ONE PIECE
Two Worlds, One Family
A young woman struggling to find her place in the world wakes up to find a bunch of cats in her room...cats that turn out to be the characters from her favourite TV show, One Piece! Bound to each other, whether they like it or not, and trying to figure out a way to find a certain somebody's lost Nakama and get everyone back to their home, what follows is bound to be chaos, friendship, tears, romance - and, adventure! (Kind of a re-write of Straw Cat Pirates).
~Parental Warning~
The following chapter contains:
. Low-level adult themes
. Low-level sexual references
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Children Of The Sea
Warm air ... a balmy breeze ... the feeling of sand beneath ... the scent of a hibiscus flower ... the scent of something cooking over an open flame . . .
"Aloha 'Oe ... Aloha 'Oe ... here, skeleton, play this ukulele!"
"Yohohohoho . . . "
The sounds of a skeleton playing a ukulele, and a weird Tiki guy singing . . .
"E ke onaona noho i ka lipo . . . "
The voice of a Goddess has just joined in the singing . . .
"Oh, you know this song, Goddess?"
"Of course Emmy knows the song, it's from Lilo And Stitch!"
"Hmm, dunno what that is, but, I do know that this girl's got some good vocals. Of course, that's just what I'd expect from a Goddess's daughter."
"She hates to be called that."
"Why's that, Racoon?"
"I'm a reindeer!"
"One fond embrace ... a hoʻi aʻe au . . . "
"It appears that she is not listening to you, either way, Portal Guardian-San . . . "
"That's not his name, Robin! It's Tiki!"
"Tiki-San?"
"Yosh. Shishishishi ... he's Tiki-Guy."
"And, that's not my name either, Straw Hat!"
"You know, that's probably not as much as an insult as what you'd like it to be."
"Once again, why's that, Racoon?"
"Because that straw hat is his greatest treasure, and once again I'm a reindeer!"
"Until we meet again ... hey, has anybody seen Law-Chan since we got here?"
"What about everybody else, Emmy?"
"Yeah ... Zoro and Nami and Usopp and Sanji-Kun and Franky and Vivi-Chama are also missing ... plus, we're stranded here ... but, remember, that Law-Chan can't swim ... his nodachi's here, but ... no Law-Chan . . . "
"Emmy, are you crying?"
"No! I just got ... sand in my eye! The beach is covered in it!"
Ace opened his eyes very quickly after that.
He was indeed lying on a sand-covered beach, which was situated at the edge of a small jungle. The sky was blue, and the water was absolutely crystal clear.
He sat up and looked around.
Standing at the edge of the jungle were Brook and Tiki; Tiki had just asked Brook to play something with a little bit of 'bounce' in it, and so Brook took out a harmonica from one of the pockets of his artfully torn black trousers, and started playing.
"Oh, I love this song," Tiki nodded, as he hopped up onto a little rock. "Faith used to sing it whenever she came here! So join us here each week my friends, you're sure to get a smile!"
"Yohohoho, well met, Tiki-San!" Brook chuckled, before he continued playing, and Tiki continued singing.
"From seven stranded castaways, here on Gilligan's Isle!"
"Is that the name of this island, Tiki?" Chopper wanted to know. He was sitting in the shade of a nearby palm tree, wearing his pink hat, matching pink shorts, and a light blue and pink floral shirt.
Tiki shrugged. He seemed to have just accepted his new name. "Could be. Some call it Faraway Island, some call it Crab Isle. A long time ago it was called The Isle Of Lost Souls, and occasionally Aqua's Island. Ai Isle followed, and so did Dessert Island for whatever reason. I've heard it referred to as Sheep Island recently, although before that it was being called The Lonely Island."
"So, it's got lots of names, huh?" Luffy had just come over, followed by Emma. Wearing his straw hat, a pair of denim three-quarter-length pants, and a red open vest, Luffy immediately went over to check on what appeared to be an extremely large crab that was slowly rotating over an open fire. "How long before it's ready, Robin?" He wanted to know.
"Just a few more turns should suffice, I believe." The archeologist was sitting on a rock next to Chopper. She had on a lilac halter top, dark purple sarong, and a pair of orangey-pink tinted sunglasses. Like the rest of them, she was barefoot. "Also, I believe that your brother is awake."
"Oh, hey, Ace!" Luffy grinned. "Just in time for crab!"
Emma brightened immediately, and hurried over to Ace. She was wearing a black halter-crop tube top, a dark orangey-red sarong, and a very familiar-looking orange cowboy hat ... Ace checked; yup, it was his.
"I finally got to try it on." Emma said, by way of explanation, as she knelt down beside him and returned to hat to his head. "How are you feeling?"
He blinked. "Spectacular." She gave him a Look. "No, really. I'm sure that the others are fine ... what happened, by the way?"
"We're not too sure." Emma replied, looking around as well. "When I came to, I was lying in the sand over there," she pointed to a nearby section of the beach, where there was a sand angel indicating where she had landed. Next to it was a much larger, demonic-looking sand angel. "That's where Brook was."
"Yohohoho," the skeleton chuckled. "We also had to fish poor Chopper-San out of that tree over there." He pointed one bony finger to a nearby palm tree that was missing most of its leaves.
"Actually," Emma said. "Brook here just shook the tree so hard that Chopper fell out but, luckily, he was caught by Robin-San." She smiled at the archeologist.
Robin smiled back at her.
Ace also smiled, and then looked at Luffy. "And, you, little bro?"
Luffy pointed at the crab. "That crab had Law's sword-thingie, and wouldn't give it back to Emmy, so I took care of it."
Well, that explained that. Looking back at Emma, who was staring now at Law's nodachi with an unreadable expression, Ace said: "Daijoubu, Emiko - if his nodachi's here, then, so is he." Although, he probably knows that I want to kill him for kissing MY fiancée, and is staying as far away as what he possibly can . . .
"Yeah, he's probably looking for your necklace and your DenDen-Mushi." Luffy pointed out, and Emma groaned; that was when Ace realised the absence of Su-Chan and Grace's Heart. He gave Luffy a Look. "What? It's not like we can die here or anything."
"Well, actually," Robin said quietly, but in the kind of voice that made people pay attention. "Bell-mére-San was saying . . . "
And, as she began to explain to Luffy, Brook, and Chopper about what she had learned from Nami's Mother, Ace turned back to Emma.
He took her hands in his, and said: "Emiko, I'm sure that it's fine."
She nodded. "Hai. It's just that . . . " She looked out towards the sea. "This place is beautiful, but ... I have this strange sense of unease . . . " She bit at her lower lip.
You too? Ace thought, but didn't say that. He didn't get a chance to because, just then, Luffy announced that the crab was ready, and they watched as Brook managed to dissect the spit-roasted crustacean with a technique that would have made Sanji proud.
Ace accepted the skewer of shish-kebab-crab that Robin handed to him shortly after that, and then watched as the archeologist handed Emma one.
"I put one for Law-San over there," Robin pointed to a spot over by the open fire, where a skewer was being guarded by a pair of hands with her blue eyes on them. "It will still be nice and hot when he gets here."
"Arigatoō, Robin-San." Emma smiled gratefully, and then took a big bite out of her own shish-kebab. "Ow! It's hot!" She gave Ace a Look, seeing that he had already finished his. "It must be nice to have a Devil Fruit power that allows you to eat hot foods and not, you know, die. You can even eat spicy foods the same way. Remember Ash's Very Very Spicy Nachos?"
Ace grinned, as he put his hands in the pockets of his bright orange three-quarter-length shorts casually. "Oh, yeah. Those were awesome."
"My Mum didn't think so." Emma reminded him, referring to how Lee had tried some of the nachos that Emma and Ace had brought back with them, thinking that they were the Wimpy Nachos, and had needed to drink two whole glasses of milk after that. Lee Pax did not handle spicy foods all that well.
"Huh?" Tiki looked over at them. "What's this about your Mother?"
Emma knew what he was getting at, and she tried to explain: "Oh, not Undine ... I meant my, uh, other Mother ... the one that raised me . . . "
"Oh, I see," Tiki nodded. "Faith did mention something about that."
"Say, Tiki ... you mentioned Faith before . . . " Emma lowered her crab-kebab. "How is it that she knows the theme song from Gilligan's Island? Is she ... from that other world?"
"You mean World 790412?" Tiki wouldn't look at her.
"Uh ... the world that I grew up in?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, then, that one."
"No idea, Goddess." Tiki shrugged. He flinched, suddenly, when she got up and brandished her now empty skewer threateningly at him.
"Tiki . . . "
"Uh . . . " The little tiki guy looked around warily. "Look! Straw Hat's stealing that crab-skewer!" He pointed at Luffy, who was doing no such thing since Robin had successfully restrained him using extra hands.
Emma still looked, and Tiki immediately took off running ... only to be stopped by a strange blue dome. "What the - ?!" He then groaned, suddenly. "And, here's the First Knight, right on cue. She really is just like her Mother!" He complained.
"Is that really such a bad thing, Tiki-Ya?" Law, wearing long dark blue pants and a yellow and brown top, strolled over to Tiki, picking up the little statue guy before he deactivated his Room and carried Tiki back over to the group.
"Law-Chan!" Emma exclaimed happily.
"Hey, Emiko," Law smiled a smile that looked more like a smirk to Ace. The surgeon held out his other hand. "Here."
"Su-Chan!" Emma happily accepted the Baby DenDen-Mushi, which she fastened to the brown band on her left wrist. "Your nodachi's over there." She added, nodding to it.
"Kikoku." Law acknowledged the blade.
"Ah ... 'the wailings of a restless ghost' . . . " Robin mused.
"With a name like that . . . " Emma looked thoughtful. "I wonder ... is it a Yōto?"
"A what?" Luffy and Chopper asked in unison.
"A cursed blade," Emma explained. "Just like Zoro's Sandai Kitetsu." She looked over at Law, as he dropped Tiki unceremoniously to the ground. "Is it?"
Law nodded. "Hai."
"Sugoi." Emma and Luffy said in unison, and Luffy added: "Guess that explains crabby's fate, huh?" He laughed.
"Hn." Law just shrugged, and accepted the crab-kebab when Robin handed it to him.
"Where were you, by the way?" Ace had to ask.
Law didn't even look at him. "Why? Were you worried about me?"
Ace rolled his eyes. "Hardly." He gestured towards Emma. "But, it's not nice to keep a lady waiting."
It was Law's turn to roll his eyes, as Tiki picked himself up off of the ground.
"So, where were you, Law?" Luffy wanted to know, just as a little figure stepped over to Tiki, and they all stopped, except for Law.
The figure was a little girl, maybe about five or six years old. She was wearing a dark blueish-green old-fashioned dress, with white socks and dark brown Mary Janes. She had slightly tanned skin, bright green eyes, and dark blonde hair that was curled into two buns on either side of her head.
She also had small white feathery wings, and a golden halo hovered above her head.
"Luffy-Ya," Law said, without looking up. "This is Mary-Ya - she says that she knows you."
"Whaaa . . . ?"
Mary smiled up at Luffy - she was missing one of her front teeth. "Nice to see you again, Captain Luffy." And, ignoring his stunned look, she turned to Chopper and Robin, and smiled at them, next. "Doctor Chopper, Arch-Ologist Robin." She then looked at Ace. "Brother Ace."
Ace just blinked at her.
"Umm ... you guys? Who is this kid?" Emma wanted to know.
"No idea."
Mary just giggled.
"So, what you're saying," Emma said slowly, later on that afternoon. "Is that we're stuck here until somebody comes and finds us?"
"That's correct!" Mary nodded.
"Who's coming to find us?" Emma wanted to know.
"No idea."
"Well, then, when will they get here?"
"I don't know that, either."
Emma leaned back, sighing. "Will they have my necklace?"
"Probably." Mary just shrugged. "Come on, I mean ... it could always be worse, right? Sheep Island is not so bad, even if it's the only island left in the Ocean Realm."
"'The only one left', huh?" Ace repeated, leaning back and smiling. "What happened to the rest of them, Mary?"
Mary tilted her head to one side. "I'm not too sure, Brother Ace," she said slowly. "But, the people here say that there used to be lots of islands, long ago! But, when Infity went mad, they say that the Ocean Goddess cried for seven days and seven nights, and caused all but one island to sink into the sea!"
"Infinity went mad at the same time that you were killed back in our world, Emiko." Ace whispered to her.
"Yeah, and three guesses why the Ocean Goddess couldn't stop crying at that time." Emma muttered, and Ace took her hand. "Ace-Chan, how long do you reckon we're gonna be stuck here on Aqua's Island?"
"Who knows?" Ace shrugged. "Ask me something else?" He suggested.
"Okay then, who's Tama?" Emma wanted to know.
"Huh?"
"Tama," Emma repeated. "You mentioned her before, that Sumi-Chan was talking to you guys about the necklace."
"Hmm . . . " Ace nodded. "Yeah, she's somebody that I met in Wano Country."
"I don't know where that is."
"It's in the New World." Ace told her. He grinned. "It's got ninjas and samurais and geishas and stuff. You'd like it there." He added, seeing Emma's eyes lighting up with every word. Ace then sobered. "For the most part. I made a promise to help Tama . . . "
"Well, you'll just have to get back there and keep that promise now then, won't you?" Emma eyed him. "As long as that promise wasn't to marry her or something . . . "
"She's only five years old!"
"Oh!" Emma immediately smiled. "That's okay, then. But, even if she'd been, like, my age or something, and you'd made a promise to her, then, that's still okay!"
"It is?" Ace said warily.
Emma nodded. "Mmhmm. Because, that's the kind of person that you are."
As Ace was showing Emma how to weave baskets the way that Tama had taught him, a sudden thought occurred to him.
"Will you help me to keep my promise to her?" Ace asked Emma.
"Hey!" Luffy, who was lying in a nearby hammock, suddenly yelled. "Ace! No fair in tricking her like that! She's joining my crew!"
"How much of that did you even hear, Luffy?!" Ace shot back at him.
"The bit where you promised some kid something in a place that Emmy's never even heard of, which means that she'd have to sail with you to get there to help you to keep your promise!" Luffy replied.
"I never said that!" Ace yelled back.
"No, but that's what you meant!" Luffy responded, jumping out of the hammock.
Ace stood up, too, and marched towards Luffy. Emma and Mary watched silently as the two brothers met in the middle.
"Don't just make assumptions, Luffy!"
"Well, then, quit trying to steal my Pirate Queen, Ace!"
"He's still going on about that bit." Emma rolled her eyes.
Mary looked up at her, still smiling. "But, you're marrying Brother Ace, ne?"
Emma nodded. "Hai. Luffy seems to think that it doesn't make much of a difference - I can still marry Ace but be the Pirate Queen. That just sounds so . . . " She hesitated. She couldn't say 'Mary-Sue', because Mary wouldn't see anything wrong with that, and so, instead, she said: "It just makes me seem so ... so ... Robin-San, word, please?"
"Vainglorious, perhaps?" The archeologist supplied, from where she was lounging in a very dignified manner on a stone love-seat.
"Vainglorious." Emma repeated, nodding. "It makes me sound very vainglorious."
"'Vainerous'?" Mary tried to repeat. "What's that?"
"Umm . . . "
Robin chuckled, as she turned a page in the paperback book that she had acquired, and continued writing. "Day One . . . "
They ended up being stranded on the island for exactly a week before somebody finally came and got them.
Luckily, there was plenty to do, even on an island that was only about zero point zero one five six two five square miles (according to Law).
On the second day, they held their own Ocean Realm Festival, because Mary said 'that's what you do here'. It came complete with fish and crab skewers (caught by Luffy and Law and grilled to perfection by Ace with Robin supervising), a talent show (which Emma was not allowed to enter and so she judged it; Robin ended up winning it with her Shadow Puppet Show), a musical performance by Brook and Tiki, a Miss. Beauty Pageant (but, seeing as how Emma, Robin, and Mary were the only three girls on the island, they were all declared the winners with Emma being 'crowned' Miss. Female Pirate, Robin being voted in as Best In Show And Intelligence, and Mary winning the prize for Cutest Smile).
The evening was rounded off with a fireworks display, courtesy of Ace and some fireworks that he had gotten from God knows where.
They were awaken early on the third day by Tiki, who told them that there was a storm coming and that they needed to 'batten down the hatches'.
They spent the rest of that day and most of the evening defending the island from Tropical Cyclone Yuki - so named because they couldn't agree on whether it should be given a masculine name or a feminine name - before they all collapsed by about midnight from sheer exhaustion.
"You know," Mary said, as she sat in the sand with Tiki near to where the others were laying. "The name 'Yuki' means 'snow'."
Tiki nodded. "Well, those shooting stats there do look like snow."
"Make a wish, Ace-Chan." Emma mumbled, her eyes barely open but she could just see the streaks of blue light across the dark sky through her eyelashes.
"Why?" He mumbled back. "I got my wish already."
"Well, then, make another one . . . " She replied.
" . . . "
"I wish for a meat barbecue for breakfast tomorrow morning!" Luffy suddenly announced, from somewhere to their left.
"I wish that I don't have to cook it . . . " Chopper muttered.
"I wish to learn something new tomorrow." Brook said.
"Hmm . . . " Robin mused, obviously in agreement.
"What do you wish for, Law-Chan?" Emma asked.
On her right, Law sighed. "That I had some sheep to count."
"Okay!" They heard Mary say, as she got up. "Come on, minna, that's your cue!"
And, from somewhere, came a whole herd of sheep, that jumped across their line of vision until they all fell asleep. However many there were. Emma didn't know; she lost count at around two hundred and eighty-seven.
On the fourth day, as they were finishing the meat barbecue that Ace had cooked them all for breakfast, Emma found herself talking to Brook about his crew.
"They were all so nice," she told him. "Especially Yorki-Kun - I told him that music is my life, and he told me that if I'd been alive fifty years ago then I would've been a Rumbar Pirate for sure!"
Oh, great. Luffy, Ace, and Law all thought in unison. Even the dead guy has a word in on this!
They listened somewhat moodily as Brook and Emma talked about the Rumbar Pirates, until they got to talking about the doctor, and how he had been known as the .C.P.R. And .E.A.R. King, and Luffy looked up.
"How can somebody be the Ear King?" He wanted to know.
"That's .E.A.R., Luffy," Emma said with a smile. "And, it stands for ... what does it stand for again?"
"Expired Air Resuscitation." Law said, before Chopper could answer. "It's used in situations where respiratory arrest has occurred."
"And, Chopper said, not to be outdone. ".C.P.R. is used when the patient goes into cardiac arrest - when there's no heartbeat." He tilted his chin up. "It stands for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation." He added, and Luffy and Mary looked impressed.
"Is it hard to learn how to do Cardiolry Resation?" Mary wanted to know.
"No." Chopper said, at the same time that Law said: "Yes."
The two doctors looked at each other.
"Well, it's tricky to get right and can be disastrous if it goes wrong." Chopper mused, just as Law shrugged and said: "I suppose that anybody could learn it."
Emma sighed. "I should've done a first-aid course."
"I could teach you." Chopper and Law said in unison.
"Would you?" Emma looked excited, but then she frowned. "How, though? If there's one thing that I learned from reading Mary-Anne To The Rescue, it's that you need one of those specially-made dummies to practice .C.P.R. on."
"I thought that you learned that during year nine health class." Ace reminded her.
Emma grinned. "I can't even remember if I passed that class, Ace-Chan."
"Okay, I'm back!" Mary announced suddenly, and they all looked over to see her coming out of the jungle, lugging a big dark blue sports bag over her shoulder with ease. "I found Resation Annie!" She added, grinning as she opened up the bag to reveal the dummy with bright red hair.
"What was a Resuscitation Annie doing out in the middle of the jungle?" Emma couldn't help but ask.
"It was right there next to the jungle gym." Mary said seriously.
"Of course it was." Emma rolled her eyes.
"This place is weird." Luffy decided. "Come on, Ace - I wanna explore Crab Cave again!" He grinned.
"You're not staying?" Emma asked them.
They both shook their heads.
"Chopper, could you go with them and make sure that the crabs don't decide to go all Kingler on them?" Emma asked the reindeer, who hesitated. "Law-Chan can teach me everything that I need to know about reviving somebody, and then, you can give me The Test." Emma suggested to him, and Chopper brightened.
"Okay!" He agreed. "Hey, Luffy, Ace, wait up!" He added, running off after the two brothers.
"I'll come, too!" Mary called, and ran after the three of them.
"Well, at least she'll be okay!" Tiki remarked.
"How do you know that?" Emma asked him.
"She's been through a lot." Tiki said sagely.
Which left Law to teach both Emma and Robin how to revive somebody, Brook to accompany this with 'Stayin' Alive' by the BeeGees on his harmonica, and Chopper to give both Emma and Robin A++s when he came back (covered in cuts and scrapes, as were Luffy and Ace who were dragging behind them the biggest crab of them all, as a scraped up but grinning Mary was saying how much fun it had been to go on another adventure with them).
On the fifth day, Mary announced that Emma and Ace should get married.
"What?" They both asked in unison, when she'd presented this idea to them. "Here?"
The little girl nodded. "It'll be fun! I can be the ministar, Brook can play the music - you know, just like in real life!"
I don't think that a skeleton usually does the music for somebody's wedding. Emma mused to herself, although she honestly couldn't imagine anybody else doing it in this case. She looked at Ace. "What do you think, Ace-Chan?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, sure, why not? A wedding on Ai Isle sounds perfect. Just don't tell Oyaji." He added, grinning now, and Emma had to laugh.
"We'll have a proper wedding when we get back." She told him.
"Yay!" Mary cheered, and took off running. "Arch-ologist Robin! She said 'yes'!"
"Perfect." They heard Robin's voice say, and at once multiple hands came up from the sand and began pushing Emma towards the jungle. "Emma-San, let's get you ready."
"Why do I get the feeling that this was all her idea?" Ace wondered, and then walked off to find Luffy and ask him to be his best man.
On the way, he passed Brook, who'd already been spoken to about being the musician, and was currently trying to convince Chopper to go along with being the page boy.
That left Ace wondering - what was Law going to think about all of this?
It was hard for Ace to say what the best part of this impromptu, almost-real wedding was.
He was standing at the end of the aisle that had been put together by Chopper and Robin, and which fit the theme of a tropical wedding to a tee.
Ace was feeling kind of jittery, although he wasn't sure why. After all, this was just a pretend wedding, for the sake of Mary - Ace wasn't the one to refuse a request from a little girl, and Emma couldn't say 'no' to her, either. Still ... they'd had an engagement party back in that other world, and something about getting married on a tropical beach somewhere, to the woman that he loved above all else ... this was about as real as what it was gonna get.
"You nervous, kid?" Tiki asked Ace, peering up at him from where he stood by the altar. He was wearing a floral lei for the occasion, but other than that he looked the same as always.
"No." Ace lied.
"It's natural." Tiki responded, seeing right through Ace's lie. He shifted casually. "Your old man was just the same."
"My old man?" Ace asked him sharply. Does he mean . . . ?
"Yeah, the one that they all called 'King Of The Pirates'." Tiki made little quotation marks. "He married your Mother - beautiful woman, by the way, really amazing - right here in this very Realm. That was after they both died, of course."
"Well, duh." Ace muttered. Did he really want to get married in this Realm, knowing that his biological Father had probably once stood here, as well? A sudden thought occurred to him, one that he suddenly didn't like. "Wait ... they're not here, are they?!"
Tiki just shrugged. "Probably not. Too much going on at the moment - travel between the Realms is really not advisable at the moment!" He tugged at his lei. "I mean, just look at what happened to me, when I went to meet you guys! Got tiki-napped by that pirate-hating sea witch!" He shuddered. "Bad news, that one is . . . " He said, more to himself than to Ace, just as Mary appeared and came skipping up the aisle.
"I've got your lei, Brother Ace!" Se said excitedly, throwing the flower wreath up and around his neck, before pausing to adjust her top hat that she'd gotten from ... somewhere. "It's tritional." She explained, just as Chopper came scurrying up the aisle.
"Here!" He said, a little bit breathlessly, holding up what looked like a woven bracelet - Ace recognised it as Emma's handiwork, from what he had taught her the other day. "The ring! Ace! I need yours too, quickly! She's coming!" He added.
Ace's eyes widened. The ring?! What ring?! Nobody had mentioned this to him! When was he supposed to have found time to get a ring?!
Tiki rolled his eyes. "Look, kid, your bracelet will probably do, alright? It's a bracelet for a bracelet, right?"
Ace nodded in agreement, and slipped off his red and white bracelet.
He handed it to Chopper, who scurried to stand beside Tiki, just as Brook emerged and sat down at a piano that had appeared there sometime earlier thanks to the magic of the Ocean Realm.
As Brook began to play, Robin and Luffy emerged from the jungle, both of them dressed typically for a beach wedding, with Luffy looking excited and trying to walk faster, and Robin looking serene and calmly holding him back.
They both reached the makeshift altar and walked up, with Luffy going to stand beside Ace and Robin taking her place on Mary's other side.
They waited.
It felt like an eternity to Ace, despite everything that he'd thought about it not being a real wedding and the disconcertion that he felt about his own parents having been married here ... what if Emma didn't show up?
What if she'd suddenly decided that she didn't want to do this after all? What if she didn't want to marry him, after all?
"She'll be here." Luffy said suddenly, and Ace glanced at him. Luffy looked totally relaxed, his hands behind the straw hat on his head, but his dark brown eyes were glittering. "She's been singing 'Let's Get Married' by Jagged Edge all day."
It was at that point that two figures emerged from the jungle where Luffy and Robin had previously come from.
One was Law, dressed in black which Ace took as a sure sign that the surgeon was not a hundred percent onboard with this wedding, real or not.
At his arm, wearing a long white sundress that billowed about her bare feet and went perfectly with the flower-adorned white train that blew behind her, was Emma.
Oh. My. Goddess. Ace's mouth went dry. That's ... that's MY Emiko ... oh ... whoa! Hey, heart, don't you DARE stop on me, now!
As Brook played 'Here Comes The Bride', and Law walked with Emma up the aisle, Ace happened to glance at the surgeon.
And, he almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
When Emma and Law reached the end of the aisle, they stopped. Mary coughed pointedly, and Ace suddenly realised that he was supposed to do something.
Almost automatically, he walked over to Emma and Law; the latter barely even glanced at him, and just walked over to pointedly stand near Robin.
Ace reached out, and took Emma's hands. They smiled at each other.
As Brook finished the song, Mary smiled, and stepped forwards.
"Dearly beloved," she said, holding her hands up like a preacher. "We are gathered here on this beach on Sheep Island, to celbrate the union of . . . " She paused, and then looked up at Emma and Ace, who looked back down at her. "You two need to choose names," she told them. "Otherwise, The Captain Whitebeard will get upset because he's s'posed to be doing what Law did."
That made perfect sense to Ace, who looked at Emma, and she just shrugged. Ace noticed that she had a hibiscus flower in her hair.
"So," Mary said, clasping her hands out in front of her. "We are gathered here today ... umm. . . "
"To wed these two." Robin whispered to her.
"To wed these two, who have come here freely, and . . . "
"Without coercion."
"Without cersion," Mary said. She smiled up at Emma and Ace. "Do you two promise to love each other forever and ever ... umm . . . ?"
"In sickness and in health." Robin whispered to her.
"In sickness and in health, in the bad times and the good, forever and ever . . . "
"Throughout your lives, and then from death until eternity."
"Throughout your lives, and then from death until eternity?" Mary peered up at them both. "Well? Do ya?"
"Yes." Emma and Ace both said in unison.
Mary nodded. "Okay, good. So then," she looked up at Ace. "Do you . . . ?"
"Gold."
Emma nearly choked on nothing.
"Take this woman to be your wife, and in doing so . . . " She looked over at Robin.
"Promise to love her forever."
"Promise to love her forever?" Mary gave Ace a slightly fierce look.
Ace swallowed, but, his voice was steady when he responded with: "I do."
Mary smiled, and turned to Emma. "And, do you . . . "
"A-Aqua." Emma said, in a strangely high-pitched voice.
"Take this man to be your husband, and in doing so promise to love him forever and ever?"
"I do." Her voice was trembling but, when she looked into Ace's eyes, he saw nothing but pure sincerity and devotion.
His heart soared.
"We shall now exchange the rings." Mary said, and glanced pointedly at Chopper, who gasped.
"That's my cue!" The reindeer exclaimed, and scurried forwards. He tripped; but, luckily, Robin used her powers to steady both Chopper and the rings, and they made it over to Emma and Ace in more or less one piece. "Thanks, Robin ... here you go . . . "
Mary took the bracelets, and Ace saw Emma's eyes glance at the red and white striped one, before she glanced back up at him.
He grinned. So did she.
Mary directed them to slip the bracelets onto each other's left wrists, and then she glanced at Robin.
"As it is your intention to be wed." The archeologist whispered.
"As it is your 'tention to be wed," Mary repeated. "And joined together . . . "
"In holy matrimony."
"In holy m ... in holy ... in holy moly," Mary luckily had her eyes closed for dramatic effect, and so she didn't see when Emma and Ace both worked hard to cover up their laughter. "I will now use the power bested in me - by me - to prounce you as husband and wife." Mary opened her eyes, and smiled, taking out a small ticket from her dress pocket. "Here's half price off of chips at the Meraqua Café . . . "
"Yoink!" Luffy grabbed the ticket, before hurrying back to his place.
"You may now kiss each other!" Mary exclaimed.
And, Ace and Emma did just that, as Brook started playing 'The Wedding March', Tiki burst into tears that reminded everybody of Franky, Chopper and Luffy started cheering, Robin used her powers to shower them all with cherry blossom petals, Mary proclaimed that she was the best marriage sellbrant ever, and Law hadn't once taken his eyes off of the horizon.
On the following day, the sixth day, Emma and Ace were too sore to move, and so they relaxed in a hammock on a small island just off of the northern shore of the main island, that could only be reached by a sandbar during morning or night or by teleporting.
They barely felt the fatigue or the aches, though; their company was all that they needed, and there was nothing else that mattered.
Even though they were still worrying about their missing friends, and wondering where they were, for just one day, they were content to just be with each other.
It was on this particular afternoon that Emma finally opened up to Ace that she had met with his parents.
Ace sighed. "Yeah, I kinda figured that it was something like that." She looked at him. "I'm not upset that you didn't tell me." He told her. "I can understand why you didn't." He gave her a sidelong smile. "You probably fangirled a bit though, didn't you?"
"I tried not to." She responded honestly. "I was a bit nervous, but, your Mum's so nice!" She smiled at the memory. "She has your eyes, too ... and, your freckles. I think that she liked me." She shrugged.
"Well, what's not to like?" Ace said teasingly. He paused. "What about ... him?"
"Hmm . . . " Emma mused. "Well ... I mentioned something that Daddy always says . . . "
"About everybody being 'children of the sea'?" Ace guessed, and Emma grinned. "What'd he say to that?"
"That there's a fair amount of my Father in me," Emma responded, and Ace raised an eyebrow. "To which I responded with 'oh, well, thank you'. It was then that your Mother said that she liked me. Who'dve thought?"
Ace just chuckled, and shook his head. "Who'dve thought?" He echoed, looking back towards the main island, as Luffy charged up the beach, followed by a horde of angry crabs.
"Crab Island?" Ace suggested. They had been trying to settle on a name for the island for a few days now. Chopper insisted that it was Gilligan's Island, and Luffy still kept on calling it a Desserted Island.
"Nah, I still like Aqua's Island." Emma replied, as she drew a sideways figure eight in the sand with her toe.
"Yeah, you would." Ace teased her. He paused. "What made you choose that name, by the way?"
She shrugged. "I dunno. What made you choose 'Gold'. I thought that you hated it."
Ace thought for a moment. He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, before saying: "I remember reading something about ... how my Mother had said that my name was to be Gol D. Ace ... I mean, I always knew that she'd named me that, Ojichan told me, but ... just, reading it, learning it the way that you had . . . " He glanced at her. She was listening intently to him. "And, I remembered how when I first met your other parents and you introduced me as 'Ace Gold' . . . " He sighed. "I dunno, maybe I was just caught off-guard, like what you were that time ... or, maybe I don't know who I am anymore, but, when I'm with you, I'm just ... me."
She nodded.
"That makes sense?" Ace was surprised.
"It does." She responded. "To me, at least." She smiled her lopsided smile. "Not too sure about anybody else. But, I know you, at least."
"Are you glad that you got to know me?" Ace asked her suddenly. "I mean, really ... are you glad that this is all happening to you?"
"Yes." She answered, straight away and without any hesitation. She looked directly into his eyes just then, and, he knew it. She meant it. "Everything, the good and the bad - I wouldn't change any of it." She paused. "Well, if I had the opportunity then I'd save Sumi-Chan, that's for sure, although she's with Thatch-San now, so I'm sure that she's not complaining ... much."
"I reckon that Thatch would have wanted Sumi to have a future." Ace pointed out.
"Did he say that?"
"He didn't have to," Ace regarded Emma very seriously. "I just know. Because ... it's how I'd feel if it were you and I . . . "
"Oh, don't say that!" She cried suddenly, startling him. "When I think about what could have happened at Marineford . . . "
"Which it didn't," Ace reminded her. "Because of you."
"Well, now I'm doubly glad that I saved you." Emma declared. "And, Daddy, too ... Teech was gonna kill him, you know?"
Ace paused. "Are you sure?"
Emma nodded. "He hinted at it when I encountered him on Dawn Island that time, and he ... well, because he knows that I know stuff, he's convinced that I was actively trying to stop him from getting what he wanted." She looked over at Ace, worriedly. "If I told you that Teech can somehow steal the Devil Fruit powers from the people that he kills, what would you say?"
Ace's heart thudded in his chest. What he wanted to say was that he wanted Emma to go nowhere near that man, ever again! But, he also knew that she wasn't going to be swayed; they had discussed it at length and, given Ino's presence in the Celestial Realm, had concluded that she was Teech's First Knight. As strange as it sounded. Emma had problems with both of those people, as well as with Akainu, and she had convinced herself that she was the only one that could sort out those problems - Ace knew that if he pushed her too hard then she'd end up doing something reckless. He had ended up getting them to a position where she would allow him to help her, if it came to that; he had reminded her that it had been a combined effort to sort out Saint Jalmack, and that although Nami had nearly been killed Emma had saved her (it was always a good idea to remind people of their heroic accomplishments), before Ace had gotten back the necklace from Ino and then Bell-mére had sent Saint Jalmack back to Level Zero.
As Allies (and, subsequently, Allies Of Allies), they worked better as a team, and she knew it - it had just taken Ace a bit of time to convince her that she didn't have to worry about them so much.
"We'll face it together." Ace told her. "I may not be your First Knight, but, I can stand up to somebody else's First Knight, so, don't worry about Ino-Pig, okay?"
"Okay. And, Teech?"
"We'll work something out. We always do." Ace assured her.
Emma nodded, looking thoughtful. She exhaled slightly, and said: "Say, Ace — " She was cut off suddenly by a cough. She recovered quickly, and went on: " — -Chan . . . "
"I thought that you weren't gonna add that bit on." Ace teased her.
"I'll only do that if I think that I'm never gonna see you again." She assured him. "Still ... what did Ino say to you, just before she walked through that portal?" The image was still clear in her mind.
Ace paused, knowing that by doing so he was giving himself away. Still, he wasn't quite ready to tell Emma about what Ino had said to him ... not until he spoke to Law, at least, and, he needed to make some reparations in order to do that, first.
"Was it really that bad?" Emma tilted her head to one side.
Ace shrugged. "You know Ino - it's best not to pay attention to anything that she or the World Government says. It's like when they - or, anybody else, for that matter - makes fun of Luffy's dream. They don't have a clue what they're talking about." He looked at Emma. "Not like you - you believed in Luffy's dream even before you met him! I know that you won't make fun of it."
"Never!" She declared, her hazel eyes bright. "I would never make fun of him! Your little brother is amazing!"
Ace had hoped to steer Emma's thoughts away from his encounter with Ino; he hadn't expected to hear her quote somebody that she didn't even know existed - yet. Ace had to chuckle. "Emiko, you know, you sound just like Yama — "
"Huh?" She looked back at him. "I thought that you said she was named 'Tama' ... HE FELL ASLEEP?!"
And, on the seventh day, somebody finally came for them.
Emma and Ace had just returned to the main island, to find that Luffy had been crowned the King Of The Crabs, Mary had glued cotton buds all over Chopper and turned him into a sheep, Brook was still playing songs from The Little Mermaid, and Tiki was telling Robin that he couldn't take it anymore.
"I want you all off of my island!" The little Portal Guardian declared.
"He has been saying that since yesterday." Robin whispered to Emma, as she handed Su-Chan to her.
"Since when is it his island?" Emma replied, placing Su-Chan onto her right wrist - Ace's bracelet was still around her left wrist. Robin smiled. Emma looked around. "Where's Law-Chan?" A small pinprick of light suddenly appeared from her compass. "Oh, how convenient!" She, Robin, and Ace followed the compass's light to the western side of the island, where they found Law standing on a rocky outcrop, talking to ... somebody . . .
Emma stopped. "Is that . . . ?" She couldn't believe her eyes. I don't care if he's dead, I've never met one before! That I can remember . . .
Law turned when Emma approached him, an unreadable expression on his face.
The man that he was talking to lacked the white feathery wings that many of the Celestial Realm denizens had, but, he still had the halo.
He was about nine feet all, roughly the same height as Brook. He was built more like Garp, though, from what Emma could see of his head and upper body that were sticking up out of the water. Water droplets dripped off of his white beard, running down his large neck and across his gills.
Beneath the horns on his forehead, his dark eyes were kind, and he smiled a very sharp-toothed grin and said: "Well, there she is! Although, I almost mistook you for your Mother! Ta ha ha ha ha!"
Emma came to a dead stop next to Law, and looked down at the fish-man. "That voice ... you . . . " Her eyes widened. Law knew that look all too well, and knew what was coming. "Are you ... Old Tom?!" She then gasped, and buried her face in her hands. "I wasn't supposed to call you that, was I?"
Tom laughed again. "Why not? My name's Tom, and I'm old! That's what I told you the first time that we met, Emma-San."
"I don't remember that, I'm afraid." Emma responded.
"And, why would you? You were barely even eight months old at the time!" Tom grinned. "But, even back then, you did everything with gusto! Sometimes I couldn't even believe that I was having a conversation with somebody that young! Ah, but I remember ... you did everything with gusto; you walked before you crawled, and were as much at home in the water as any of us."
Not anymore. Emma thought, a little bit sadly. She was surprised, though, at just how comfortable she felt talking to this stranger ... well, he was a stranger to her, at least.
As she closed her eyes, trying to see if she could recall anything at all from when she'd been that young, she heard Law say: "Tom-Ya says that he knows where the others are, and that he's come to take us to them."
"Sōdesuka?" Emma murmured, still not opening her eyes. And, how's he gonna do that? How are we supposed to swim?
Law sighed. "I'll go and get the others." He offered. She heard him turn and walk away; or, rather, she sensed it, because he was her First Knight.
Emma sighed, as well. "Old Tom . . . " She began, and that was when a freak wave crashed up onto the rocks, and dragged Emma into the sea.
She opened her eyes quickly as the greenish-blue sea water swirled all around her, and what felt like a current began to drag her away from the rocks.
Not that it mattered; even if the rocks didn't kill her, the lack of oxygen would.
Emma's heart began to pound wildly as she found herself unable to move. She hadn't been submerged like this in such a long time ... she thought that the last time might've been a couple of weeks ago, when she'd accidentally fallen into the pool at her cousin's - Ashlee and Peter had had to fish her out.
And, so, her only hope now was . . .
There! Emma's eyes widened slightly, as Tom swam effortlessly towards her, slicing through the water like it was nothing. The Tomodachi No Konpasu began to glow slightly, and that was when Emma realised that Tom was holding something in his right hand - it was her necklace!
The ruby that was on Grace's Heart glittered in response to the compass's light, as Tom reached her and, after struggling for a few seconds, managed to slip the necklace on over her head.
At once, Emma's vision grew clearer, like she'd just put on her glasses or something. Except, that since she was underwater it was like seeing the view through goggles.
Raising her hands, Emma felt along the edges of the necklace, and that was when she discovered the hills that were on either side of her neck.
She gasped ... taking in a huge mouthful of water ... that was instantly converted into oxygen via her gills.
Her heart thudding in her chest, she finally dared to look down.
There, in place of her legs, was a tail. A long, fishlike tail that was black on the top and white underneath. A quick check revealed a triangular dorsal fin where her human and fish halves met. Smaller fins were lower down on her tail, which ended with a crescent-shaped caudal fin.
She was a Great White Shark Mermaid.
It took Emma a few minutes to make all of these discoveries and calm down about them, and all the while Tom watched her with a grin.
That was when a sudden thought occurred to Emma.
She swam over to him, amazed at how natural it felt, and said: "Old Tom! What about the others?!"
Tom laughed. "Well, invite them into the water, and see!" His eyes twinkled. "Now that you've got your necklace back, Emma-San, the transformation will work for them, as well!"
Emma nodded. "I see." Wow, even our voices sound normal under here. "I have to ask you something about the other others in a minute, but first, I'd better go and get those guys before they panic." She was aware that she had been under for quite some time now; Law, Ace, and Robin had all seen her go under, and, they couldn't do a thing about it.
She swam quickly back up to the surface, carefully emerging slowly to find all of the six other Devil Fruit Users standing on the rocky outcrop, looking panicked.
Ace spotted her first. "Emiko!" He cried, his expression going from panicked to relieved to shocked. "What happened?! How are you . . . ?"
"Umm, yeah, about that . . . " Emma said slowly. "Look, I didn't mean to alarm you, but ... could you all take one last look at your legs and then join me in the ocean, please?"
Ace and Luffy looked shocked.
Chopper looked terrified.
Robin and Law exchanged a silent glance.
Brook was playing 'For A Moment' from The Little Mermaid II Return To The Sea on his violin.
And Tiki, who had just arrived with Mary, said: "Oh, finally! Then, you can all get off of my island!"
Emma grinned. "I guess so, yup!" She agreed with him, before turning and leaping up out of the water, the way that she'd always seen mermaids do in movies.
The sunlight glittered off of the water droplets on her shark tail, and she had just enough time to enjoy the looks of pure shock on the faces of the others (even Robin and Law) before she dove back under the water.
Except for maybe the whole shark thing ... Krystal would be SO jealous right now! I'll savour this one for you, though, okay?
Luffy was the first to join her in the water, followed by Ace and then Law, then Brook, then Robin, and finally Chopper (after much convincing).
Once the transformations were complete, and everybody had gotten used to the idea, they took a good look at each other.
Emma was, quite literally, in her element, especially when she looked at Ace and Law.
They were shark merfolk, like her; Ace was a Blacktip Shark, whilst the white tips at the ends of Law's fins indicated that he was an Oceanic White Tip Shark.
Luffy had also transformed into a shark merman - something about the brownish-gold colouring of his tail, which had a longer fin on the top at the end, told Emma that Luffy's species was Bull Shark.
He was currently hassling our poor Chopper, whom had only just accepted his transformation into a reindeer-jellyfish-merman - Emma wondered if he was a Compass Jellyfish.
"Hey, Chopper!" Emma called to him. He swam over to her. "Aren't you excited about our new forms in this Realm?"
"I am . . . " Chopper stammered. "M-maybe . . . "
"And," Emma went on. "It's not just us. Watch." She held out her wrist. "Su-Chan, do the thing!"
And, from a now rather pointy shell on her wrist emerged Su-Chan, armed with a black and white striped spear and looking positively lethal.
Chopper was aghast. "Th-the DenDen-Mushi became a Cone Shell?!"
"That's right." Emma said cheerfully.
"With enough tetrodotoxin to kill us all?!"
"Kill us all?" Emma repeated. She probably could, but . . . "Su-Chan would never do that."
She wasn't looking at Su-Chan, and so she didn't see when the Den-Den Mushi winked at Chopper, who gasped and swam to hide behind Robin.
Robin's long and beautiful Mediterranean Moray Eel tail swished. "I wonder what happened to Tiki-San and Mary-San?" She said.
"Oh, yeah . . . " Emma remembered but, before she swum back up to the surface, she made the mistake of looking at Brook.
He was still a skeleton! Despite being a merman (possibly a Rhinopias), he was still a skeleton!
He looked like Fishbones from Super Mario Bros.. He looked like the Skullfish from The Legend Of Zelda.
It was creepy and disconcerting and totally cool.
Emma shook her head, and then she surfaced. One by one, the others followed her.
"What, you're all still here?" Tiki grumbled, from where he was lounging in a deck chair on the beach.
"Where's Mary?!" Emma called to him.
"Talking to the fish-man over there!" Tiki pointed.
They all looked.
Tom was treading water nearby, and Mary was either standing on said water or floating just above it.
She turned to them when they all looked at her, as Tom disappeared beneath the waves.
"I was worried about you all going down there," she explained. "Even though Tom-Sama said that you'd all be okay, You once told me that the bottom of the sea is a lonely place, Captain Luffy." She smiled sadly. "But, since you'll all be together, I think that you'll be just fine!"
Emma glanced at Luffy, who was staring at Mary silently, and then she looked back at the little girl as well.
Thoughts raced through her mind. The little girl's immense strength ... the way that she'd just smiled, even after nearly being cut to pieces by crabs ... her unique hairstyle and the sheep the other night ... her connection to Luffy, Chopper, Robin, and even Ace . . .
Emma's heart hammered in her chest, again.
"M-Merry?" She guessed, her throat feeling like there was a lump in it or something. "As in ... Going Merry? The Going Merry . . . ?"
The little girl nodded, and that's when they all saw her for what she really was.
A caravel class ship, with a sheep's figure-head, and the main sail that bore the Straw Hats' Jolly Roger . . .
Emma didn't even have to glance at Luffy, Robin, and Chopper to know what their reactions would be; Luffy was looking both shocked and emotional, Chopper was in tears, and even Robin had tears in her eyes.
In a voice that was shaking almost as much as what she was, Emma said: "S-so it was you ... M-Merry ... I ... I'm so glad that I actually got to meet you!"
"I'm glad, too!" Came the voice from the ship's figure-head, and they saw the little girl waving cheerfully to them, although she had tears in her eyes, as well. "I'm also glad that I got to have more adventures with you guys, and your new friends! I'm staying here," she added, as the image started to fade. "But, I've been with you, always!" She assured them. "For example, I know that you wanted to meet me, Musician Brook!"
"Yohohoho," the skeleton chuckled, although he too was crying. "And, I'm so very glad that I did!"
"I'm always going to be with you!" Merry went on, and Emma felt the tears start to escape; it didn't matter - even Ace looked emotional. "With Thousand Sunny! We're going to go all the way! Right, Captain Luffy, Doctor Chopper, Arch-ologist Robin, Musician Brook, and Comations 'Spert Emma?!"
What? What did she just call me?
"Tell that to First-Mate Zoro, Navator Nami, Chef Sanji, the great Shipwright Franky, and 'specially Sniper Usopp!"
"We will!" Luffy responded, because Chopper and Brook were in tears, and Robin also didn't seem to be very capable of answering.
"I believe in you!" Merry whispered. "I always have!"
Emma couldn't take it anymore. She dove under the sea, glad that the water was able to wash away her tears.
Ace and Law were right behind her.
Tom was waiting for them.
"She was a good ship." He said heavily, as they waited for the others. "Been through a lot of battles, and got her crew to a point where no other ship like that had ever gone before!" He smiled. "She's little, but, she did everything with gusto!"
"Reminds me of somebody else that I know." Ace said, looking at Emma.
Emma quickly wiped her eyes. "Reminds me of another ship that I know." She responded, and began to sing: "The brave little ship, the battle she's won! The fortress they took, the barrels of rum!" Her voice rang out in the underwater realm, as the others finally dove down to join them. "Small in length, but big in heart! She charted our coastline, this was the start! Now the little dove's spreading her wings again, four hundred years have gone by ... Fremantle Town is her bird's nest, it will make this fledgling fly . . . "
Vivi's eyes snapped open, and she quickly sat up. Next to her, Nami was still asleep on her side of the giant clamshell bed; the spines on either side of her beautiful red and white striped Lion Fish tail swayed peacefully, deceptively harmless-looking although they only seemed to grow sharp when she wanted them to.
They'd come in handy more than once when Sanji had gotten a little bit too close as of late.
Vivi, with the beige and neon blue tail of a Mandarin Fish, didn't seem to have that kind of defence, but, she'd been too preoccupied over the past week to worry about things like that.
She, Nami, Sanji, Zoro, Usopp, and Franky had fallen into the Ocean Realm and into its actual ocean; as soon as they had, an amazing transformation had taken place, which had resulted in all of them being turned into merfolk, complete with fish tails and gills and stuff.
Vivi has been hoping that nobody would notice that her blue flower necklace had been glowing whilst all of this was happening, and that they would be too preoccupied with trying to figure out where the others were and what they should do next to think that she'd had any kind of involvement in it.
No such luck.
Once Zoro had finished arguing with Sanji about their next course of action (leaving the chef with the Sand Tiger Shark tail to swim happily over to Nami, and then nearly get stabbed by her spikes) he turned to Vivi and said: "Did you know that this would happen?"
Vivi eyed him; the swordsman had always looked pretty imposing, even to his friends. With a subtly striped Tiger Shark tail, he looked downright deadly. She decided that it was just best to tell them all the truth.
Her explanation of their transformations being connected to either Grace's Heart or Ocean's Flower was interrupted by Usopp (with the tail ... err, tentacles of a Striped Pyjama Squid) saying: "Somebody's coming!"
That 'somebody' had turned out to be a yellow fish-man, which had caused Nami some discomfort Vivi noticed ... right up until Franky (with the tail of a White Spotted Box Fish) had suddenly let out a yell.
"T-TOM-SAN?!"
And, the fish-man had laughed, and replied: "Franky! It's good to see you again! Ta ha ha ha!"
"Franky's mentor?" Zoro had muttered to Vivi.
"Seems so." She'd replied, and Nami had visibly relaxed.
Once the reunions and the introductions were out of the way, Tom had also formally introduced himself as a Guardian of the Ocean Realm.
"Do you know what has happened to our friends?" Vivi had asked him. "The Goddess Grace told me that these transformations," she indicated to herself and the others. "Would be directly connected to the Ocean's Flower and to Grace's Heart. Demo . . . " She bit her lower lip. "If Emma-Sama doesn't have her necklace, for whatever reason . . . "
"It won't do any good to worry about it, until we can find out for certain." Tom had told her, not unkindly.
He had then taken them back to Star Shell City, where the Guardian for the next Portal was being safe-kept.
"Do you know about what's happening in the other Realms?" Nami had wanted to know.
"We get signs." Tom had replied.
Just what kind of signs, they could only speculate. They had spent the rest of the first day exploring the underwater city, with Tom warning them not to stray too far from Vivi lest they turn back into humans (Sanji had taken that a little too literally, until Nami had threatened to sting him again).
On the second day, Vivi had woken up from a dream and announced that Emma did not have her necklace with her, which they took as a very bad sign. They had gathered information over the next few days and, by the fifth day, had finally located Grace's Heart within the lair of some Taiwanese Fighting Fish. They'd come back on the sixth day, done battle with the fishy fiends, and finally secured Grace's Heart.
Back in the city, Tom had directed them to the Starfish Hospital, saying that he'd take the necklace to Emma and the others straight away - according to his source, she and the other Devil Fruit users had managed to land on the one and only island that was currently in the Ocean Realm, and Tom's source was going to clear the way of Siamese Cat Fish - the cousin's of the Taiwanese Fighting Fish - for their return.
And, now, waking up in the late morning and feeling quite refreshed thanks to the mer-nurses, Vivi was quite confident that Emma had her necklace back; she and the others had transformed, and, were on their way to reunite with Vivi and the others.
Smiling, Vivi settled down to wait . . .
It wasn't a very long wait.
"Did you hear?" The head nurse, a cat-fish fish-man woman, asked, as she unwrapped Zoro's chest bandages.
"Hear what?" Asked a moody Moorish Idol merman nurse, as he finished taking Usopp's temperature. "You're all good to go." He told the sniper.
"Thanks." Usopp grinned. "What's the news?" He added, looking over at the cat-fish fish-man woman, whose name badge appropriately read 'Kitty'.
She grinned, a very toothy grin. "The Ocean Goddess's daughter just got here!" She told them. The other nurse looked up. "Isn't that great, Moda?"
"Did she die?" The Moorish Idol merman wanted to know, and he was looking at Kitty so he didn't notice when half of their patients flinched.
"Uh ... I don't think so." Kitty replied. "Tiger-San was saying that she's here on a mission."
"It is joyous." Moda replied in a monotone. "The wish of all merfolk and fish-men alike, to meet the Ocean Goddess and / or her daughter. I am very happy."
"You don't sound very happy." Nami pointed out, as she stretched out and flexed her spines, all thirteen of them.
"Don't mind him." Kitty smiled. "That's just the way that he is." She was checking her notes. "Okay, looks like you guys are all good to go!" She declared. "Just be more careful around the Taiwanese Fighting Fish, okay?"
"I won't be going anywhere near them!" Usopp told her.
"Oh, you're a good patient!" Kitty laughed. "Tiger-San's the only one that can really stand up to them! You all were lucky to make it out without getting sent back down to Level Zero!"
"Uh ... sure . . . " Nami said, giving the others a quick warning look. To Kitty, she added: "The Ocean Goddess's daughter . . . "
"Emma-Sama." Kitty nodded.
"Yeah," Nami nodded as well, as a few of her nakama exchanged quick smiles. "Do you have any idea where she is, right now? We'd really like to meet her."
"Emma-Chwan . . . " Sanji said dreamily.
Usopp and Franky exchanged a grin.
"I'm not too sure," Kitty replied. "But, if you ask back down at reception, one of the girls might have heard something."
"We'll do that!" Sanji said brightly. "Thanks, Kitty-Chan!"
"Take care!" She waved to the group as they left. Once they were gone, Kitty turned to Moda.
"They're not very good liars, are they?" The merman said flatly.
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I dunno, at least they did better than you."
"I am very happy." He repeated, still in that same monotone. "After all, the Ocean Goddess embodied the very home that we came from. Her ... her daughter ... to our kind, they are the true essence of God."
"Do you think that her friends know that?" Kitty wondered. "They're not true merfolk, so . . . " She was referring to those that had always been fish-men or merfolk, even when they were alive.
"Did you hear that one call her '-Chwan'?" Moda rolled his eyes. "Even for humans, they're ignorant." He shook his head.
"Moda, you're starting to sound like him again." Kitty warned him. The Moorish Idol Merman gave her a Look. "Well, you do!" She swam over to him, and, together they watched out the window as the group that had just left the hospital came out onto the street.
Sanji spotted a beautiful dark-haired mermaid in a very skimpy top; she winked at him, and he started to swim towards her, but, Nami dragged him back.
"She's an Angler Fish, Sanji-Kun!" The orange-haired young woman snapped. "Come on, Em and the others are waiting for us!" She glanced over her shoulder, and suddenly gasped. "Zoro, don't you dare wander! We have to stick together! You heard what Tom-San said! Franky, tell him!"
Moda gave Kitty a Look that clearly said: See?
"Moda," Kitty said patiently. "Look, Tiger-San said that those guys took on the Taiwanese Fighting Fish to help Emma-Sama. They can't be that bad . . . "
"Maybe . . . "
"There they are!"
Luffy's voice rang out through the Meraqua Café, and everybody turned to see the group that had just come in.
"Luffy!" Nami called, leading the way to swim over to where he, Robin, Chopper, and Brook were enjoying chips at half price.
As the Straw Hats finally reunited again, Vivi looked around for Emma, Ace, and Law.
She caught sight of them sitting nearby, talking to Tom. Swimming closer, she was able to catch the end of the conversation.
" . . . and, Undine-Sama would always make time to visit with Queen Otohime-Sama," Tom was saying. "Well, seeing as how Fish-Man Island was under her husband's protection, she didn't really need any excuse to visit! Ta ha ha ha ha!"
"So, she's here now, then?" Emma queried, her eyes sparkling. "The Queen is in the Star Shell City Palace, guarding the Portal Guardian, right?"
Tom nodded, and that was when they spotted Vivi.
"Hey, guys," she said, smiling at them. "Fancy meeting you here."
"Vivi-Chama!" Emma exclaimed.
Tom looked surprised for a second, and then he started laughing. The two girls, Ace, and Law just looked at him, and he explained: "I'm sorry, it's just that that is how Undine-Sama used to refer to the Queen."
"I know." Vivi and Emma said in unison.
Tom was still laughing. "And, they used to talk like that, as well!"
"Tom-San, you're laughing too much, again . . . " Franky said, swimming over, but, he was smiling.
Tom wiped away the tears of laughter. "Alright, alright," He said, getting up. "Are you all ready to head to the Portal, now then?"
"Uh ... I don't think so . . . " Franky blanched.
They looked all around them to see that Ace had fallen asleep, Sanji was seemingly in eight different places at once as he followed eight different waitresses (four mermaids, three fish-men women, and one that looked like a cross between those two species), Brook had commandeered the stage in the café and was currently taking requests from his nakama, and Luffy was trying to see if he could reuse the half-price ticket - the octopus merman head chef wasn't having any of it.
Emma and Vivi exchanged a glance.
"Ne, Sanji-San," Vivi called to him, as he swam by after a brightly-coloured Neon Tetra mermaid. "We're going to go and meet the Mermaid Queen now, okay?"
Sanji instantly turned, his one visible eye lighting up. "Okay!" He cheered.
"You can play your music for us on the go, okay, Brook-San?" Vivi went on, turning towards the skeletal merman, who obligingly came down from the stage.
"And, Luffy-San," Vivi continued, trying to stay calm as the head chef brandished a butcher's knife at her beloved Straw Hat Captain. "I hope that you saved room, because, the Gods told me that the Snow Realm is famous for its Open-Air Chilled Meat Treats!"
"Alright!" Luffy agreed, dodging the knife as Vivi guided him towards the exit.
Emma, who had just woken up Ace, was busy putting on a black hooded cloak that she had gotten from ... somewhere.
"What's that for?" Nami asked her.
"People seem to ... recognise me here." Emma explained, drawing the hood up tightly around her neck. "It's just easier this way."
"Oh, yeah?" Nami remembered what she had heard back at the hospital. Emma didn't seem to want to talk about it, though, and so Nami searched her mind for another topic of conversation. Noticing that Su-Chan was now on Emma's right wrist, Nami checked the other girl's left wrist. "Hey! You're wearing Ace's bracelet."
Emma nodded. "Yeah, he kinda gave it to me the other day when we exchanged 'rings' because we ... kinda sorta got ... umm, married . . . "
"WHAT?!" Nami fairly shrieked, causing a number of passer-bys to stare at her when she did.
"Oh, it was a beautiful wedding!" Chopper piped up, swimming up beside them. "And, Merry's Spirit was the Minister!"
"WHAT?!" It was Usopp's turn to be upset, and so they spent the rest of the short swim to the palace talking about what had happened two days ago.
Nami groaned. "Luffy, when I asked you where you got that coupon from, why didn't you tell me?"
"I did." Luffy protested, swimming backwards so that he could talk to them. "I said that I got it from Emmy." He pointed at Emma. "It's the truth." He added.
"Eh?" A voice next to them spoke up, and they all looked to see a random fish-man. "Emmy? Edward Emmy?"
"It's 'Emma'." She said, without thinking.
"Edward Emma-Sama?!" The fish-man yelled.
Emma, Law, Ace, and Chopper all cringed, as multiple other fish-men and merfolk turned in their direction, and began pointing and talking excitedly.
"Uh-oh . . . " Franky muttered, adjusting his glasses.
"Somebody do something, please . . . " Emma begged, as fish-men and merfolk began to swim towards them.
"Want me to sting 'em?" Nami suggested. "Here, give me Su-Chan." She added, and took the Baby DenDen-Mushi. She swam forwards, and then stopped, extending all thirteen of her venomous spines.
Those that had been swimming towards them all stopped, eyeing her warily.
"Stay back!" Nami warned them. "Or else, I'll sting you all!"
"She will!" Chopper added, from where he was bravely hiding behind Brook. "She has a neuromuscular toxin! And, I have Chironex Fleckeri, Carukia Barnesi, and Malo Kingi!"
"He has what?" Luffy whispered to Vivi, who shrugged. Nearby, Emma had tilted her head to one side, even as Tom, Ace, and Law began to shepherd her and the others away.
The surrounding crowd was beginning to look nervous, as them Chopper added: "And, Brook here has a venom which outlasts the forty-eight hours that it does in regular Scorpion Fish!"
"Yohohoho . . . "
"And, Su-Chan," Chopper finished up simply. "Is a Cone Shell."
Su-Chan chose that moment to emerge from her shell, her spear held up high so that it caught the sunlight.
"AAAAHHHH!" The crowd all screamed in terror, and swam away in all different directions, thankfully not in the direction that the others had gone.
Nami, Chopper, and Brook swam to catch up with them.
"Chopper," Emma said, once they were swimming normally again. "You're an Irukandji Jellyfish, aren't you?"
Chopper looked up at her. "Are-Are you upset?" He asked carefully. After all, I got all panicky over Su-Chan being a Cone Shell, but my species is so much worse!
She bit her lip.
She IS upset with me! Oh no oh no oh noooo . . .
"Well . . . " She sighed. "I wanted you to be a Compass Jellyfish!"
As Chopper sighed too, but with relief, a few of the others started laughing.
"Trust you to think that way, Emma!" Usopp told her.
"What? I can't help it if that's my way." She just shrugged, but then she smiled. "Well, at least that means that you're an Australian Jellyfish, Chopper! Australian, just like me!" She added, as Chopper looked extremely happy.
"Hey, what about the rest of us?!" Luffy wanted to know.
"Well," Emma swum to the front of the group and looked at them all. "As far as I see it, you're all Honorary Australians!" She looked at them each, individually, saving Luffy for last. "Each and every single one of you. I've been thinking about it since we went to the Dawn Service back in Kings Park - did you know that back in World War II, Australia was a part of what was called the Allied Forces." A few of them shook their heads, except for Vivi and Ace who nodded. "Well, they were. It's a sign. After all, we're called The Allies, and, I'm part Australian." Emma crossed her arms. "You all have helped me, even when I was trying to do things back there - you've always stood by me. If that doesn't make you guys Honorary Australians, then, I don't know what does!" She grinned. "Helping out mates- that's what we True Blue Aussies are all about, ne?" She suddenly noticed the uncharacteristically serious expression on Luffy's face. "What is it?"
"You're sure about all of that?" He asked her. "That we're really all ... Honorary Australians?"
Emma didn't even hesitate. She nodded firmly. "Yes. One hundred percent."
Luffy grinned. "Well, then, that makes you an Honorary ... umm. . . "
"East Bluer." Sanji supplied.
"Yeah!" Luffy agreed.
"But, how do we even know that that's where I was born?" Emma said. "I mean, I could be from the Grand Line like Vivi-Chama and Chopper, or from the West Blue like Robin-San and Brook, or from the South Blue like Ace-Chan and Franky, or from the North Blue like Law-Chan . . . "
"You spent most of your time doing things in the East Blue over the past few months, Emma-Chan," Sanji reminded her. "I think that that makes you an Honorary East Bluer."
Zoro gave Sanji an odd look. "Did you just make that word up?" He wanted to know. "I'm from the East Blue, and I've never heard of the term 'East Bluer'."
"It's a real term." Sanji informed him scathingly. "Look it up."
"I'm not gonna look it up!"
"Scared I'm right?"
Nami suddenly smacked both of them upside the head, and Vivi said: "Well, maybe there's somebody in there that knows where Emma was born." She pointed towards their destination - the Star Shell City Palace looked beautiful, living up to its name as a palace made up of a shell-like substance in some places and a dark blue rock that was speckled in gold and silver in other places. "The Mermaid Queen, Otohime-Sama. Come on!"
The others all nodded, and followed Vivi up the steps towards the palace doors where Tom was waiting for them.
With some bad news.
"What?!" Emma exclaimed. "The Queen's not accepting visitors today?! Why not?!"
Tom looked sympathetic, as he shook his head. "I don't know. It's not like her at all."
"Is she okay?" Vivi asked worriedly.
"I don't know that either, I'm afraid."
"Can she even do that?" Usopp wanted to know.
Sanji hit Usopp with his shark tail - he was getting good at doing that. "She's the Queen, she can do whatever she wants!" His voice softened. "Oh dear, I hope that poor Queen Otohime-Chan is okay . . . "
"You said that this isn't like her." Nami said to Tom. "Has anything changed recently that may have made her not want to have guests?"
"I wish that I could tell you," Tom said heavily. "But, I've been busy over the past week or so . . . "
"Yeah, helping us . . . " Nami realised. "And, then, retrieving these guys from . . . "
"Gilligan's Isle." Chopper supplied.
"Castaway Island." Robin said softly.
"Yohohoho, The Isle Of Lost Souls!" Brook chuckled.
"No, it wasn't, it was a Dessert Island!" Luffy protested.
Nami groaned. "Well, whatever it was called, that's where he found you guys, and brought you back to here!" She sighed. "Well, there's no use complaining over it, so let's just find the Portal Guardian and move on, okay?"
A few of the others nodded or said 'okay', and they began to swim off as Tom led them across the impressive entrance hall that had a chandelier made out of glow-in-the-dark coral.
Vivi noticed that Emma was swimming very slowly, and she hung back to talk with her.
But, for a few seconds, Emma didn't say anything. Vivi, however, recognised the look on her friend's face and, as they approached a t-junction, she whispered to her: "Want me to distract them?"
"Would you?" Emma smiled gratefully.
Vivi smiled back at her, and then swum up to where Luffy and Franky were talking to Tom.
"Tom-San," Emma heard her say, as she slowed down more and eventually just stopped. "I've been wondering why everybody is so keen to meet the Ocean Goddess's daughter . . . "
"Oh, not to worry!" Tom reassured her. "Although all fish-men and merfolk have a connection with both Undine-Sama and her daughter, you'll find that the ones that you meet back home will be slightly less over-eager! Ta ha ha ha!"
"They were probably just shocked that they were getting the chance to meet Emma-San." Robin mused, but then she carefully winked at Emma over her shoulder. "Perhaps many of them had given up on that hope." She added, as Emma turned quickly and swum off down a different corridor.
She knew that she had precious little time before her absence was noted.
Cupid was watching Destiny's Tablets; one in particular had just caught his eye, and he watched as five figures ran through a dark street.
"How interesting!" The God Of Love exclaimed. He leaned in. "Perhaps it's because . . . " He checked out another tablet. "Yes ... yes, that's it ... oh dear ... I see . . . " Cupid sighed. His wings drooped. "Yes, that's why . . . " He now had to decide what to do. At last, he made up his mind, and made his way to Boss's Office, to call Father Time.
0000000000
"Well, avoiding any guards was easier than what I expected it to be . . . " Emma said quietly, but a nearby fish-man heard her.
"Easy?" He was leaning against a nearby wall, arms crossed over his chest. Emma had to look up to see him - he was about seventeen feet tall, with black hair and salmon-pink skin. Something about his voice was familiar. "Ha! You have your friends to thank for that!"
He sounds like Martin Luther King, or somebody . . . "What do you mean?" Emma asked him. "Did they do something?"
The fish-man just sighed, and shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He decided. "You're here now, and, she's been expecting you." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
And, as if on cue, a soft but melodic voice called from behind an ornate door: "Is that her, Tiger?"
"Aye."
"Send her in." The soft voice commanded. "And, then please go and get her friends - he Portal Guardian is in here, with me."
Emma stared at Fisher Tiger, her heart pounding in her chest.
He stared back down at her, a look of understanding on her face, and then he smiled. "Go on." He told her, and she nodded.
"Arigatoō, Tiger-San." She said, and swam past him, pushing open the ornate doors and swimming into the Queen's room.
The doors shut behind her.
Queen Otohime's Room was large, but currently dimly lit, as most of the curtains were drawn across the windows. Glow-in-the-dark coral provided the light, as did a giant ice-like statue that sat at the other end of the room, atop a small dais.
That was the first thing that Emma noticed.
The second thing was the Mermaid Queen herself - Queen Otohime.
Emma couldn't help but stare. The Queen was younger than what she had expected; at her death she couldn't have been past forty. She had short light blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a round and kind face. She wore a white kimono-like top that blended flawlessly into the scales of her orange tail.
Because of the dim light, Emma couldn't see the expression on the Queen's face, but her voice was soft and gentle as she said: "Please, come closer, Emma-Sama."
Emma did as she was told. "Qu-Queen Otohime-Sama?" She stammered. Jeez, calm down, heart! She told it angrily. Then: Augh! I didn't say stop!
Now that she was closer, Emma could see the small smile on the Goldfish Mermaid's face, but she still couldn't clearly see her eyes because the Queen had moved out of a beam of light flickering through the curtains and into the shadows, as she swum over to Emma.
"Let me take a look at you." Queen Otohime cupped Emma's face within her hands. "You look so much like your Mother, I'm surprised that nobody could tell."
Emma's heart was now hammering again in her chest. This was it! She was about to learn more about her Mother! "You ... you knew her, didn't you, Queen Otohime-Sama? You knew my Mother, Edward Undine?"
Queen Otohime nodded. "Yes, I did - I knew her very well, during the time that she spent in our world. Despite the fact that there were many years between us, we were very close, Undine-Sama and I. I missed her dreadfully when she left us."
"Do you know why, though?" Emma asked her. "Why did she have to leave?"
"She was needed back in this Celestial World." Queen Otohime explained, as she drew back from Emma.
"Where is she now?"
The Queen shook her head. "That, I do not know. This Ocean Realm had already changed by the time that I arrived here."
"Merry said that my Mother cried for days when I was killed back in the Mortal Realm." Emma said, and then watched as Queen Otohime flinched. "Oh ... I'm sorry ... I mean, I'm alright, now . . . " Emma said awkwardly, and then was startled when the Queen suddenly hugged her.
"Yes, you are!" Queen Otohime said strongly, although seemingly to reassure herself as much as anything. "You've come so far, and done so much! You truly are a living miracle!"
Emma blushed. "W-well, I'm not that great . . . " She said. "It's been mostly thanks to my Allies." She said strongly. "I don't know where I'd be without them."
"Yes," the Queen said again, drawing back from Emma again. "It's good to have friends. The Gods told me that you knew so much about our world already. How you had watched it from afar and wished to be a part of it. You really are just like your Mother." She added.
"S-so my Mother used to watch that world, too?" Emma was amazed. "Before she went there? H-how . . . ?"
"She explained to me that, before she became what is known as a Mortal God - that is, a God reborn as a human but still carrying their divine powers," the Queen explained. "She used to watch visions of our world. She loved it, and wished to become a part of it. One day, she and a friend - another divine being - decided to go to that world and be reborn."
"Another God?" Emma blinked. "Which one? Where's that other God now?"
The Queen sighed. "She would not tell me that person's identity. Relations between the denizens of the land and the denizens of the sea were at a most volatile stage during that time, and your Mother feared what this person might do."
"Somebody from the Government?"
The Queen seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "I believe so, yes." She sighed. "She said that this person had changed - that they were no longer the friend that she had once known, but, she seemed to have been expecting that, or so it would seem. Undine-Sama feared leaving at such a critical time, but, I reassured her that her hope for the future would still be safe - you, Emma-Sama. I'm so sorry that you were not." She sounded sad.
"It's not ... it's not your fault, Queen Otohime-Sama." Emma told her. "It's the Government, and Ino. She didn't even want kids - even sold her own daughter away into slavery - but, that didn't mean that she had to go ahead and kill me, just because I'm Whitebeard's daughter!" She looked to the side. "She's here, right now, in the Celestial Realm."
"Is she, now?" The Queen looked troubled.
"Yeah. She's the First Knight for their new God Of Darkness." Emma said bitterly. "She stole my Mother's necklace, but, we got it back!"
"You did?" Queen Otohime looked impressed. "That must have taken quite a lot. I've heard that Ino is a Rokushiki Master, and, to think that she's now a First Knight, as well!"
"Vivi-Chama was really upset when it happened." Emma informed the Queen.
"Ah, you mean Titi-Sama's young daughter, correct?" The Queen said.
"Yup." Emma replied. "Vivi-Chama's one of my Allies. She was even my decoy for a little while, and she's one of my closest friends!"
The Queen smiled. "You have so many friends, Emma-Sama ... just like your Mother. I wonder . . . "
"Yes?"
"If it's not too much to ask," Queen Otohime sounded hesitant. "When you return to our world, if ... if you meet my daughter, Shirahoshi, would you please be friends with her, as well?"
Emma didn't even hesitate. "Absolutely!" She said. "Is there anything special that you want me to say to her, when I meet her?"
"You could sing that song to her," the Queen suggested. "The one that your Mother used to sing to you."
"You mean the one that calls the Sea Kings, Yin and Yang?" Emma said.
The Queen nodded. "Hai. I used to sing it for Shirahoshi when she was growing up. She'd like to hear it again, I'm sure."
"You got it." Emma agreed. "Did my Mother teach it to you, Queen Otohime-Sama?"
"She did." The Queen replied. "She loved to sing, and, she loved that necklace. She'd be very glad that you got it back."
Emma nodded. "Yeah, well, my husband got it back for us."
"Your husband?" The Queen's eyes lit up - even in the dim light, Emma could see that, although she now also noticed how red the Queen's eyes looked. Had she been crying?
Emma nodded, again. "Mmhmm. Ace-Chan. He's the Second Division Commander in my Father's crew ... Queen Otohime-Sama, what's wrong?!" She exclaimed, for the Queen had suddenly buried her face into her hands with a short sob. "What is . . . ?" Emma's heart suddenly constricted painfully. "Has ... has something happened to my Father?" The Queen nodded wordlessly. Emma froze. "What ... Your Majesty, please, tell me!"
Queen Otohime seemed to shudder just then, but then she unburied her face from her hands and looked up at Emma with sympathetic, tear-filled blue eyes.
Emma listened, her heart thudding in her chest.
No ... NO!
"Shishishishi," Luffy grinned. "We got into a lot of trouble back there!"
"Well, it was worth it, if Emiko wanted to meet with the Queen." Ace said diplomatically, as they waited around in maybe the one room that they hadn't almost totally demolished. "Hopefully, the guards were too busy paying attention to us . . . " He trailed off, as Vivi, who was perched nearby in a state of cat-like readiness, suddenly jolted. The colour drained from the Princess's face, and she began to look around wildly. "Vivi . . . ?"
"Some...something's happened!" Vivi suddenly said, in a strangled kind of voice. Her hand clutched at the necklace around her neck, and her grey eyes were wide and almost panicked. "Emma-Sama ... she's . . . "
"You're right, Vivi-Ya," Law said, unexpectedly. "Emiko is no longer in this Realm."
This was met with the expected cries of: "She's gone?!" From Chopper and Nami, and: "What do you mean?!" From Franky and Usopp.
"I mean that Emiko opened the Portal and left without us." Law said, in a tight voice.
"But ... why?" Nami said, in a hushed voice. "What could have caused her to suddenly do that?"
The door to the room that they were in suddenly swung open, and Tom swum in.
"All of you!" He said, in an urgent voice. "You have to get to the Portal right away! Hurry, before it closes!"
Ace and Law were the first ones out the door after him, followed by Vivi, and then Luffy, and then the rest of them.
Em, Nami thought, as she swam along at about twenty knots per. hour, much faster than she ever could have as a human. She looked down at Su-Chan; Nami thought that the Baby DenDen-Mushi looked worried. What happened?
"There's the Portal!" Luffy cried, as they charged into the Queen's room. And, indeed, glowing brightly in the centre of a dais was a large dark blue and white Portal; it swirled before them and, as they got closer to it, they all felt a chilly cold air. Yup, there was no doubt about this; it was the Portal to the Snow Realm.
"Go through!" Tom said urgently.
Ace didn't need telling twice, and neither did Luffy; the two brothers immediately swam through the Portal, followed by Sanji and Zoro, Robin and Chopper, Usopp, and Brook.
Franky stopped, to say goodbye to his mentor. "Thank you, Tom-San ... for everything." He said, meaningfully.
Tom nodded, understanding. "Remember, Franky, that you have so much to live for! Be proud of everything that you've done, and remember to do it with gusto! Ta ha ha ha ha!" He laughed, and Franky grinned as he disappeared through the Portal although Nami suspected that the shipwright might've been crying behind his sunglasses.
The navigator paused before she went through, realising that Vivi and Law were still there. She was surprised; hadn't Law been one of the first ones through that door? Vivi hadn't been very far behind him, although Nami realised that Vivi had to stay back, to keep their transformations active until they all left the Ocean Realm.
But, why Law?
That was when Nami saw that Law kept on glancing to his right; she followed his gaze and saw a fish-man that was way bigger than Tom guarding a curtain; a figure could be seen on the other side of that curtain, and Nami had enough sense to know that this was the Mermaid Queen - Otohime.
She nodded. "We'll see you there, then." The navigator told them. "Come on, Su-Chan - let's go and find your owner!"
As soon as Nami had disappeared through the Portal with Su-Chan, Vivi and Law exchanged a glance, and then nodded.
The fish-man guarding the curtain to the area where the Queen was watched as they approached him. Something told the two pirates that he wasn't going to let them through.
Not without reason.
"Please, we have to speak to Queen Otohime-Sama!" Vivi said, in an urgent but calm and authoritative voice. "We must know what has caused Emma-Sama to react in such a way, so that we may best assist her when we find her!"
The fish-man regarded them both coolly. "Who are you two?" He wanted to know.
It was Law who spoke. His voice was also calm, but, his silver eyes were steely. Vivi also noticed that the fish-man that was confronting them wasn't affected by this.
"I am Trafalgar Law, the First Knight of the Ocean Goddess's daughter, Edward Emma." He stated. "This is Princess Nefertari Vivi of the Kingdom Of Arabasta; she was chosen as a Decoy Princess by the Gods." He added.
Although Law had technically gotten the order of their introductions mixed up, by royal standards he had gotten most of it spot-on. Vivi was amazed.
Just then, a voice came from the other side off the curtain.
"Let her through, Tiger," came a gentle and melodic voice. "I will speak with Titi-Sama's daughter . . . "
The fish-man, Tiger, nodded briefly, and moved aside so that Vivi could swim past him.
Law caught sight of a beautiful blonde-haired Goldfish Mermaid sitting in a room that seemed vaguely reminiscent of Ariel's Grotto in The Little Mermaid; he saw beautiful shells and some statues and even a painting of a woman with long golden-orange hair (like everything else down here, it seemed unaffected by the water).
He also caught sight of the look on Tiger's face, when the fish-man saw the necklace gleaming around Vivi's neck.
However, what he said to Law once Vivi had disappeared and the curtain had settled, was: "You're Emma-Sama's First Knight." It wasn't a question. He folded his arms over his chest. "It wasn't supposed to have been you."
"You mean that it wasn't supposed to have been a human." Law said.
The fish-man looked at him. His expression was unreadable. "Well, I'll tell you - it was supposed to have been my little brother, Cub. We all expected it to be him."
"Well, where's Cub-Ya, now?" Law wanted to know.
Tiger's expression turned dark. "I had hoped that he'd be there ... on that day ... thirteen years ago ... he was there when I left ... I should never have left him behind, but, he told me to go . . . " The fish-man sounded regretful, and also very, very bitter. "That wasn't the only reason why I went back there, but . . . "
"You're talking about when you scaled the Red Line and freed all of those slaves, aren't you?" Tom spoke up. Law looked at him; he had almost forgotten that Franky's mentor was still there. "Your brother was a slave to a World Noble?"
Tiger nodded. "Aye. Still is - he hasn't been killed, and those World Nobles wouldn't be letting him go!" He definitely sounded bitter, now. "I rebranded the mark of the Sun Pirates onto those fish-men that I freed ... covered up that mark left by the savage World Nobles ... did the same for a little human girl and took her back to her Mother . . . " He closed his eyes briefly. "I regret ... having died and not being able to free my brother. For his mark still being on his back . . . " He opened his eyes, and looked directly at Law. "All of us fish-men are affected by the Ocean Goddess and her daughter. Merfolk have the same reaction. That's because Undine-Sama was the human-embodiment of the very ocean that we love! It's not control - it's a mutual bond! And, her daughter affects us just the same ... not my little brother, though ... whilst most fish-men and merfolk would be unable to resist a command from either Undine-Sama or Emma-Sama, my little brother ... with him, it was different. There were a few like that. All of them fish-men or merfolk. But, like any of us, they'd lay down their lives for her." Law waited. Tiger drew in a deep breath. "Can you and the others honestly say the same, human?"
Law looked back at him. "Without a doubt." He said softly. "I ... would die for her." He didn't say it, but, somehow he knew that the others would, as well. They'd come to this Celestial Realm, hadn't they?
Tiger regarded him, steadily now. "Do you think that, if given the choice, that she would do anything to prevent that from happening?" Law nodded, wordlessly. "And? What do you say to that, human?"
"I say that she's not thinking clearly." Law replied. The fingers of his right hand tensed around his nodachi. "That something's obviously happened to upset her enough that she'd want to stop us from helping her." What, though? Emiko ... what's happened?
He got his answer soon enough. Vivi had swum back out, and now she took his hand.
"Law-San," she said, her voice steady but her grey eyes bright. "Let's go."
He nodded, but, as they swam towards the Portal, he asked her: "Vivi-Ya ... what happened?"
A figure ran across the snow, her long wine-coloured fur-lined cloak billowing out behind her as she did.
She didn't know how she was running across the snow like this, and, she didn't care. She didn't even care if the tears froze on her face.
She didn't care about anything, anymore.
Queen Otohime's words kept on replaying over and over again in her mind, even now as they were being spoken by Vivi to Law.
Emma didn't know that. She didn't know that her friends had now followed her through the Portal, and she didn't even think about anything anymore - not even the initial sense that she'd had to leave them, to put as much distance between herself and them as what she possibly could. To spare them all from a potential fate.
All she thought about where those words.
Edward Newgate ... has been killed . . .