Chapter 5
Whiskey Peak
Maxwell groans as he pushed himself up from the ground. He clutches his head, reeling from a headache, as starts to organize his thoughts. Maxwell remembers talking with Igarappoi and then falling asleep in his chair. Maxwell eyes shot open, he realizes he had been drugged. Something was poured into his wine and it had knocked him out. He would demand answers later. That would have to wait as Maxwell wasn't on Whiskey Peak anymore.
The mage springs up onto his knees, and looks around at his surroundings. He's in the middle of a desert, full of red sand and clay. Strands of grass and cacti grew in the craggy dry soil beneath his feet. Maxwell could see mountain outcrops in the distance, hurtling out like some natural skin blemish. All of this, beneath clear a moonlit sky. It would be serene, beautiful even, if he wasn't in the middle of a graveyard.
Tombstones lined the earth, row by row. Their were no names on them, only shapes. From intricate, fancy crosses to plain square slabs, they line up next to each other. Every slabs neighbour stood six feet apart, extending all the way to the horizon. But there was one detail they really caught his attention. There was a certain shimmer in his surroundings, making the colours and shapes seem ethereal up close. Like a vague memory, or a dream.
Maxwell knew, he was in the Fade.
He stood up and drew his staff, ready for anything. In reality, his staff stood in a corner back in the dinner. But being conscious the Fade allows for certain allowances. It was a world of thought after all. Normally Maxwell would appear as an owl, but this time he was in a spirit's territory. He had gained it's attention and it wasn't going to ignore an intruder so easily.
It looks like that Arcane Horror Maxwell met in Loguetown hadn't been lying. Each island of the Grand Line really had a spiritual inhabitant, and he was about to meet the one of Whiskey Peak.
The strum of a guitar sounds in the din of night, making Maxwell pause. He cautiously heads towards the music playing. Maxwell knew he had to confront this spirit, and fast. The crew was in trouble, back in the real world.
His objective sat on top of a tombstone, a kind of lute held in her hands and on her lap. A woman, with a cowboy's hat and long blonde hair. Her outfit consisted of a open buttoned shirt, with the bottom corners tied like a sort of chest binding. She wore strange blue pants, like nothing Maxwell had never seen before, with a belt and huge buckle beneath her naval. Pointed boots went up to he calves and had spurs at the heels. And over it all, she wore a white-stained hide jacket, with a line of leather strings following the seams from one sleeve to another. She was also armed. A rope and two holsters could be seen on her hips. This was the spirit of Whiskey Peak.
She turns to Maxwell, "Howdy," speaking in a strange accent Maxwell had never heard before. "Don't get alota visitors around 'ere. What's ya name, friend?"
Maxwell's voice echoes in the dream, "Maxwell Trevelyan... And you are...?"
"Call me Whiskey!" She grins when Maxwell looks at her funny, "I know you's expectin somethen like 'Pride' or 'Envy,' but it don't work like that here in the 6 Seas. Barely see anyone like that anymore." Whiskey puts down her guitar against the tombstone, "We're a little deeper in concept than what you're used too, spellbinder."
"What did you just call me!?" demands Maxwell. No one had called him that in a long time, and it wasn't exactly a friendly term back home.
"Oh keep your knickers on. I don't mean nothing by it." She crosses her legs and holds onto her knee, "Besides, any spirit like you're think of disappeared a LONG time ago."
Maxwell takes a breath, "...Can you tell me why? Wait, no. How is it that there are so few spirits in the Fade? This is the world where spirits are born." Maxwell hadn't put away his staff. He was still wary, given where he was.
"Dunno," she responded. "They were just up and gone a few centuries ago. No idea where they went. And even the Wisps are hard to come by now a days. Any o'those little critters that do appear tend to cling to youse mortals or be absorbed into spirits like me."
Wisps, from what Maxwell can recall, were the building blocks of demons or spirits. They were enough to be considered conscious but too young to have developed a concept to follow. Most spirits had such a concept, such as pride or envy, like Whiskey had mentioned. But it seems the rules have changed a little.
"What about your inhabitants? Last I checked, humans and other sentients help form spirits just as much as the Fade."
"Eh, should'a, could'a, would'a, but nadda. Only a few certain people could do that now, and their all way down the line. And we spirits are stuck, reflecting." Whisky sighs, "Honestly, it can get pretty lonely. But your here now! You no idea how awesome this is!" Whiskey giggles, happy to finally see someone.
"Couldn't you simply cross over into reality? Nothing's stopping you. Even interacting with dreams could be an option," though he'd strongly discourage such an action.
"Eh... We can watch, sure. But everyone's to boring to cross over and try and interact with them. Nothing ever happens on my island!"
"This is the Fade," states Maxwell, "Sure, this space is attached to your island, but can't you just leave? Seek out other spirits?"
"Hmm," Whiskey taps her jaw as she thinks on it. "...Never had a need too. Like the ocean, places in the Fade are too far in between to be of any interest. But now that your here..."
She looks him straight in the eyes, "Can do me a favour?" She draws her pistol, "Try to make this entertaining for me."
Maxwell dives as Whiskey fires her gun. Rapid shots wiz through the air, shooting one after another. Maxwell was lucky enough to to get down hide behind a tombstone.
"You know I been watchin the mortals on my island for awhile now. Turned into bounty hunters a while back, inviting pirates before hanging them up to dry for the Marines. Man does it look fun!" Whiskey reloads her revolver as she walks, trying to find Maxwell, "Wish I could join'em. But now that you're here, I have my own pirate to capture!"
So the crew was on an island full of bounty hunters? Great. At least, Maxwell hoped, none where on Zoro's level. Luffy and the others would've been in cuffs by sunrise.
"Where are~ you~?" Maxwell leans up against the tombstone, listening for Whiskey, "You know, this ain't gonna be much fun if you just—" Maxwell sets off an Immolate spell, "—AHHH!"
The explosion had caught Whiskey off guard and Maxwell quickly gets up to cast arcane bolts with his staff. Whiskey feels them impact her person before she ducks and rolls behind a stone. "...Now this is more like it!" she grins and draws another pistol.
Maxwell casts a Barrier as Whiskey comes out of hiding. She fires both revolvers at Maxwell and he either dodges or the bullets bounce against the arcane force field. Whiskey grins and turns to run to another part of the graveyard, reloading while she can. Maxwell uses the Fade Step to follow her.
This was the wrong move. Whiskey turns around and throws her lasso at Maxwell's gaseous form. She pulls and the mage is caught in the noose, pulling him down to earth and reverting him back to his true form. Maxwell grunts as he rolls across the sand, further entangling him in the rope.
"Woohoo! I got one! Now to hogtie ya!" Whiskey approaches her catch but balks when her heifer suddenly turns into an owl, swiping and scratch with it's talons, "GAH! What in tarnation!?" She holds up her arms to defend her face, also avoiding the beak.
The owl flys off to gain some distance but quickly comes back around. Turning back into Maxwell, he claps his hands together and a Lightning Bolt strikes down from above. One of his newer spells.
"YAAAHHHH!" Whiskey shakes as the remaining electricity paralyses her for moment. Maxwell takes this chance to continue his assault. He flings arcane bolts, lances of Flashfire, Energy Barrages, and is even catches Whiskey in a Winter's Grasp so she can't dodge.
After awhile, Maxwell temporally stops casting to see how his opponent is faring. Whisky is covering in bruises, with her outfit either burnt of torn, and is covered in a layer of soot.
She wheezes out a cloud of smoke, "Cough! ...Okay. Cough! You win." Whiskey drops to the ground on her but and falls back, "...Dang shoot, you're pretty strong aren't ya?"
...
...
...Wait.
That's it? No monstrous second form? No superhuman strength? No hoard of demonic minions to fend off? He's seen demons do all of that, but here?
"You're not the first spirit I've had to fight off," Maxwell relaxes with his staff still in his grip.
"Hehe, and you've probably fought off plenty of foes when they try to gang up on you." Whiskey sighs, "Man... and here I thought I had a chance 1 on 1."
Maxwell blinks. He wasn't sure why, but he felt a pang of sympathy for this spirit, "...You fought me at range. If this were close quarters you probably would have overwhelmed me."
"Ah shoot, you don't have to do that!" Whiskey sits up and looks at the mage, "You won! Fair and square. It was fun!" Maxwell wasn't sure why, but Whiskey reminded him of Luffy.
"Thanks for playing with me!" Her head twitches and she looks for to the side, "...You should probably go help your friends now. Some of them are awake, and two newcomers just landed on the island."
Whiskey smiles and waves goodbye, "Have fun!" and Maxwell's sight whites out.
Maxwell gasps as he jolts awake, holding onto the table for dear life. Normally waking up from journeying in the Fade would be calmer, but Maxwell didn't have that luxury right now. He immediately casts Dispel to see if the drug will quickly filter through him. Maxwell was still a little groggy from drinking the wine.
He then looks around, the dinner was deserted. Usopp and Sanji were both still asleep, but Luffy, Nami, and Zoro were all gone, "Shit!" Maxwell shakes both of his crewmate's shoulders.
"Hey! Sanji! Usopp! Wake up!"
"Huh?" "Wah?"
"Good you weren't drugged. Get up! We've been duped!" Maxwell immediately collects his staff in the corner.
Usopp rubs the sleep out of his eye, "Huh...? Duped? What are you talking about?"
"Where'd all the ladies go?" Sanji looks around.
"We're on an island of bounty hunters!" Maxwell looks down at them, and his words immediately catch their attention. "This was a trap. These people invite pirates, humour them till their guards are down, and the sweep them up for the rewards! They're also just as likely to be apart of that 'mysterious organization' Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday spoke of. They've been preying on rookie in the Grand Line for years! We need to find Luffy and the others, now!"
"Oh crud, really!?" "If they hurt a hair on my beloved Nami—"
"Now!" Maxwell turns around and heads out the door, and Usopp and Sanji follow. The mage takes one street, the cook takes another. "Usopp, if you're not up for fighting, head back to the ship and prep the Merry to set sail."
"A-Aye aye, Max!" Usopp makes a break for it, back to the Merry. They're going to have to run away, eventually. They just need to find everyone.
Maxwell just hoped it wasn't too late.