Chapter 19
Sights
They had lost sight of the Going Merry. Johnny and Yosaku desperately tried to spot the ship. In truth it was a lost cause. Usopp had been pacing around trying to come up with ideas, but Maxwell couldn't understand half of what he was saying. No, he was to busy finishing up Zoro's treatment. Thankfully, whatever distance they put between themselves and Mihawk the healing spells started to work again. However, that didn't stop them from both being exhausted.
"...Get some rest. You'll have a scar, but you'll live," Maxwell leans back panting.
"Heh... Thanks Max..." Zoro closes his eyes to fall asleep.
Usopp takes this moment to approach, "You doing alright Max?" He'd been watching the mage work for the last hour.
"...Water." Usopp opens a canteen and hands it to him. Maxwell downs it in one gulp and wipes his mouth with his sleeve, "...Something was interfering with my magic. Whatever blade that Mihawk wielded, it was not normal." Maxwell holds his head in fatigue, "Not only that, I'm not a proper healer!" Maxwell throws the cup on the floor in his frustration.
"Hey..." Usopp tries to reassure him, "You did the best you could. Their's no need to fret about that. Besides, the hawk-guy said Zoro would live anyway, right?"
"That doesn't change the fact my magic was useless."
Both grimace at those words. Usopp didn't have anything to counter it and Maxwell was beating himself up.
"Sorry bros," Johnny and Yosaku joined them. "We overheard ya talking. Is Brother Zoro going to be alright?"
"Sigh... He'll live."
"Thank God..." the bounty hunters sigh in relief.
"Hehe... to think that Zoro duelled a warlord and lived," said Yosaku.
"Warlord...?" Both Usopp and Maxwell reply.
Yosaku rubbed the back of his head, "Oh right, you guys might not know." Yosaku takes a seat and explains himself.
"Honestly, I had forgotten myself. You know how we often visited Marine outposts?" Maxwell and Usopp nod. "Well we also get a little bits of information on how the world works. You see, the Grand Line is a harsh place, and the Marines can't always be in the right place at the right time. So the World Government has a back up system, the Seven Warlords."
"What? This World Government had a band of privateers or something?" Maxwell still didn't exactly buy that one kingdom ruled the world.
"Yep, and Mihawk is one of them. Pirates sanctioned by the World Government to hunt other pirates and otherwise have free reign. Some might just call them government dogs, but they're so strong!"
"Woah, woah, woah, woah! Time out!" Usopp makes a 'T,' "You mean to say their are 6 other guys just as strong as that swordsman!?"
"More or less yeah."
Maxwell shifts in his seat, "Do you know who they are?"
"Er... let's see." Yosaku starts counting his figures and rolls his eyes up, "There's Mihawk, like we just said. Bartholomew, 'the Tyrant,' Kuma. The 'Heavenly Demon' Doflamingo. Gecko Moria. 'Knight of the Sea' Jinbe... Crocodile. And Boa Hancock, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World!" Yosaku and Johnny both blush and wiggle thinking about her.
Meanwhile, Maxwell and Usopp look at them confused. "So these warlords can appear anywhere around the world?" Usopp asks.
"Oh, um," Johnny snaps out of his love-struck state. "Yeah, they could. But they mostly stick around in the Grand Line at the government's behest."
Usopp begins to sweat, "Oh man. Max, I think I'm coming down with 'Let'snotgototheGrandLine' disease!"
"Sigh...," Maxwell pinches his nose as he thinks of what those pirates could possibly do. Mihawk was terrifying, so the thought of six other pirates like that... Maxwell shakes his head. They weren't there yet, so they'll worry about it later.
"So... we lost sight of Nami," Maxwell changes the subject.
"Yeah... we're sorry bro," Johnny and Yosaku bow their heads.
Maxwell grabs his staff and rests it against his shoulder, "Don't worry about that now. Do you have a map we can look at?"
"You don't mean—!" "Yes! We do!" Johnny rushes into the cabin to find one. He immediately brings out a map of East Blue.
"Me and Yosaku had to brush up our navigational skills when we became bounty hunters!" he spreads it out on the floor. "We could find Sis Nami if we project where the ship was going, right bro?"
Maxwell smiles, "Exactly. And we'll need you two to do it too. Me and Usopp don't know how to read maps yet."
"Leave it to us!" Johnny and Yosaku start looking at the map and even bring out a compass to determine where they are. With occasional glances at the sky they find out which way Nami is going.
Usopp turns to their mage, "Hey Max, are you going to be alright?"
"Hmm?" Maxwell turns to Usopp, "What do you mean?"
"Did that spell take a lot of you or something? You're looking a little thin..."
Maxwell looked down at his chest and noticed his skin did look a little tight over his bones. He pulls up a sleeve and does notice his muscles had atrophied a bit. However, Maxwell believed it would come back eventually.
"...Healing spells require vitality in order to work," Usopp blinks at the news but Maxwell carries on, "Most healers would normally call upon a spirit to provide the energy. But since I've entered this ocean, I can barely see any spirits in the Fade."
"...What's the Fade?"
Maxwell chuckles, "...It is the source of all magic. The realm of dreams. The world of spirits and the dwelling place of demons."
"D-D-Demons!?" Usopp begins to sweat at the possibility of demons being real.
"Relax, your safe," replies Maxwell. "The only chance you'll see a demon is if it's summoned or if it possess another mage."
"W-Why would I be safe, if they can possess people?"
"Mages. Not people," Maxwell corrects Usopp. "Spirits in general have a desire to experience the living world according to their concept. Some of them become corrupted, want to interfere, and become a demon. But they need a suitable vessel to contain them. And since mages can use the Fade..."
"You have to constantly fight off demons trying to possess you."
"Not as often as you think, but it has happened before. They try to tempt you, trick you, into allowing them into your body. Most of the time, you can fight them off easily. But sometimes if someone becomes desperate enough..." Maxwell's voice trails off.
"...You've seen possession before. Haven't you...?"
Maxwell breathes through his nose, "...More often then I'd like." Maxwell thinks of the rebellion. How he and countless other were forced to fight for their lives all over the Free Marches, "It isn't pretty."
Johnny and Yosaku begin to frown, not liking where their calculations took them.
Maxwell leans forward, "What's wrong?"
Johnny and Yosaku look at each other nervously, "Brother Max, we... might have an idea where Sister Nami is going." "But it's not good..."
"Why's that?" asks Usopp.
Yosaku gulps, "You know when we said Sister Nami was acting strange, looking at those wanted posters? Well, we remember her specificity looking at Arlong 'the Saw's bounty poster."
"And where she's going... is on course with Cocoyasi Island." Johnny points out a small island to the west. "And near that, is Arlong Park. That's the place where Arlong is held up at."
"And this Arlong is...?" Maxwell drawls, as if asking them to go on.
"A fishman." they echo.
"What? Like a mermaid?" Usopp asks, not sure if he believed them.
"No! They're shaped like a man, with fish-like features!" "Webbed fingers, fish scales, gilled necks!" "There are numerous fishmen, taking features from every kind of sea creature!" "And each of them are as strong as 10 men!"
"And Arlong is in the East Blue! With a whole gang of them!" "He was set loose when Jinbe became a Warlord."
"Seriously!?" exclaims Usopp.
"But why would Nami head there?" Maxwell starts stroking his beard.
"I don't know! Rumour is, Arlong hates humans and kills any human he sees on sight."
...
...
"Well... we can't stop now," Zoro wakes up.
"Bro!" "Zoro!"
Zoro adjusts himself to sit against the cabin. "We're going after Nami, right? If she's really there, than we need to head to Cocoyasi Island."
"Okay, but how do we tell Brother Luffy where she is!?" Yosaku jumps onto the bow. "Those fishmen will catch us before we even leave the shore!"
Their answer came in the answer of a panda shark.
*CHOMP!* "YEOW!"
The panda shark drags Yosaku into the water, but still stay's afloat as Yosaku paddles them like a speed boat. "What the fuck is that!" Maxwell leans out over the side.
"Stupid little cuttlefish," Zoro whacks the head of the panda shark as it makes a pass along the boat. The panda shark let's Yosaku go and holds it's noggin as a lump forms on it's head. "Oi! We need you to take one of us back to the Baratie," Zoro yells at the fish.
"Zoro that thing's not gonna—" the panda shark nods, "WHAT THE HELL!" Maxwell yells.
"Ugh... I'm free!" Everyone looks at Yosaku as he climbs onto the side, "What?"
*CHOMP!* "YEHAAA!"
"Yosaku! Guide that fish to the Baratie, we'll see you at Arlong Park!" Zoro calls out.
"YOU BASTARDS...!" the panda shark swims off with Yosaku in it's jaws.
Maxwell could only stare, looking between Zoro and the retreating shark. Apparently, people could talk to Maker damn fish!
"Okay, I'm taking a nap."
The owl opens it's eyes seeing the green abyss that is the Fade. It takes off, flying through the air still sensing the black energy that had inflected his friend.
As it flew, he saw mountains split in half. Floating masses sheered off by some foreign influence. But in this void he say a platform, and knew his target. The silhouette of a man, green in energy, as all things were in the Fade. This shape however, had a clear slash around it's torso. Not bisected, but definitely wounded with wisps of black miasma evaporating off the edges. The owl saw a trail, black as if it were dripping blood. The hawk could still be followed.
The owl took off, following the trail of splattered sludge. Each emitted a trail of smoke to follow. He could see the hawk, but it soon disappeared into a wall of fog. The owl could not peer into it. The mist, thicker than a bowl of pea soup. And the fog was endless, reaching to the heavens above and the abyss bellow. Only a storm could be seen somewhere in the distance, following the bastion of cloud.
The owl dared not go further. For things swam in that mist. Things he'd dare not tangle with.
"You know, there's a reason it's called the Ship's Graveyard."
The owl quickly turns it head and takes off. A demon had stood beside him.
He flies as fast as he can desperate to lose that Arcane Horror.
He wakes up.
"There it is! I found the Going Merry! She docked it over there!"
Maxwell slowly opens his eyes. Something about that dream didn't make sense. He's seen and warded off demons before, but this one was different. It didn't seem interested in him like most pride demons. Something about it was different, but nonetheless he had to be careful if he ever saw it again.
"Hey, what's the meaning of this! Unite me now!" Maxwell jerks his head fully awake. He sees Johnny and Usopp looking out over the island. Something felt weird around him.
"Hmm, that certainly is a rather strange place to dock the ship. It's a little off from the Cocoyasi Village marked on the map." Johnny points out.
"I said untie me!" Zoro was tied around the cabin. And Maxwell was tied up beside him.
"What the—Usopp! Why am I tied up!?" Maxwell yells at the sniper.
Usopp flinches and turns around, "Ach! Max, you're awake! Sorry man, but Zoro had this crazy idea to charge straight in and demand answers." Usopp starts to pat Zoro on the shoulder, "We thought you might have agreed with his idea."
"DO I LOOK THAT STUPID TO YOU!?" arcane energy fills his eyes, releasing an eldritch glow. "I WAS FADE DAMNED ASLEEP!"
"AH!" Usopp immediately falls back, scared of the fierce glow in Maxwell's eyes. Usopp laughs nervously, "Heh hehe...," and stands up to the bow, "Just leave it to me! I'll bring that girl back!"
Johnny looks at Usopp suspiciously, "Aren't you suddenly cheerful, now that you know we're not going to Arlong Park..."
"THAT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING FOR ME! GET ME OUT OF THIS THING RIGHT NOW!"