Chapter 10
To the Grand Line
I know this is extremely late. But the Loguetown arc is agonizingly painful to do. That and I had my first class reunion, so I was extremely busy. I thank Powers00 and Kiyo Hosokoawa for giving me more time.
Erin was walking off the dock of the Going Merry when she saw Sanji returning to the ship with fresh provisions, along with a huge blue and grey fish with a trunk strapped onto his back.
"Hey, Sanji. What's with the fish?"
Sanji smirked as he began to load the supplies onto the ship.
"Won this in a cooking contest. It's a Blue-Finned Elephant Tuna. I've been wanting to cook one of these for a long time, but couldn't because they're native to the South Blue. This is impossible to get to from the East Blue because of the Grand Line."
That statement caused Erin to raise her eyebrow in suspicion.
"And they just happened to get ahold of one?"
Sanji smirk grew bigger.
"This only means that the All Blue is out there somewhere. And that just adds fuel to my fire in finding it."
Before they arrived at port, the Elric's and Winry were told of the pirates' dreams that caused them to join as a crew. Luffy's of course, was to become King of the Pirates. Zoro's was to become the best swordsman in the world, though they didn't know why other than to prove his strength with the sword. They knew Nami wanted to create a complete atlas of the world, including every detail of what is in the Grand Line.
Ussop was next to tell him of his dream, which was to be the bravest warrior in the world. Of course, Erin couldn't help but laugh, earning her a whack on the head from Winry's wrench. Lastly, Sanji told them about the All Blue. The All Blue was supposed to be a part of the world where the four oceans come together without any land blocking it. The Amestrians both agreed that such a place could exist, but one would need to do a lot of extensive traveling in order to find it.
As Alphonse and Armstrong help Sanji get the giant fish into the ship, Erin caught sight of Winry returning to the ship with Nami and Zoro, dragging Ussop by the overalls. The long nosed man was out like a light.
"What happened?" Erin asked.
Winry sighed as Zoro took over bringing Ussop onto the ship.
"Oh, Ussop spent most of his money on a bunch of useless trinkets before finding a set of useful goggle and was forced into a fight with some girl's father, who I heard was a legendary bounty hunter. Thankfully, the guy knew his dad, so he's off the hook and Ussop got his goggles. But he passed out once the bounty hunter and his daughter left."
Erin shook her head in annoyance.
"That guy's got a long way to go before he can even be a good sailor."
She then decided to tell Winry what she had learned.
"I do have some good news. Al and I found a lead to the Philosopher's Stone. I've already called the Central Library and Major Armstrong's gonna send Dr. Marcoh's research from this town."
"Well I'm glad you've found something. I only got new tools and some hardware. Some sheets of steel, a few nuts, bolts, and screws. The usual." Winry sighed.
She then looked around.
"Hey. Where's Luffy?"
Not seeing their rubber captain anywhere, Erin placed her hands on her hips and sighed.
"He's probably at the square, probably gawking at some platform where some pirate died."
She then walked to the gangplank and made her way to the dock.
"I'll get him."
"We'll go with you. No doubt Luffy's gotten himself in trouble again." Zoro spoke, equipping his old sword and two new swords.
"He's right. If I know Luffy, he's oughta be in trouble by now." Sanji spoke.
No sooner did he say that, the pirates saw some people running from the direction of the square, screaming something about bugs. This confused Erin.
"Since when has this island developed a bug problem?"
"I don't think so. I think they said 'Buggy'."
Seeing that Erin wasn't understanding what they were talking about, Nami spoke.
"Winry, get on the ship and help me and Ussop get it ready to sail. Everyone else, get to the square. Quickly!"
Winry wanted to protest, but the look of anxiety in the pirates' eyes indicated that this was something she should stay out of and went onto the Merry.
Despite not having a clue as to what was going on, Erin and Al followed the pirates with the major right beside them.
"What's going on? Who or what is Buggy?" Erin yelled.
Zoro answered her.
"A pirate that Luffy defeated not too long ago. He looks like a clown, but he's not in for laughs. Somehow, he ate a Devil Fruit called the Chop-Chop Fruit and can divide parts of his body, making them fly around to cause damage."
"That sounds disgusting!" Alphonse called out.
"He's ugly, too. I forgot to mention that." Zoro spoke.
They made it to the square just in time as Luffy, who was locked in a stock up on the execution platform, yell out to the crowd.
"LISTEN! I'M THE MAN WHO'LL BE KING OF THE PIRATES!"
Erin held back her eye-rolling to get ready to fight when Zoro called out.
"Stop the execution!"
Luffy looked up from where he was and saw the five figures standing in the back of the crowd. Smiling, he yelled their names.
"ZORO! SANJI! ERIN! ALPHONSE! MAJOR!"
The crowd of civilians and pirates froze as each of the five new individuals spoke, starting with Zoro.
"Luffy, you idiot. Guess all that fooling around finally caught up with you, huh?"
"You startin' a side-show? Or is that just your look? Pretty sad." Sanji spoke, insulting Buggy.
Al and Erin called out to the crowd.
"Everyone! Evacuate the square now!"
"Yeah! We're gonna take these clowns back to the circus!"
The major then stripped himself of his shirts and readied himself, sparklies around his head.
"Evacuate now and you will bear witness to the alchemic arts that has been passed down from the Armstrong line for generations!" (A/N: I had to put one on for the road. :))
Thankfully, the crowd did as they were told and ran out of the square, leaving the pirates.
"Hey, guys!" Luffy called, grinning like an idiot.
Buggy smiled maniacally.
"You've made it, Zoro. But you're too late!"
As Buggy raised his sword, Erin caught sight of this and used her alchemy to make a large pipe appear from the ground and the force of the water distracted the clown pirate.
"Hey! Who did that?!"
Buggy called out angrily. A woman, the pirate Alvida, saw what Erin did and called out to hers and Buggy's subordinates.
"Are you waiting for an invitation? Get them!"
As the pirates charged at the five, Alvida called up to Buggy.
"You better make the execution soon. We have alchemists among us."
As the small army of pirates charged, the major punched the ground and, using gauntlets that had transmutation circles on them, caused the earth underneath to quickly rise and, still punching the ground to make the transmutations, fall quickly, making the earth beat up the pirates from underneath.
Zoro and Sanji also joined in the fight, slicing and kicking their way through the group.
"We have to take down that platform!" Zoro announced.
The Elric's had heard this and were about to use alchemy when some pirates became a little too close for comfort and the siblings had to dodge and attack.
"We have to figure out a way to destroy the platform! Otherwise, they're gonna execute Luffy!" Alphonse cried out.
"I know, Al! But we need to catch a break to do so!" Erin answered as she punched a pirate in the jaw.
Buggy laughed maniacally as he called out.
"Not even Zoro, nor alchemists from Amestris can help you now!"
Hearing this, Erin clapped her hands and placed them on the ground, causing a fissure to open to trap some of the pirates. But before she could use alchemy again to take down the platform, Luffy's voice stopped her.
"ZORO! SANJI! USSOP! NAMI! ERIN! ALPHONSE! MAJOR! WINRY!"
The five allies looked up to see a surprising sight.
Despite about to be executed, Luffy was smiling.
"I'm sorry. But…I'm dead."
But just as Buggy's sword was about to make contact with the rubber man's neck, a great bolt of lightning struck the platform, engulfing it in flames as rain began to fall. The platform fell to its side and a straw hat floated gently to the ground.
And picking up and placing it on his head…was Luffy!
The Elric's were as shocked as their companions.
"No freaking way!" Erin cried out.
Thanks to an insane amount of luck, the bolt that struck the platform had struck bull's-eye at Buggy. Apparently, not noticing the dark clouds, the sword he was using, along with the height they were at, acted like a lightning rod, saving Luffy, who was now free from the stock.
Luffy laughed.
"I'm still alive! That's great."
The major and the four pirates weren't the only ones who were stunned at what had just happened. The pirates they had been fighting had their jaws on the ground in surprise. Even the cigarette that Sanji was smoking fell out on its own as the chef spoke.
"That was divine intervention."
"Don't be stupid. We've got to get back to the ship, now." Zoro spoke.
The Elric's were flabbergasted beyond flabbergasted.
"Did you see what I saw, Sister?"
"I sure have. That idiot's got to have the biggest amount of luck of anyone I have ever known."
The Major was all sparkly as he moved to the shadows, departing from the group quietly.
"This is defiantly something that I must report to the colonel."
The Major halted as he heard the familiar chuckling of Dr. Marcoh behind him.
"I take it that's the captain of the Elric's crew?"
The Major nodded as they watched Luffy join up with his crew.
"He is an interesting one, that young man. I wonder what he will bring to the Elric's on their journey."
Marcoh spoke simply as he and the Major headed to the docks.
"Who knows? But whatever they find, there's no doubt that this will be something they will never forget."
It was then that the Marines, who were watching and hiding the whole time, charged out and began their attack on the pirates, not knowing that the Amestrian Major had left or that there were still two alchemists among them. Luffy laughed as he dodged the flying bodies left and right.
"Wow. This is fun. Everyone went crazy so quickly."
Erin, still asking herself how insane her captain was, grabbed his shirt collar and spoke.
"Luffy!"
The sudden cold touch of Erin's automail, along with her being silent when she grabbed him, caused Luffy to flail about, only to calm down at the sight of the Fullmetal Alchemist.
"Oh! Erin. It's you."
"Enough of this! We've got to get out of here!" She told him.
Sanji, who joined up with them along with Zoro and Alphonse, spoke.
"We've got to get to the Going Merry now or we'll never get off this island! And we sure as hell won't get to the Grand Line."
"Really? That's no good! Run!"
"FINALLY! A smart decision!" Erin thought annoyingly as the four pirates ran out of the square.
They charged their way through the lines of marines that came, knocking them out as they continued to run.
They were halfway down the street when Zoro called out.
"We've better pick up the pace or we're toast!"
"Run! Just keep running!" Luffy laughed.
But just as he said that, the pirates heard the sound of some marines yelling as they ran after them.
"Damn it! These marines are like roaches! Wanna stop and fight them?" Zoro spoke.
"There's no time for that!" Sanji spoke, only to go into Lover-Boy mode as they caught sight of a young woman with short, black hair, standing in the rain. "Whoa! Who is that?"
Erin and Al listened in as the woman spoke.
"I didn't know you were Zoro. You lied. You're just another liar!"
The five stopped and Sanji yelled at Zoro.
"Oh, great! What did you do to that girl?"
Erin, annoyed, grabbed Sanji by the back of his shirt as Zoro approached the woman and spoke.
"You've never asked me what my name was, did you. So I never lied, did I?"
The woman yelled at him.
"You know there is no way I'm going to allow someone like you leave town with such a legendary sword! Give it to me! The Wado Ichimonji! Right now!"
The Elric's watched as Zoro gripped the white-sheathed sword and smirked.
"Come and get it."
Erin refused to believe it after the two swordspersons began to fight.
"You've got to be kidding me. She's fighting us for a stupid sword? That idiotic!"
"Come on, you guys! Let's go!" Luffy called, grabbing Erin like a sack of potatoes and ran, Alphonse and Sanji after them.
"Zoro! If you hurt her, I'm gonna kick your ass! Luffy! You put Erin down right now!"
But Luffy didn't listen as he continued to run with Erin next to his waist. After several minutes and protesting on Erin's part, Luffy spoke.
"I see the ship! The harbor is just ahead."
But just as Erin was about to say something sarcastic to get Luffy to put her down, she spotted something blocking the road. A man and some sort of motorcycle.
"Great. Now what?" spoke Sanji as they stopped running.
The mysterious man managed to speak with three cigars in his mouth.
"Straw Hat Luffy. You're finally here. I've already told you I won't let you make it to the Grand Line without beating me first, didn't I?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot." Luffy spoke, grinning.
The man in front of the four pirates surprisingly spoke Erin's thought.
"You're really stupid."
Sanji whispered to Luffy.
"Luffy. Let's go."
But Luffy had a different answer.
"Sanji. I'll be right there. Go on with Al and Erin."
The man approached them as Luffy finally let go of Erin's waist.
"I don't know about that. This will be the end of you."
Luffy smirked and spoke.
"Go!"
"I sure hope you know what you're doing, Luffy." Sanji spoke as he took off with the Elric's.
But Erin, looking back, was having second thoughts. Just when they reached the harbor, where they saw the Merry being attacked by marines with guns, Erin spoke.
"Al, help Sanji save the ship and the others. I'm going after Luffy."
"But, sister-"
"No buts, Al."
But before Al could say anything, Erin ran back into town and was shocked to find that Luffy was about to be beaten by the man with some sort of smoke attacks.
"How can this guy fight Luffy with just smoke? Smoke is a gas, not a solid. The only explanation would be that he ate a Devil Fruit!"
"You're not worth 30 million bellies. Heh. Your luck's run out." The man spoke as he kept Luffy pinned face down on the ground as he was reaching for his sword.
Erin was about to react when a man in a green cloak stopped him from readying the sword.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that."
"It's you." The man spoke, clearly recognizing the cloaked man.
Erin was trying to get a look at the second man's features, which the opportunity was given to her by flashes of lightening. The man had prominent features that seemed familiar to her and also had a red tattoo that went down the left side of his face.
"Hey! What's going on? Who's that?" Luffy muffled as he tried to get his head up.
"How nice. Now the government can have your head." The first man spoke.
The tattooed man half-laughed.
"The world…is still…waiting for our answer."
But just before Erin could react, a sudden green wind came out of nowhere and began to blow everything in sight, including the smoking man, Luffy, and Erin. Erin kept her eyes closed as she flew, so she was unaware that the cloaked man had approached her as the wind blew, placing something in her pants pocket before she and Luffy made contact with a wall near the harbor.
"Ugh. Can someone tell me what happened?" Luffy asked.
But before Erin could answer, Nami called out from the Going Merry, which was sent adrift with the majority of the crew with it.
"Luffy! Erin! Zoro!"
Blinking a few times, Erin saw Zoro getting up from a pile of rubble nearby. She figured that the green wind blew him to the harbor as well.
"Gah! Come on! We gotta go!" Zoro called.
Erin nodded and ran in the same direction as Zoro was going, but Luffy went the other way.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Erin called out, only to have her answer as Luffy grabbed onto a ruined building.
"GUM-GUM…!"
Realizing what was going on, the alchemist and the swordsman grimaced.
"Oh damn!"
"I'm not gonna like this."
Luffy laughed as he called out.
"…ROCKET!"
The two pirates tried to run, but it was inevitable as Luffy collided with them and the impact sent them all on a flying trip, which sent them into the main sail of the Going Merry, 3 MILES out to sea. Nami, along with Winry, ran to the pile with smile on their faces.
"You're here!"
"Don't do that again!"
Nami then spotted something on the horizon.
"Hey! Look! A light!"
"Is that a lighthouse?" Ussop asked as he kept his grip on the mast.
"It's one of the Guideposts. The entrance to the Grand Line is somewhere ahead." Nami answered.
Luffy spoke as he and his crew looked on ahead.
"The Grand Line's somewhere just out ahead."
"Do we have to go in the middle of a freaking hurricane like this?" Ussop griped as everyone smirked.
It was then that Sanji decided to speak.
"Ok. I think we should say something to mark this occasion."
The pirates agreed and gathered around a barrel. Sanji placed his left foot on the top and spoke.
"I'm going to the Grand Line to find the All Blue."
Then Luffy.
"I'm gonna be King of the Pirates."
Zoro next.
"The world's best swordsman."
Followed by Nami.
"I'm going to the Grand Line so I can draw a map of the entire world."
Then Ussop.
"I guess I'm going…to be a brave warrior of the sea!"
The Amestrians were hesitant until Luffy spoke.
"Come one, you guys. You're going too."
Winry decided then to break the ice and placed her foot on the barrel.
"To become the greatest automail mechanic in the world."
The Elric's then looked at each other, smiling. (Sort of in Al's case.) After they grabbed as box for Erin, the Elric's placed their feet on the barrel and spoke at the same time.
"To find the Philosopher's Stone and get our bodies back!"
Smiling, Luffy spoke.
"And now…to the Grand Line!"
It was then that everyone lifted their leg up and cheered. With that done, everyone got down below to turn in for the night when Erin felt something in her pocket. Going into the main cabin area, she took out two pieces of paper, one smaller than the other, that we both folded into halves.
Curious and wondering how in the world they got into her pockets, she opened the larger paper first and saw that it was a sketched portrait of her and the crew. No doubt from Major Armstrong. The signature confirmed it as she saw the little note on the bottom right corner.
Good Luck, Elric Brothers and Straw Hats.
From Major Alex Louis Armstrong, everyone in Amestris, and Dr. Marcoh
Smiling, Erin placed the portrait down and took a look at the smaller paper. The Fullmetal Alchemist opened it to find a short and confusing message.
Take care of 'Him' for me
Erin didn't understand the message, but pocketed it to decipher it later as she went down to the girl's cabin for some nice, peaceful sleep.
Back at the shore, the cloaked man watched the as the ship sailed onward towards its destination with a smirk.
"Go! If that's what you want, then by all means. Make your dream happen."
He then turned his thoughts on the golden eyed girl that was at the scene.
"And you make sure you get my message though that thick skull of yours, Daughter of Van Hohenheim."
Hallejuliah! Finally! I got the next chapter up. I know what you're thinking: How does Dragon know Hohenheim?
Well, let's just say Hohenheim did more than just wander Amestris. XD
Next Time: The Millenium Dragon Arc.
And Don't worry. It'll be easier for me now.