Valentine wasn't halfway to Elder Falls when Red caught up with him.
"What's your plan? Where are we going?" Red asked as they ran.
"To the ruins we found behind the falls-" Valentine narrowly dodged a branch. "-and off the island from there."
"You're gonna try to sail the Antelope?" Red chuckled. "I hope you've got a plan."
"It's less of a plan and more of an idea," Valentine admitted.
"I left the anchor and the rope at the falls," Red called through the bushes, "I'll climb up first and toss it down for you two." Valentine called back an acknowledge
Red scaled the cliff face as easily as if it was horizontal and disappeared behind the spray. Moments later, a rope fell down for them.
Valentine went first, at Aria's urging. The wet rope and slick wall didn't make for an easy climb, not to mention the rush encouraging any mistakes. Red must have gotten impatient, because when Valentine was halfway up he grabbed the rope and started pulling him up like a crate. Valentine climbed onto the cavern mouth with wet hair and a soaked scowl.
"No time to complain," Red said, "get those gates open and the ship moving. "
The gate! Valentine had entirely forgotten. He had ideas about the ship, but nothing about the gate. He'd have to find a way to move the massive stone doors, which hadn't budged in centuries, in only a few minutes.
He started by inspecting them. They were 10 meters wide each, at least as tall, and more than a foot thick. Their sun inscriptions bore faces that seemed to watch him, mocking his frustration with their faded expressions. He couldn't find any hinges, gears, or other mechanism that seemed to open it.
"Maybe it isn't a gate," Aria appeared at his side, startling him. "Maybe it's a prison. Someone could have built it to seal away the ship, with no intention of opening it."
"No, that's impossible…" Valentine muttered, running his hands along the stone. "The ship hasn't been here long, and these gates were built centuries ago. No, someone got the gates open to leave the ship here."
"Why?" Aria asked. "Why would anyone ever leave a ship on a nowhere island like this?"
"A question for another time, for now we have to figure out how they got the gates open last time," Valentine said.
"They're here, and they're climbing up!" Red reported. Valentine cursed, he didn't think they'd try to make their way in here. They must have spotted them climbing. He had less time than he thought he did.
"Here," Aria offered a book to Valentine, the journal from the corpse, the necklace of the corpse in the other hand. "I don't think it'll do much convincing anymore."
Valentine turned the pages, ignoring the stiffness of the pages.
Who knows how long I was asleep for. I was lucky to even wake up after a fall like that. My legs are likely broken. How ironic, that after all this time I would cripple so close to the prize. I've searched for these ruins for years, researching until I was one of the foremost scholars in the field. Most all traces of their civilizations have crumbled, save the stones-
"Hurry up!" Red yelled from the cave mouth. "They're nearly up, get those gates open!" Red stomped on a climber's fingers, sending them falling back into the pool.
"I'm trying!" Valentine flipped through the pages, reading a sentence then skipping ahead if it wasn't relevant to the gate.
-even a fragment of a powerstone contains within it not just energy, but space—vast dimensions trapped in fragile crystal-
-invented ships that could sail under any conditions without relying upon wind-
-only known to be created on the lost island of-
-point to the war as the chief cause for their downfall, though their disappearance-
"Valentine!" Red yelled. He stomped on the fingers of a woman, sending her falling until she landed with a distant splash.
"Quiet! I think I found it!" He could hardly read with the noise and adrenaline.
Powerstones could be found in every aspect of their life, powering mechanical creations beyond the scope of any number of men. I'll have to test the theory, though finding a functional artifact with a vacant powerstone chamber could prove difficult.
The sound of Red fighting was lost on Valentine. The necklace in Aria's hand glinted. Without explanation he tore it from her grasp and ran for the sea gate. He felt along the surface, knocking and feeling until a hollow noise echoed. The pendant on the necklace, glowed, and the old stones moved with a great grinding. It revealed a small chamber with strange prongs, reaching from the sides until meeting in the middle. Valentine plucked the polished black stone from the necklace and placed it in the center of the prongs.
The cavern shook. Water churned and small rocks fell from the ceiling. The sea gates moaned as they slipped down, sinking into the sea. The twin suns eyed him as they dipped into the ocean and disappeared.
"We did it," Valentine said in disbelief, as if informing himself of the victory.
"We did it…" Aria echoed. She watched the space where the gate had been with great awe. She had lived next to this for years and was none the wiser that the island hid this.
The ground shook again, this time more violently and less regular than the gate moving.
"What caused that?" Valentine asked, but he didn't want to know the answer.
The water erupted violently. White spray geysered out from the cavern pool, soaking the rocky area. From the spray leapt a beast like nothing Valentine had seen before. It stood taller than a man and thirty feet long. It had four extremities that ended in webbed claws, a pointed head with a wide mouth full of teeth, and a flat paddle tail. Its skin was rubbery and bone white and it had two black pits for eyes. An alien intent emanated from the beast, a dominating presence that denied comprehension or observation. It opened its maw and screeched, filling their ears with an agonizing sound like wet rocks sliding over each other.
Red ran to meet them, followed by a mob of villagers who were still pouring in. He stopped short of the pale beast next to Aria and Valentine.
"Looks like we awakened something more today," Red said, "is it some sort of guardian?"
"And you brought your own friends," Aria sighed. "I can take this thing. Red, hold off the villagers as long as you can.'
"I'll get the ship moving!" Valentine ran to the Antelope, the journal tucked under his arm.
"Be quick about it, I'm not a machine. I can't do this forever." Red grumbled. He stood beside Aria. On his side, a charging mob that he couldn't let a single soul slip past. On her's, an alien beast from the depths. They settled into ready stances and awaited the wave.
Red sliced his leg through the air, firing a crescent of compressed wind and debris. It cut a swath through the mob, landing on the back wall with a great scar. Those who fell were quickly replaced with more, climbing over the bodies of the fallen to reach Red. He fell onto his back, freeing both his legs to kick and send volleys of air cutters at the ground. Men were thrown around like rag dolls when struck by the wind, some even flying back until they slammed into the back wall.
A clinking of chain was all the warning Red had. He ducked out of the way for a length of chain to slam into the rock where he had been. At the impact, the larger rocks were split or shattered. Red gulped, imagining how his skull would have fared against it.
When the chain came again, he was ready. He caught it along its length, though the momentum coiled the chain around his arm like a constrictor. A sharp tug sent the chain-user hurtling towards him, and a sharp knee ensured he wouldn't be getting up any time soon.
Red showed off his new weapon, spinning it around and sending gravel into the crowds gathering around him. If a villager got brave and came close, a swing of the chain deterred them, and any future followers. The chain was more than heavy enough to shatter any bone it came into contact with. With his new chain and the villagers scared, Red felt he was in a comfortable position. He could never have expected one of the villagers to have a devil fruit.
A 500lb Gorilla broke through the ranks and slammed into Red with all the apprehension of a freight train. He felt something break as he bounced along like a skipping stone, coming to a sudden stop in a pile of ruins.
Before he could open his eyes, he felt the ground rumble with another oncoming charge. He placed his feet against stone, pushed off, and, without so much as a glance, shaved.
Anywhere but here, he prayed.
He landed in the death cold water with a gasp. When he was learning the Six Powers, one of the rules was to never use Soru without a clear trajectory, now he knew why. If he had gone off in the wrong direction, he'd be a stain on the cave wall right now.
With plenty of breath, Red let himself sink to the bottom of the shallow pool to grant him a moment of reprieve, if nothing else. At least in the sea (which he assumed this was, blocked off from the ocean only by the gate), he was safe from the Devil Fruit user. His mind went back to his Cipher Pol training and how he was taught to deal with Devil Fruit users.
Salt water was their main weakness, obviously, but he doubted he could force something twice his size into the water. It appeared to be a regular Zoan type, some type of gorilla. Gorillas were strong and capable of powerful charging, Red figured if it connected with him in any way, he'd be a goner. His only chance was using the Devil Fruit's own strengths against them. With the Six Powers his entire body was a weapon, and he'd need every inch of it for this fight.
Rock started to fall into the water, thrown by the villagers, and Red could hear distant cries. It looked like his opponents were becoming impatient. Red kicked his legs and rocketed to the surface of the water. There, the villagers had gathered at the shore, with the Devil Fruit user at the front. From the safety of the pool, he whipped his legs through the water in arcs, summoning crescents of the sea to fire at the gathered crowd. They scattered, but the gorilla was too slow. Ocean water slammed into his chest, slamming his bulk into the beach and kicking gravel into the air.
Red climbed onto the water with Geppo and made a dash before his opponent could recover. He climbed until he was fifteen feet in the air, then let himself fall. He bared his index finger like a knife, ready to stab his opponent. He landed finger first, breaking through skin and bone until he had sunk up to the knuckle. He wrenched it out with a sick wet noise, finger stained with blood.
He counted out the Devil Fruit user too soon. A fist slammed into his ribcage, knocking out his breath like a popped balloon and sending him rolling across the ground. The Devil Fruit User reverted back to their human form, now with a gaping wound in their chest dribbling out a steady stream of blood. He coughed into his fist, another splatter of blood. Despite his wounds, he didn't seem to feel the pain. His eyes lit up as his body recharged with fury, and he charged back at Red. As he charged, he morphed back into a gorilla, growing twice in size.
Red waited until the final moment before he leapt aside, barely dodging the charge. The gorilla slammed its arms into the dirt to stop it's charge, sending gravel and dirt flying, He carved deep lines into the ground as he slowly came to a halt, inches from the ocean water.
There goes that plan, Red pondered.
The beast turned and thundered towards him in a manner similar to that of a landslide. Red closed his fist, once again slowly extending a single index finger. His chosen weapon shook with fear. Doubt crept into his mind about his ability to stop this charging beast with only a single finger. If he was off by a hair, his hand would crumble and he'd be stampeded over, and likely crushed to death.
Red punched out his arm, sending his finger into the gorilla's chest, through its broken ribcage, skewering its heart, and shattering through it's ribs to come out the other side. The beast pierced itself on Red's arm up to his armpit, leaving his blood stained arm to stick out the other side, finger still pointed. Slowly, the devil fruit user reduced to a corpse, shrinking his body from a gorilla back to a man.
Red shrugged the corpse off of him. His blood covered Red, and was still uncomfortably warm. His right hand was especially red. It hung limp, lacking any sensation. Broken, more likely shattered, after punching through the gorilla's ribcage. Without his good hand, he wasn't sure if he would be able to fight off the armed mob.
The villagers put space between them, intimidated by his kill. They formed an empty circle around him, none bold enough to strike first. If he slew a devil fruit user, they thought, what good were they?
Red took a step forward. Every villager took a step back. Another step forward. Another step back.
"GET OUT!" Red screamed. Without hesitation, the remaining villagers scattered, leaving their opponent to breathe a sigh of relief.
Aria leapt at the beast. Her body stretched, growing taller and shrinking her limbs. Her skin hardened into scales and turned blue. Finally, she was a giant viper the width of a barrel and thirty feet long, with foot long fangs. The feature she retained was her yellow slit-pupil eyes.
Aria reared up her head, rising nearly as tall as the chamber. She hissed and bared her fangs. Her fangs eagerly dripped venom, which fell to the floor and landed with a hiss, pockmarking the ground around her with small craters. The guardian of the ruins groaned back at her, it almost sounded in pain.
Aria lunged, snaking past its claws and gnashing teeth to wrap around it. Once, twice, three times she wrapped around it. She coiled her body tightly, squeezing and trying to grapple the beast. It shuddered and groaned under the stress. With the cracking of joints, it twisted its head backwards and sank its teeth into Aria's scales. Aria screeched and squirmed, trying to sink her fangs into the beast but unable to. It ripped her off its frame and tossed her aside into the ruins.
Yesterday, most islanders wouldn't believe that a single titan lived on their island. Yet now two of them clashed in the cavern. They made the towering cavern seem like a crawl space. A wrong step in their fight could kill the entire crowd. In the days to come, none would believe their stories of an earth-shaking battle taking place on their backwater island.
The pale guardian snapped its jaws, catching the end of Aria's tail. She hissed in pain as it used its grip to pull her back. She curled her body, swinging her baring fangs towards her tail end. The guardian was defenseless with its jaws occupied, and could do nothing to stop Aria from sinking her fangs deep into its skull.
The bone white blubber wrinkled on the beast. It's inky black eyes rolled back until they were white, and foam dribbled from its mouth. It shuddered, legs buckling under its own weight. It hit the ground, and was still.
Aria condensed into her human form. She took the fight with her, for his skin was filled with cuts and she left a tail of dripping blood. She hobbled to the sail-less ship, and prayed for Valentine's plan to succeed.
Valentine raced to the ship. He dared not waste a second, especially when his seconds were being paid for in blood by his friends. He ran as fast as his thin legs would take him, to the point where he was tripping and stumbling over himself. Finally, he reached the Antelope.
Valentine bounded up the ramp in three steps. His boots thudded on polished wooden decks in a mad dash for the quarterdeck and the locked wheel.
A painful cry brought Valentine out of his mission. He ran to the railing and scanned the battlefield. Aria was locked in the jaws of the pale beast, blood staining her sapphire scales.
"ARIA!" He cried out for her, reaching out as if he could grab her and pull her onto the safety of the ship. Red heard him, sparing a moment from his battle to shoot him a deadly glare, only to be swallowed up by villagers again. Red's scolding was well placed. Aria was buying Valentine time, time he realized he was wasting by watching her suffer. He pried his eyes away from the scene and made for the quarterdeck.
The wheel and deck seemed smaller now that he had more understanding of the ship, or at least a guess. He finished off the stairs and rounded the corner to the massive wheel. He held two spokes of the massive wooden wheel and tried to turn it, again to no avail. The cross-shaped hole at the center taunted him. He fumbled for the four-finned key he found in the pool. Finding it under his shirt, he jammed it in the wheel. It slid perfectly into the keyhole, settling inside and locking in place with a click.
The ship leapt into the air. Valentine was knocked off his feet and thrown into the railing. The ship sunk down just as fast, leaving Valentine clinging to the railing so he wasn't flung overboard. The ship landed with an explosion of water, sending up sheets of icy spray that cloaked the ship. Valentine landed in a heap on the floorboards, wondering what he just unleashed.
The pipes screamed and steam puffed from the cracks. Vibrations overtook the Antelope. It sent rhythmic ripples out on the cavern water. Noises came from the ship, starting below deck and working their way closer in tune with the vibrations. Something within the ship was moving on its own.
All of the inner workings, the steam, the vibrations, the noises, all started to slowly coalesce together. Each was a different instrument, offbeat at first but coming together to form different parts of one song. Once they had become a single smooth rhythm, the ship lurched forward.
It moved! Entirely on its own accord, without wind or sails or current. The Antelope decided to move, so it moved. Valentine scrambled for holds on the wheel and spun it to port to avoid beaching on the shore. What a funny tale that would be, a fantastical ship moving magically amidst heated battle, only to beach and crash.
"It's MOVING! And I don't think it's stopping!" Valentine shouted from the wheel, too afraid to let go.
Hard boots thumped on the deck. Red landed with a crash, carrying Aria over a shoulder. She thanked him for the lift before he put her down. Valentine breathed a sigh of relief.
"Can you steer this thing?" Red asked.
"I think so," Valentine said.
"Well 'I think so' isn't going to get us through that sea gate," Red said. He cradled his broken arm, if not for it he'd steer the ship himself.
Valentine tightened his white knuckle grip on the wheel. Aria and Red fought to give him this opportunity, he wouldn't let them down. He sent the wheel spinning to the left, and the ship responded in turn. He worked controls that he had no experience with, strange levers and buttons that had no labels. Valentine imagined where the control he needed might be, and then reached for the controls that seemed to call out to him. Before long he had increased the ship's speed and had it pointed squarely between the gates.
They passed under the sun-decorated, and for a moment were dwarfed by their size and majesty. Even on a strange ship without sails that moved on its own through water, they felt humbled by the massive stone pillars and walls that had stood for time immemorial.
The dark cave slipped away, and beams of bright light blinded the three. Open sea stretched out before them, presenting itself to the newly christened sailors. It called out to them, sail me, I can take you anywhere.
A boom echoed from the island. The sea beside them erupted in a massive plume of water.
"What the hell was that?" Valentine said.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Red muttered.
Sailing towards them was a ragged ship flying the purple cobra flag. The Cobra Pirates were poised to ram them. Familiar faces hung off the rigging, and standing atop the bow was the captain. He threw something towards the ship, an object that sailed through the air and barely gave Valentine time to duck. It stuck into the wall behind Valentine. A familiar knife, stained with blood and dripping black poison. The leaking Dagger Frog Venom dissolved the wood it touched, easily carving away the hardwood. Valentine swallowed a lump in his throat. His fresh scar upon his back prickled. The stitches hadn't even been removed yet.