Hey everyone! I've managed to get out another update this year! I am so proud of myself! I hope the momentum keeps going!
Enjoy!
Sixième étage
CHAPTER 20
Now down one member, the Gohar-Island-Exploratory-Group headed into Shisha no tera to continue their mission and hopefully meet up again with Luffy.
After they climbed the stone staircase and entered through the open doorway, being that the door was removed and discarded elsewhere, the group stepped into a grand hall. The floors were made of black tile and the walls were colored red, while golden columns filled the space of the room.
"This temple wasn't set aflame," Robin noted as she examined a nearby column.
"Even if they tried, I'm not sure that it would burn," Monica commented. "The mountain that this is built into is a volcano that has erupted at least a few times since the temple's construction. So it's warded for extreme heat and flames."
"A VOLCANO?!" Chopper and Nami exclaimed.
"When was the last time it erupted?!" Nami panicked.
"Is it gonna erupt now while we're inside?!" Chopper added.
Monica shrugged. "I haven't been here since I was kid and I don't remember witnessing any eruptions. But even if it did, in here or on the coast would be the safest places for us."
"Well I guess that's good to know," Nami mumbled in dismay. The group then started further into the temple towards a grand stairway.
"The jewel that we have with us is called the Alrruh Jawhira," Monica began to explain as they walked. "We have to get it to the top floor and then that's it, we can then go look for Luffy."
"What about the Alrruh Jawhira makes it important, Moni-chan?" Robin asked as she began to jot notes in her notebook again.
"The Alrruh Jawhira is … was considered to be the first jewel of the island. It is because of it that we were able to house the souls of our deceased in jewels from the island. Without it, we can't commune with them," Monica replied.
"But what about the diamonds in your swords?" Robin asked.
"I haven't ever been able to communicate with any of the souls from the diamonds. And now with everything that's happened, it may have been because the Alrruh Jawhira had been taken from the island. It's all based in really complex systems that I don't know anything else about…" Monica answered. At that point, the group had made it up to the third floor. So far, the parts of the temple that they saw seemed to be mostly intact, aside from missing treasures. Suddenly, however, the entire temple began to shake, almost in sync with a deep rumbling sound.
"What was that noise? . . . And why did the temple just shake. . . ?" Chopper asked fearfully.
The interior of the temple shook again, this time more violently, knocking Chopper and Nami from their feet.
"It does not seem to be natural seismic activity…" Robin surmised.
Zoro quickly unsheathed two of his swords, "That only leaves one other option."
Just as he finished speaking, the floor erupted in front of them, casting a cloud of dust and debris in their direction.
"GUST SWORD!" Nami called as she used her Clima-Tact to clear the room and allow them to see. In front of the group stood a large stone, humanoid structure that wasn't there earlier.
"What the hell is that?" Nami asked as she lowered her weapon.
"It looks like a golem," Robin answered as she cocked her head to the side as she looked at it. "It's formation resembles that of Pica from Dressrosa. What do you think Zoro?"
Zoro slightly lowered his weapons and gave the stone figure a harder look. "Yeah, it kinda does...but the physique is all wrong. It's not like it's a person who molded stone to their body."
"You're right, instead it seems that various stones have collected into the form of some bipedal organism," Robin responded.
Said stone configuration remained where it was since it appeared. Silent. Unmoving. Just the same state that Monica was observed to be in.
"Moni-chan, are you alright?" Chopper asked when he looked over to her and realized that she was frozen in her spot.
"Monica? What's wrong?" Nami questioned with alarm in her voice as she shook her friend who's eyes were filled with fear and glued to the stone structure. "Monica?!"
After what must have been enough force, Monica woke from her frozen state with a scream. At the same time, the stone creature released a call of its own that consumed Monica's. It also sent Robin, Chopper, and Zoro into action. Robin used her Devil Fruit powers to push Nami and Monica away from the creature for Chopper to catch and then turned her attention to attacking the creature with Zoro's assistance.
"Are you guys alright?" Chopper asked of the women.
"I'm fine. But, Monica, what's up with you?" Nami answered.
At this point, Monica was fully woken from her frozen fearful state and was now trying to catch her breath from the sudden change in position. "That stone thing should not - can not exist. It isn't real!"
"Look girl, Chopper shouldn't be able to talk and you shouldn't be able to speak to dead people in gemstones. But guess what: it's all real! So start explaining about the giant rock attacking us!" Nami replied angrily.
Monica momentarily paused as she watched Robin and Zoro engage the stone creature in battle before responding, "Okay, but we have to get away from that thing first. If the myths are right, there's no point in attacking it."
"Why's that?" Chopper asked. The three watched as Robin and Zoro successfully broke the creature down with their attacks, stone by stone, until it crumbled before them. But after a few moments of pause, the floor rumbled again as the fallen stones reassembled themselves into the creature.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Nami and Chopper exclaimed.
"Very interesting," Robin mused.
"Interesting, my ass!" Monica commented. "C'mon! We gotta get out of here!"
"How?!" Nami asked. "The stairs back down are behind that thing!"
"It's fine, we'll use the windows," Monica stated as she pointed behind them.
"Just because you're a damn cat that likes to jump from places, doesn't mean that we wanna jump from the third floor of a temple!" Nami objected.
"Just shut up and go, witch," Zoro growled as he ran up to Nami and grabbed her around her waist, quickly moving through the open window with her screaming. Monica, Chopper, and Robin followed closely behind them, leaping down the tiled roofs and eventually sliding down a giant hand, provided by Robin, to the ground.
Now outside the temple, the group watched as the stone creature stepped to the window from which they escaped, grunt, and then turn away.
Monica released a sigh of relief when the creature was out of sight.
"Okay Monica, what the hell was that?" Nami demanded.
"A golem, just as Robin thought," Monica answered.
"Okay, great, now that we know what it is, how do we defeat it?" Zoro asked.
Monica put her head in her hands and shook them from side to side. "That's the thing, if the myths are true, it can't be defeated."
"What?!" Nami and Chopper exclaimed.
"So then the myths are wrong," Zoro stated simply.
"You can't just say that something is false because you don't understand it…" Monica noted with a sigh. "In Goharian mythology, a golem is a stone being, like we saw, charged with protecting the temple and thus the ancestral gemstones within it."
"But there aren't any more gemstones, at least none that we saw. They were all taken in the raid, right?" Nami asked.
"Which is why that golem's presence is even more bizarre. There hasn't been anything here, so it hasn't had anything to protect in over a decade, so it shouldn't even exist right now, or have been called upon. But now we're back with the Alrruh Jawhira and it attacks us instead of allowing us to return it to where it belongs . . ." Monica summarized. "Something's wrong . . ."
Robin looked up from her note taking when Monica stopped speaking to ask, "Where does the golem come from?"
"As the stories went, the stones that create the golem are imbued with the spiritual energy of those who have passed on. So technically, it's a creature of our ancestors' making. But it only is supposed to appear when the temple is under threat...Which it already has been...years ago. . ." Monica replied. The group stayed silent when she stopped talking and began pacing as she thought.
"Oh right! Robin, I'm gonna take the Alrruh Jawhira from your bag. Maybe I can get an answer from them," Monica announced. Robin turned around so that Monica could have access to her backpack. Once the jewel was retrieved, Monica wandered off from the group, assumedly for more privacy.
"She is so lucky that we've experienced all types of weird shit . . ." Nami stated as she watched her friend speak to the Alrruh Jawhira.
"Honestly, I don't think I consider her talking to a jewel that high on the weird list," Chopper added.
"Isn't this such a fascinating world that we live in?" Robin sighed with bliss.
After a few minutes, Monica walked back towards the group. "So, I found out what was wrong with that golem." Monica placed the jewel back into Robin's bag. "The spirits don't have control over it."
"So then who does?" Chopper asked.
"The spirits said that the last time the golem was called upon, something got a bit screwy and the stones somehow attached themselves to one of the raiding pirates," Monica explained.
"So that person is inside of and has control over the golem?" Robin finished.
"Exactly," Monica affirmed. "But even though the spirits don't have direct control over it, there is still a link that keeps the stones' powers, like it's regeneration. That link has to be severed in order to defeat it."
"So how we do that?" Zoro asked.
"With these," Monica answered as she unsheathed her two swords.
"You fight with those?!" Nami exclaimed. "They're gorgeous!"
Monica's twin katanas appeared as even black bars against the landscape. The handles were wrapped in black silk and their tsuba were more narrow than what are typically on swords. The blades were of black metal, just as Zoro's Shusui, and adorned with diamonds embedded along the length of the blades. "Guys, meet Daiyamana & Kaimana."
"Super cool!" Chopper exclaimed in admiration.
"It's gonna take a stone from this island to severe the spiritual link from the golem, and the diamonds in the blades were mined from here," Monica explained.
"I always thought those diamonds were just a distraction; seems like they actually serve a purpose," Zoro mused.
"You're damn right they do!" Monica bit back.
"Ughh so we're going back in?" Nami whined.
"Yup!" Monica answered with a bit more gusto than Nami would have liked. "I'm thinking that I'll go in and keep all of the golem's focus on me while I kill it and you guys can put the Alrruh Jawhira where it belongs."
"I'm going with you," Zoro stated.
"Why? Any attack you do won't have an effect on it," Monica pointed out.
"I'm going with you," Zoro repeated flatly with his usual stare. Monica returned the gaze for a few moments, but then eventually gave in.
"Fine, do what you want."
"And where again in the temple does the jewel go?" Nami asked.
Monica turned and pointed to the temple. "The fifth floor. After you climb the final flight of stairs, you'll enter a room that hopefully will have an empty pedestal in the center of it. Just put the jewel on it however it'll stay and you'll be done."
"So many stairs … again … in this heat … chased by a monster . . ." Nami summarized with dismay.
"Or, we could scale the temple from the outside. I can provide assistance," Robin offered as an alternative.
"It could be faster…" Chopper added.
"Great! Let's do it! We're burning daylight!" Monica decided and started walking towards the temple again.
"Cien Fleur: Spider Net!" Robin called as copies of her arms sprouted along the side of the temple in the form of a giant net. The group made quick work of scaling the temple, when they got to Zoro and Monica's exit on the third floor, they paused.
"What's the plan for when we finish?" Nami asked.
"I honestly hadn't thought that far, but go straight to the first floor. If Zoro and I aren't finished by then, we shouldn't be too much longer. I would say that you might wanna start heading to the lower level to see if Luffy may have ended up down there...but it would be better if I was with you for that," Monica replied.
"Wait, we'll have to go to the basement?" Nami asked. "This is turning out to be some horror story . . ."
Monica let out a small laugh as she and Zoro moved through a window. "No worries! We should be fine as long as it doesn't fill up with water or lava!"
"WHAT?!" Chopper and Nami exclaimed.
"Just make sure that you guys get the Alrruh Jawhira where it belongs!" Monica called as she and Zoro disappeared back into the temple.
Nami could only release an exasperated sigh as she, Chopper, and Robin continued their trek upwards to the top floor.
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"Is it even here anymore?" Zoro asked. The floor was eerily quiet, with the earlier damage still in tact.
"Ugh I was really hoping that it wouldn't go to another floor . . ." Monica groaned. "I don't feel like chasing it."
Zoro walked around the room, methodically stopping to inspect various objects and details. "There really isn't anything to track it by either. There isn't much left of the floor, but the place where it stood earlier is the only spot that's sunken in."
Monica joined Zoro where he stood to see what he was talking about it. "Oh, that's weird. . . Maybe I can catch a scent . . ." she mused and began to sniff at the air. "I've got something, its human."
The pair quietly stalked in the direction that Monica indicated and they soon found themselves on the fourth floor of the temple. Both paused before fully entering the floor, they're eyes glowing red as they activated their Observation Haki. They easily spotted the person that they followed sitting on the floor, and gave each other a quick glance before stepping into action.
The man released a sharp gasp when he realized that he suddenly had a black sword pointed at his chest that was held by a dark-skinned woman with purple hair and cold amber eyes. He tried to lean away but then felt a sharp object poke at his back as well.
"If you move, she will kill you," the man heard a deep male voice whisper.
"Well, you're going to die regardless, but I have a few questions first," Monica added as she knelt to be eye level with the man. "First: who are you?"
The man was pale and had black hair. He was gaunt and sweating profusely and had an appearance that presented as a cross between crazed and exhausted. "My name is Raida Shiganori, second son of the king of Baiku Island and captain of the Baiku pirates, Otobai Shiganori III."
"Ahh! So you're one of the murderers of my people?" Monica asked, her voice dripping with rage and disgust. The man remained silent for a while in fear as he realized that his captors were about to seek their revenge for his crews' past misdeeds.
"What do you know about what's happened?" Monica questioned as she stood up to her full height again.
"That was so long ago . . . We-we came to raid the island after some information we ...obtained… from someone who used to live here. I was in charge of a group that came here to temple. When we got here...we couldn't believe our eyes! There were so many jewels and-and gold! We made sure to grab everything. But then, this … rock monster came out of nowhere and attacked us who were here in the temple," Raida recounted hesitantly. "It just kept rebuilding itself every time we hit it. At one point, after we chopped it down enough, it collapsed onto me and I swear I was dead. But then, my body started moving on it's own...and I was surrounded by the stones. . . and then I - I began to attack my crewmembers. . . and I couldn't stop! I had no control!"
Raida's storytelling paused as he sobbed at his memories. Zoro's face remained stoic and his eyes were trained on the man. Monica's face, however, was about to explode with rage at the man's tears. 'How dare he cry after being one of the people who decimated my home?'
"I've - I've been stuck in this temple ever since. . . There's some barrier or something that keeps me inside. . . And I've been losing my mind!" Raida resumed. "When I saw you guys, I didn't want to attack you...but something inside wanted me to. I just want to leave!"
"SHUT UP!" Monica shouted as she wrapped her growing claws around the man's neck and pushed him to the floor. Zoro moved out of the way in time to not get stuck beneath them. "You do not get to cry! You did not have to watch as your loved ones, as your home, as your way of being literally burned to the ground around you! But you do deserve every bit of suffering you've endured here as the ancestors' captive rodent! And you deserve all of the Hell that the ancestors will give you when I carve out your heart and send your soul to the Afterlife! I guarantee that you won't find solace in death!"
Raida continued to sob as his eternal fate was presented to him.
"Do you have any last words?" Monica asked only out of courtesy.
"Ju-just two questions. H-how long has it been?" Raida managed to get out.
"Almost twenty years," Monica hissed.
Raida's eyes managed to express an even deeper look of despair than what they already carried. "And- and what's become of my father and brother?"
Monica's full lips parted into a devilish, fang-filled smirk as she got close to Raida's ear and whispered, "I sharpened my swords against your brother's ribs when I drove them through his chest. And your father has become the island drunk in the wake of the deaths of his sons."
When she pulled back and saw the look of surprise on Raida's face, she released the grip that she held on his throat and went for her swords.
"Thank you," Raida managed to say through his shock.
"Trust me, this will not be a mercy," Monica clarified and then lifted her katana and plunged them both into the man's chest beneath her. The blood pooled quickly from the wounds and his mouth. His body glowed a warm orange color before suddenly hardening into stone and then crumbling into dust.
Monica sheathed her swords when the deed was done and took a few deep breaths. Zoro sheathed his as well and gave Monica a sympathetic look and opened his arms to her. The swordswoman's breaths became sniffs and tears welled in her eyes as she collapsed into Zoro's arms, for the second time that day, weeping openly and loudly.
As Zoro held onto Monica's sobbing form, he noticed that the sky had suddenly become darker at the same time, thunder sounded and rain poured outside. The weather's own outburst drowned out the sound of Monica's weeping.
The two remained as they were for a while until Monica began to calm down and wipe away her tears.
"This trip fucking sucks," Monica stated with a small laugh.
Zoro smiled at her attempt at humor and added, "It really does, but at least you seem to be getting some closure."
Monica released a deep sigh as she stood up straight, "I guess so."
Zoro placed a hand on her head and guided her to him so that he could kiss her forehead. Monica gave him a small smile in return.
"C'mon, let's head downstairs to meet up with the others," she said and they made their way to the meeting place on the first floor. When the pair arrived, they saw that Nami, Chopper, and Robin were already waiting for them.
"How'd it go with the rock monster?" Nami asked.
"Remind me to tell you about it later," Monica answered. "How'd it go with the Alrruh Jawhira?"
"We think it went okay," Chopper responded. "When we put it on the pedestal and it started glowing."
"Perfect! Now all we have to do is find Luffy," Monica replied. "Since the jewel is back where it belongs, the souls can properly be at rest. Thank you guys."
"That's easier said than done," Chopper commented. "Where do we even start?"
"I had a chance to think about that," Monica responded. "You know how I said that the holes like the one Luffy fell into were a form of defense? I remembered that they are connect to a chain of tunnels that run right underneath us."
"So where do they lead?" Nami asked.
"To an underground cavern..."
"Great, do we have access to it without having to end up in a tunnel ourselves?" Nami questioned.
"Yeah... It's through that door," Monica answered as she pointed to a door at the far end of the grand hall, it was situated directly in line with the front door of the temple.
"Perfect! Let's go guys!" Nami exclaimed and started walking towards the door. Chopper, Zoro, and Robin followed her as well.
But Robin paused when she noticed that Monica was not walking with them. "Moni-chan, what's wrong?"
"There are a few things about the cavern that you guys might wanna know before you go down there…" Monica answered hesitantly.
However, Nami, Zoro, and Chopper had already reached and opened the door, after which Nami shouted, "BONES?!"
What was present on the other side of the door was an expansive walkway that had on display two human skulls at the entrance.
"Moni-chan, what was the underground cavern used for?" Robin asked.
Monica released a small sigh. "Originally, in the ancient times, it was used for a lot of traditional rituals... including human sacrifices."
Chopper, Nami, and Zoro all whipped their heads to look at her with their eyes full of a mixture of horror and surprise.
"I know, I know," Monica sighed again before continuing to provide more information. "No we were not cannibals. And the human sacrifices were stopped centuries before I was born. Well except for those of the occasional outside enemy. But I swear that was all of the sacrificing that was done in my time here. The high priests just never got rid of the . . . decor." Monica watched as her shocked comrades seemed to calm down a bit.
"Is there anything else that we need to know before going down here?" Nami asked.
"It's going to be hot and humid thanks to the fact that it's built partially into the volcano and it ends in a pool of water in the cavern. It was believed that all life came from water, primarily the water that lies down there that both feeds and receives water from the purple channel that led us here. Also, there will be more bones."
"How will we be able to see?" Chopper asked.
"The walkway has some illuminated jewels embedded in the walls, so they'll provide us with the light we need," Monica answered.
"Wait," Nami started, "earlier you mentioned something about us being fine as long as it didn't fill up with water or lava… What did you mean?"
"Oh yeah," Monica remembered. "Again, it's something that hasn't happened during my life here, but I do remember hearing stories of how the cavern filled with water so much that it's even leaked out up here to the first floor. Considering that it's' pouring outside now, I wouldn't be too surprised if that happens. As for the lava part, there's the slim chance that the volcano might erupt."
"Why do you say these things so casually," Nami groaned.
"So obviously, if the cavern fills with lava, we'll roast to death. But what about the water? You guys are Devil Fruit users. Will you be affected if it's seawater?" Zoro asked.
"Wow, that was a really great question, Zoro," Nami noted with surprise.
"You don't have to be so shocked about it!" Zoro shouted at her.
"Chill! I was just giving you a compliment since I don't usually expect that head of yours to be capable of thinking!" Nami retorted.
"Zoro, you have a good point, and my answer is that I have no idea," Monica stated to interrupt the arguing.
"Well I guess it doesn't really matter," Robin mused. "We can begin to feel effects by even a drop of seawater. So definitely if we become submerged, we'll just drown."
"And I haven't heard of any research conducted on diluting seawater with freshwater," Chopper added. "So I guess we'll just have to be careful."
"And quick," Monica said. "We shouldn't have to worry about any dangers other than the water and the lava. But I don't want anything to happen that could have us accidentally trapped down there."
Nami groaned with exasperation. "You guys are making a really good case for use to not go down there . . ."
"Well, it's now or never!" Monica exclaimed as she grabbed Nami's hand and darted into the skeleton filled hall with the rest of their group following close behind. Nami barely caught her breath fast enough to shout in surprise.
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"Finally," Monica sighed as the deep underground tunnel opened up into a large cavern. The group had been walking for some time and the environmental conditions were starting to get to them.
"Great...Let's find Luffy... and get out of here," Chopper groaned. The little reindeer seemed to have been suffering from the heat and humidity the most thanks to his natural fur coat. He was panting excessively as he slumped to the ground against a cavern wall.
"Maybe it would have been best to have had Chopper-san stay on the first floor," Robin mused.
"Ohh crap...I hadn't thought about that...I'm sorry Chopper!" Monica apologized.
"...It's okay…" Chopper managed. "...I hadn't thought...of it either…I just wanted… to make sure...we got...Luffy..."
"LUFFY!" Nami shouted frantically into the open area of the cavern. "LUFFY!"
The navigator paused as she and everyone else listened to her calls for the captain reverberate and echo across the pool of illuminated blue water and off the walls and tunnels. Then, silence fell.
"What if we each choose a tunnel and call for Luffy-san from there?" Robin suggested. Nami, Monica, and Zoro nodded and the four each stood in front of a tunnel other than that from which they came. The group stayed with this task for a few minutes, taking turns calling for their friend from where they stood.
"Ugh! This isn't working!" Nami shouted with defeat. "That idiot probably didn't even make it all of the way down his tunnel yet… We're never leaving…"
"Oye! Why are you so sad Nami?" a familiar voice asked from the direction of the tunnel from which the group entered.
"Luffy?!" Monica asked with surprise.
"Luffy!" Nami exclaimed as she ran to him and hugged him. "I thought that we were never gonna find you! And that we'd be stuck down here forever! And that we'd turn into prunes from this humidity or drown in a flood!"
"Captain-san...may I ask, how did you get down here...from that tunnel?" Robin posited.
"Oh! I found my way out of the tunnel a while ago!" Luffy grinned.
Nami stopped in her affectionate behaviors when she heard Luffy's answer. "You what?!"
"And then I was looking for you guys outside for a while. When I came back in, I saw the door was open, figured you guys were down here, so I walked back," Luffy explained.
"You jerk! We walked all this way for nothing?!" Nami shouted at him as she knocked him over his head with her fist.
The rest of the group let out light laughs at the turn of events.
"Let's just get out of here," Zoro said and he and the group began to make their way back up to the first floor. When they arrived, they started walking towards the door to outside, but Chopper paused.
"Guys, was this here earlier?" Chopper asked as he walked over to one of the shelves that once held the funerary jewels of deceased citizens. Chopper was talking about a wooden box that now rested on the previously empty shelf that had a familiar pink envelope resting atop it.
"I don't remember it being here," Nami replied.
"Let's see what the letter says this time," Robin said as she opened the envelope. As she did, Monica caught a whiff of a scent that it carried. The same sent that the other letters had on them, and one that was unmistakably that of her sister's.
'What could she possibly be up to? And was she just here?' Monica wondered to herself. 'I'm killing her, Killer, and Kidd the next time that I see them!'
"You all are some of the nicest people ever! I cannot tell you how much the crew, including Kidd (even if he'll never admit it), and I appreciate all of the effort that you've put into helping us. As Monica has hopefully explained, this is her and her sister's homeland. A place that once glittered with some of the most amazing jewels on this planet. Perona talked a lot about being able to have some from here, as she didn't get the chance to take any with her when this island was raided. Kidd would like to also gift her with these in a show of his continued devotion for her. If you could please give these, as well as the other items, to her the next time that you see her, along with a separate letter in here from Kidd, we would be forever grateful. You can even help yourselves to a few of the jewels in the box, except for any pink ones! Leave those for Perona, please.
Being that this will probably be our last communication this way, I'll tell you guys exactly where you need to go next:
Perona can be found at her home, on Kuraigana Island."
Robin finished reading and pulled out a slightly smaller pink envelope, "This must be the letter from Kidd to Perona."
"Wait, so does this mean that we're done?" Nami asked with realization.
"Already? But I was liking this adventure," Luffy pouted.
"Maybe mostly done. We still have to give everything that we've collected to Perona," Chopper reminded her.
"Oh thank goodness!" Nami exclaimed. "I was getting tired of this game."
"Now you're getting tired of it?" Zoro pointed out.
"I'm with Nami, let's head out," Monica stated a bit distantly. She seemed to be lost in thought. Zoro and Nami paused in their incoming confrontation and Nami went to assist Robin with putting the box of jewels and letters into her backpack.
"That is a lot of water," Nami commented as they approached the main doorway of the temple.
The landscape of Gohar was now much darker than it was when they entered the temple and was currently being pelted by sheets of rain. Deep rolls of thunder sounded periodically and bright streaks of lightning would briefly illuminate the area.
"We don't really have any other choice but to make a run for it," Zoro stated.
"I was worried that someone was going to say that," Nami groaned.
"What's the big deal?" Luffy questioned as he bounced past the group and out into the open area before the temple. "It's just a little water," he laughed as he seemingly danced in the rain. The rest of the group looked at each other before they stepped outside, but froze when lightning struck again, this time hitting Luffy directly.
"Nani?" Luffy questioned at the unusual experience. Being that he is a rubberman, the lightning didn't hurt him at all, but it did make him realize something. "Maybe you guys should be quick...You might die if that happens to you."
"Might die?! Try will die!" Nami shouted angrily. "And with the way that this storm feels, it'll probably be here for a while…"
"Actually, Luffy's right, if we get hit by lightning, there's no guarantee that it'll kill us," Monica noted.
"What the hell kind of science are you two working with?" Nami asked.
"I mean, like how Luffy doesn't conduct the electricity, we can, and then ground it. At least while we're in the open areas here, in the island's center, and at the docks. We'll do it on the run," Monica explained as she counted off the areas on her fingers.
Nami sighed, "There are so many issues with that plan. 1) That doesn't decrease our chances of being fried to death! 2) What are we going to conduct and ground the lightning with?"
"Your Clima-Tact," Robin answered.
"And our swords," Zoro added with realization.
"Coorrect!" Monica sang. "I know it's a technique that we never got around to perfecting in your training Zoro, but are you willing to try it?"
Zoro nodded as he unsheathed two of his swords with his classic smirk, "Don't worry, I've been struck by lightning before, I'll be fine."
"So Luffy, you can take the lead, I'll take the left, Nami you can take the right, and Zoro can take the back. Robin and Chopper can stay in the middle of us," Monica explained.
"Everyone ready?" Luffy asked.
"No . . ." Nami mumbled with dismay and clenched to her Clima-tact tightly.
"Stay alert everyone!" Monica reminded them as she drew her swords. "And try to not die!"
The group ran out into the storm in the formation that they planned.
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"Brook, the tone of your music seems so . . . sad," Sanji commented. The pair, who were in charge of watching over the ship along with Franky, were in the observation deck, awaiting their nakamas' return. Sanji relaxed along the large window, smoking his trademark cigarette, and Brook watched the island from a separate window, stringing a slow ballad on his violin.
"Oh Sanji-san, I am just so worried about our friends and what they might be enduring on this mysterious island," Brook replied without stopping his activity. "Especially now that this huge storm has hit."
"You're right, Brook," Sanji said with a release of a puff of smoke. "But we need to have faith in them. I'm sure that Neko-chan is doing her best as a guide and I'll have to assume that those idiots, Luffy and Zoro, are keeping them all safe. My beautiful ladies better not come back with a single scratch you baka captain and shitty marimo!" Sanji concluded passionately as he yelled at his view of the island.
"How long do you think we should wait before we go look for them?" Brook wondered.
Sanji released a deep breath to calm himself down. "How about until nightfall? They've been gone for a few hours now, let's give them a few more."
Brook's music continued on as it had, filling the otherwise quiet space between them again until he suddenly stopped.
"S-sanji-san!" the dead musician exclaimed. "Sanji-san! I think they're back!"
"Nani?!" Sanji asked and ran to the window that Brook was looking out of. Brook was right, Luffy's red vest could be spotted in the clearing just before the docks. Five other figures could be made out running with him through the torrential downpour. "The look like they've been through hell," Sanji noted as the group got a bit closer and he could see more detail. "Why do my swans have scratches on them?!" With that, the chef darted from the observation deck in a fury of anger.
"Thank goodness, we're almost there!" Chopper shouted over the sounds of the storm when he spotted the golds and oranges of the mini-cruise ship's lions' head.
"Luffy, get ready!" Zoro called to his captain as he saw the beginnings of another lightning strike.
Luffy saw it as well and jumped to meet the strike before it reached the ground. He successfully absorbed it and continued to run with the group.
"Hey! I think there's something coming at us!" Nami pointed out as they were crossing the sands of the beach.
"It's Sanji! Oye!" Luffy called out to his friend happily. Sanji did not make any moves to respond but continued full speed ahead. "Sanji?" Luffy questioned as he slowed to a stop when he noticed that the chef was not making any moves to slow down. The rest of the group slowed down as well, but continued on to the dilapidated wooden docks.
"You piece of shit baka!" Sanji as he landed a flying kick right into Luffy's face, much to everyone's surprise.
"Sanji!" Nami exclaimed just as Zoro charged as his crewmate with his swords.
"What the hell you shitty cook!" the swordsman growled when Sanji blocked his attack with his leg. Sanji didn't answer and instead headbutted Zoro, breaking their engagement.
"That was for not protecting the ladies!" Sanji passionately explained.
"Are you fucking kidding, Sanji?!" Nami exploded. "We don't have time for this! Drag both of their dumbaasses to the ship and let's get a move on!"
"Hai Nami-swan~!" Sanji happily conceded and grabbed Luffy and Zoro by one of their ankles each and dragged them to the ship with the rest of the group leading the way.
Once safely inside, Sanji unceremoniously let their feet drop to the floor of the ship. "Ahhh! Mellorine~~! My swans are even more beautiful when their drenched!" Sanji commented. Indeed, everyone who was part of the Gohar-Island-Exploratory-Group were absolutely saturated with water thanks to the storm that was still raging outside of the ship. Their clothes literally clung to their bodies. And any articles of clothing that were lighter in shade were completely translucent, giving anyone a view of what lie underneath; namely what was underneath their shirts. The top of Robin's blue and white button-down plaid shirt had already been left mostly open at the top when the group first went out, but it now revealed that it was covering a red bra. Nami's pink crop top and tan shorts provided a window to her orange lingerie set. And Monica's white, previously loose-fitting, shirt was currently plastered against the black bra with lace detail that she wore.
"Oh! Did I miss a wet tshirt contest?" Brook ask as he arrived on the scene.
Sanji, who had also taken stock of the sight, remained silent as he admired his nakama.
"Sanji, are you alright? Your nose is bleeding," Chopper noted.
"Profusely..." Monica added.
Nami rolled her eyes with a sigh of disgust, "I'm leaving. No one talk to me until after I've dried off from my bath."
"Same," Monica said with caution as she followed the navigator.
"Sanji-san, could you make us something warm to drink for when we're done?" Robin asked of him.
Said chef released a lyrical, "Hai Robin-swan~~!", before finally collapsing to the floor from his nosebleed. Thus causing Chopper to panic now that he had three unconscious patients to care for.
"Oh, and one more thing," Nami said as she turned back to the boys, "Can one of you let Franky know to go full speed to Kuraigana Island? The ship's motors should be able to get us out of this storm without any problems." She then continued on her way.
Woooh! Finished! That was definitely a long one!
Thank you again guys for sticking around on this long journey with me and the crew XD I truly appreciate it!
See you next time!