A/N: Was anyone else freaked out by the similarities of the latest OP manga chapter to some of the events in this story? I was writing this to be so far removed from canon that I wasn't expecting to see anything like that to be in actual events, and yet... Whoa. Anyway enough prattling... on with the story!
Marie D. Suesse And The Mystery New Pirate Age!
A Deconstruction, which once again contains lot of disturbing and depressing stuff par the course for this story. Sensitive readers, be wary!
Chapter 25: The Second Underwater Submarine Incident
Upon the deep blue waters of the Grand Line, a naval skirmish was currently taking place.
If you want more details, the ship involved was the Thousand Sunny, and it was under attack by a small fleet of pirate ships. Judging from the insignias the ships flew, those ships looked to be stragglers left over from the Pirate Queen's armada.
Unfortunately for them, these same ships were facing some rather nasty odds: two devil fruit users, two aquatic warriors in their element, and a fully-repaired Thousand Sunny. Oh, and a security consultant.
Like I said, bad odds.
"They are just so eager to die, aren't they?" Gurnarde commented wryly, gazing past the bow at the approaching enemy ships.
"Possibility: remnants of armada objected to our treatment of Squall," The Disinfector mused, off-handedly deflecting the incoming canon-fire. "The Disinfector cannot imagine why, his end was more charitable than he deserved."
Gurnarde did not reply; she had already dived into the water, barely making a splash. Walker followed suit, but less gracefully than his svelte sister.
"You fiends! You will pay for what you did to our commander!" screamed the assorted pirates on the ships as they came into range. "Load and fire! Aim to kill!"
Twin spiraling columns of water shot out of the sea in response, rising to an incredible height before crashing down onto the deck of the pirate ship in a furious water-to-air assault.
"Wow. So that's what that attack looks like when it isn't interrupted!" Mar said appreciatively.
"I don't think they'll be shooting any more cannonballs at us now," added Mr. Suesse, who was manning the Sunny's cannons. "Our turn!"
Their returning volley of fire was considerably more successful and the pirate ship was rocked with several hits.
"Nice one, Dad!"
"Thanks, kiddo. I think I'm getting the hang of it," said Mr. Suesse modestly. For someone who didn't like guns, he sure seemed to be enjoying manning the cannons.
"Incoming! They have a devil-fruit user," warned The Disinfector. True enough, they could see a single figure launch itself off the deck of the floundering ship and fly towards them.
"Huh. What on earth is that supposed to be?"
"Cloud-Cloud fruit is reasonable supposition."
"So that's why he's doing a Sun-Wukong and surfing on the cloud over to our ship," Mar observed as the cloud-rider drew closer. But before the enemy pirate could burst into an impassioned speech or any kind of trash-talk, he suddenly fell through his own cloud-transport and plunged into the ocean below.
I should also add, the look on his face was priceless.
"Good use of logic enforcement, Captain Mar. The Disinfector approves."
"Er thanks," Mar replied, blushing furiously at the unexpected praise. "Oh er... looks like Walker and Gurnarde's got to the other enemy ship, guess this fight is all over now."
The Disinfector emotionlessly took note of the now-capsized vessels and the screaming-in-terror crew, and nodded. "The Disinfector agrees."
Later, Mar kept an eye on their dinner, which was cooking on the galley stove, while her father and Gurnarde were busy poring over plans to invade St. Magnus' mansion. The past few days had been hectic, as once her father got his mind made up to do something he didn't dally. The first iteration of their invasion preparations had been completed even before the ship had finished with its repairs. By the time they had sailed off, he'd pretty much had the whole thing planned out. Now Mr. Suesse was going through contingency plans and logistics in very organised, very thorough detail.
The Disinfector and Walker were in on the planning too, but Walker being Walker said very little in contribution, and The Disinfector seemed content to let the other two lead the effort.
Mar figured it was because he wasn't as interested in the endeavor as the rest of them. And while he probably wanted in on rescuing her mother because it would thwart Madelyn's mysterious objectives, Mar knew now that The Disinfector's real target was still Madelyn herself.
It was strange. After the incident in the infirmary and once they had 'disposed' of Squall, The Disinfector had thoroughly reverted back to his amiable, emotionless— almost inhuman persona. And even though she now knew who it was underneath the mask, Mar still found herself wondering if she had dreamed the whole thing and Law's story had all been a figment of her imagination. It was during these moments when she remembered that terrible look in Law's eyes back in the infirmary, which would bring her back down to earth with a shiver.
"The Disinfector would like to know what is a Sun-Wukong."
Mar nearly upset the pot she was stirring in shock. She'd been so deep in her thoughts she hadn't noticed that The Disinfector had left the galley table and was now standing next to her.
Behind him, she could hear Gurnarde's voice saying archly to her father: "...Fisher Tiger successfully raided Mariejois single-handedly. In our case, surely our combined forces would be more than adequate—"
"As I keep telling you, that only worked before because there was no precedence. Now that the ten-rude-bit-o's know that there is a possibility of attack, they will be on guard against similar loopholes..." Her father sounded quite annoyed at Gurnarde's input.
The Disinfector cleared his throat. Mar was reminded again that her attention had been wandering. "Er sorry. He's a monkey king."
This, I might add to those of you who do not know your classical Asian literature, is a technically accurate explanation if not a very useful one.
"It's a character from a book I read," she hastened to explain further. "He's like this super-zoan-monkey-guy with special powers who can ride on clouds and fly around."
"This explains Captain Mar's earlier description of cloud user."
"Why'd you ask, anyway?"
"The Disinfector wanted to know if was what induced Captain Mar to apply logic in that manner."
"Nah. It just made sense that clouds shouldn't be able to hold people on them. Well maybe it's not the most obvious thing here," Mar mumbled, remembering Skypiea. "But I figured it made sense. I am storing up on the logic you know, if that's what you were planning on asking me."
"The Disinfector concedes the point."
For a moment they stood awkwardly in silence. Even if he showed no outward sign of it, Mar was acutely aware now how painful her mere presence must be to Law. Every time he looked at her, he was being forcibly reminded of the woman he hated and whom she unfortunately resembled.
"Disinfector. I... what do I do if... when Madelyn finds us? I mean I can stop her if she's being illogical but what's to keep her from controlling me as well?"
"Logic fruit alone should render Captain Mar immune."
"And then what?"
It was a good question. Certainly good enough for The Disinfector to spend several minutes composing his answer.
"When time comes, we'll know. Remove Madelyn's existence entirely and make it so that none of this ever happened, or..."
He left the rest unsaid.
"...no activity..." crackled a tinny voice suddenly, "...waste of time, this..."
"What was that?" Gurnarde turned and frowned at the unexpected noise.
"Is that the black den-den mushi?" Mar asked curiously, remembering how it sounded.
The Disinfector didn't bother to reply, but instead just raised the wrist-mounted snail to eye level so it could better be heard. He had previously reclaimed the wiretapping device from Mar after they had left Hawker Island.
"...can't believe we're sitting out here freezing our... off just because the Fleet Admiral said so..."
"Marines," grunted Walker, and immediately headed out of the galley and to the crow's nest. He was a very practical fishman who knew when to anticipate trouble.
"...not like we can see a thing anyway..."
"...Quit whining, lieutenant. Orders are orders. If the Fleet Admiral wants us to reinspect the site of the Underwater Submarine Incident, we do it and we'll like doing it, understood?"
"...All due respect, sir...that damn thing's been down there for gorram twen'ny years. If those pirates wanted it that bad... could've gotten hold of it anytime..."
Mar noticed that the Disinfector's hand had suddenly gripped the edge of the counter more tightly than necessary.
"What is it? What do they mean by 'Underwater Submarine Incident'?" Mar whispered.
The Disinfector only made a motion for her to keep quiet.
"...well they didn't, apparently. The sonar's not showing signs of any disturbance."
"...Yay, can we go home now?"
"...Not quite yet... reports coming in about the New Heart Pirates and The Thousand Sunny being sighted not far from here. HQ orders are to investigate."
"...From ancient submarine wrecks to more ancient shipwrecks. Whoop-a-deedle-doo..."
The transmission trailed away to uninteresting whining peppered with some technical talk.
"Disinfector, what was that submarine incident thing?" Mar asked the moment it seemed appropriate.
The man in question recited robotically in response: "The Underwater Submarine Incident was a highly-classified Marine encounter that occurred twenty years ago. Marine forces pursued and sunk an unidentified submersible object at an undisclosed location. Despite his efforts, the Disinfector was unable to obtain any additional information about the submersible, the incident, or the exact location of where it happened."
It was then when Mar understood the Disinfector's line of thought.
"Wait— if it happened twenty years ago... you think that unidentified submersible they sunk is the Shark Submerge! You do, don't you?"
"It is possible, but yet to be confirmed."
At this the ship gave a lurch and changed course.
"Sunny?"
"Where are we going?"
"Sunny, stop!"
Despite the barked order from the Disinfector, the ship did not stop. They could hear Walker's exasperated roar of confusion coming from outside as the Thousand Sunny made a beeline for the source of the Marine transmission.
"Your ship's supernatural controller appears to be agitated," Gurnarde noted amusedly. "And very willful."
"Sunny, please!" Mar begged. But the ship disregarded her pleas. Unsure of how else to stop it, Mar turned to the Disinfector. "It's no use, Sunny's not listening to me. You have to talk him out of this."
"Damnit, Sunny!" swore the Disinfector/Law, his agitation showing by his slip of character, "Stop! I know you want to find them. I want to too, but we can't go about it like this!"
The ship slowed. Then a plaintive ghostly voice filled the room.
"But Doctor... if it's them... I need to know. I need to know..."
"And we will," assured the doctor. "But that place is crawling with Marines and we can't go in blind. We need a plan first. So calm down."
The ship calmed down and slowed to a stop.
"So uh yeah... how are we going about with this plan?" Mar asked nervously.
Gurnarde, who had been observing the exchange in interest, spoke up. "Your plan may have to hold, Captain. There are more pressing matters at hand. Whether those Marines be on their way to Hawker Island or where we skirmished with the remainder of the New Heart Pirates, that patrol will be heading in our direction regardless. We should prepare for battle."
"No, we should avoid it."
Everyone turned to look at Mar's father, who had until that point, remained silent.
"Fighting pirates is one thing. But if we clash with these law enforcement groups now, it would put people on the alert. And in the long run it may jeopardise our plans."
"Then avoid them we shall," said Gurnarde.
"Easier said than done. The nearest island in vicinity is still Hawker Island. There is nowhere to hide in the open ocean. Avoiding an entire Marine patrol coming this way will be problematic."
Gurnard smiled in response. "I have an idea. Let us adjourn to the deck!" Without further word, the mermaid led them above decks where Walker was quickly filled in on the situation.
"So um yeah... this idea?" Mar asked hesitantly. "What are you planning to do?"
"Sometimes standing still may be the best move one can make. If there is no cover to be had, we will produce our own and cast upon this ocean a fog of war. Walker...?"
The two siblings took up positions on deck and started moving in sync, in a strange swaying rhythm that made Mar think of raindancers. And even as the thought occurred to her, a thick mist began spreading over the surface of the ocean around them. Within minutes, the entire area was blanketed in an opaque fog which rapidly thickened until Mar could barely see the crow's nest from the deck.
"There, even a sea-eagle would be hard-pressed to see anything through this mist. If we remain silent, it is likely the Marine fleet will pass us without knowing we are here."
"The Disinfector had no idea merfolk could perform such feats."
"It is something of a new discovery," Gurnarde said proudly. "I taught it to Walker after I became aware of this ability myself. I had inadvertently manipulated the gushing lifeblood of one of my slain foes, you see... The crimson mist made for excellent cover."
There was an awkward silence at this.
"Er, right..." squeaked Mar hesitantly. "Um the water-based version is cool too."
"Of course. Blood possesses more warmth than seawater, after all," Gurnarde replied, completely missing her point.
"What now, then?" asked her father, apparently choosing not to continue pursuing that particular line of conversation.
"We wait for the marines to pass us. And once they are clear, we find the location of the sunken sub and confirm if it's the Shark Submerge." The Disinfector made a hand motion and covered the ship in one of his devil-fruit 'Rooms' as he said this.
"A little contingency never hurt," he added.
It was strange how complete silence was well... not. At least this was what Mar thought as the crew of The Thousand Sunny (with the exception of Gurnarde, who had slipped overboard earlier to do more scouting) sat and waited in the mist for the Marine fleet to pass. Certainly it was a tense time, and every ambient sound— the slap of the wave against the hull, or the creak of the floorboards, sounded like a gunshot to Mar's ears.
The only other sound on board was the black den-den mushi's relay, to which everyone was intently listening to.
"—amn fog... glad it's finally clearing."
A splash announced the return if their scout. "It was not a lone patrol loitering around. The Marine fleet is surprisingly vast." Gurnarde announced as she wrung the water out of her tattered cloak. "But according to the fish, they've passed us and reached the edge of the fog. We should be safe now."
There was a general sigh of relief on board at this.
"Then we're going to find them!" said the Sunny right after Gurnarde had finished her report. "We're going! Now!"
"Sunny..."
But there was no mollifying the ship this time, and it had begun to move on its own again.
"Should we...?"
The Disinfector shook his head. "The sooner confirmation is obtained, the sooner raid on St. Magnus may take place," he pointed out pragmatically.
"Can't argue with that," replied Mar's dad. "Let's just go along with our crazy autopilot then."
Everyone had to duck to avoid the swinging boom half a second later. The Sunny was apparently in a bit of a fey mood.
It was not long before they reached the area where the Marine ships had been. Mar was slightly surprised to see it had been marked with a single buoy.
"This looks to be the place. As you humans are unable to dive to such depths, Walker and I shall descend and seek this wreck they speak of. We shall soon see if it does indeed shed light on the fate your lost comrades."
The last bit was addressed to the Disinfector, whom Mar noted did not bother correcting Gurnarde about his relationship to the Straw-Hats. In fact, he was worryingly tense.
"This remaining mist could well be a double-edged sword. If the Marines decide to come back this way, we won't be able to see anything coming at us either."
"Then we'd best be quick. Have no fear. We will be back ere long."
With this, the mermaid swan-dived off the boat and into the white-misted ocean. Walker made to follow suit, but not before turning back to the gathered crew and waving a shy goodbye.
Maybe because the ship itself was in a state of high tension, the ensuing half-hour seemed to drag on forever for the crew. The Disinfector preoccupied himself with monitoring communications on the black den-den mushi again while her father continued poring over his mansion-invading plans in the background. Mar sat and watched the sleeping normal den-den mushi, willing it to ring with word from Gurnarde.
"Something is amiss," The Disinfector said suddenly, after a tense period in which no one had said anything. "Marine communications are too quiet."
"Isn't that good news? That means they're completely out of the area right?"
"Maybe," The Disinfector's didn't sound convinced. "Or Marines may have figured out we're tapping them and are brought out the white den-den mushi to block us."
"Aren't those things quite rare?"
"Yes." It was a single word, but the tone spoke volumes. If the marines were worried about them enough to employ blockers for common communication, they must have meant business.
But before Mar could respond, the den-den mushi suddenly rang. Mar snatched up the receiver. "Gurnarde?"
"Ah Captain. We've found it."
"It? You mean the Shark Submerge?"
"Yes. Judging from the deterioration it appears to have been lying on the seafloor for the past two decades. Not much remains of the original structure, I'm afraid. We almost mistook it for a reef."
"Then how you do you know it is the sub?" The Disinfector cut in, a little rudely.
"Walker examined the inside while I talked to a resident moray eel. They live quite long you know? This one was a venerable specimen. She told me of a time when the water in that area thundered and the thing that eventually became the reef fell upon her home. According to her, back then it looked very much like a shark in pieces."
"Walker is also finding something inside ship-reef," interrupted a deep rumbling voice. "Old bones. Some is being small hunam bones, but some big. And not bone. Metal but looking like hunam."
"Franky..." Involuntarily, Mar felt her eyes begin to tear.
"The moray assures me nothing living came forth from that wreck. I think it is safe to assume this is indeed the final resting place of the last of the Strawhats. You have my condolences."
An awful silence followed this pronouncement.
"So they never made it," said Law said somberly, any pretense of his Disinfector persona forgotten. Even with his face concealed Mar could tell he had been affected. "I'd always suspected it had to be something like that for them to not come for Chopper." He took a deep breath. "But now, we know for sure. All that time we were waiting, and they were all already long dead."
The ship's ghost was crying. Mar was too, much to the alarm of her father.
"I-I'm... ok Dad. And I'm sorry, Sunny," was all Mar could bring herself to say. "Just thinking about it... It's just so... sad."
"Captain, would you like us to retrieve the remains?"
Mar considered for a moment, then she remembered the desecrated graves of Zoro, Robin and Sanji upon the rock island.
"No, leave them there, Gurnarde. It's been their resting place for the past twenty years. It doesn't seem right to disturb them now."
"Very well. Then this quest has drawn to a close. Now let us resume our hunt for St. Magnus. Walker, we—"
Abruptly, Gurnade's voice was cut off in a burst of static.
"Gurnarde?"
The den-den mushi seemed to be having trouble relaying words. But the sounds that filtered through sent chills to Mar's heart.
"...bush... alker... flee!"
Then bursts of noise that sounded like explosions.
Mar was frantic. "Walker! Gurnarde! What's going on?"
It wasn't the den-den mushi who responded. Instead, she heard the Disinfector's bark to the ship: "Sunny, move! We need to get out of here now!"
"Wait!" Mar yelled. "Gurnarde and Walker are still down there and we can't leave them—"
"—should have known better! It was a trap!" The Disinfector looked furious at himself as he pointed to the surface of the ocean, which was bubbling. Even from above water, they could hear the distant rumbles. "We can't help them now! We have no submersibles and those two are in their element. If they of all of people can't escape from this underwater, we certainly can't! There is nothing we can do to help them but get away and regroup later!"
Mar couldn't help but notice that in his stress, Law's 'Disinfector' tone had once again slipped.
"Disinfector, we still have the cover of the fog." Mr. Suesse cautioned, his face worried and tense. "Moving needlessly would give away our position—"
There was a series of booms and then strange keening wail. Mar recognised the sound, though she could barely believe it.
She wasn't the only one. The Disinfector swore succinctly and whirled around, bringing up his hands as he did so.
"ROOM!"
The sky burst into firey explosions, lighting up the fog. The blasts did not touch the Sunny however, thanks to The Disinfector's timely intervention. Still, the heat from the explosion, and the sheer force of it was more than enough to be terrifying.
"All shots on target," she heard Law mutter to himself, before his Disinfector tone reasserted itself. "Somehow, they are aware of our exact location."
"And we have no idea where the shots are coming from thanks to the fog! This is ridiculous!" Mr. Suesse had raced to man the cannons, and then had realised that the effort was futile. For now they were safe, but the smoke and heat was choking, and they knew The Disinfector would not be able to hold the his 'Room' indefinitely.
"How?" Mar's fear was turning into resentment now at the unfair odds. "How do they know exactly where we were in the fog? That's just freaking illogical... cheating! Well if they want to play that way..."
"Captain, do not resort to that yet," The Disinfector said quickly, guessing her intent. "Save it. I'll do it."
"But we're trapped in here and—"
"—I said I'll do it. And Mar... whatever happens to me after we warp, leave it and focus on getting the ship away to safety, understand?"
"Warp? What do you mean war—"
She never finished her sentence because the world suddenly turned upside down, inside out and backwards to front. One moment they were in the middle of the bombardment, surrounded by fog and smoke. Next, the entire ship was somewhere else, in clear air and in the distance they could see the debris of the New Heart Pirate ships they had destroyed earlier. Much to Mar's confusion, around them was still the glowing blue confines Law's 'Room'.
"What... the hell?" Mar's father managed to say in shock. "We're back here again? Disinfector how did you... whoa!"
Mr. Suesse barely managed to catch Law in time as the other man slumped to the deck.
"Mar! Something's wrong with the Disinfector!"
Remembering Law's instructions, Mar ignored her father for the moment and scanned her surroundings. In the distance she could see Gurnarde's vast pall of fog covering the sea in the horizon. And ringed around the edges of the fog, was a massive fleet of Marine ships. They were all shelling a fixed point in the pale white mass.
"... just aim for the beacon, lads! No need to worry about the fog..." crackled The Disinfector's black den-den mushi. "Send them to hell!"
"Beacon?" Mar knew it was important, but right now they did not have the time to worry about such things. The Marines still hadn't realised the Sunny had moved. It was their only chance to get away. She made up her mind.
"...what the... the beacon's moved! They're right behind us..."
"Sunny, Three O' clock! Then Coup De Burst! Quick!"
With a whine of engines the ship responded. The Sunny flew through the air. By the time the Marine ships could turn around and train their guns into the Thousand Sunny, they'd be out of range... and free.
There was a groan from behind her. "Good job," Law said weakly, having just come to. He was still clutching at his heart and wincing. "Ouch. Never tried that with a whole ship before. And that kind of distance. Taxing."
"You can teleport things?" Mar's dad said in disbelief. I suppose it is a measure of accomplishment that Law's feat was so astonishing Mr. Suesse had completely failed to notice the ship was flying.
"Something like that," was Law's non-committal answer as the ship splashed-landed and immediately began sailing for it. "Good thing I made the proper preparations beforehand. I had a premonition we might need them."
Behind them they could hear the reports of the Marine guns, futilely firing after them.
"They're still firing at us? Huh... but we're well out of range of those cannons now," Mar began. "They're not going to—"
Then her eyes widened.
This time it was Mr. Suesse who swore. "—it! Those are long-ranged—"
Too late. Before Mar could react, the deck of the Thousand Sunny exploded in a mass of splintering Adam wood and fire.
"I'm sorry."
When Mar came to, she was lying on the bottom of a small boat. Her ears were still ringing and her hair was plastered against her face with something that didn't feel like water. It took her two tries to pull herself up, and several seconds to realise she was in the Mini-Merry. Then the memories came rushing back: memories of nearly drowning and being pulled out of the water, and then her father's face, saying something about staying put and going back and...
"I'm so sorry."
The memories turned to ash and withered away from her mind as she turned around towards the source of the voice. A short distance away, wreathed in flames and floundering on one side, was the Thousand Sunny.
"Sunny!" Mar cried out before she could control herself. But the ship was dying. It was dying and it was crying. Then Mar's heart nearly stopped as she realised what seeing the burning ship meant for everyone else who had been on it.
"Dad? Dad! Where are you? Disinfector? Dad?" Her desperate screams rang out across the water. Her stomach cramped with fear. It couldn't end like this. Not like this! "Dad? Disinfector? Walker... Gurnarde... Anyone?"
"Mar!" a faint shout came from the direction of the wreck. "I've got him, over here!"
Her father was slowly swimming towards them, an unmoving Disinfector in tow.
Relief brought tears to Mar eyes. For a moment, she had thought she was going to be the only one left alive and alone. "Dad! Dad! Hang on in there, I'll bring the boat over!"
But even as the little boat made its way towards the survivors, a sharp crack from overhead directed their attention upwards. The burning mast had snapped. Both boom and beam were falling towards where her father and the Disinfector were in the water.
At that moment, Mar made another decision. Regardless of what Trafalgar Law had said about conserving her power reserves, all of it would be worth nothing if they were all dead. And she wasn't going to allow that.
The burning mast's trajectory suddenly shifted to a different angle as it fell, missing the two men narrowly. The fire sizzled into nothingness as it hit the water, throwing up a cloud of steam and smoke that obscured the immediate area.
"Dad?" Mar called out, clutching her stomach at the sudden stab of pain. "I can't see you! Say something!"
But there was no response.
Had it been enough? No, they could not be dead. She would not accept it. What was the point of having her devil-fruit power if she was forever keeping it in reserve?
"Sorry, Disinfector-Law," Mar whispered, "but I'm doing this."
And for the first time since she had eaten the Logic-Logic fruit, Mar consciously willed her powers to warp logic, and reality itself.
Dad and The Disinfector will be all right, Mar thought as hard as she could. A slight pain gnawed at her stomach. She gritted her teeth and continued.
Gurnarde and Walker escaped from the ambush fine.
The pain intensified. But still Mar persisted.
The Sunny isn't sinking. It isn't damaged. It isn't burning.
This time the pain nearly dropped her to her knees.
In the distance she could see the flames on the Sunny die down and fade away. And for the first time ever she was in awe at witnessing her own power. It was like watching a video playing in rewind; the pieces of wood were flying back up and reassembling themselves, and even the broken mast was rising back out of the water and joining with the stump that remained.
She had to keep going. The Thousand Sunny was was slowly righting itself as more and more wood fragments rose out of the water and started filling up the multiple holes in the shattered hull.
I can do this! she encouraged herself by thinking.
She was going to defy logic, restore the whole ship, find her people and ensure they would escape against all odds. Then she'd worry about disobeying the Law's instructions. As long as they all lived to fight another day.
It was at this point when they came out of the smoke, dancing across the surface of the water almost as though they were jumping on air. Lithe figures in black, moving so quickly they were almost a blur to her eyes. And by the time Mar realised they were there, they were already too close. And before she could react, they were upon her.
I wish I could say Mar put up hell of a fight and gave them a run for their money, but sadly, weakened and preoccupied with restoring The Sunny, she went down from their combined attack in about... two seconds.
When it was over, Mar found herself on the bottom of the boat again, paralyzed from their strikes and unable to move. The one of the figures in black clapped something on her wrists, and the cold, weakening drain it emitted told her it was a sea-stone cuff.
"No... Sunny!" she managed to gasp, struggling to sit up with a body that wouldn't respond to her instructions. She'd been interrupted before she had finished the restoration; the ship was still doomed.
But her powers were useless now. Everything about her was useless now. As if she were an inanimate object, one of the men in black picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, where she was treated to the upside-down view of the partially restored Sunny, still slowing sinking below the waves.
"I'm so sorry," The voice of the Sunny cried in her head. "This is all my fault. You kept your promise, but I failed to keep mine. I'm so sorry..."
The rest of the ghost-ship's lament was drowned out by the voice of the man in black, who was spreaking into a den-den mushi.
"CP9 to HQ. Tell the Fleet Admiral his hunch about the Underwater Submarine was spot-on. Oh, and the tip-off we got from the inside source was good. Thanks to their help we managed to home in on the pirate flagship. Also, those new long-shot tracker warships did hell of a job and sunk those bastards."
Only the crow's nest of the Sunny was visible now, but soon it too, disappeared beneath the water's surface to join the Shark Submerge in its watery grave on the ocean floor.
"Good job," crackled the den-den mushi. "What about the pirates?"
"No other survivors found so far. Looks like it's over, and we've successfully secured the Pirate Queen."
End of Chapter 25
A/N: So... uh... yeah. Sorry for yet another downer ending again?
Just a quick note: there's been a lot of changes at FFnet recently, what with the new formats and covers and whatnot. I'd just like to assure everyone that no, it won't affect anything with regards to my stories. Fortunately, all my stuff is T-rated (well I think it is). I should say that if any of you think I should shift the ratings of any to M, let me know.
Q and A:
Tears of HappinessMirth 5/13/12 . chapter 24
I love all of your epic stories. But this, this just takes the epic cake. I almost always begin to wiki stuff up to look things up until I realize... this is a fanfiction! Hmm... delicious epic cake. And to think I put this off because of the title.
A: I'll admit, the title is misleading. Originally I'd meant to call this fic "Mary D. Sue and The Mystery of the New Pirate Age", which was a play on the typical titles of some One Piece OC stories, but it was considered too long for FFnet to accept. So I made some adjustments to make it sound like Anime!Episode title and also renamed the protagonist "Marie D. Suesse". In hindsight maybe I should have just called it "The Mystery of the New Pirate Age" or something. Ah well, too late to change now.
Gwerewolf 5/20/12 . chapter 24
My only real problem, though, is that you still seem to be too heavy handed with your narrative commentary... [sample quote of line here] ...It feels as if every time your story comes even remotely close to resembling a trope from a Sue fic (ex. Mar becoming slightly cooler as a character), you feel the need to defend yourself with a meta-narrative rant.
A: Oh dear, did that come across as 'defensive'? That's bad, as it was meant to be educational. You see, a lot of people previously wrote in and told me that they learned a lot about writing on reading this fic, so I started writing it with the idea of imparting what I learnt about writing and characterization in mind. So in this case I wanted to emphasize the difference between slow and steady character development justifying character change, and contrast what happens if there is a lack of it.
That particular line you quoted was supposed to be invocative of what CS Lewis' narration style in 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader', but if it sounds heavy-handed, I was probably doing it wrong :( Looks like I may have to go over the chapters and revise some of the phrasing when I have time. Thanks!
Fencing Supplies 6/7/12 ch3
Guess what I dug up,
"The fridge is locked by a four digit code, something Sanji has asked for many times to stop people (mainly Luffy) from stealing food. This code, "7326", is only known by Sanji, Nami, and Robin. This is because the code is combination of their names. 7 and 3 can be pronounced as "na" and "mi" respectively in Japanese and thus refers to Nami. Likewise, 2 and 6 can be pronounced as "ni" and "ro" respectively and thus refers to the two first syllables of Nico Robin's full name. 3 and 2 can also be pronounced as "san" and "ji" and thus refers to Sanji."
A: That is seriously cool. I've often wondered what the real cipher was, I'm happy to see it's not to far off after all! Thanks for taking the time to let me know!