morgana asked seriously.
Adonis looked up, a little startled. "Of course."
"I mean," Morgana pressed. "If the marines captured you, and tortured you for information, would you tell them my pops name?" She asked.
Adonis looked slightly bewildered by the question. "Of course not. I don't have the right to go telling other people your secrets, let alone people who I know would use it against you." He pointed out.
Smiling, Morgana nodded. "I believe you." She said happily. "Have you heard the name 'Smoker' before?" She asked lightly, as if this wasn't perhaps her biggest secret.
Adonis blinked. "It- It sounds familiar." He said slowly. "But I can't place it."
"He was a marine." Morgana said quietly. "He quit right after dad's execution to take care of me, because, obviously, he could raise me right under the nose of the marines. They'd notice right away who I look like." Adonis nodded slowly. "He was pretty famous for cleaning up Lougetown almost twenty years ago." She added.
"Ah!" Adonis's eyes lit up with recognition. "Merry mentioned him once. He said that he used to be in charge of Lougetown, but left to chase the Pirate King, and quit along with Sengoku after Fire-fist's execution." He paused, looking a little uncertain. "I take it Merry doesn't know that he's your pops, right?" He checked.
"Right." Morgana agreed. "I know I should tell him, but I don't know if- I know he wouldn't deliberately tell anyone, but Merry- He's a storyteller, and, you know, me being the product of an illicit affair between a marine Commodore and a Whitebeard Pirate Commander… it's a great story. I don't know if he wouldn't get carried away and say too much to the wrong people…"
Adonis thought about what she said for a minute, before he smiled. "I don't think you need to worry about that." He said with a small shake of his head. "Merry's pretty good at keeping quiet when he has to. I mean, he still hasn't told us exactly who his parents are, has he?" Adonis pointed out. "He's dropped hints, but he's pretty good at steering the conversation away if we ever get close to actually asking him."
Slowly, Morgana nodded, realising exactly how true what Adonis was saying was. "You're right. I probably will tell him if it ever comes up." She said slowly. "But…" She shrugged again. "I don't want to be the reason my pops becomes wanted, you know?" She explained, and Adonis nodded understandingly.
"Perhaps that's the reason Merry hasn't told us his parent's names, too?" Adonis suggested.
"But his dad is already wanted." Morgana pointed out.
"So was yours." Adonis countered with a smile.
Chuckling, Morgana nodded. "Good point." She agreed. She finished up her breakfast, and absently checked the Log Pose as she placed the dishes in the sink for washing up. "AAH! We're way off course!" She exclaimed, dashing out of the room to rectify that little problem. Adonis chuckled to himself as he also stood and took his plates to the sink, deciding that he might as well do the washing up while Morgana was busy.