Chapter-Specific Warnings: The transition episode from Arabasta to Skypiea! Also Kelly continues to be Extremely Fucked in the Head, so there's that.
Author's Notes: THIS WAS LIKE THE WRITING EQUIVALENT OF BIRTHING A CHILD, CHRIST JESUS.
GET THIS DAMN CHAPTER AWAY FROM ME.
*Some Changes: When it comes to languages – the language of the Magi is a mix of Latin and Hindi (the first primarily used for spells, while the second is the language used by the ancient people/also used as a Common Tongue among Magi), the languages of Skypiea are Gujarati (the primary language of the Shandians) and the Common (human) Tongue.
Chapter Twenty-Five:
Look to the Sky
DATE: I have honestly no idea. I don't want to ask anyone not now
MY LOCATION: My room on the Merry
PLACE: Three days away from Arabasta
Luffy, he. He.
I don't know why he would-
[Words are heavily scratched out, and there are tear stains on the page.]
I can't do this, I can't do this it hurts, why would he do this, why would he say that. It's Robin, she's supposed to be their nakama, not me.
I keep flinching whenever she passes by me, and Sanji keeps…
He keeps swooning over her, and I can tell the others are starting to like her too, even Luffy, and I'm still so sc-
[More scratched out words]
I don't want…It was supposed to be simple. It was supposed to just be a ride to the New World, they weren't supposed to be real, I wasn't supposed to care what they think, I wasn't-
Robin has more of a right on this ship than I ever did.
I can't forget that. I can't, I can't I can't
…
Nami? Why is she at the door?
Be right back.
~KL
The night was calm, the air hanging dead, the ocean deceptively still under the boat. The only light in the kitchen came from the bright moon spilling in from the windows and under the door, and the single candle that Nami had lit.
Kelly sat opposite to the smaller woman, perfectly still, wondering what Nami wanted-
"Before we met," Nami said quietly, her shoulders trembling. "Before we met, I lived in a village called Cocoyashi, in East Blue."
Was Nami really going to say what she thought she was?
"When I was a little girl, I lived with my sister Nojiko and my mother…" Nami trailed off, her voice cracking. "My mother Bell-mère."
She was, Kelly realized with a quiet sort of wonder.
Nami reached out, pale and small in the candlelight. A plea for comfort, and one that Kelly recognized.
The Magus's hand curled at her side, then eased as she placed it by Nami's, palm facing open, her scales bared to the light. And then Nami's hand curled into hers, soft and warm.
"When I was young, fishmen came to our village," Nami whispered, and Kelly listened.
Their fingers curled together, as even as tears spilled over Nami's cheeks, even as the still night lightened to the glorious radiance of day.
It was strange, Kelly thought later, remembering how Nami's arms had wrapped around her waist at the end of their talk, and how easy it had been to return the hug, how easy and right and warm.
She had missed warmth.
Several days later…
The ship rocked under her feet, and it was only her reflexes that kept her from crashing headfirst into the wall. The seals that she had been reapplying to the wood fizzled away as she fought to keep her balance, and Shere and Gin yowled in annoyance, woken from their naps by the sudden movements.
"What the fuck?" Kelly swore as the sea thrashed like a living being under her, and she reached out-
She felt a thing against her senses, made from old, old wood and metal and broken bits of bone and cloth in the ocean. It was a ship, Kelly realized, one far too old to be anything made in the past decade.
But then she felt something else, something alive. Multiple somethings.
The somethings moved, coiling together many miles below her feet, over and around each other, and Kelly got the impression of water sliding over slick scales that sparkled with greens and blues-
"Mistress?" Gin asked.
Kelly couldn't help the ridiculous smile that cracked her face in half, and she reached out yet again, calling to the somethings. They responded sleepily but curiously, as Kelly hurriedly pulled on her jacket and boots.
"Mama?" Shere asked, curling up by Gin's side.
Kelly turned back to her darling Familiars, and laughed, bright and airy and open.
"Sea snakes!" she said reverently. "There are sea snakes here!"
And she rushed out the door, up the stairs, through the kitchen, and out into the light. She noticed the debris littering the deck, and the pirates gathered around a device that trailed three ropes into the water.
Kelly hurried to the side of the ship and quickly stripped off her boots.
She wanted desperately to take off her jacket and strip bare, to feel the ocean against her skin and greet the snakes in only her scales, but she was all too aware of the pirates – and Robin - watching her.
With a quiet reassurance to Gin and Shere - who both wished her good luck - she leapt over the side and dove straight into the water, ignoring the shocked calls of the pirates.
The water was warm and clear, and it felt like all the panic and fear and grime that she had accumulated ever since they had left Arabasta (ever since she had boarded this ship) was being washed away.
How long had it been since she had been in the ocean? How many weeks, how many months had it been since she had indulged herself in the glory of the ocean, in the deep heartbeat that matched the one in her chest? Kelly closed her eyes, feeling the water that supported all Life curling around her.
A call from below her interrupted her meditation, and she laughed at the almost petulant nature of it.
"My bad, my bad. I'll be right there."
She caught sight of three barrels that carried three presences she recognized, and giggled. The suits that Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro used were ridiculous looking things, all bulky and made of wood, with their legs sticking out of the bottom like toothpicks.
But in front of them, rising up like a ghost from the deep, was a flat head that sparkled in the dim light, and dark eyes that gleamed. She swam past the barrels and in front of those eyes, and called out.
The enormous sea snake flicked its tongue out, tasting her scent, and tasting the scent of her Magic. It moved closer, undulating around her in what was very obviously joy, its voice like the ripples of the current.
Magus, Magus, Magus, it sang, the song so full of welcome that tears stung at Kelly's eyes.
She brushed her fingers along the scales, and giggled again, dancing in the water around it, her hair floating free around her face.
Come, Magus, it – no, she – whispered. And Kelly swam down into the darkness that wasn't so dark to her eyes, and felt other snakes rise up to greet her.
The water was warm, and she felt happy and surrounded by love and a distant sense of family that far surpassed even the ties of blood. It was kin to the feeling she had when she was deep in her Magic.
She didn't know how long she stayed down in the nest, crooning to the snakes, running fingers over the little ones, and brushing fingers of magic over the quivering bellies of those yet to give birth. The snakes told her stories of the ocean, of the warm lands they came from, and the lands they would go to again.
Kelly knew she could have stayed down there forever.
But she felt the beads of the necklace Ace had given her pressing against her collarbone, and looked up, to see a great shape – turtle, one of the World Eater's children, the snake that called itself Pachua whispered to her.
And the Magus felt Sanji, Luffy, and Zoro vanish inside its mouth, along with the remains of the boat she had sensed earlier.
Kelly wanted to stay down here. She wanted to join the snakes when they eventually made their trip to the warm lands to birth their children. She would be welcomed, she knew that for a fact.
But…
She looked towards the sun in the far distance above, its light made blurry and faded by the water that lay between her and it. And Kelly sighed.
"Damn," she said.
God damn it.
Kelly leapt up onto the railing, knocking what looked like a poorly dressed monkey flat on his face.
"Maa, my bad," she said without a hint of an apology.
The snakes whispered their goodbyes as they spiraled down deep into the ocean. Her throat went tight with longing even as she quickly squeezed the water out of her hair, and jumped down on the deck.
"Sounds like you all were having quite the party," she said to Nami, who smiled with only the slightest bit of hesitation.
That hurt, but.
It was better. It was. It was. It wa-
"What were you doing?" Robin asked, and the smile that had spread over Kelly's face in response to Nami's faded away.
"I really don't think that's any of your business," Kelly said coldly, and began to efficiently braid her hair, her eyes narrowed at the woman.
Something flashed across Robin's face, far too quick for Kelly to tell what it was, and the woman backed down. Oh, the gesture was subtle, far too subtle for anyone else to tell, but it was there.
The monkey-humanoid-thing staggered back up and loomed over Kelly.
"Oi! Watch where you're going, clumsy human! You knocked me over!" It-he?-barked.
"I think I take offense," Kelly said, letting her irritation curve her mouth into a very dangerous smile, one that showed all of her teeth. "Who might you be, monkey-boy?"
"I am Masira, King of the Salvagers-"
"BOSS, HOLY SHIT!"
The shout came from the monkey's ship, promptly disrupting whatever the monkey had been about to say, and Kelly noticed it was nighttime – or, at least, the sun was no longer shining.
A great shadow fell over the ship, and Kelly hummed as everyone proceeded to have seven heart attacks simultaneously. She quickly scooped Shere and Gin up into her arms, before anchoring herself to the floorboards as the Merry zoomed away from the monsters like it had just been injected with jet fuel on steroids.
:Wheeeeee!: Shere Khan bugled, her tongue flapping in the wind like a dog's, while Gin buried his face into Kelly's shoulder and groaned in annoyance.
Getting to Skypiea's going to kill you, Kelly thought with a smirk.
(Don't remind me, Mistress.)
She didn't remember much of Mock Town, or Jaya in particular. Her strongest memories of the place were of Montblanc Cricket, of course, but also of-
Her gloved hands curled into fists as she walked down the rough cobblestone street that comprised Mock Town's main road, casually dodging around the fights that erupted occasionally.
Blackbeard. Edward Teach. That slimy, traitorous piece of shit who sold Ace to the fucking World Government-
(Mistress, perhaps it would be best if you got away from the rest of the humans) Gin called through their bond.
Kelly realized her magic was rolling, trying to surge out from under her skin, and fought to pull it back.
I'm fine, Gin. Just need a drink.
A strong one, preferably, one that scorched her insides like fire. She stepped inside one of the half dozen dive bars she'd passed, and looked around.
It was small, dark wood walls barely illuminated by the wall sconces that flickered with uncertain light, and had only a few newer and well-made tables and chairs to offset the weathered and aged bar. There were about four people sitting inside, biker-looking types that sat hunkered over glasses of some dark, foamy looking beer, talking in low tones, or just content to sit in their own silence.
Behind the bar was a tall, lean black man with a gold hoop in his ear. His dark eyes flickered up to where she stood at the threshold, and he raised an eyebrow at her.
She quickly approached the bar and slid into the seat right in front of him.
"What's your choice of poison, sweetheart?" The man said, his voice curving and warm, and she relaxed before she was overly conscious of the action.
"Something alcoholic, babe," she said immediately, flashing him a smile, and the man smirked.
He held out his hand, and she took it, only for the man to press his middle finger against her pulse in a handshake she'd only ever heard about. Her heart staggering in her chest as she hesitantly returned the gesture, before pulling back and away.
"You really need to learn to disguise yourself better, darling," he said, and Kelly couldn't stop herself from looking down at her arms and wrists – she was covered.
"Not your scales, sweetie," he said sympathetically. "You've got an aura. A presence around you, because you're so damn strong. A Sea Snake, am I right?"
Kelly's eyes flicked the others in the room. They didn't even look at her.
"Calm down, they won't notice us talking. I may not be strong, but I do have some skills," her fellow Magus – he couldn't be anything but another Magus – said reassuringly, and held out his other hand.
Something flickered across his skin, showing small fins the color of silver for a brief moment, before fading back away.
"So, pick your poison, darling," the man said. "I'm Hanley. And who might you be?"
"Ciel," Kelly said, and the name rolling off her tongue didn't feel like a lie any longer. "I'm Ciel."
"You look like a rum drinker. Something fruity?"
Kelly started, then laughed wryly. "You know your stuff," she said. "I was going to go for something-"
"Harsh and rough? Nah, not with your drinks," Hanley said, flashing her a pearly white, vaguely fanged grin. "Maybe in other…places, you'd like it that way, but you need some sweetness in your life, sugar."
Kelly choked and cackled, all at once. "You dirty bastard," she said, giggling. "Fuck, I like you. Give me something good."
The drink he set in front of her was a red, orange, and cherry-filled concoction that chinked with ice, and burned and bubbled pleasantly in her throat.
"So why're you here?" he asked, once she'd taken a long, slow drink of it.
"Hm?"
"We don't see a lot of Sea Snakes, especially not here in this half of the Grand Line, and especially not ones half as powerful as you," Hanley said, polishing a few glasses sitting under the bar with a rag. "Hell, last Sea Snake I remember seeing was in, ah, Fishman Island when I was there with my folks seventy years ago, and he wasn't even a Magus."
"I'm heading the New World," Kelly said slowly, eying the man sideways. "And seventy? You don't look a day over thirty."
Hanley laughed. "Ah, for Magi, aging's a whole different kettle of fish. I'd look a lot younger if I'd stayed with my tribe, and not left with my husband when I did."
"Husband?" Kelly asked, her curiosity piqued. "Who's the lucky bastard?"
"He's a human Magus," Hanley said. His eyes were carefully watching her, as though he was trying to look for something.
Kelly raised an eyebrow at him. "Issat supposed to mean something? Also, there are human Magi?"
Hanley blinked and then sighed. "Fuck, kid, have you been living your entire life under a rock? How old are you, anyway?"
"Er…technically about thirty-ish? I think?" Kelly said. "Is there something wrong with human Magi?"
Though, now that she thought about it, Nami might be a human Magi. Kelly had seen no markings to indicate she was anything but a slightly less than ordinary human woman.
How exactly did Magi get their powers, anyway? How were they passed down? She had thought that the only people who could inherit magic were non-humans. At least that had been what Gin and Kureha had led her to believe…
"While they're considered above humans in any case, a lot of more traditional types among the Magi see them as lesser," Hanley said, after handing another drink off to one of the other bar's patrons.
Kelly's skin prickled uneasily. "That doesn't sound…right."
"Magi have a lot of reasons to hate humans, and humans having our gift doesn't sit well with a lot of us," Hanley said softly. "There ain't a Magus in the world as don't have a few horror stories to tell about humans. You may be young, but it's the same for you, isn't it?"
Kelly's throat went tight – screaming pain, the roar of the crowd, the tang of blood in the air – and she looked down into her half-melted drink.
"You've been alone for a long, long time," Hanley said, and his voice was quiet. "You remind me of my husband, before he met those idiot followers of his."
Swallowing the lump that had wedged in her throat with a long drink from the glass, she looked back up at him.
"Who's your husband?" she asked, her voice strained, and thank the gods he didn't comment on it.
"His name's Montblanc Cricket," Hanley said.
Kelly stared.
"M-Montblanc Cricket?!" she spluttered.
Hanley put a hand on his hip.
"You got a problem with my husband?" he asked, sounding just shy of truly dangerous.
"What-no, no I don't, it's just…I didn't expect him to be a Magus is all. The rumors about his family are less than kind, but that's par for the course from humans. How did the two of you meet?" Kelly asked weakly.
Hanley's eyes lost that dangerous glint, and he began to talk, replacing her drink with a full one as he did so.
"An altar?"
"Mhm, it's important for all Magi who come this way to pay their respects," Hanley said, leading the way through the forest on the opposite side of the island.
He had insisted the two of them go and visit this altar after the rest of his customers had left, and Kelly had gone with him. It wasn't like she had anything better to do, now was it? Luffy and the others would have other things to do.
"Who's it for?"
"You'll see."
The two of them wound around the base of a large tree, with roots that arched out of the ground several feet above Kelly's head, and crested a small hill on the other side. Atop the incline, in a small clearing that gleamed with light, was a tiny altar.
Spells danced through the air, protections for pilgrims against the wild animals that roamed the forest, signs for safety and healing and others, thousands of them, far too many for Kelly to name. But the feeling of peace and serenity was unmistakable, and the subtle tension that had threaded her shoulders for the past several days vanished.
"This is the shrine of Montblanc Nephele, child of the goddess of the high air, the youngest of the Four," Hanley said.
Kelly walked with him up to the small wooden structure, and knelt before it. It was only about three feet tall, and two feet in width, shaped to resemble a partial trunk of a tree, with roots extending deep into the earth. It was hollowed out enough to allow two small jars to rest inside.
She knew without touching them that they were funeral jars.
"Montblanc Nephele and her beloved husband, Norland, rest within," Hanley said, his voice reverent. "After Norland was executed and Nephele died, their daughters brought them back here, and kept the true legend of what they saw going through the ages, despite the ridicule it brought them. It continues until the present day."
"Your husband?"
"Yeah."
The two of them sat in quiet silence for several moments, before Hanley sighed and stood.
"My husband'll be expecting me for lunch," he said, tracing signs in the air. "You're welcome to stay for as long as you want, but it's considered respectful to leave some signs of protections here before you leave. A sign you've been here, like all the others."
Kelly could see it now. The signs floating in the air were woven deep, worn grooves where hundreds of thousands of Magi before her had placed similar ones.
She sat in a peculiar sort of dreamy silence for a long while after Hanley disappeared from the clearing.
There was a singing in the air, a foamy quality to it that fuzzed at her ears and nose and mouth. She became vaguely aware of a woman sitting next to her.
"I was wondering when you'd get here," the woman said, and Kelly looked at her.
She was a shorter woman than Kelly, with skin the color of sun aged bronze. Her hair was a deep brown veined with gold, and she wore robes of blue and white. There were smiles tucked in the corners of her wide mouth, and at the edges of her bright brown eyes.
"Montblanc Nephele, I presume?" Kelly asked. All she felt with a sense of deep curiosity and camaraderie in the presence of what had to be a ghost.
"Correct," the woman – Nephele – said, her smile deepening. "And you are Ciel."
Kelly winced. While she had no compunction about telling others her fake name (names had power, after all), she didn't feel it was right lying to the dead. The Magi dead, nonetheless.
"Er, well…technically I'm-"
"No, you are Ciel. You just have not realized that yet," Nephele said, and a shiver curled down Kelly's back.
"What's that mean?"
"You'll see."
"That's…ominous," Kelly said, running her hands over her arms. Nephele laughed, the sound like wind in crystal chimes.
"It's been a long, long time since I spoke with one of my kin. May I ask a favor of you, baha'hae?"
"A favor?"
"You travel with the pirates meeting with my descendant, don't you? You intend to go to the Amārā pūrvajō jamīna?"
"The what?"
"The land that was sent into the sky, along with my friends. Calgara's tribe. 'The land of our ancestors', he told us. It was the closest translation to the Common Tongue he could make."
Kelly's skin prickled. "So Skypiea's real."
"The great current sent the land into the sky, though I only realized this long after I was dead." The ghost's voice was bitter with regret. "And none of my children had the strength enough to see me. What little talent they had for communing with their ancestors was lost in the ridicule they suffered. If Aegle had not stayed, perhaps her children could have communed with me, but ah, I let her go, to Vaayu only knows what fate."
"Aegle?"
"The daughter of my first husband, a true Magus. She was the only of my four daughters who came with me when I left her father, and she did not renounce me when I married Noland. My family would have cast me out, but I had the blood of Vaayu Saamraagyee to keep me from harm, however diluted it was, and her blessing."
"Vaayu Saa-wait, who now?"
The look on her ethereal face was gentle. "Our goddesses, child. Our ancestors. The guardians of Magic itself. Vaayu Saamraagyee, Aag Saamraagyee, Jal Saamraagyee, and Prthvee Saamraagyee. The Empresses of the Four Corners of the World."
"And you're descended from Vaayu?"
"Just like you are descended from Jal."
The world slowed for a moment.
"I'm not descended from a goddess," Kelly said immediately, chuckling a bit at the very idea.
Nephele simply shook her head. "You are every bit as stubborn as my Aegle."
"What happened to her?"
"She decided to stay, to become the Magus of the Shandians. It was her Calling, she told me, and I could not deny her that, now could I? She stayed, and when we came back she was gone, along with the others. And it took me so long to realize where she had gone."
There were tears in her eyes, tears that were wiped away.
"You intend to go there, and I must ask a favor of you, baha'hae," Nephele said.
(Mistress, the pirates are worried about you,) Gin said, and Kelly started at the sound of his voice.
Gin, I'm busy.
(The monkey is being less than patient about it. I think he's close to believing you've run off, though Hanley is trying to convince them otherwise. I would not be surprised if he comes looking for you.)
The thought of Luffy intruding on this peaceful place made her insides curdle.
"Look, Nephele, I have to go," she said. "What favor do you need?"
The woman waved her hands in front of the shrine, and two things fizzled into view. A necklace, with a dark chain and a kairoseki pendant with strange symbols etched into it, and a set of two small battle fans, these made from some strange metal that felt as light as air, but strong than steel at the same time.
"Take these to the son of Calgara, and to Aegle's daughter. And let him, the one with Calgara's blood, know this."
She spoke words of grief and grieving, of hope and friendship. They seemed to hang in the air for a long time after she spoke them, and hung there still, even as she vanished from sight, her spirit exhausted by the conversation.
Kelly stood, and made to leave, but stopped, remembering Hanley's words.
She traced signs in the air – clumsy with it, her fingers feeling fat and thick – and left not signs of protection, but signs for family and welcome, of friendship and good will.
Then she left the clearing, her heart full, the strange weapons and necklace tucked safe away in her bag.
"CIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!"
"Oh fu-" Kelly managed to get out before Luffy slammed into her like a freight train, plowing her directly into the sandy beach. Hanley's cackling bellowed out across the water, along with the laughter of the Straw Hats, and an unfamiliar voice.
"Ciel, where were you?" Luffy demanded, his arms like rubbery vices around her body.
"Are you at all familiar with the words 'personal space'?" Kelly asked instead, once she'd gotten back her voice. "Why do you smell like blood?"
And he did – like blood and wounds far too recent to have come from Arabasta. She could see some cuts on his face, and rapidly disappearing bruises.
He shrugged. "Some stupid people," he said sagely, and then squeezed her even harder, making her eyes cross. "Where were you, Ciel? You know you're not allowed to leave us!"
Warmth curled in her belly, but she shoved it away.
"Get off me, you clingy bastard," she snapped. "I was paying my respects."
"Let the kid up, monkey-boy," Hanley said, coming over and wrapped an arm around Luffy.
But the rubbery dumbass refused to let go of Kelly when Hanley picked him up, so Kelly was dragged upright as well. She wiggled in annoyance, making snarling noises as she did so.
"Monkey-boy, I'd suggest letting him go," Hanley said in amusement.
"Not until he tells me where he vanished to," Luffy said stubbornly.
"He was paying his respects to a shrine in the forest, brat," Kelly's fellow Magus said with a longsuffering sigh. "I was with him the entire time, he had no intention of leaving."
Luffy gave Kelly a beady-eyed stare.
The Magus rolled her eyes. "He's right," she said gruffly. "Now, will you get off me?"
Luffy chortled, and released his grip, though he did keep a hold of Kelly's arm. He quickly pulled her over to the rather odd looking house, and shoved her down beside the dozing swordsman who rested beside the open door.
"Watch him, Zoro! Don't let him wander off."
Zoro cracked open a single eye and grunted in affirmation. Kelly sat there for a few seconds in a confused bad humor, before sighing and sitting back against the wall, as Shere leapt into her lap.
"You people are all fucking nuts," she said, and Zoro snorted.
She felt someone watching her, and looked over to see Montblanc Cricket – weird ass haircut and all – sitting on a small stump, Gin curled up on his lap without a care in the world. She glared at him.
Why did people keep fucking staring at her? That sort of shit gave her hives.
He smirked, and flicked his fingers out in a gesture that was as familiar as the handshake Hanley had given her when they had met in the bar.
No way.
No way, no way, oh gods there was no fucking way-
She concentrated, and felt her power flow out. The magic in the air stirred, and she felt power respond in Hanley, a quiet song, in Nami, a muted flow, and – there it was in Cricket, a thin trickle.
I keep running into Magi in the weirdest of places, she thought in blank shock, and then smiled somewhat shyly at him.
"The food's ready!" Sanji, emerging from within the house between Masira and – Shojo, was it? – called out. Luffy latched another hand on Kelly's wrist and dragged her back inside, the Magus growling all the way.
Hanley had decided to go with the groups heading into the forest, partially to help them, but also to steer the more clumsy Straw Hats well away from Nephele's shrine. Kelly, on the other hand, stayed with Cricket and the Monkey Brothers.
Mostly because she wanted something of a break from the Straw Hats, but also because she knew that dumbass Bellamy would be here soon. She didn't know if Cricket would be able to fight back against the user of the Bane Bane no Mi, as he was now a Magus, but she didn't want to chance it.
(And there was a part of her, not as deeply hidden as she would like, that wanted blood.)
There was an immense cracking noise, and the ship tilted, knocked by some great force.
Kelly smiled, realizing what that meant, opening the door and walking down to-
Where had the rest of the ship gone?
She stared out at the open ocean, and realized a huge part of the Merry had simply fallen away. That was Bellamy's work, no doubt, and Kelly winced, thinking about how badly Usopp would react to that-
There was a yell, and a female voice saying "That's our Bellamy!"
Right, she needed to deal with the present threat to the ship, and to her brother Magus. She dropped into Soru, and winked out of sight, landing in the shadows behind the house to see what was happening, Gin and Shere right beside her.
There the moron was, laughing, while his first mate – what was that idiot's name? – put a foot on Cricket's back, smirking and taunting the man.
"Now," Bellamy said. "Clean up the trash."
Fury. Fury roared like a forest fire through her, unstoppable and endless in its rage.
How dare you.
"Protect the monkeys," Kelly said to her Familiars, maintaining the last shreds of control over her temper for only long enough to enforce the order, before she let the reins slip from her grasp.
She moved.
Bone crunched, broke, shattered-
The blue haired man screamed, a sound so broken by pain and fear it no longer sounded human-
Twin roars of fury, the sound of more crunching bones, shrieks of terror as Shere and Gin exploded from the shadows like avenging wraiths, felling the pirates who were unlucky enough to be near the bleeding and bruised Masira and Shojo.
Kelly wrenched the blue haired man's weapons out of his hands, then tossed them aside. She grabbed the man's arm and pulled it back, feeling the bone bend, bend, bend-and then break in a way that was far too satisfying.
She kicked him in the spine, feeling it crack beneath her boot, and knocked him headfirst into the woman who had praised Bellamy.
"Wow, this is fun!" Kelly said, laughing as she buffed her claws on her sweatshirt.
"Who the fuck are you?!" The blue haired moron snarled, his voice trembling with pain.
She looked over at him, and smiled, her mouth glinting with teeth, and she casually stripped off her jacket. Her scales glittered in the moonlight, blazing with power and light, and she rolled her neck.
Who knew the sound of her spine popping could be quite so menacing?
"I'm the person who's going to kill you, little boys," she said all too cheerfully.
They had touched a Magus. They had touched another Magus. They had dared to harm another Magus, in front of her.
Cricket was bleeding because these fools were greedy for gold. Humans. Humans were always the same, greed and a sense that everything belonged to them, that they had a right to take whatever they wanted-
For a second she was somewhere else, on another island, while another Magus screamed in pain and fear behind her, but she couldn't do anything – Sara, I'm sorry! – and a red haze filmed over her vision.
"Spring Hop-urgh!"
There was red over everything, but she could see enough to know that she had grabbed Bellamy, snaking her own Magic inside him, instantly negating the effects of his Devil Fruit.
She saw her hands come up, dig gouges into his chest, wrap blue-veined fists around his neck. She saw him go flying. She saw herself following. She saw herself stamping down on his bones and breaking them. She saw her fangs sinking into the blue haired man's neck when he tried to stop her.
She heard the scream and the sounds, but distantly.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Snap, snap, snap.
And they were content.
Then a voice reached them.
You should stop.
Why should I stop? He deserves it.
Do not shed his blood here. Not on this land. Listen to me, Ciel. Stop this.
There was an arm wrapped around her waist. There was Magic twining with her own, as clear as the sun on the ocean, and just as pure. Hanley, she realized.
Hanley, her brother Magus, wanted her to stop.
She could do that.
She would do that.
It felt as though her eyes were opening, though she could tell they were already open. The haze was slowly slipping away, replaced by colors other than red. The sandy dirt of the beach. The blue of the ocean. The brown-white of the building and Merry. The grey faces of Bellamy's crew.
The red of the blood staining the ground.
Hanley's arm was still around her as she allowed him to pull her back.
The mako shark fishman cradled her against his chest like a dog's owner might cradle their wounded and snarling animal – with gentleness, but also an arm of cautious iron.
"I'd suggest you leave," Hanley said, his voice caught by the winds and snapping across the dead silent beach. "Take your dead and get lost, or I'll let him finish the job."
Kelly felt as though her senses were muffled by Hanley's magic, and barely heard what the pirates said to that, though they left in short order, carrying a half dead Bellamy and an already dead Sarquiss – ah, that was the man's name – along with them.
So she did have venom, she thought dully, looking at the purple face of the dead man as he was carried away.
Neat.
There was a tense silence for a few seconds more, before Hanley sagged, dropping his head onto Kelly's head with a groan.
"Jal help me, you are terrifying, kid, you know that?" His muffled voice said. "Let's go tend to my husband and his dumbass sons."
She let the man drag her over to the three, and allowed her Magic to trickle into his, helping Hanley heal the others.
"I told you to learn some damn combat Magic," Hanley snapped, brushing his dark fingers over Cricket's pale chest. "But nooooo, you just have to do things your own way, don't you? Dumb fucker-"
"You know I don't have talent for that shit, Han," Cricket snapped right back. "And those two idiots need healing more than I do."
"Oh, I'll make damn sure to give them all the healing they need after I deal with you," Hanley grumbled, before shooting Masira and Shojo a look so fierce that both of the monkey-men sat back down real fast.
Kelly giggled, the sound foreign and strange in her throat as Gin and Shere rested on either side of her.
Hanley and Cricket both looked at her for a moment, before they exchanged a look Kelly couldn't have deciphered, even if she didn't feel quite so weird.
Then Hanley turned to Gin.
"Get your Master into the water, let them wash up and wash out, yeah? I've got some clothes they can wear when they're done, and after I finish tending to these idiots."
"But I dun need a bath," Kelly protested, feeling somewhat dizzy.
Hanley rolled his eyes. "You're a damn Sea Snake, kid, you need the water. Also, you're covered in gore."
Kelly looked down at her claws and clothes, and saw that they were indeed covered in blood and bones and squishy bits.
"Shit, wouldja look at that," Kelly said, swaying a bit, and Gin – now human and lanky and far too amused - tugged her over and behind the privacy of the house to undress.
Kelly sat on the railing of the promenade deck as the ship was towed out to sea by Masira's and Shojo's ships. The dulled effect of her fellow Magus's magic had faded away a bit, and she felt-
Well, she didn't know quite what she felt, and that was a problem.
She didn't regret trying to kill Bellamy, though a small part of her wondered how that would affect the story. She hadn't killed him, so it wouldn't have been quite as bad.
But it. She had-
It had been so easy.
She had wanted to kill him.
Why hadn't she?
Kelly shook her head, and looked up as Shojo's voice rang through the air, and the voices of the men sounded out with the location of the current. The waves rolled, and Magic reached out and clamped around her spine.
She slid off the railing, and sat with a thump on the deck, just as the ocean began to roll and churn below them. The sky was dark, and water sprayed her face.
Gin, Shere, come here now, she ordered, and leapt to the lower deck, landing beside Zoro.
Her Familiars darted to her, away from Chopper, and she scooped them up, depositing Shere in the front pocket of Hanley's jacket, while she tucked Gin behind her, almost in her hood.
"Finally wake up enough to join us?" the green-haired swordsman snarked, and she leveled him with a less than amused look.
"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, Roronoa," she said. "How long do your naps take, hm?"
He nudged her and smirked, and she smirked back.
Then the realization came to her as Zoro went to look at the whirlpool they were heading into.
He was teasing her. He was playing with her, joking around with her, having fun-
Like a friend might.
But they were falling into the whirlpool before she could really begin to understand what she felt about that, and then the whirlpool was gone. The Straw Hats voiced their confusion, looking around as they tried to find where the whirlpool had gone.
"No, it's already started," Nami said, her voice trance-like, and not for the first time Kelly had to just marvel at how attuned the girl was to the ocean.
Then there was a voice calling out across the sea, and every nerve in Kelly's body went on full alert, full raging focus. Whatever calm Hanley had left with her was long gone in the wake of that gravelly voice.
And in the distance, she saw, emblazoned on a billowing mast of black cloth, a three headed skull and crossbones Jolly Roger, flying with menacing proudness over a ship crafted of immense logs.
Her breath came short to her lungs as Edward Teach bellowed "STRAW HAT LUFFY!"
Blackbeard.
The one who handed Ace over to the World Government and the Marines.
It would be so easy. It would be so easy, so simple for her to reach out, to make the sea pull that bastard and the entirety of his crew to their deaths. It would be so easy.
But-
Should I interfere, she wondered. I know what he will be capable of, I know that he is a threat, but he is a threat that I am aware of. If I kill him, what other threat will rise to take his place?
Would he or she be even worse?
But then she blinked as Teach's voice filtered in once more.
"Your head's got a 100 million beri bounty on it!" The traitorous scumbag boomed out, sounding cheerful and affable as all hell. "And Storm Bringer Nami! You're worth 59 million!"
…
…
…
…
…what.
"I HAVE A BOUNTY?" Nami shrieked, her legs going out from under her.
Luffy was crowing with joy, leaping down from his seat to swing a borderline catatonic and foaming-at-the-mouth Nami into his arms, cheering.
Kelly hurried up to Usopp, who was looking with binoculars over to the other ship.
"Yo, Usopp, let me see," she said, and the boy handed over the binoculars.
And on the right was Luffy's WANTED poster, looking the same as it had ever been, with Luffy smiling stupidly at whoever had taken the picture, and the number 100,000,000 below his name and epithet.
But in Teach's left hand was not the WANTED poster of Zoro that Kelly had expected to find.
Instead, there was Nami, her eyes blazing with rage and power, her staff sparking with the remnants of whatever attack she had just used, blood streaking her face and arms. One of the wrecked streets of Arabasta during the war along with a sky gone dark with storms was her backdrop, making for a thoroughly terrifying (and badass!) picture.
And if Kelly concentrated, she could see the fallen form of a dark-skinned figure lying almost out of frame, surrounded by rubble.
She handed back the binoculars as Sanji demanded to know where his WANTED poster was.
The Magus had forgotten that Nami hadn't fought Miss Doublefinger, like she had done in the canon series.
No, she'd fought Daz Bones, the strongest of all the ranked Officer Agents, the assassin of West Blue that had been known to the World Government. She'd fought the man only a step under Crocodile in terms of the Baroque Works' hierarchy.
It was no friggin wonder she had a bounty.
(Though why was it only 59 million, and not 60 million, like Zoro had? …Sexist bastards.)
"Jesus H. Christ," Kelly said with a laugh. "Damn, Nami, I'm impressed!"
Nami snapped out of her catatonia long enough to come over and whack Kelly upside the head.
"You don't get to enjoy this, jackass! Ugh, I can't believe this-"
"PAY ATTENTION!" Shojo shouted.
Kelly's attention snapped back to the sea, which had begun churn alarmingly.
Hold on, she told her Familiars. Gin's claws dug into the skin of her neck, and she pulled her hood up and over him, to anchor him a bit more. Shere buried deeper into the pocket, and curled up tight.
Kelly darted to the lower part of the deck, and stood by the door to the kitchen. She braced her foot on the wall, and anchored herself with magic as the ocean began to rise. Magic bubbled and twisted, ancient and powerful and overwhelming in its intensity, and Kelly shook with the force of it.
She had wondered several times how such a thing could be so powerful to take an entire chunk of an island into the sky (barring anime physics - or lack thereof), but she felt it now. Felt what was coming, the magic and ancient strength awakening as some unknowable force called it up.
The air was still, quivering, like a rubber band stretched much too thin.
Then-
BOOM!
The water exploded, curving straight up into an impossible column of wind and sea currents, soaring into the sky without thought for physics or the mundane laws of man. G-forces smashed into Kelly's body like a particularly unforgiving giant's hand, and her Magic snapped out instinctively, shielding her.
She breathed through the sudden shock of it, hearing Teach's distant yells as he fell back into the hungry sea below.
The wind rushed past, and she found herself standing upright on the wall.
She looked up, and gasped at what she saw.
The current was a pillar extending hundreds, maybe thousands of feet into the churning air above her head, piercing the dark sky like a ray of gleaming, iridescent blue light. The ship glided along the current, barely held in place by the straining keel that bounced rather alarmingly every so often.
"Holy fuck," she whispered.
The Magic that roared through the air made her shiver.
Wood and debris rained down – victims of the stream, she thought with careless wonder, feeling a small amount of pity for the dead Sea King. But it didn't matter to her, even as the Straw Hats panicked.
If Nami couldn't keep them attached to the current, she could. And she wouldn't even have to try very hard. The Magic of the pillar called to her like a siren's song.
The trouble would be keeping herself from being consumed in turn.
"Unfurl the sails, right now!"
Nami's voice, stern and commanding, made her smile.
Under Nami's direction, the ship began to move, to lift off the current.
But it wasn't falling.
The keel lifted entirely out of the water, and born on the fearsome winds, began to fly alongside the current.
Kelly felt a laugh bubble in her throat as the Straw Hats shrieked with joy.
"Skypiea," she said, her voice lost in the roar of the wind. "Here we come."
FOOTNOTES AND TRANSLATIONS
baha'hae - Sermo; closest translation can read something like "one who is both brother and sister".
Amārā pūrvajō jamīna - Shandian Language; means something along the lines of "the land of our ancestors". This is the true name of Calgara's homeland.
Saamraagyee - Sermo; means "Empress". Used exclusively for the goddesses of the Magi faith.