Hi, guys! :)
Thanks to , MikuMagic, and YaOiLoVeR27 for the Favs and Follow!
Tsukino Aisuru - A - Yup! :)
pizzafan123 - I'm glad you like what I did with the chapter. :) Things are going to get a lot more interesting from here, believe me!
And here we go!
Chapter 54 - The Flag!
"Our flag!" Nami yelled in surprise. "It's gone!"
Maria looked around deck for a moment. "Not only that, but we're missing Zoro, too! And Chopper and Luffy!"
"This isn't good," Usopp groaned.
Maria bit her lower lip, wondering what exactly it was that wasn't good about the situation. Then she remembered what it was that Luffy had said about Captain Puzzle and his pirate crew.
"The captain's given up on their flag. They're no longer pirates."
A shudder ran through the amnesiac when other things came popping into her head, mainly Luffy standing on top of a snow-covered castle, holding a flag with a skull-and-crossbones with what looked like flower petals going across the flag.
"Chaos and the Master Emerald," Maria muttered, running a hand through her hair in order to remove some of the knots brought on from the wind. "This is even worse than I thought. We're going to have to get that flag replaced."
"No," Robin responded. "We have to get it back."
Maria bit her lower lip. "How? And what took off with it?"
"Yeah..."
Sanji, Nami, Robin, and Franky came down onto the main deck and gathered around Maria and Usopp.
"It just disappeared," the cook added to his own statement, eyeing the place where the flay had been flying a moment ago.
"How long has it been gone?" Franky asked, frowning.
Usopp started panicking, pacing quickly across the deck worriedly. "Oh, no...where did it go?! It's gone gone gone gone gone!"
"Uh...I don't think saying that will do us any good," Maria commented, watching Usopp pace back and forth across the deck. Her eyes moved down to his boots. "And I think you're going to wear a rut into the deck."
A sudden flash of purple came and went out of the corner of the amnesiac's eye, and she turned when she saw Robin dashing over to the side of the ship that was facing the icebergs. Curious, Maria followed after the archeologist, as did the others.
"What's wrong, Robin?" Franky asked as the rest of the crew reached the deck railing.
"That's absurd," the woman muttered quietly, frowning.
"Eh?" Usopp looked over at Robin in confusion while Maria frowned at her in curiosity. "Is there something over there that I'm not seeing?" He started digging around in his coat for something, pulling out a pair of binoculars a moment later.
"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Maria asked.
Robin glanced over at the amnesiac while Usopp raised the binoculars up and looked out over the icebergs. "Your visions didn't let you see this?"
Maria blinked a couple times out of surprise at the question, then frowned. "Not that I can remember off the top of my head, no. The last one I had was last night, with the ring of Marines - not that they were, probably." The blue-eyed teen shrugged helplessly. "I haven't had anything like that since - and I haven't had any memories come back, either. It's weird."
"There it is!" Usopp suddenly exclaimed. "I see the flag!"
"Where?" Franky and Maria asked at once. The cyborg and amnesiac looked at each other for a moment in confusion when they heard the other speak at the same time.
"It looks like some weird bird-fish thing has got a hold of it," Usopp replied, not looking over at the two.
"I thought so," Robin stated in a grim tone. When Maria and the others looked at the archeologist in confusion, she added, "Those same people we've been dealing with are the ones who stole it."
"What?" Maria asked in surprise while she and the others looked at Robin in shock.
"I saw that little one commanding that bird before we got out of the ice," Robin finished.
Usopp let out a yelp. "It's taking the flag right back to the icebergs!"
"Damnit!" Sanji cursed. He turned and started running up the stairs towards the front of the ship.
"Hey, Sanji!" Nami called after him as she and the others turned to look up at where the cook was going.
The cook didn't give a response, but what the ship did was more than enough proof of his answer.
Maria let out a slight yelp of surprise when the boat suddenly did a complete U-turn. The amnesaic had to grip the deck railing in order to keep herself from falling overboard.
"Hey!" Franky barked. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Sanji called back. "I'm getting our flag back!"
"I'm not in the mood for jokes! We barely made it out of that place!"
"Calm down and think, Sanji!" Nami agreed. "We don't even know where Luffy and Chopper are!"
"Same for Zoro!" Usopp pointed out in an annoyed tone. Maria nodded in agreement.
"The best thing we can do right now is stay put until we regroup!" Nami declared.
"I'm sorry, but we can't afford to sit still," Sanji replied in a serious tone. "A pirate's flag is more important than a pirate's life. There's no greater shame than having it stolen."
Maria stiffened a little when she heard that. "Oh yeah..." She frowned for a moment, biting her lower lip a little before muttering, "Drum Kingdom...Luffy said the same thing there when Chopper was facing Wapol."
"I know that," Usopp agreed, "but don't you think we should go off and find our captain before we-"
"You're not listening to me, damnit!" Sanji roared. "Think you guys - do you want to be the one to tell our captain that we lost the flag?!"
Maria's blue eyes widened, and she instantly remembered the destruction that had taken place in Enies Lobby when Luffy and Lucci had been fighting. The entire room they had been in was blown to pieces, practically - and just because Luffy was using his fists!
A shudder ran through the amnesiac. "I do not want to be at the brunt of his anger."
"Keep steering!" Nami yelled.
"There's no way I'm telling him!" Usopp agreed.
"WE TOTALLY REFUSE TO BE SCOLDED BY THAT IDIOT!" the navigator and the sniper yelled at the top of their lungs.
Maria looked at the two of them in surprise. "Scolded?"
"That's their reason?" Franky asked, unbelieving. "Really?"
Robin chuckled to herself, seemingly amused.
Maria shook her head. "I'm more afraid of what his fists will do to us when he finds out."
"If," Robin corrected.
"All right," Sanji stated from his position at the helm. "Let's do this."
As the ship started to drift back into the Frozen Highway, a large iceberg suddenly started to drift into their path, blocking off any way forward.
"Again?" Sanji asked in annoyance as Maria and the others came up onto the upper deck. "Seriously?"
"What is up with this ice?" Usopp demanded. "It's stopped moving!"
"Doesn't look like we're going anywhere until we figure out what's making these icebergs act this way," Nami commented, frowning.
"Well, I've got no idea," Maria commented, shrugging. "Like I said before, this place kinda reminds me of a Mystery Dungeon."
"Franky?"
"Huh?" The cyborg looked over at Nami.
"You feel up to doing a little reconnaissance work with me?"
Franky and Maria frowned in confusion upon hearing that.
"What are you talking about?" Maria asked.
"I'm talking about one of the surprises that Franky has in that Dock system of his," Nami replied, giving the cyborg a pointed expression.
"What? Since when would you know about that?" Franky asked, scowling.
"I made it a point to know every single inch of this ship - and what's going on in it for the sake of everything involving money. Did you really think that something like that would go unnoticed?" Nami gave a pointed smirk.
"Everything involving money...?" Maria frowned at Nami in confusion. "Does that mean you track everything that we buy?"
"Not necessarily. If its books and things that I know won't do any damage, that's just fine. If it's anything else that could possibly be used to our advantage, well..." Nami's smirk became a little wider.
Franky gave a grin that didn't look quite as full as it could have. "Well, in that case, we'd better head down to Channel 3."
"Channel 3?" Sanji blinked in confusion.
"Yup. That's where I'm hiding one of our new gadgets." Franky's grin became a little wider. "It's a submarine."
Maria's head turned sharply when she heard that, the word ringing in the back of her mind like some kind of exciting dream. "Submarine? Like, go underwater?"
"Well, yeah. It can really only hold two people, though, so if you want a ride, you'll have to come along later."
Maria gained a scowling expression as the feeling of excitement dimmed somewhat. The amnesiac let out a sigh. "All right. Fine."
Franky chuckled, then walked past Maria and down onto the main deck, where he reached down into the lawn and suddenly pulled up what looked like a circular hatch. "Come on, Nami! You said you wanted to have a look around, right?"
"Yeah!" Nami moved down onto the main deck, then followed Franky down the hatch. The top closed behind the navigator, leaving the main deck seemingly unmarred by any sort of clear signs of a door.
Sanji scowled and muttered something under his breath as he moved over to the helm, fingering the lever that was on the wheel itself for a moment before starting to pull on it, shifting the numbers.
"Soldier Dock System Channel 3!" the cook declared loudly, shifting the numbers on the helm and pulling the lever next to the wheel.
"Right! This is Shark Submerge number 3, now dispatching!"
Maria stiffened a little in surprise upon hearing Franky's voice, and she looked around in order to find the source. While she didn't catch sight of Franky himself, there must have been something nearby that was projecting his voice.
"Come on," Sanji muttered. "It's obvious that we're not going to be moving for a while." He turned and walked away from the helm, Maria and the others following after him.
"Where are we going?" Maria asked, looking up at the cook.
"Where we can hear Nami-san," Sanji responded simply. The cook led them down onto the main deck and over to a large Snail Phone that was sitting on a bench surrounding the main mast. Much to Maria's surprise, the thing was beeping.
Sanji picked up the receiver with a calm expression, Usopp, Maria, and Robin moving in around the cook.
"Sanji, am I coming through?" Nami asked via the snail.
"Thanks for ignoring me," Franky muttered from somewhere nearby.
Maria frowned slightly. Franky must have been talking about something before they had picked up...but what?
"Yeah, I can hear you loud and clear, Nami," Sanji responded. "You guys seeing anything down there?"
"Umm...I doubt we're gonna find anything until we descend a little further. Franky, can you take us down underneath the icebergs?"
"You got it!" came Franky's response.
"Underneath the icebergs?" Maria repeated, blinking. "What does she think she's going to be able to find underneath them?"
"That is an interesting question," Robin agreed.
"Huh?" Nami sounded slightly confused. "What's that?"
"What's going on, Nami?" Sanji asked, frowning slightly.
"Did you spot something out there?" Franky asked.
"Can you lower the speed so that I can get a better look?" Nami asked. "Stop right here!"
"What is it?" Maria asked, looking up at the receiver Sanji was holding. "Did you find something?"
"What in the world is that?" Nami muttered, ignoring Maria's question. A moment later came a nervous gasp. "I think we found 'em!"
"What?" Maria asked in confusion - only for her to blink in shock when Franky asked the same thing at the same time.
"I don't know," the navigator responded. A moment later, there came a panicked yelp. "They saw us! They're headed this way!"
"What is headed this way?" Franky demanded in an annoyed voice.
Maria frowned in concern, considering what Nami had just said. "They...?"
"Just turn around!" Nami ordered.
Moments later, the two of them started yelling in panicked voices.
"Hey, what's going on?" Sanji demanded. "Answer me!"
Maria bit her lower lip in worry, then flinched a little when she suddenly got a quick picture of something in her mind.
"Uh, Sanji, I think they might have found the reason that the icebergs are moving around..." Maria murmured nervously.
Right then, there came the sound of icebergs moving, and it looked like there was something moving under the water towards them.
"There!" Usopp exclaimed, pointing out across the water. The group of four watched the dark mass swim under the boat, quickly running to the other side in order to see where it had disappeared to.
"Damn," Sanji cursed as the dark mass disappeared from sight. "Nami! Come back!"
Maria looked down at the waterline where the iceberg next to the ship disappeared under the surface. "I don't think yelling is going to help us at this point," she commented grimly.
There came a loud noise from behind them, and the group turned around, only to let out yells of shock when they saw the iceberg careening towards them.
"Uh oh," Maria yelped. "Don't sink the ship! Please!"
The amnesiac quickly learned that her prayer was answered - but at a heavy price.
The water underneath the ship suddenly shifted, and the Sunny was suddenly pushed upwards, sending the group flying upward and off the ship.
Maria let out a yell of surprise as she flew up above the ship. "Not good! That water has to be freezing cold!"
"We have to stay with the ship!" Robin called. She started sprouting hands from her own hands, reaching the deck railing of the ship and also reaching out for Maria, Usopp, and Sanji. "Grab on!"
Somehow, someway, Maria was able to latch onto Robin's chain of hands and arms. However, the others weren't able to be reached in time.
"They're too far!" Robin called in alarm.
"Sanji! Usopp!" Maria yelled after the two teens as they disappeared over an iceberg. Then the amnesiac felt gravity take hold, and she, Robin, and the ship suddenly dropped back to the sea, sending up a large geyser of water as a result.
Maria slammed into the main deck next to Robin, letting out a gasp as the wind was knocked out of her. The ship continued to rock as the amnesiac let out a loud cough, rolling over onto her back for a moment in order to help get her breath back.
"Are you all right?"
Maria looked up when she heard Robin's voice, and, seeing the hand being held out to her, she grabbed it and used it in order to pull herself to her feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Maria managed in reply, nodding. "Just...a bit winded, that's all."
There came a child-like giggle from somewhere nearby, causing Maria to frown before turning her head in the direction of the laugh.
"Will you play with me?" asked the blue-haired girl sitting on the bench around the mast. "It'll be fun."
"Who are you exactly?" Robin asked coldly.
Maria's right hand twitched. "I don't like the sound of her question..."
"My name is Lil," the little girl stated with a slight smile. "So, you do wanna play, right?"
Maria's eyes narrowed, and she started to lift up her right arm in order to summon her phoenix-headed staff, but Robin put an arm in front of the amnesiac, forcing her to pause.
"Just play along," Robin murmured quietly. "If she is a threat, I know that neither one of us will have a problem putting a stop to her."
Maria looked at Robin in surprise at the statement before giving a slight frown. "All right...if you say so..."
Yup. That happened in the anime.
I actually had a bit of a hard time figuring out where I wanted Maria to be, but I ended up deciding on Robin - mostly because of events that you're gonna see later.
Whelp, I'll see you guys tomorrow!
