Hi, guys! I'm back with the second chapter of the week!
Vergil Leonidas - Scribe is definitely an interesting character. Unfortunately, the story she plays one of her larger roles in hasn't been completely written yet, much less published on this site. It'll take me a bit, but I'll get it up here eventually and fill in some of the gaps I've been accidentally leaving. :/ That story and the darkest part of Maria's memories are the same story, actually...
Anyway, here's the chapter!
Chapter 120 (or 25) - Memory Mountain, part 4
Maria's POV
"All right, guys," I said somewhat darkly. "Let's take these guys down."
I charged at the largest of the monsters - Black Arms, my memories provided - while a couple of them pulled their hostage to the back of their group before the rest charged at the Purple Pirates. The gigantic, technologically-advanced axe the Black Arm monster was carrying was swung with the intent to chop off my head, but I used a set of jets hidden in my feet to dash out of the way before activating my Buster and shooting the axe out of the monster's grip.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mitchell sitting on top of a Black Arm's shoulders while slamming his guitar into the top of the monster's head. It was pretty obvious that he was giving the monster brain damage, and considering how much force he was using, things were probably going to get very bloody very quickly.
I quickly returned my attention to the monster that I had started fighting, jumping back as a pair of large fists slammed down into the ground in front of me. As sand was kicked up from the arena floor, I aimed with my Buster again and shot a few shots at the monster's chest and arms. However, the shots fizzled out against the monster's skin, which looked oddly like armor.
My eyes narrowed. "Great. Now I've gotta find chinks in the armor."
The monster in front of me growled and made a swipe at me, but then I jumped back before dashing forward and ramming into it.
It felt like I was hitting someone wearing rock armor - which meant that, of course there were going to be openings in it.
But how do I-
Shing!
The Black Arms monster let out a shriek of terror as a blade popped out of my left arm and slid into a chink in its armor. The sound was like a screaming choir with a large number of piglets plus a human and a lion mixed in somewhere. Fortunately, the sound cut off abruptly as the monster disappeared in a puff of red and black smoke before becoming nothing more than a mottled leaf lying on the arena floor.
I stood there in surprise for a moment before looking at my left arm, which had a curved blade sticking out one side of my arm and up around my clenched fist. I relaxed my fist, and the blade slipped back into my arm seamlessly.
"Huh."
"Maria! Keep your focus on the fight!"
I was shaken out of my thoughts by Justin's shouting, and I looked up and over at the blue-haired pirate, who happened to have just taken out two Black Arms all by himself.
Max appeared next to me, holding her katana in her left hand. "You can look over your arm later - we have these monsters to take out and that girl to rescue. Let's go."
I blinked for a moment, then nodded. "Right, sorry. It just caught me by surprise."
Max gave me a slight smile in return, then turned and launched herself at the nearest Black Arms, yelling a war cry. I turned and looked around at the battlefield myself, taking in the explosions from Isaac's and Ike's bombs, as well as the loud screeches from the Black Arms monsters - which were extremely grating as they disappeared into puffs of smoke.
I quickly turned my attention on the black-cloaked monster who was standing above our heads, and I launched myself up at him and his platform, aiming at the hovering device with the intent to take it out with a blast from my Buster.
This time, though, when I shot a blast, the energy came out yellow rather than orange, which it had been the previous times that I'd fired. Much to my surprise, it hit the hovering platform and caused sparks to fly from it as it fell to the ground - taking the black-cloaked figure with it.
I stomped over at the figure hit the ground. "You know, it wasn't very nice of you to take Kia hostage like that. Even if this is only a situation that's been created from my memories. I'm really annoyed about it."
"I would expect nothing less from the World Jumper who reversed the World Collision and survived the Continuum Shift with all of her memories intact," came the rasping reply. The figure got to his feet, dusting off his cloak.
I frowned at the terms, familiar but not. I filed them away into the back of my head to think about later. "So why did you bring Kia into this?"
"To jog your memory. What else? I happen to be associated with her and some of the nastier memories you dealt with afterwards." There was a strange tone in his voice that I wasn't fond of. "I won't tell you now, however - you will recover those when the time comes."
"I was hoping to get more good than bad."
"Do you really think it's going to be that easy?" The figure started laughing, but then bent over double as a horrific bout of coughing hit him. I caught sight of what looked like two long clumps of hair coming out from under the hood, colored a strange mix of orange and gray. "World Jumpers are charged with watching over the balance of the worlds."
I froze as the statement brought up a headache and a memory.
Memory Break
A black-haired man wearing a green, gold, and black outfit took note of the movement and looked over at Maria with slight interest as she reached for the pitcher of orange juice. "Well, well, if it isn't the little portal maker."
"I prefer World Jumper," Maria replied calmly, pouring a glass of orange juice. She glanced up at Loki and, noticing that he was looking at her expectantly, asked cautiously, "Is there something that you want?"
"Oh, nothing in particular," Loki replied, waving away Maria's question. "I was just wondering how someone like you would have so much weight out on your shoulders."
Maria paused in drinking, then swallowed her mouthful and put the half-full glass on the table and gave Loki a suspicious look. "What do you mean by that, Trickster?"
A blond man with a red cape and silver armor sent Loki a dark glance, but his brother ignored it.
"I mean to say that, really, someone your age shouldn't have to make sure the worlds are in balance. They should've chosen someone else to handle all that." Loki leaned back in his chair and smirked.
"The Fates make each of their decisions for a reason," Thor stated resolutely. "Neither you nor I can change that."
"Besides, I don't mind," Maria replied with a shrug. "It lets me see other worlds that I may have only dreamed of before." A slight frown came over her face. "What do you really mean by 'keeping the worlds in balance,' though? Is it something like what the Keyblade wielders do? Because I remember hearing something like that before, but -"
"It wasn't fully explained?" Loki guessed.
Maria shook her head. "Not really."
"What we know of World Jumpers is not much," Thor interrupted, sending his brother a warning look. "They are people selected from certain worlds and granted certain abilities that will come to them when the time is right. It has been thought that abilities could be passed down with each generation, but that hasn't been proven."
Maria's eyebrows arched as she looked at Thor in surprise; next to him, Loki gained a look of annoyance. "Have you guys run into World Jumpers before?"
"Odin might have," Loki spoke with something of a sneer. "He never told us much of what was going on other than that some world was having a bit of trouble and someone had been sent out to assist them."
"Don't tell me you're jealous of a World Jumper," Maria responded in mock shock, grinning. "When you've already gone to Earth and most certainly gained the wrath of multiple people throughout the Multiverse."
Loki gained a scowl and sent it in the Reploid's direction while Thor burst out laughing.
Memory Break
I shook my head, bringing myself and my questions back to the present. The first thing out of my mouth was, "World Jumper? What's that supposed to mean?"
The arena fell silent at my question.
It felt as though the cloaked figure was looking at me with a disbelieving expression. "You really don't remember? After having discovered that some of your memories really don't take place on this world?"
I flinched at the question, thinking back to Thriller Bark, when I had woken up the day we had left.
Memory Break
"Well, I'm not exactly sure what to make of it, but…" I bit my lower lip in hesitation. "I think that I might be from another dimension or something."
Nami looked at me like I had just said that Gecko Moria was a relation of mine (which is definitely not true — no way am I related to that shadow-bloated monster). "That shouldn't be possible! Are you serious?!"
"Judging from the expression on her face, I should think so," Robin commented off-handedly. "However, I have to admit, I am somewhat skeptical."
"I can pull things out of nowhere and I have Berry trees growing on deck that you guys haven't seen before," I said flatly, motioning to the ceiling. "Something tells me there's a lot more proof to what I'm saying than it seems."
Memory Break
"I would have thought that you would have noticed the title far sooner." The figure let out a sound that seemed to be a mix between a snort and a cough.
"That's because I didn't think it would be right for her to remember yet."
I turned when I heard the voice, and my eyes widened when I saw that Kia was standing free of the Black Arms monsters who had been holding her captive a moment ago. Now, a small number of mottled black-and-red leaves were lying scattered all over the floor.
I blinked in confusion for a moment before frowning. "What do you mean by that, Kia?"
Kia paused at the question - especially when the Purple Pirates looked at her with dark frowns. "Your memories are in shattered pieces right now. If you went back to doing what you did before you lost them, then it's likely that you could either do something wrong or you could recover all the wrong ones at once." She motioned to herself. "I represent all the knowledge you've gained over the years as a carrier of the title - which includes the memories that your mind has been trying to piece together, which have unfortunately been coming out-of-order."
"I could have guessed that much," I muttered. "I haven't remembered what my family looks like yet."
"I know." Kia nodded.
"Hang on." Katie looked back and forth between Kia and myself with a serious frown. "You're telling me that Maria...is a World Jumper? One of the famous travelers that's meant to keep the universe in balance, but people never meet? This should be impossible! No one's heard from a World Jumper in centuries!"
I was thrown off by this exclamation. "What? What do you mean?"
Max sighed and looked away for a moment before looking back at me. "World Jumpers are myths and legends - people always talk about how they come when there's a big problem, but they give all the credit to the nearest hero and disappear by the time everything's been ironed out. We have heard of a few...anomalies here and there, when World Jumpers have become that world's hero, but they're few and far between." She paused. "To be honest, we already knew about them, but we didn't know that you were one, too."
I stared at her blankly. "Wait, what?" My eyes widened. "You know about the stuff I can't remember?! How?"
"Because-"
"We can talk about this later," Katie interrupted. "We have to get to TransTown, remember? We have to move now."
"She's right," Ike spoke up, nodding in agreement. "We can't wander around here for much longer, if we're going to be able to rescue Portgas D. Ace."
I flinched a bit when I was reminded of the reason we were in this situation in the first place. "Yeah...right."
Max walked over to me and place a hand on my shoulder - an act I barely felt through my armor. "It'll be okay. It's clear that you are working on recovering your memories, and you probably don't really need the island to help all that much." She looked over at Kia for a moment before turning her gaze to the rest of the Purple Pirates. "Come on - let's go. We have to get to our ship and meet up with the Whitebeard members. Maybe we can come back here and settle this properly after we've rescued their Second Division Commander, but right now, the rescue takes priority."
I paused at that for a moment before nodding in agreement. I had a duty to my captain - and besides, Ace was Luffy's brother. Since we were all scattered to who-knew-where - and I didn't know what Luffy was doing right now...
Well, the point was that I had to do something, and I wasn't about to let Luffy's brother die.
"Lead the way," I said, nodding to Max.
Max nodded in agreement before turning and looking at Kia. "We will be back."
Kia nodded in response, then disappeared in a puff of smoke, becoming a green-and-black mottled leaf. The doors on the other side of the arena - which had been shut during the course of the battle - were now wide open.
And it looked like there was blue sky right outside.
Max started towards the door, and the rest of us followed after her and exited the arena. I found myself standing on a small rise above a collection of trees and what looked like a small town right on the edge of the coast.
And, right off the coast, there were a number of ships - and some of them looked like they were shimmering somehow...
"There it is!" Isaac called cheerfully, pointing down towards the town. "TransTown!"
"And it looks like they've got a couple coated ships waiting for us," Liza said, nodding. "We should get down there."
Max nodded in agreement. "Right. Let's go."
Change in POV - 3rd
Maria trailed behind the Purple Pirates as they made their way through TransTown, looking at the buildings and noticing the people. While the locals were friendly with the Purple Pirates, greeting them cheerily, they eyed Maria with caution and curiosity.
"You doing okay?" Liza moved back at bit and looked at Maria curiously as they moved past what looked like the town's square.
Maria looked over at the navigator for a moment, then gave a slight nod in response. "Yeah. I'm fine."
Liza frowned at the soft tone Maria's voice had taken. "You sure? Because you look like you need to talk about something."
Maria looked around at the buildings around them for a moment. "It's just...my memories. There's something about them that makes me uneasy."
"Uneasy?" Liza raised an eyebrow.
Maria sighed. "I think that the bad ones will outweigh the good ones."
Liza frowned at that. "How's that possible? You're a World Jumper."
"Exactly." Maria looked back at Liza. "I got a piece of memory back when I first heard that title. Two men calling themselves Thor and Loki told me that World Jumpers carry the weight of keeping worlds in balance. Something tells me that I'm going to end up remembering some things from worlds that got to be...pretty bad...before I was able to fix them."
The concerned look that was on Maria's face made the navigator blink out of surprise for a moment before she gained a sympathetic expression.
"But everything had to have turned out all right in the end, right?" Liza asked quietly.
Maria blinked at that, considering the statement for a moment. "Maybe...it definitely did for the places that I can remember. But those journeys were pretty fun to begin with..." A frown crossed her face. "Although..."
Liza looked at Maria with a curious face as the other girl considered something.
"There were some times when I had to get pretty serious," Maria admitted. "Quite a few times, actually. Especially because of what I did in my second journey..." She trailed off again as she gained a thoughtful expression before frowning. "But it never really felt sorrowful." A shudder ran through Maria's armor as she remembered what had happened when Perona's ghosts had hit her.
"Can you remember what changed your point of view from having fun to finding sorrow in everything?"
Maria looked at Liza with surprise; the navigator looked like she was trying to figure a puzzle out. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that something must've happened to you that changed who you are a little." Seeing the confused look on Maria's face, Liza said quickly, "Just think about it later, all right? It could be important."
Maria blinked at that, then gave a nod. "All right. I'll keep that in mind."
It didn't take them too long to reach the docks after that, where they were greeted by the sight of two ships that was strangely shimmering with the colors of the rainbow. Standing on the pier that was jutting out between the ships was a black, spiky-haired figure with bluish-colored skin and sharp, almost shark-like teeth sticking out from his lower jaw.
"I was starting to wonder if you kids were going to just sit back again!" the figure called as the Purple Pirates and Maria came to a stop. "We were just about to head out when I heard that you were coming this way. What changed your mind?"
Max reached back and pulled Maria forward, causing the other girl to stumble a bit at the sudden tug up to the front of the group. "This is Fire Staff Maria. She's one of Straw Hat Luffy's crew, and she wanted to come and help."
Maria quickly regained her balance as the man walked forward, looking her up and down with a curious look on his face. "Fire Staff, huh? I didn't think that she wore armor like that."
Maria ducked her head a bit. "It's a recent thing." She looked back at the man curiously. "And I don't think I've ever met anyone with skin that color before."
The man gained a curious look. "Really?" He gave a sharp-toothed grin. "Well then. You must've joined after we got news about that Straw Hat taking out Arlong in the East Blue. Name's Namur - I'm a fishman."
Maria blinked a couple times at that before her eyes widened. "R-really?"
"Yeah." Namur frowned a bit. "Why're you surprised?"
Maria looked surprised at the sudden question. "W-well, it's just...I didn't think I'd run into any...not after what I saw at Saobody Archipelago." She rubbed the back of her head, looking embarrassed and nervous. "The people there...they really didn't like Hachi very much..." She shook her head and gained a more serious expression. "Sorry if I seem too thrown off by this. It's just-"
Namur held up a hand, cutting Maria off. "I get what you're trying to say." He looked over at Max. "Where'd you manage to find this kid?"
"Kuma sent her and the other members of the crew flying," Max explained. "Maria ended up here. When she heard about what had happened to Ace, she insisted on doing what she could for her captain's brother. And we're willing to do what we can, as well."
Namur grinned again. "Perfect. Then let's get moving. You kids remember how coating works?"
The Purple Pirates nodded while Maria stood there looking confused.
Namur nodded in approval. "Good. Get moving! We're going to have to move fast in order to catch up with everyone else, and I do not want to be left out of this!"
Max and the rest of her crew nodded in agreement, then dashed for one of the two ships - about the same size and type as the Thousand Sunny, but with the main body painted white, and a purple and blue railing on either side of the main deck. And the figurehead was a blue-haired mermaid with a purple tail.
Maria scrambled up onto the ship, a slightly disgusted look coming across her face as she felt something squelch into her armored feet.
"Isn't a mermaid a bit common for a pirate ship?" Maria asked, looking around and watching as the Purple Pirates ran around. She felt something shift beneath her feet, and looked down. Her eyes widened, and she let out a yelp of surprise as the substance she had been standing on suddenly rose up over her, leaving not even a hint of it behind on her armor - not even on her boots.
"It probably was," Ike responded as he came over, "but then it became so common that people chose other figureheads. Now, it's uncommon." He looked up and watched as a large, color-shifting dome suddenly rose up over the top of the ship. "And that also works for our mark, since our flag doesn't really have anything special on it."
"You mean, besides the fact that the flag itself is purple and the skull-and-crossbones is black?" Maria looked up herself at the flag that was flapping over their heads. A moment later, she let out a yelp as the ship moved in a way she hadn't been expecting.
Ike gave Maria a knowing look as the ship started sinking beneath the waves, the water lapping at the bubble that had now surrounded their ship and the large ship with the whale figurehead next to them.
"I take it this is your first time on a ship that's been coated?" Ike asked.
Maria looked at him with surprise for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. Is that what that stuff was?"
"Yeah, that's right. I'm not sure of the specifics myself, but it's created from the resin of the trees in the Saobody Archipelago. It'll allow us to travel underwater safely."
Maria looked around, noting that the water had quickly risen above their heads and had almost reached the top of the bubble now. "I guess. It's almost like a submarine..." She gained a strange, almost eager light in her eyes. "Oh, wow. It feels like it's been ages since I've traveled like this..."
"Well, you won't be able to marvel at this too much, unfortunately." Max came over, gaining Maria's and Ike's attention. "We're heading to where Ace is going to be executed, and we need to move quickly. Ike, get the propeller ready - it's still outside the bubble."
"Right." Ike nodded, then turned and ran towards one of the entrances into the cabin, where he disappeared through the doorway.
"Where is it again?" Maria asked, turning to look at Max.
"Marineford." Max's expression was strangely grim as she spoke. "The Navy Headquarters. We're heading right into the heart of the government."
Just for later reference, Scribe and Kia are the same person - Scribe's just a name she uses when she doesn't want people to find her. I'll be able to explain better when I get around to writing and posting the story World Collision, which is going to be the next project I'm going to tackle after I've finished off some of my other stories - specifically, Multiverse Patrols.
Anyway, we've found out something very important about Maria here - she's some kind of person called a World Jumper! What exactly that means is exactly how Loki and Thor described it in Maria's memory - she has to keep the balance in worlds that she gets herself involved in. So, what does that mean for the One Piece world, I wonder...?
I'll see you guys on Friday with the next chapter! We've got a moment of reprieve before everything spirals downward into the nightmare that is Marineford...