Nami did not tell Usopp where they were going, and now, Usopp wants to cry.
"Shit, this place looks haunted," Sanji says. He sets foot on land and, with all his heart, wants to go back up there. "What, was there a war here or something?"
"Yeah, about nineteen years ago," Nami tells him.
They're in the ruins of the Oykot Kingdom, where a civil war once destroyed everything between it, and Marine intervention only made things further worse.
There are two castles, two territories in this kingdom.
The larger castle, Asukasa Castle (Akukasa? Asakusa?), was taken over by an 'unknown force from the World Government' as a base for the construction of the giant bridge that towered over the fog.
Even from here, through the fog, they can see the overwhelming shadow of the bridge. It stands taller than a giant in height, extends further than the seas can stretch in their eyes-- the millennium bridge, Tequila Wolf.
Usopp can see as much as a large, dark blur and its overcast on their area, so he's sure it looks much more impressive to the others.
"What's that huge thing?!?" is predictably the first thing Luffy exclaims upon seeing it.
"Luffy, no," Nami warns.
Luffy is giving her a look that screams 'Luffy YES'.
"Luffy, absolutely not," Usopp emphasizes, though he knows that saying no will only make Luffy go even more.
He straps a little capsule to Kinoko's feet and lets her fly.
Zoro sets down the anchor, stepping foot onto dry land with Wado Ichimonji at his side and Kogatana hanging like an ornament at his sash, occasionally bumping on Ichimonji's hilt like a jingle as he walks.
"Doesn't seem like there's any point in landing here," he mutters. "There's no forests or anything, just trash and debris. Unless we're going to the bridge."
"Look, shitty marimo, your kindred," Sanji says, gesturing at the piles of moss-crusted wreckage.
Zoro kicks broken wood at him.
"We're not here to restock or anything, I just want to find treasures and books from the abandoned castle over there," Nami points in another direction.
It's the second ruined castle on the farther side of the bridge, and it really does look like no one's been inside it for decades.
"That's Aznig Castle," Nami says, "we're going to avoid the bridge entirely, so whatever you do, don't enter Asukasa territory, okay? We're going to the other side."
And that makes sense.
Most of the slaves are on the bridge itself. What's down here are mostly patrol, supply transportation, and the information bureau for their building progress.
And Tequila Wolf is only taking up the area around Asakusa-- wait, was it Akusaka? Asukasa? Usopp doesn't know anymore. Who named these castles?
"Let's just call that one 'the stupid pink castle', and the other one 'the stupid other castle'," Zoro speaks up with a tired groan.
Wow, thanks, Zoro. Which is which? I can't see.
"Alright then," Nami picks up from there, "we're going to the stupid other castle. Do NOT go to the stupid pink castle, alright?"
"Too late, kids, we have a flier already," Gin says, staring blissfully in defeat at the tiny figure soaring in the distance.
Nami swears.
Usopp sighs, "I'll be right back."
Kinoko, having been making surveillance rounds around the island, detours toward Luffy. Usopp retrieves his Kabuto, picks up his walking stick, and goes after the boy.
"Ah, Zoro, go with him," Nami says. And her metal hand slaps against Zoro's back, the boy making a squawking noise as he's tossed forward by the force.
Zoro curses.
"Just go already," Nami squints at him.
"Geez," Zoro groans, following after the blind boy.
Gin and Sanji watches them make their way across debris toward the stupid pink castle, and Sanji has to take a drag of his cigarette.
A directionally challenged mosshead, a literally blind idiot, and a mentally stunted brat of a captain. They go towards the one place they are not supposed to go towards.
"Nami-san, is that really okay?"
If Sanji is doubting Nami's decision, it's probably worth doubting.
"Nope," Nami says, without hesitation. "But Usopp can handle it."
Gin whispers, "are we suicidal?"
And Sanji whispers back, "shit, we might be."
"Can we really leave the Merry here like this?"
Sanji makes sure the sails are drawn up and the anchor is down before they leave the ship in the little obscured cove in the corner of the island.
There are plenty of broken rafts in the area-- this was definitely the evacuation port in times of war, and Sanji could sort of tell.
"It'll be fine. No one ever comes by this area anymore," Nami says.
Meanwhile, Gin shrugs on his new coat.
It's a silver bomber jacket, strangely enough, it fits him perfectly. How did Sanji figure out his size? Even Gin didn't know his own size.
(He'd always stolen jackets, never bought one.)
(This is definitely the first time he's been given one.)
"Well, that looks pretty good on you," Nami approves, looking over him. It's dark silver, with dark blue details and a red wolf sewn at the chest. It's slightly different, but pretty similar to his old jacket.
Plus, it looked much cleaner and much more fitting than the old one.
Meanwhile, Nami had gotten herself a little wardrobe change too.
A sleeveless top. Her Whitebeard Mark was hidden, but her metal arm and a new tattoo on her left shoulder was in full view.
She had always worn sleeved shirts in towns until now.
"That's the one you got on the day we left?" Gin says, referring to the tattoo, remembering how it had been wrapped in bandages to heal until yesterday.
He squints a little when he spots the scar. It's pretty gruesome.
Nami smiles at that, setting a hand over the wound. "For a village girl, I sure have a lot of tattoos, don't I?"
Gin shrugs, unimpressed. "Your sister had more."
Nami laughs, "guess I can't lose out, huh?"
They turn simultaneously to see Sanji glaring at them (at Gin actually, he's only glaring at Gin,) with a sort of jealous, I'm-gonna-cry-blood look on his face.
He's even puffing up his cheeks like he'd just swallowed a lemon.
"You panda bastard, don't talk to Nami-swan so happily like that when I'm right here!" he whines.
"Panda?" Gin asks.
Nami snickers, "oh, are you jealous, Sanji-kun?"
"Yes! Very!"
After getting Merry docked in hiding, Nami leads them on their journey toward the castle.
The trip toward the castle is quick, simply because they've docked nearby and they actually went on a straight road towards 'stupid other castle'.
It's abandoned, it's haunted. Sanji didn't like this place at all-- the floors and walls are a little more than damp, creaking cement and bricks.
Sanji grimaces at the moss on the wall.
"Seems more like the castle's been dead for two hundred years rather than twenty," he mutters, scowling at the wall that comes off like sand as he passes his hand through.
"It's war," Gin tells him, like it explains everything.
(And it kinda does.)
They don't stop to sightsee. Nothing in the castle itself is salvageable due to many years of weathering. It's a miserable sight-- it's hard to believe anything here is worth pillaging.
Sanji is certainly curious about some of the kitchen supplies, but he and Gin follow Nami as she pulls a lamp lever down and reveals a secret staircase down into the basement of the castle.
"The basement. No one knew of this, so of course, no one's been around to steal it yet," she explains. "It's a long walk down."
She even knows where the spare lamps are, and which matches aren't laced with gunpowder to offset intruders.
Which, Sanji knows, is incredibly suspicious of the girl.
It's almost too good to be true, that she just knew where everything is and what the shortest route to the hidden room was.
"How did you know about this place?" Gin is the one that asks.
Sanji almost wants to box him over the head-- because both of them knew better than to ask something like that. Nami kept her knowledge obscure for a reason, and it's obviously a sensitive reason for her.
Her answer though, is out of their expectations.
"Nojiko told me," she says.
Before they can wonder how her village-bound sister has anything to do with this haunted castle in the middle of the sea, Nami elaborates.
"Nineteen years ago, Nojiko was friends with the princess of this country, and she learned a lot back then. Not everything was true, but some of it is."
This makes the two boys freeze in confusion.
"Wait, Nami-san, your big sister… knew the… who?" Sanji barely manages the question correctly, "...wait, how even?"
"Conomi is pretty far from here, y'know?" Gin adds. "And if it was that long ago-- she can't be that much older than you, so was she, three?"
Nami nods immediately, looking as if that was supposed to be common knowledge. "Nojiko and I are both adopted, we're not from Cocoyashi," she says, brows raising, "Bellemere-san picked us up from this very island we're standing on right now."
Now that , that earns her two surprised yelps.
"This is your hometown?!"
"Nojiko-san was friends with a princess?!"
"Huh? Did I not tell you guys?"
Usopp climbs over the broken horse cart, avoiding the splintered wood and getting himself on a little higher ground to survey the distance with his Haki.
He's not wearing shoes.
Zoro stares at him, slightly appalled.
"Zoro-kun, Zoro-kun," Usopp says, "it's this way. You know, 12 o'clock. C'mon."
Zoro's irked now. "Usopp, admit it. You're just pretending to be blind, aren't you?"
Usopp hops off from his perch and lands two feet in front of Zoro. Zoro notes that Usopp lands just beside a beer bottle on the ground, narrowly avoiding an embarrassing fall.
"I had Kinoko fly around just now to spread something into the air. I'm not seeing anything in reality, I'm just using Haki to sense those particles, then I map out the landscape with my head, and fill in the gaps with the sound," Usopp says.
Zoro makes a face. "What?"
"Yeah, of course you don't understand," Usopp turns around. "Ah, Luffy finally landed. He's definitely going for the castle, since he's right in front of it. At least he's not going for the bridge..."
Zoro mumbles, "is that Haki too?"
Usopp grins, "you're catching on!"
And so the trek continues.
"Zoro, not that way."
"How the hell did you know which way I was going?"
"Not that way, either. Look, Zoro, should I hold your hand or something?"
"Shut up."
Luffy finds himself at the palace really quickly.
"What, Ennosuke, you followed me?"
Luffy whines at the bird that lands on his hat. Kinoko gives a resigned huff, like Dadan used to do when Luffy was doing something stupid and she didn't want to stop him.
Dusting himself off, he admires the pink walls of the stupid pink castle, what was it, Ass Castle? Ass Castle. Wow, it's so ugly, it reminds him of the palace at Goa.
He went there once by accident. He doesn't like palaces. They stink.
("No Luffy, palaces don't stink," he remembers Sabo once telling him, "what you're smelling here is ventilation . We don't have that in the Gray Terminal, so you might not know, but this is how a clean thing smells.")
(Luffy diagrees, because Makino is clean and Makino doesn't stink like that.)
He's really close to the bridge now, but there's a whole row of guards along the road. He watches from afar and wonders if he can reach the bridge if he rockets from here.
Hm, probably not. Maybe if he gets somewhere taller?
"Hey, Ennosuke, wanna see who can get up to the bridge first?"
Kinoko gives him a curt caw.
"What, you don't wanna race? You loser."
Caw.
"Oh! The castle is tall! I'll go there!" is his bright idea, and he trots right past the dozing guards and right into the front door of the castle.
The doors aren't locked, that's great. He forgot to knock, so he makes sure to close the door before continuing on his way.
Manners, manners.
Ooh, that guy's jacket is cool! Gin might like that!
Kinoko rests on his head comfortably, because she can.
Usopp is used to this nonsense. He's quite sure that letting Luffy run off immediately was part of Nami's master plan in the first place.
Luffy can't sit still for five seconds, after all. They know that.
Like watching over a puppy on a high table, Usopp is here to make sure Luffy doesn't rush off the edge. He can play to his heart's content-- but Usopp will grab him before he heads somewhere he shouldn't. Like usual.
Like usual, except this time around, Usopp actually has the ability to play that out.
"She sends the idiots away immediately and grabs only the smart ones with her," Usopp sighs, realizing the groupings now, "what a witch."
"Usopp, did you say something?"
"I'm just insulted that Nami thinks I'm part of the idiots."
"Huh?"
And instead of responding to Zoro's offended voice, Usopp stops.
He freezes right there-- and spins . He reaches out and drags Zoro to the side, and they duck under a shattered carriage.
Right then, something in the distance creaked.
"Huh? I could swear I heard something."
"Must've been a rat, you buffoon. Why would anyone be out in this wasteland?"
And they kick the stones as they walk away.
Usopp has his hands over Zoro's mouth, and Zoro has his arms around both of them, supporting them in case their shelter toppled.
It's a minute later that Usopp sighs in relief, shoulders loosening.
"We're getting closer to the castle," Usopp says, "the guards have increased."
Zoro hums. "That Haki thing is pretty useful, but we could've just punched them."
"There are too many," Usopp says. "And trust me, Zoro. You don't want to be caught by Tequila Wolf. We need to keep our damage down here- we can't make them drag their forces down here, got it?"
Zoro frowns at that. "You're being a wimp," he accuses.
Usopp lets Zoro help him back to his feet, trying not to throw off too much wreckage to make noise.
"Maybe I am," Usopp says, "but don't you know? Cowards always live longer."
Zoro can't find it in himself to disagree with that.
"Don't touch that switch, it explodes in contact with human skin."
"What on earth kind of trap is that?!"
Nami is enjoying herself, Sanji thinks Nami is beautiful, and Gin is regretting everything.
For Gin, that's almost a constant in his life now.
They make their way down a long basement road.
There aren't mountains of gold or jewels-- in fact, this secured, hidden room under the castle was in fact the study of a mysterious, nameless man that collected sacred antiques. There are trinkets, tools, books, and journals.
Gin picks out one book from the shelf to find it in perfect condition. Not a ruined page, not a frayed edge.
"This is our treasure?" Sanji asks, sifting through old paintings on the side. Some of these were pretty good, but he didn't recognize any of the signatures. He's not some sort of painting connoisseur, so maybe he shouldn't speak.
"We're headed to Loguetown, there are plenty of people who will recognize the value of these things," Nami tells them.
She wanders around the little room, enjoying the ambience.
"Can you feel it?" she asks them. "The energy."
And Gin continues looking around the books. Not a speck of dust. As if magic was cast upon this room, everything seemed metaphorically shrouded in a protective layer that prevented rot and rust to taint a single bit of its former glory.
Nami smiles at him, as if she knew what he was sensing, but she knew better.
"This is Haki, too," she tells them, and they both straighten with attention. "People who put their soul into what they do leave a bit of their will inside of what they treasured."
Sanji blinks, "you mean, like how people say you can see the spirit of the blacksmith in a good knife?"
"Exactly like that."
Gin rolls his eyes. "Sure these books and paintings and ornaments are in good condition, but are they themselves worth anything notable?"
Nami chuckles, "of course. Sell all these to collectors and specialists and auctions, I guarantee you I'll raise a hundred million beri in no time!"
Gin looks at her with doubt, but who is he to judge the expert haggler?
Sanji whistles at the side, admiring the array of recipes he's found written in scraps of paper on the ground. It's a mess, but it's not destroyed at all. He can salvage some of this.
Nami's looking at the desk. She finds a journal, an album, and a log book. She picks up the pendant of a swirly heart that reminds her of Nojiko's tattoo, and she pockets it.
Gin continues to look through the books.
[ Emerald City ]
Gin stops.
He takes it off the shelf in an excited rush of urgency, opening the book with a brimming interest he can't hide, flipping through the pages, and instantly divulging in the tale.
No, it's not a tale. It's a diary, a biography of this nameless traveller.
"What's that?"
Gin jumps a little when Sanji is suddenly beside him.
"Emerald City?" Sanji asks, leaning closer over his shoulder to catch the text. It's written in the unique tilt of Grand Line Script, so Gin wonders how Sanji can read it.
(No no, there are more important problems here.)
"You don't know about Emerald City?" Gin asks, incredulous.
Sanji blinks, "should I?"
Gin is offended. How can a man of Sanji's aspirations not know about the legendary city of dreams?
"It's Emerald City-- the perfect land. The El Dorado of the seas!"
Gin exaggerates, putting it out there like why don't you know this? It's common sense! Even though it's not really.
"The metropolis of green glass, emeralds, and other jewels. It's a place so brilliant, so beautiful-- it's the safe haven of the world!"
Gin has to blush when he suddenly realizes that Sanji is staring at him with mild interest.
(Did he just shoot off on a passionate rant about hopes and dreams? That was embarrassing.)
(He hasn't done that since, before Krieg, probably.)
Emerald City had been a folk story he'd heard in the alleys, passed around like a fairy tale amongst the children of a similar, miserable upbringing.
It was an enchanting tale. For children that have only lived their lives in darkness-- Emerald City was the grace that promised them a place to sleep, so quiet, so safe, they could close both eyes and rest.
He hadn't thought of it since he became the Man-Demon.
(But somewhere deep inside, he's never forgotten.)
(For a child like Gin, who was born into crime and murdered to live, Emerald City was a ray of hope, a fantasy. Liberation from the crimes he never wanted to commit, freedom from the regrets that haunt him in his dreams.)
(A place of peace.)
(Maybe it's weird that Gin, of all people, dreamed of peace.)
Gin looks away.
Surprisingly, Nami and Sanji just look on at him with interest, as if they had wanted him to keep talking and were wondering why he stopped.
"What," Sanji says, his lips curling upward around his cigarette. "So you can be passionate about something. That's cute."
Gin feels his face heat up. There it is, the childish teasing!
"Emerald City, huh," Nami says, admiring the thought, "I've heard of it! Just in passing though. Is it a town made of emeralds, like the City of Gold is gold?"
Gin turns his eyes back to the book.
"They say it is, but it might just be figurative," he says, "but is the City of Gold actually completely made of gold? Or is that figurative too?"
Nami blinks, "well…" she thinks. "Huh? I'm not sure."
Sanji takes a drag of his cigarette, "wow, it's so nice to have dreams…" he says, a sarcastic lilt to his voice as he grins smugly at Gin.
Gin snaps, "oh shut up!"
"Gin has dreams, woahhh."
Gin flusters, "enough!"
Nami just smiles. Gin chases Sanji around the crusty little study, and Nami can't help but find it so endearing.
The adventure log of the mysterious man, Khron Corde.
Last time around when she found the log, she didn't give it much of a glance-- she just took it and sold it off for the money it was worth. Which was quite a lot.
Even as the girl who had traversed every part of the world, she had never been to Emerald City. Never stepped foot on the lands.
(She had heard of it, found a clue toward it-- but she stopped herself. She didn't pursue it, didn't try to find it.)
(After all, a legendary city doesn't need a place on the map of the world. Just like how the map to One Piece should never exist-- There is no value in a journey when the road is a clear, straight line.)
So she just watches them have fun trying to not murder each other, and she can't help but enjoy it.
She's glad that this detour wasn't in vain.
Meanwhile, Luffy is already getting chased by guards.
"He's over there!"
"He's a kid, don't shoot!"
"Capture him alive, he might be from the bridge!"
Seriously, what did any of them expect when they brought him here? Obviously it was to cause trouble, get into trouble, be the trouble. And hopefully, not die.
They were already shooting at him, but the bullets just reflected back at them.
Kinoko was careful to stay in front of Luffy so she could be covered, but she was also furious. Kinoko makes frantic squawks of absolute anger, plucking at his cheeks as she flies in tandem with his runs.
"Ow ow ow! Ennosuke, stop that!" he yelps, swatting at the bird, "it's not my fault they're chasing us!"
Kinoko makes an angry sound, because, apparently, she disagrees with that opinion.
Luffy skids to a stop, and turns around.
"Gomu Gomu no…"
Kinoko flies above him, clawing at the vent cover before plucking it out of there.
"BAZOOKA!"
The ceiling vent falls on his head, but does next to nothing. He follows the bird up into the pipes, and they bounce away.
"He stretched?!"
"But Devil Fruit slaves are only in the towers? How did he get out?!"
"Do you think he's from outside?"
"But that's impossible. Report this to the head!"
"Should we go after him?"
"None of us can fit in those vents! Track him down!"
Luffy frowns a little at that. What, were they talking about, him? They were talking in the same tone all those Goans always used on the Gray Terminal folk.
Man, he already didn't like them.
Luffy crawls his way to wherever Kinoko felt like hopping, maneuvering around the vents in an almost bored manner.
They find themselves above a room lit with only a lamp.
Luffy peeks down at it-- the room itself was dark and dusty, like a very old storage room filled with crusty shelves and ancient books.
But in the center of it, two hooded figures were seated on the ground, talking to a Den Den Mushi with black skin and a red-patterned shell.
"I honestly can't figure out what they're doing. There are no documents, no blueprints, nothing for those purposes-- almost as if the road itself isn't the priority, they're just trying to connect the ends as quickly as they can."
And the Black Den Den Mushi spoke back.
"So Oykot was a miss as well? That's fine. Retrieve anything of worth and regroup for now. We'll discuss your future movements at a later date."
His voice was deep, and in the small room, it was resonant.
As the Den Den spoke, the taller hooded figure signed to the smaller.
Luffy found that strange at first, but he recognized a few hand signs that Ace and Sabo taught him before-- regroup (turn around, go the long way back home), be quiet (stay hidden).
That's sign language that all bandits would know.
But there's no need to use sign language when everyone is hearing the conversation. They're not even special coded ones, they're the basic signs. That's so weird.
"Got it," the taller one says, and the smaller one repeats.
"Understood."
And the Den Den Mushi switches off with a kachack!
Looks like a secret meeting or something, that's pretty cool. Luffy hums, leaning into his arms with interest. Is this their hideout? They didn't seem like they were with the ugly guards from just now.
So when the taller one suddenly froze, Luffy didn't quite understand.
Then suddenly he's getting dragged down from the vents, thrown over a shoulder, and a hand is stuffed over his mouth so he doesn't make noise.
(Holy crap, he's getting flashbacks of all those times Ace nearly killed him like this.)
"A kid?!" the taller one-- a Fishman, Luffy notices. A yellow-skinned Fishman. "What's a kid doing--"
"Ah, wait, Hack-san," the other one interrupts him. Luffy looks over and sees pink hair. "He's not an enemy. You can let him go."
"I knew it, you already sensed him there, didn't you?" Hack hisses at his companion, looking up before asking again. "You know the kid, Informant?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah."
Hack lets go of Luffy's collar, but Luffy doesn't get up yet. He just stares between the two hooded figures, confusedly.
"...Informant?" Luffy asks. He's not sure what the word means.
That's when the shorter figure takes off his hood, revealing a head of pink hair and a goofy smile.
"Hi, Luffy-san!" he says crouching down and extending a hand to help him up. "It's been a while. Since Alvida, right?"
And Luffy gawks, jaw literally dropping to the floor. "COBY?!"
"Shhhh!!" goes Hack.
This time around, when Luffy meets the little kid called Coby, he's not short or stout or clumsy. He's the capable cabin boy on the Alvida Pirates' ship, little like Luffy but just as strong, and missing the Marine Dreams he once had.
Not that Luffy would know the difference, of course.
"So you're the captain, gathering your own crew? Seems like you were off to a terrible start, with that whirlpool and all."
Luffy pouts. He holds up his hands and tries to sign the words he knows, because Makino always told him that was polite when the person he's talking to can't hear.
"It's fine, it was just a dinghy anyways."
Luffy notices in curiosity how Coby's eyes squint at that, almost in disappointment at something he said. (Or didn't say, perhaps?)
A flash of grief passes his face, and the pink-haired boy sighs, before smiling again.
"Well, I'm glad I met you. After all, you're the man who's gonna become the Pirate King, right?"
And Luffy grins, "yep, that's me!"
Luffy travels with Coby to Shells Town, and then they part ways at the shore. He's given directions to the Marine Base where Zoro is kept, and then the next he turns… Coby was gone.
Luffy had simply shrugged.
Coby surely had his own adventures to go for, so that was the end of their relationship. Surely if the seas were joined, they will meet again.
Usopp flinches sharply the moment he enters the palace. The halls are in mayhem, but no one's noticed them yet.
He has his Haki on full, but careful, because he doesn't want to overwhelm himself with the number of voices-- but then he feels it.
"What's wrong?" Zoro asks, and Usopp doesn't register the question.
He hadn't noticed it before, because it was screwed down so tightly it was indecipherable-- but this aura, this voice.
"...impossible," he whispers to himself, "no, but why would he be…"
Here?
And the second he senses it, it's gone.
Like someone hastily extinguishing a candle light in the night and then covering it with a tarp, it's vanished completely.
Understandable. Usopp had his Haki on full blast, so he may as well have screamed his presence to any sensitive Haki user.
But completely. It's normal to compress your voice and hide your presence, but to make it vanish entirely isn't a feat manageable by normal Haki users.
Usopp's heart sinks in realization.
Because who the hell is capable of entirely extinguishing their own voice?
It's scary every time to feel it, because a missing voice is usually a dead one -- but Usopp knows-- there are only two people in the world in both timelines that can do that while being alive.
Two ultimate cowards, even more so than Usopp, with the strength to move mountains when they will for it.
And one of them's Coby.
(That's definitely him. He's here-- but why? It just doesn't make sense. Unless…)
"Usopp! Hey, get a grip!" Zoro is hissing at him now, looking frantically before glancing upwards, "there are guards everywhere! Hey!"
Usopp isn't even hearing him. "Wait, is it possible? Well, if it's only me and Nami for now, no doubt there'd be someone else…"
With an angry tut, Zoro turns to the side, punching the wall in frustration. Except, that particular brick of the wall sinks in.
And a secret entrance opens.
Zoro stares at it. "A basement? Ah whatever! Hey, Usopp, let's go!"
"Huh? What did you do, Zoro? Wait, my walking stick!"
The opening's already closing, so Zoro grasps Usopp as close to him as possible, dashing past and going down.
The door closes behind them, and the walking stick clatters on the other end.
"Zoro, my walking stick!"
"Geez, we'll pick it up later, okay?" Zoro groans, "speaking of, are you done daydreaming? Then we gotta go find Luffy!"
Usopp grimaces at that. "Yeah," he says, taking a few breaths to regain his composure. "Where are we anyway?"
"Hell if I know. It's dark, I can't see shit."
"Ah, that sounds like such an inconvenience."
"Shut up, Usopp!"
They're in a narrow line of stairs, absolute darkness leading down to a basement unseen. It's just enough for Usopp to spread his arms out and be able to touch both walls.
There are steps and nothing else.
Even without seeing any colour, Usopp knows that what little Zoro can see is fixated on making sure Usopp doesn't wander out. He's a grouch, but he's a nice grouch.
If they end up falling, Zoro is going to stick to Usopp like a clingbug from tomorrow onwards. Usopp would rather not deal with that. Robin's had to deal with that last time around and she invented her doppleganger move to avoid him.
Zoro stands guard on a lower step, one arm firmly on Usopp's and only becoming firmer as Usopp feels around to get a grasp of his surroundings.
"Ow ow ow. You're going to break my arm," Usopp warns him, because she steps a little closer to the left and Zoro's grip on his crushes desperately.
Usopp finds a hollow in the side-- there's a wooden torch and matches to light it up.
Convenient.
But the matches were dry and the torch was still damp with oil, so that meant that people still used this passageway for something.
Probably not the guards. The guards would've brought in a lamp instead of a torch-- it's like the people using this place wanted to replicate its original form to leave as little traces as they could.
(Oh.)
(The Revolutionary Army.)
"What is it?" Zoro asks, breaking him out of his thoughts again.
And Usopp doesn't touch the torch. "I guess there's no helping it," he says, "I brought a candle, so let's use that."
"Why didn't you bring it out earlier?!"
"Huh? Gin, you're not taking this?"
They're back at the Merry, no trouble along the way and a full storage of antiques. They move it to the female dorm, because it's the most spacious area they have aside from the galley.
Sanji sorts through the books only to find Emerald City under the pile.
"Huh? Yeah," Gin says noncommittally, arranging the loose objects in the little chest by the closet. "It'll probably fetch quite some cash."
Sanji squints at him, raising the book, "who cares how expensive it is, you want it, right?"
Gin definitely had that slightly gleaming look in his eyes when he was skimming through the first few pages, when he was telling them about the legendary city.
And Sanji knows. It's the same face Sanji and Zeff always put on when they talk about All Blue, waxing poetic about the sea that may or may not exist.
It's passion, it's childlike, and it's definitely a dream worth chasing.
This was definitely important for that dream-- it's the first shard of the clues.
Gin looks at the book in Sanji's hand-- and Sanji definitely intends for him to take it. Gin doesn't, turning back to his side of the work as if the notion didn't occur at all.
"I don't need that nonsense," he says, shrugging. "Sure, it's a cool story, but I'm not particularly racing for it or anything. It's a fairy tale, it's got little to do with piracy."
And he sounds resigned, like he's too old for this.
And that makes Sanji a little pissed.
"Oh shut your old man act," is Sanji's response. "Just keep it and read it or whatever. I'm sure Nami-san won't mind you taking just one of these."
Gin waves him off.
"You're making a big deal out of nothing, it's just a book," he says.
He stands up, takes the book-- and puts it right back on top of the rest of the stack.
Then Gin puts a hand on Sanji's shoulder. "Look, you might be a passionate kind of guy, but I'm not like that. I'm the kind of person that's fine if I can be alive every day."
Sanji's fists tightens.
("All Blue? You still believe in that story? Grow up already, Sanji.")
("It's a child's fairy tale, y'know? Think realistically.")
Sanji grabs the book.
He doesn't know what Gin has gone through in his life thus far.
But for Sanji, his dreams have always been his one and only lifeline. When he was trapped underground, locked in a cage, he dreamt of freedom. When he was left alone, scrounging for a new life-- he dreamt of independence. When he could finally fly, he dreamt of the sea at the end of his achievements.
For Sanji, a life without his dreams is a life better off dead.
(His father would agree.)
So he can't relate.
He can't relate to Gin, who thinks dreams are a weight, a burden on his shoulders. Sanji just can't understand someone who would discard his dream just for the chance of living another day.
He can't understand that shit.
Instead, he picks up the book again.
"Have you heard of the All Blue?"
Gin turns around, and Sanji continues talking.
"It's a legendary sea. They say all four blues convene there-- so fishes of all the seas exist there, at your disposal. It's the dream of every chef in the world," Sanji tells him. Then a moment later he adds, "Obviously, it's my dream, too."
Gin eyes him, not too sure what his point is.
"I owed the Old Man a debt. So I gave up on this dream," Sanji says. "For half of my life I just thought it was fine that I never found that sea. I think that's how you feel too, that you don't reallyneed that dream to live."
"I don't," Gin emphasizes.
"But, one day, a shithead came by and dragged me off to his pirate crew, here I am," Sanji says, gesturing at the ship.
Gin groans, rolling his eyes. "And your point is?"
"My point is," Sanji tells him, pointing at the man and then himself, "you and I, we were both kidnapped by that absolute shithead. So we're both free now, from the assholes that we were tied to."
Gin doesn't speak at that.
Because there's truth to it. They're free, their pasts are over and tossed away-- from herein, a new life is supposed to begin. Sanji has moved up from a measly sous chef into a Head Chef of his own caliber.
Yet, Gin's still here, not to sure how to discard the Man-demon inside of him.
(Deep inside, he's still a Krieg Pirate.)
(Because he's hesitant. This is the first time he's been given so much safety.)
(This is the first time he's living, not because of himself, but because someone asked him to live.)
(Gin doesn't know how to be a member of this crew.)
(He doesn't know how to live depending on others.)
"I told you, I'm busy just trying to breathe every day," Gin says, stubbornly, driving the thoughts out of his head.
It's dumb, it's dumb. It's all so dumb.
Dreams? Gin's lost those ages ago. All he has left is a little fancy for an old story.
He doesn't need dreams.
"Look, we have that shitty rubber for a captain, and that shitty rubber is there for a reason," Sanji says, "but remember what he told you back on the Baratie? Or is the poison eating up your memory too?"
(What he said to Gin?)
(Which part of that?)
"We're a crew now," Sanji says, because that's obvious. "That means your stupid ass is part of us now. Your dreams are our dreams and your problems are ours, too. Your life isn't Krieg's anymore, you're ours, got it?"
Gin blinks, stunned by that.
Yes, his life is Luffy's because Luffy saved him... that's how it works, doesn't it? Not that Luffy explicitly says so.
"Not just Luffy's," Sanji emphasizes, and Gin startles at the coincidence. Did Sanji read his mind? "I'm saying your life is ours! Yours, mine, that shitty Marimo and the Longnose, and of course, Nami-swan and the stupid bird! Because in this crew, we look out for each other, we ain't gonna let your dumb ass die out there so easily. Got it?!"
Sanji steps forward, the book in his hand. He stops two steps before him, and presses the book into Gin's chest.
"Look, Sanji, I get what you're saying, but--"
"I'm saying that you don't need to worry about living, because we'll all be here to make sure you live!" Sanji says, raising his voice in case volume is what's needed to get the information through that thick skull of his. "You're free to do whatever you want now because you're not alone!"
(That.)
(That makes Gin fall completely silent.)
(His eyes wide, his fingers stiff against the cover of the book in his hands.)
"Understand already, you shithead?!"
When Sanji finally yells that, he's breathing harshly, like he'd just gone for a run. Had he really been ranting that much? Gin doesn't know. Because only the last line is thrumming in his head like a painfully stubborn bell, ringing over and over in an echo.
"You're keeping that book and you're reading it and we aren't selling that. Got it?"
Gin looks at the book in his hands again.
[Emerald City] is in his hands, and the title is emblazoned in crisp, jeweled green across the cover of the book. There's a silver ribbon marker across one of the pages, slightly frayed at the ends.
"Yeah," he says. "I understand now."