Chapter 11
Luffy was bored after a few hours of just staring out at the sea, hoping a island would come into view. But she couldn't even see a cloud in the sky, just the bright sun burning above.
She had sat on the figurehead the rest of the afternoon yesterday, and came out here as soon as she woke up that morning. The main reason she was able to stay put in one place for so long, was because Sanji brought her food whenever her stomach even moved slightly. He was very useful to have around.
"Nami!" Luffy complained, "When are we going to get to the place where the Kagaku Pirates are?"
"Seriously Luffy? We've only been sailing for a night and this morning, and I already told you it will probably take about two weeks." She explained for what felt like the thousandth time that day.
"Can't blame him for being impatient, I wouldn't want to be a girl…" Usopp reasoned, trying not to imagine the terror of waking up and finding himself in the same situation Luffy had went through.
"Well if he asks me again, he's going to get it!" Nami raised her fist to show she was serious.
"Ok, ok, I won't-" Luffy stopped looking at the sky again.
"What's that?" She was pointing towards a huge patch of darkness that hovered over the water in the distance, and was moving with extreme speed in the direction of the Going Merry.
"What the hell? Hey everybody, get ready! There's a massive storm headed our way! It'll be here any second!" Nami ordered quickly.
"Dam Grand Line and its ever changing weather patterns!" She cursed under her breathe.
Luffy and Usopp ran straight to the mast, which seemed to be the best place to hang on whenever the ship went through a storm.
The rain and waves were upon them even faster than Nami had expected, throwing them all into a frenzy, trying to keep the ship upright.
Nami screamed out what they needed to do, but unfortunately the thunder started roaring into all of their ears, drowning out most of the words she said. The only thing they got from her was, "Stop… Turn… Pull… Keep… Oh cra-..."
The dark waves that thrashed violently against the bottom of the ship only grew larger, sending pools of water flying onto the deck.
The captain and sniper were now holding onto the mast with all their might, with Luffy being the furthest up.
Many of the crew members were screaming their heads off trying to hear each other as the rain pounded down onto their skin. The sudden lightning bolts that flashed through the sky blinded them as they continued to scramble here and there.
There hadn't been anything this in months. Sure, there was the occasional rain and thunder, but this was terrifyingly powerful.
Luffy was the only one enjoying herself, loving the feeling of danger staring her right in the face. She laughed at the sea, daring it to rock the ship harder and let the waves curl down upon the deck.
Suddenly, Luffy's arms started to slip off of the mast, losing the tight grip they had because it had become wet. She wrapped her arms around it further, but it just slipped away faster. She finally fell in defeat, downwards onto the floor.
But she didn't stay there long, for the movement of the ship sent her flying into the air. Luffy lengthened her arm, grasping the side railing, but once again it just slid right off. With nothing left to hold her to the ship, she fell into the ocean.
Zoro was the only one to see her, unable to call for help before she splashed into the water. He didn't even have to think about it as he leaped after her, knowing if he didn't save her now, they could lose their captain in the sea.
He opened his eyes underneath the surface making them sting with pain. He spun himself around searching for the girl. It only took him a second before he spotted her red vest as she sank deeper and deeper.
Zoro dived after her, his breathe starting to run out.
…
Luffy already had no oxygen left in her, and her lungs were screaming at her, telling her to swim up and suck some in. But she couldn't, her devil fruit power leaving her weak in the ocean. She could only hope she wouldn't die, hope someone would save her.
She couldn't help her mouth from opening, and felt her mistake as the salty water rushed into her and any last trace of air rushed out. Luffy looked one last time at the water surrounding her, seeing if there was any hope of someone being there to help her. But she could see nothing through the extremely dark liquid as she blacked out.
…
The swordsman reached forward, hoping he would be able to grab the girl who had disappeared right in front of his eyes. In his mind, he let out a sigh of relief as his hands felt the fabric of her clothing. He pulled Luffy into his arms, and pushed as fast as he possibly could towards the surface.
When he came up, he could once again hear the thunder booming in his ears. He stared down at the unmoving girl in his arms.
"Luffy?" He gasped, "Luffy, are you ok?"
When she didn't respond, Zoro became nervous. He put two of his fingers to her throat, trying to feel for a pulse. But after a few seconds, he still didn't feel anything.
"Luffy, please wake up!" His voice filled with despair.
…
The rest of the straw hat crew were sitting down, exhausted from their struggles. After that hard work, the storm had just disappeared, leaving the sky completely clear of clouds once again. The only signs that it had even been there at all, was the damage it had left to the Merry.
After just sitting in silence for a while, Sanji got up to make lunch, thinking it would help everyone to gain back their strength.
He fixed up something simple, and came out with the plates.
"Time to eat! Ladies first, as always."
Sanji handed two of the plates to Nami and Robin, and looked around to give the next one to the last girl.
"Hey where is Luffy?" He wondered.
"Weird, he's usually the first to come to eat. Maybe he just doesn't know about it yet." Nami took in a breath to yell, "Luffy! Come and eat! The food is being served!"
The group waited in silence, expecting to hear a racket from somewhere on the ship as Luffy would come running. But nothing happend.
"Luffy always comes for food! Where is he?" Chopper said.
All of the friends got up without a word, and started to search every inch of the ship. They checked, double checked, and triple checked every possible place she could be.
As they all rushed around, Usopp soon noticed something else was amiss.
"Wait guys, Zoro's gone too!"
Sanji sighed, worried for the cute girl, "In that case, Luffy probably fell off the ship in the middle of that storm, and Zoro would've gone after him so he wouldn't drown."
"If Zoro is with him then he should be fine." Robin pointed out.
"But what if he isn't? What if Zoro wasn't able to get to him!" Chopper fretted.
No one answered that question, all of their thoughts split in half. One part of them was thinking Zoro wouldn't let Luffy drown no matter what. But the other part was thinking, but what if he just wasn't able to?
"Well we won't know until we find them, so let's start searching." Nami said.
They all got the Going Merry ready to sail and began.
As they went, they still held hope and doubts about what might have become of their captain and swordsman.
Note: I forgot to mention it in the last chapter, but I got the name for the Kagaku Pirates by putting science into google translate and it translated into Kagaku. So they're basically the Science Pirates.
And this chapter was fun to write... Yay!
-Luffy Cat
