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
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
What If Today Was Your Last Day?
A short woman stood on the railing of a ship. Her chestnut-coloured hair cascaded down her back, reaching to almost her knees, but despite the fact that it should have been billowing in the wind it remained motionless. The same went for her ankle-length greenish-blue skirt that she wore along with a white blouse, black corset, and black lace-up boots. In fact, nothingappeared to be moving around her. Not even the waves on the ocean, which may have explained how she could just be standing there like that.
She opened her mouth and spoke to the two figures standing behind her.
"I don't want to leave this place." Her voice, though soft and melodic, was filled with an absolute firmness.
"You don't have a choice," one of the two figures said, in a vaguely familiar voice to Emma, who was watching from nearby but she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the lady standing on the railing. "You have already been weakened enough by coming here, and, if you continue to stay here, I..."
The woman drew in a sharp intake of breath, and turned to face the two figures.
Emma, too, let out a small gasp, and for just a fraction of a second, the eyes of her Mother flickered over to the spot where Emma stood, or maybe it was just Emma's imagination?
Either way, in this strange dream that was most certainly of the past, Emma stared at the face of the woman from the photograph in Edward Newgate's room, into those endless deep brown eyes that were now trained on the two men before her.
"My. Name. Is. Undine." Emma's Mother said, through gritted teeth.
Undine...
"..." The two men appeared to exchange a glance - Emma wasn't sure, because she couldn't tear her gaze away from Edward Undine even for a second. Her Mother had the strongest presence of almost anyone that Emma had ever met, save for Edward Newgate that is. Her voice, though gentle, commanded some kind of an authority, and it was her eyes that were the most captivating of them all. Or, maybe it was what she said next...
"That is what he called me, at first..." Her left hand, wearing a silver-gold wedding ring and what must've been a silver and sapphire engagement ring or perhaps even a promise ring, came up to hover across her heart, and Emma was stunned to see the blue sapphire flower necklace glittering at her throat. "And, now, that is what they all call me, in this world..."
"But, that is not who you are," the second of the two men spoke, in a slow and soft voice that was unfamiliar to Emma. "You came into this world as the embodiment of its seas," (Emma gasped again; she was surprised that there was any oxygen left for her to breath). "And, that is how most denizens of this world see you. But, you know who you really are...and, what staying here would mean...for everybody..."
Undine drew in a deep breath. "There must be another way, Father," she said, although from the way that she said 'Father' Emma got the impression that it was more like a person speaking to a priest than to their actual Father. She seemed a little bit desperate now. "I...I am happy here..." She but her lip in a Vivi-esque way. "With my family, with my friends, with my people...with them..." She added, and her voice softened and became fonder.
There was no doubt in Emma's mind as to who Undine was referring to.
She suddenly wanted to know just who these men were, who wished to take Undine away from the place where she seemed so happy. Undine seemed quite familiar with them, sure, but who were they to tell Emma's Mother what to do?
She started to look, but Undine spoke again just then and Emma's gaze snapped back to her Mother.
"Just...just give me one more day," Undine begged, looking from one man to the other. "I can tell him why I have to go, and...spend a little bit more time with him and Emma..."
Tears fell silent and unhindered from Undine's eyes just then, mirroring Emma's own silent emotions.
"That child..." The first man began.
"Please, Almighty" Undine whispered. "Just one more day? All I need...is one more day..."
Emma could tell that Undine was lying, that one more day would never be enough. She knew it, better than she knew her very own emotions (which wasn't very well).
The first man sighed. "Very well, then. I see that you understand that you won't ever be able to come back here as you are."
Undine's face betrayed none of her emotions, but the tears continued to fall as she continued to stare.
Emma felt her heart hammer in her chest. Can't ever...come back...
"I can grant you this day, child," the second, older-sounding man at least sounded sympathetic. "Spend your time with those that you love, doing what it is that makes you happy. The time...will be for you and them...all else will be meaningless, during this time...use it wisely..."
Undine nodded, and turned away again, muttering: "Thank you..." As Emma finally dared to look away from her Mother and at the two figures who had also turned and were retreating...into a blueish-black portal, like the ones that Twister could create?
Emma caught a glimpse of them, dressed all in black - one in a suit and one in a cloak - and then they were gone, and Emma looked quickly back at her Mother.
"I should have known that this would happen...curse this reality..." Undine was speaking very softly. "How do I tell them...that I have to leave them forever?" She was still crying, as her hands clenched the rails.
Emma noticed how Undine's fingernails also looked like they'd seen better days, and how she expertly picked at her right index nail with her thumbnail. She also noticed a ring on Undine's right ring finger - it was rose gold, which was almost the same colour as her Mother's hair, and had what appeared to be a heart-shaped yellow topaz or perhaps even a yellow diamondon it, flanked by two smaller greenish stones (peridots?). Where had she gotten it? What did it mean to her?
Emma suddenly realised how very little she knew about this woman. She certainly wasn't in Eiichiro Oda's version of events.
"I'll have to...tell him..." Undine sighed, as Emma dared to creep closer. Her Mother seemed to be trying to control her emotions, by talking herself through it. "I'll have to tell everyone who needs to know...after I tell him...I'll go and see Oto-Chama...she has to know..."
Oto-Chama?
"Then Koko-San and Old Tom, because it's going to cause some problems there, I can see it...I'll go and see Ru-Chan on my own, I think, in case Rodge is there...and of course I want to see Jimbe-Kun..." Undine sighed again.
That last name sounded slightly familiar to Emma...wasn't Jimbe that Fishman who had helped Luffy escape through Impel Down? Wait...what happened to him after I interrupted the war? Emma wondered suddenly.
"Tiger-Kun and Blue, as well..." Undine's hands shook. "I feel like I am leaving at the worst possible time...I hope that they don't blame me..." She whispered.
Worst possible time? Emma blinked. Mother...who ARE all these people...?
"I hope that they understand why all of this had to happen..." Undine went on. "I hope that they do not hate me for it..."
And then, as a small wave rocked the boat and alerted Emma that something had changed, Undine began to sing, in a voice that took Emma's breath away completely.
"Somehow, all I can ever show,
Are the things no one wants to know...
Please take, my hand..."
A small breeze blew Undine's hair away from her face just then, revealing a pair of silver hoop earrings with a small silvery-blue many-pointed star dangling from each of them.
"Tell me that you understand,
I need a new start,
I need you to heal my heart..."
A presence to Emma's left made her turn, and she saw a younger version of her Father standing on the deck, which Emma now realised was the very same deck that she had walked across so many times - the Moby Dick.
With Whitebeard were Marco, Vista, and (Emma's heart clenched) Thatch.
Thatch (in what Emma could only decide was an ironic echo to a future that was to be lost many years later) was holding a child, a tiny brunette baby girl who looked not much older than eight months, but then again it was hard to tell...because Emma had seen pictures of herself as a baby and knew that she was probably always doomed to look younger than her actual age. It made buying alcohol a real hassle...
Baby Emma, wearing a light pink onesie and a big matching pink bow in her messy brown hair, was staring intently at her Mother, her hazel eyes a startling mix of Undine's brown and Newgate's yellow. She opened her mouth.
"Mamma?" She asked, perfectly clearly but in a small voice; however, Undine heard it instantly and turned around, her face awash with tears. Baby Emma gasped. "Mamma, why you cwying?! What's wong?" The small child demanded to know.
"Oh, Emma..." Undine smiled her crooked smile, but, it was also a sad one. "Come here, my darling daughter..." She said, as she crossed the deck and held out her arms. Thatch immediately surrendered the child and stepped back, exchanging a glance with Vista and Marco, the latter of whom seemed troubled by something. "Nothing is wrong, Emma..." Undine said softly, cuddling her daughter to her, although the Emma of now could see that it was in a way like she might never be able to do so again.
"Then, why aw you...?" The baby girl bit her lip.
"Because...I just realised that..." And, here, Undine looked up at Whitebeard, whose expression was unreadable but when those yellow eyes locked gazes with those brown eyes, all of the thoughts and emotions were shared between them. "No matter how much things may change...no matter what...as long as my family is alright, then, I know that everything will be alright..." Undine seemed to have just convinced herself of this fact, too. "I also want you to have this..." She went on, reaching up with one hand and somehow managing to unclimbed the blue flower necklace from around her neck.
Both Emmas gasped, as the three Commanders exchanged another glance.
"Do you know what it's called?" Undine asked softly and, when baby Emma shook her head, Undine went on: "It is called 'Ocean's Flower'...it will guide you home..."
Undine's voice shook slightly here, and Newgate finally spoke up.
"Diko...?" He asked, and Undine's eyes briefly flickered over to him at the use of her nickname.
"New-Chan..." Undine's voice was soft and full of nothing but love when she spoke to her husband. "No matter what happens...I'm glad that everything happened the way that it did...well, almost everything..." She glanced aside, just once, and Emma saw a cloudy look in the woman's eyes. She glanced back down at baby Emma, who was jingling the sapphire necklace, and her expression became tender once again. "For you, my family, are...my greatest treasure...and, I could never regret that, no matter what anybody else may say..." Baby Emma glanced up at her Mother, before reaching up a hand to the side of her Mother's face where her tears still fell. "And you, my cherished daughter Emma, are the most beautifully shining heavenly being of all time..."
Time...
Time...
Time...
DAWN OF THE FIRST DAY
6:00am - 72 hours remain.
"...So, why didn't you use your powers to just fly up there and save some time...?"
"...It's because he needed to give Emma-Sama and Little Death time to talk..."
"...Shishishishi...Vivi's right...ne, is it time for breakfast, yet?"
THUD!
"Baka! Shouldn't you be more worried about Em at a time like this?!"
Okay, that was the fourth instance of somebody using the word 'time' in their sentence, and it was kind of starting to annoy Emma a little bit, as she struggled to open her eyes.
She was starting to be able to put some names and faces to the speakers...and, sure enough...
There was Zoro, who had spoken first, sitting at the end of her bed.
Vivi, who had spoken second, was closest to Emma, kneeling beside the bed. From the mussed-up appearance of her hair, it seemed that she had been there for long enough to fall asleep, but now she was blinking somewhat sleepily towards the window.
There, Luffy, who had spoken up third, was holding onto his head and complaining.
That was because Nami, the fourth speaker, had just hit him.
Sunlight streamed in through the edges of the curtains, illuminating Nami's hourglass figure, as she said: "Still, it's six o'clock. There's no way Em will want to wake up right now. I'll go and see if Sanji-Kun has finished making breakfast, yet." She turned around, and saw Emma staring at her. Her expression immediately changed. "Ah! You are awake!" She hurried over to the bed, as the other three realised that she was correct. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay...I think..." Emma said carefully. The events of yesterday evening were slowly coming back to her. "What...happened?"
"Well," Vivi stood up slowly, a few creaks in her legs signifying that she had indeed stayed by Emma's bed all night. "After what happened on the rooftop, and after the authorities finally let us leave, your parents brought us all back to your house, although..."
"With you unconscious we had to make a few trips!" Luffy finished with a grin, relieved now because he knew that Emma was going to be alright.
Emma groaned. "Right...sorry about that..." She sat up, as her bedsheets slipped down and revealed that she was in her nightie. "Who...?"
"Your Mum," Vivi supplied, as Zoro muttered something about getting to the bacon before Luffy did and exiting the room with Luffy himself hot on his heels. "She's been up in her room for most of the morning with your Dad talking to Ace, Law, and...Robin..." Vivi finished dully, as Emma leapt up and charged out of the room.
"There she goes..." Nami rolled her eyes. "Still, maybe now we can get some more answer on what Robin overheard..." It was frustrating not knowing anything about what was going on, when it so clearly involved all of them.
"Mmm..." Vivi nodded, her dark eyes full of worry. She played with the necklace around her neck, and tried to remember the strange dream that she had been having. Something about not having any regrets, and making the most of your time...?
"I see." Lee sighed, pushing her hair back. She looked at the four people standing before her - two men and two women - before fixing her gaze on one of the woman who was her youngest daughter. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't think that we'd have to go and do it so soon." Emma replies, replaying the conversation of the last twenty minutes in her head. "But, we've gotta go there before Infinity gets too powerful. It's the only way." She added, exchanging a glance with Law. I need to talk to you... She thought and, when his eyes flickered in understanding, she switched her gaze to Robin. You too.
The archeologist inclined her head ever so briefly.
It was Ace who seemed to want to talk to her alone, however, when the four of them walked out of the room, but he didn't get a chance to because they heard a commotion coming from the kitchen.
Lee and Bruce had gone out after getting a call to go into Lee's work, although Lee had looked like she had known that Emma was omitting some of the truth from her. Meanwhile, Sarah (and Ben) had finally gotten to take Ngarimu and Corey to the zoo.
That left just Garp, Emma, Ace, Law, and the Straw Hat Pirates alone in the house.
"They left those fellas alone in the house?" Ben was saying to Sarah. "Have they seen that show?"
Sarah began to feel very worried, and probably rightfully so.
It started with the sound of glass breaking, followed by a high-pitched cry, and then somebody else - Vivi - exclaiming: "Oh no, Tony-Kun!"
"It's alright!" Chopper could be heard saying. "It's just a small cut - get a doctor!" He added, suddenly.
And, for once, they couldn't tell him that he was a doctor, since he was the one who was injured.
Law sighed, and continued on into the kitchen. This left Ace standing with the two women, one of which he turned to at the same time that she turned to him.
"Okay," they heard Law say suddenly. Then: "...ne, Firefist?"
Ace didn't reply, but Robin did (because Emma and Ace were too busy holding a silent conversation with their eyes). "Ace-San says 'what'?" She called to Law.
"Can you tell him to come into the kitchen and take a look at this stove?" Law responded somewhat casually.
Vivi suddenly let out a gasp. "It's on fire!" She exclaimed, just as smoke began to billow out from the kitchen and, a second later, the smoke alarm went off.
Ace's eyes widened, and he ran into the kitchen. "What the...how did that happen?!" He suddenly yelled; there seemed to be quite a bit of yelling going on in there, in fact...especially when the kitchen's fancy new sprinkler system suddenly turned on, and some of the yelling turned to shrieks of horror.
"Save the bacon!" Luffy panicked.
"Quick, grab it! It'll be un-super if it gets soaked!" Franky urged.
"Forget the bacon, get Su-Chan out of the sink before she drowns!" That was Vivi.
"Who's 'Su-Chan'?!" Zoro wanted to know.
"The DenDen Mushi!" That was Nami.
"Emma named that thing?! And, why can't Vivi get it if she's so worried about it?" Zoro responded, and both Emma and Robin heard it when Nami hit Zoro.
"She hasn't got shoes on! Honestly..." They heard the crunching of glass as Nami stalked out of the kitchen area in her boots, handing the silently spluttering Baby DenDen Mushi to a slightly panicked Emma. Nami's orange hair was sopping wet but not with just water.
"You have coffee in your hair, Nami-Chan." Robin said calmly, with a small smile.
"Oh, I'm so glad I showered first!" Nami complained, stalking down the hallway. They heard her pounding on the bathroom door a second later. "Come on, Usopp, you've been in there for twenty-five minutes!"
Robin merely continued to smile, and she and Emma went to sit down in the dining room, where Brook was at the piano and playing something that sounded suspiciously like 'Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt - Suite No. 1, Op. 46 - I. Morning Mood' - aka, the classic morning music. Carue was perched nearby, and cooed every so often in time to the music.
"I can't believe he managed to tune it by listening to Carue's cooing..." Emma whispered to Robin, referring to the piano and what had happened six days ago, as she tried to figure out if she should do CPR or EAR on the snail or not; she really didn't know how much water it had swallowed. "I thought that thing'd never sound like it did sixteen years ago..."
"Mmhmm," Robin agreed, nodding. She watched as the Baby DenDen Mushi seemed to sort itself out, and as Emma breathed a sigh of relief. "It sounds like you've had the piano for a long time, ne, Emma-San?"
It was Emma's turn to nod, as Su-Chan went back to sleep. "Yeah, Pop - that is, my Dad's Mum's Dad, so my great-grandfather - bought it for my Mum before he died, on the condition that either my sister or I learn how to play it. Caused a fairly big argument, too - I think Aunty Rose wanted one as well, but..." She then glanced at Robin, who nodded calmly. "However..." Emma now glanced across at Brook, who had moved onto playing something like 'Dance Of The Sugarplum Fairy'. "He probably never foresaw this..."
Brook paused in his playing.
"She didn't say stop!" Luffy called from the kitchen and Nami, who had just returned with a towel wrapped around her hair, could be heard hitting him in response.
"Shower not free yet?" Franky guessed.
"She can always just stand around here for a bit..." Zoro remarked. "Hey, Emma? Do these things turn off by themselves, or what?"
"Probably!" She called back to him.
"That means 'no'." Luffy said wisely. Emma imagined him nodding, with a mouthful of soggy bacon.
She really actually had no idea. The sprinkler system had been installed after she'd left home to go sailing around with Luffy and the others, so the house that she'd been in for nine years was now full of surprises for her thanks to the winning Lotto ticket. From the sprinkler system, right down to the pool's new heating system (which she could never enjoy). She kept half-expecting to open up a door and hear a voice-over saying: 'I'm richer than you!'.
"Careful, careful..." Chopper could be heard coaching Law, and Emma now imagined the look on the Surgeon Of Death's face. She and Robin exchanged a smile.
They could hear Usopp singing away in the shower, before Brook continued with his piano playing.
"Oh, wait..." Emma realised. "This isn't 'Dance Of The Sugarplum Fairy'...it's 'Baby Bowser's Lullaby'..." She nodded her approval at the Yoshi's Story castle theme. "So, anyway, Robin-San...h-how much did you overhear, yesterday?"
Talk about mood whiplash.
"All of it." The archeologist replied simply.
"The whole thing?" Emma wanted to know.
"Mmhmm."
"Every bit...?"
Robin nodded, drinking from a cup of coffee that she'd gotten from...somewhere. "Every bit of it."
"Did you...tell the others?" Emma asked faintly.
"Not exactly." Robin replied, and then she elaborated. "They know that we have three days, which is what you told your Mother since a few of us heard Twister say it, but of course they ascertained for themselves that it was because the world was going to be erased after that..."
"Which, of course, I didn't tell Mum..." Emma sighed again, listening as Brook moved on to 'Part Of Your World' from The Little Mermaid.
"I just wonder how Twister was able to extend the time that we do have left." Robin mused.
Emma nodded. "Me too, even though...I've been...trying not to think about it, even though I know that I've only got a short amount of time left, although now I think that I at least know what Twister's done...maybe..." Robin looked up at her, curious now. "You see, I had a dream last night about my other Mother - from your world, Robin-San." Robin's eyes widened ever-so-slightly, and even Brook paused as well (however, that seemed to coincide exactly with when the song called for it). For Emma, this was somewhat of an unexplored topic, and totally unexpected. "It was about the lead up to her last day in that world...your world..." Emma closed her eyes, remembering. "She only got one day. She wasn't supposed to be in that world, but somehow she was. They found her, though..."
"Who's 'they'?" Robin queried.
"I'm not a hundred percent certain, but I'm pretty sure that they were two of the Gods Of Everything," Emma explained. "Because, time seemed to have literally stoppedwhen they were talking to her and then one of them - she called him 'Father' but it was more like a priest-y kind of way - said all this stuff like what Twister said, and then they vanished through a portal like the ones that he creates, so I think that's what's happened with the rift thingie above the city. He said he was giving us some extra time..."
Robin nodded thoughtfully, thinking about the strange cloud formation that only they knew what really was. A portal...to that world...after the time ran out, then, whoever was keeping it in stasis wouldn't be able to do so anymore, and...
Robin had been quite curious to know about these Chaos Creatures; beings that ripped open portals in space and time and erased entire worlds. It was both fascinating and terrifying.
But, right now, Robin sensed another matter, one that might be easier to approach with the Princess Of Light. "Do you know why those two Gods would have sought out your Mother?" She wanted to know.
Emma's eyes were still closed. "Mmhmm...they said that who she was in that world wasn't who she really was...but that, to everybody in that world, she was seen as the embodiment of the seas, or something..." She tried to recall every detail that she could. She had no idea what the dream was supposed to have meant.
Robin's eyes widened quite a bit now (which was rare for her) and, sensing this, Emma opened her own eyes quickly, but it was Brook who spoke, although he continued playing the piano which only added to the ambience (because it was the last chorus).
"Yohohoho, that would be referring to the Ocean Goddess, Undine!" The skeleton supplied.
Emma nodded quickly. "Yes, yes, that was the name! Undine! She didn't like whatever her other name was, because Undine is what they all called her...in that world, where she was happy...although, Daddy called her 'Diko'...Diko and New-Chan..." She added, quietly now, lowering her head as she stared at her compass. She had finally gotten to see those two together, although it had only been in a vision.
Robin was watching Emma over her cup of coffee.
Emma seemed to be deep in thought. And, then, her head shot back up. "Wait, did you say a Goddess?!" She gasped, as Brook changed songs gracefully, Robin took another sip of her coffee, and Sanji strolled casually in through the front door.
"Ah, which reminds me, I cannot wait to meet more beautiful Goddesses!" The cook was saying, smiling, as he walked back into the kitchen to the strains of the Russian Flower Dance music from Fantasia, past Nami and Vivi who were on their way out. "Of course, my four lovely Mellorines are some of the most beautiful Goddesses around..." He appeared to trail off, as Chopper hurried out past him with a small bandage on his arm and a horrified expression on his little reindeer face. "Okay, what happened to...why is there a lake in here?"
Chopper looked over at Emma and mouthed: 'I'M SORRY!' Which is when Emma suddenly began worrying about what had actually happened to the kitchen.
"At least the sprinkler system turned itself off." Robin stated.
"Umm, actually..." Nami and Vivi began in unison.
"Oh, I see." Robin just smiled.
"What?" Emma asked her. "What did you see?"
Sanji walked into the kitchen.
Then...
"GUYS, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE KITCHEN?!" Sanji fairly yelled to the poor men still standing in there. "I LEFT FOR FIVE MINUTES...I MEAN, THE STOVE WAS OFF! WHY'S IT ON FIRE?! HOW IS IT ON FIRE?! IT'S NOT EVEN TURNED ON! WHY ARE THERE KNIVES STICKING OUT OF THE SPRINKLERS?! AND, HOW DID THE PAPER TOWELS END UP STUCK TO THE CEILING?!"
Emma, Nami, Vivi, Robin, Carue, Chopper, and Brook watched wordlessly as Luffy walked backwards out of the kitchen area and stared up at the ceiling. "Yeah..." The Captain said. "That is weird..." He shook the water off of his hat.
He was joined by Usopp, who had finally gotten out of the shower and was shaking the water off of his hair. "What's weird?" He wanted to know. Luffy pointed into the kitchen. Usopp was stunned. "Who's gonna clean all that up?" The sniper asked out loud.
"YOU LOT ARE!" Garp had literally appeared from nowhere, making everyone except for Robin jump about a mile. The Marine Vice Admiral began to direct them into the kitchen one by one, handing them cleaning equipment as they filed past him. "Except you," He went on, pointing at his granddaughter who gulped. "I need to talk to you, so let's go outside." He suggested, and that's when Emma noticed the Dome Coffee on the recess wall, which she certainly wasn't going to say no to at the moment, so, she followed him outside with a few of her Allies glowering slightly.
Except for Brook, because Emma said to him: "Ne, Brook, let's hear the 'William Tell Overture'!"
So, Brook got to play the piano some more while most of the others had to work, as Garp held the front door open and motioned for Emma to come outside.
"Take Carue with you!" Vivi called cheerfully; she was in the kitchen cleaning up shards of glass after borrowing some shoes, so she didn't see what happened next. "He needs to be exercised!" She added, which Emma took as her cue to leap onto the large Spot-Billed Duck's back and take up the reins.
At once, Carue got a weird gleam in his eye and so did Emma, but that might have had a little something to do with the music. Emma nudged Carue with her heels, and he dashed past Garp with Emma expertly guiding him across the front veranda and down the stairs.
"We so need another riding duck..." Luffy stated.
"We so do..." Ace agreed, not really listening as he watched Emma direct Carue to jump over the low limestone walls that separated the grassy areas out the front.
Once Garp convinced Emma to give Carue a rest (or, for Carue to let Emma take a break - it was hard to tell) from rounding up kangaroos and come and sit down, grandfather and granddaughter faced each other across the outdoor table.
"So, that's how it is?" Garp sighed, as Emma finished telling him the whole story - including the bits that she hadn't told her parents and the media.
She sighed as well (she was doing an awful lot of that, lately). "Yup."
"So, do the rest of your Allies know?" Garp asked.
"Well, Law-Chan does because he was there," Emma reminded him. "And, Ace-Chan overheard me talking to Daddy...Robin-San overheard me talking to Little Death..." She trailed off. "The rest of them all know what's going on except that they're gonna have to...die..." She finished, in a whisper.
"I see." Garp nodded thoughtfully, glancing briefly past her towards the house. "I don't hear any cleaning!" He called warningly.
"Yikes!" A few people cringed.
"I never imagined that them becoming friends with me would lead to this..." Emma told Garp. "Especially not when this world is on the chopping block...three days...how on Earth am I gonna..." She gasped suddenly, startling Garp.
"What is it?!" He had a sudden feeling that she was about to start panicking, and, he was right.
Emma looked horrified by something all of a sudden, but tried to keep her voice down as she realised an awful truth. "G-Grandpa! You...and, Carue, you can't be here!" Carue looked up from his water bowl and glanced curiously over at her. "When...when this world gets erased, and my Allies and I have to meet with the Goddess Death...y-you two can't...!" She had never in a million years expected this world to have been slated for erasure - sure, she'd known that it was a possibility, but if she'd known that it was a definite then there was no way that she would have let Garp come along. And, Carue, well, how had he even gotten there in the first place? She was pretty sure that they'd left him behind on the ship...
Garp reached across then and grabbed her shoulders, clasping them firmly and almost painfully in a way that reminded Emma instantly of Luffy. So did the look in his dark eyes, when he said: "Granddaughter, calm down."
"But..."
"Everything will be fine." Garp said firmly, the look on his eyes stating nothing but what he'd just said. "I promise you." He added a bit more gently now, seeing the tears in Emma's hazel eyes. "Have faith."
Emma gulped, before nodding, and swiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "Faith..." She murmured, taking a swig of coffee. She then glanced at Carue, and said: "Yeah...how did you end up here, Carue?"
He just tilted his head to one side, gazing at her, and she sighed again. Maybe some things were just better off not being known.
"What are you doing, Usopp-San?" Vivi asked the sniper, in a way that meant what she'd said and not 'why aren't you helping?'.
Usopp was haunched over a piece of paper, drawing...something. "I'm...designing..." He said slowly, concentrating on his work.
"Yes, I can see that," Nami had joined them, taking a well-earned break from the work that shehad done the most of. "But, what are you designing?" She took a look. "Some sort of an emblem?" She guessed.
Usopp nodded, reaching for a black fine art liner that was most likely Emma's. "Mmhmm...I figured, since we have our crew's Jolly Roger but it doesn't really tie in Law, Ace, and Emma..."
"Yes it does!" Luffy called from the kitchen.
"Don't just decide that for yourself!" Law and Ace (from the laundry) and Emma (from outside) all said at exactly the same time and in the exact same tone of voice.
Usopp rolled his eyes. "Anyway," he went on, as the front door opened and Emma came in, followed by Garp and Carue. "I thought that, as The Allies, we should have a symbol that unites us all, you know?" He began pointing out different aspects of the drawing, starting with the eight-point star that was the focal point. "See, this bit represents Emma's compass..."
"Uh-huh..." Nami and Vivi nodded.
"And, this bit here represents the Heart Pirates and Emma's necklace thingie..." Usopp pointed to the small heart inside of a circle in the centre of the star.
"Uh-huh, uh-huh..." Nami and Vivi nodded again. It made sense to them.
"And this part," Usopp said proudly. "Ties in the Whitebeard Pirates..."
"Oh my God..." Emma had come up behind them to look, and now they turned to see tears in her eyes but she was also smiling. "That is perfect..." She surprised Usopp with a big hug. "Thank you, Usopp!" She told him. She immediately grabbed up the piece of paper, holding it carefully. "I'll go and make a few copies of it, and, we can start working on the colours!" She ran off in the direction of the study, where the printer/photocopier was. "Maybe we'll leave the wings white!" She added, calling over her shoulder. She was already trying to decide how much pink she could get away with using. Sumi would approve of that...
The Straw Hat Pirates, Ace, Law, and Emma all stood with their hands behind their backs like they were critiquing an exhibit in an art museum but, really, they were just trying to decide on a colour scheme for the logo that Usopp had designed.
Garp, sitting on a chair out on the front lawn, watched them. He was amazed that his granddaughter had managed to rope every single one of her Allies into working out a colour scheme, but then again, it was Emma, after all. Garp has a feeling that both of his grandsons would jump off a cliff for that girl, and that the other pirates wouldn't be far behind them.
They had all gotten so close, Garp could see that. They were all so different, and yet, when they were together it seemed like all of those differences just faded away into obsoleteness.
"Let's see your design first, Emiko." Ace encouraged Emma.
"O-okay...this is my one." Emma said, shyly displaying her finished product.
"Pink, black, and white," Ace remarked. "Nice."
He and Emma smiled at each other.
"But, do we have to use pink?" Luffy wanted to know and Emma, Ace, Law, and Chopper glared at him.
"Yeah..." Usopp narrowed his eyes. "Whose is that one?" He wanted to know, pointing at an easel that was shorter than all the rest as he raised an eyebrow.
"Mine!" Chopper correctly interpreted Usopp's raised eyebrow, and defended his handiwork. "The colours represent cherry blossom petals!" He added.
"I like it." Emma admitted, and Robin nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, you would," Zoro rolled his eyes. "At least it's not as bad as that one." He jerked his head towards an easel. The colour scheme was in all shades of grey, ranging from an almost silver to the darkest shade of black.
"Oh?" Robin smiled lightly. "And, what's so wrong with it?"
"It's yours?" Zoro glanced at the archeologist, who nodded. "I see..."
"I'm sure that Robin-San was just going for a more noire look," Emma suggested, and then added: "Or else, she's been reading that book..." She cringed slightly, when Robin nodded again. She didn't want to know anything more about the Fifty Shades series...
"It's almost the complete opposite of Luffy-San's." Vivi remarked, gazing at the bright and highly-contrasting colours that Luffy had used for his.
Luffy nodded. "Shishishishi, how did you know that one was mine, Vivi?"
Vivi blushed slightly, but just replied with: "I was painting at the easel next to you, remember?" Also, it's easy to tell that it's his... She added, silently.
"Oh, right..." Luffy grinned. He pointed at Vivi's artwork. "This one's yours, then?"
She nodded, rather liking her chosen colours that reminded her of the desert sands of her home.
Next to it was Nami's - they could tell from the different shades of orange that she'd used.
"I also thought that at least some of the star should be blue." She explained, and a few of them nodded.
"But, maybe not as much as that one." Zoro remarked, referring to the one next to Nami's.
"You saying that because it's mine, mossball?" Sanji have Zoro a Look. "And, which one is yours?" He pointed to another easel, with a design that used a bold red and black colour scheme with hints of purple. "That one?"
Zoro shook his head. "No, mine's over there." He indicated a design that used silver and green as its main colours, with gold.
"It's terrible." Sanji stated bluntly.
"What was that, ero-cook?" Zoro glared at Sanji.
"Then, whose is this one?" Emma wanted to know, gazing back at the almost punk-rock coloured design.
"Ah, that one is mine, dear Emma-San." Brook informed her.
Emma was nodding, a look of approval on her face. "It looks like it belongs on the cover of a Disturbed CD." She told the skeleton.
"That's a good thing." Ace supplied. "Disturbed's her favourite band."
"Yup." Emma agreed. "Dad and I even went to their concert in 2008...uh, five years ago."
Vivi was staring at Emma who was currently wearing a long pink jumper over white tights with blue and white slip-on shoes, and tried to imagine her wearing her usualblack and probably lots of leather jewellery, with her hand forming the 'devil horns' in the air as she stood within a huge crowd listening to heavy metal. Then, Vivi tried to imagine Emma's Dad doing that. She couldn't picture it.
Emma was still talking. "If there's music gods in this world, then it's David Draiman and his band." She spoke reverently, and then glanced up at Brook. "You'd be the one from your world, Brook." She added, which just about made the skeleton musician's day.
As Brook and Emma chatted about Emma's favourite Disturbed songs, and Sanji and Zoro continued to insult each other's artwork, the others happened to notice that Usopp was busy at his easel.
"Hey, Usopp, no making changes!" Luffy protested, dragging Usopp away from his final design. "What colour is that?" He wanted to know.
"Golden olive," Usopp explained, as Luffy wrestled the marker away from him. "I also used sage green and chocolate brown." He added.
"Sounds tasty." Luffy remarked, firmly capping the marker. "But, maybe not all together...?"
"Hey, are you talking about food or my design?" Usopp demanded to know, hands on his hips. "I was gonna go for more of a metallic sort of palette, but then it would've looked too much like his." He nodded towards Franky, who grinned.
They looked at Franky's work, which was done in in varying shades of silver and gold.
"How's that for heavy metal, Em?" Nami wanted to know.
Emma looked over. "Ooh, shiny!" She approved. Then... "How many metallic pens did you use, Franky?" She then happened to see the pile of used pens by his easel. "Oh...never mind..." She would have sweat-dropped, had she been an anime character. She went over to another easel. "What do you guys think of this one?" She asked them.
"No need to ask whose that is." Usopp said, teasingly. He was right - the orange, yellow, and red flames pattern on the black background was a dead giveaway.
"It's pretty much a complete polar opposite to this one." Nami added, and they all crowded around a different canvas to see the design of silver, blue, and white colours, and agreed with her. "Is that yours, Law?" The navigator asked him, and he nodded. "Right, so...which one are we going to use?" Nami let her gaze drift over to the piles of unused colour-schemes from their previous four sessions. They'd been doing this all afternoon.
Everyone exchanged a glance.
"I still like my designs the best." Usopp admitted.
"You can't vote for your own work, Usopp." Emma reminded him. "I like Brook's." She added, and the skeleton would have beamed if he could have.
"I thought you wanted the wings to be white though, Emiko." Law said quietly.
"That's right..." Emma realised.
"So then," Ace mused. "Mine is..."
"Out of the question." Law said flatly, and then smirked when Ace seethed.
Emma refrained from sighing, as she went over the artworks again. "Ne," she said thoughtfully. "I kinda agree with Nami, that the star should have some blue on it...I'd kinda like to see another colour on it too, though."
"Red?" Ace and Luffy both asked hopefully.
"How about now of a pinkish red, to match the compass?" Chopper suggested. "That way, the heart can be lighter..." He added, hoping for the same sugar pink that he'd used on his own design.
"But, if we use those colours," Usopp joined Emma in looking at the easels. "Then, it throws the colour balance off. We'd need a third contrasting colour to tie it all in..."
She nodded in agreement, as the others looked confused. "Absolutely...ne, Franky, is there anyof the metallic pens left?" She asked suddenly.
"Not sure, Nee-Chan..." The cyborg admitted.
Robin, who was checking out the pile of pens, said: "Ah-ha, there appears to be a small amount left in this one." She handed Emma the pen that was gold on one end and silver on the other.
"Arigatoo..." Emma was gazing thoughtfully at the pen now.
Then, in unison, she and Usopp both exclaimed: "PERFECT!"
They dashed up to the house, past Garp who was woken up with a start.
"Perfect?" He repeated. "What's so perfect?" He looked at both of his grandsons, who just shrugged.
Five minutes later, Emma and Usopp re-emerged from the house, proudly holding the finished design up for everyone to see.
They all of them looked at the symbol. The too point of the star was a dark pinkish-red, and the other three larger points were medium blue. The north-east and south-west smaller points were silver, and the south-east and north-west ones were gold. The curls on the inside of the star was red, and the heart was light pink. The white wings branched out on either side of the compass-like star, finishing off the design.
Everybody gazed at it for a moment longer, and then they all began nodding in approval.
"Yohohoho, it is finally completed!" Brook cheered.
"It's perfect." Nami said, secretly glad that they'd listened to her about the star.
"The blue and gold almost represent the sand and sea." Vivi added.
"That's what I was thinking." Emma told her. "I also wanted to use the silver, because...well, gold and silver..." She shrugged as she fiddled with her rings, and then glanced at Ace, remembering what had happened when she had first introduced him to her Mum.
Ace was remembering, too, and they both smiled.
"I love the pink colour that you chose!" Chopper was saying. "What do you think, Robin?"
The archeologist smiled. "I'd say that it fits pretty well." She approved. "I'm glad that there was enough of the gold and silver left to get the final design." She added, glancing at Franky.
He pushed up his glasses, deciding to ignore her obvious jab at him. "Mochiron. The end result is SUUUPER!" He struck a pose.
"Emma-Chwan's colours is definitely better than mossball's!" Sanji declared.
"I notice that they didn't use the same blue as yours, ero-cook." Zoro retorted, which started another argument between the two of them that most of the others ignored.
"I like it." Luffy nodded his approval, crossing his arms firmly.
"You think it's okay?" Emma wanted to be sure of something. "I mean, you guys have your crew," she indicated to him and the other Straw Hats. "So, you have your Jolly Roger, but..."
"But, this symbol unites all of us," Ace put in. "As Allies." He shrugged. "A person can have more than one symbol to their name." He added.
"More than one, huh?" Emma hadn't thought about that. "I guess that a person can have lots of different ones...it doesn't mean that they're tied down to any one thing..."
"Just like your tattoo." Luffy pointed out.
"Let's not go that far." Ace rolled his eyes.
"Okay!" Emma took the piece of paper from Usopp. "I'll go and make a couple of copies of it...just in case."
"Good idea." Law agreed, leaving Ace and Luffy arguing quietly, and going with her up to the study.
Emma began photocopying the design, and then she was able to take the original out and hold it up.
Law noticed the fond way with which she looked at the emblem.
"It will be just one way that I remember today." Emma explained to Law.
And Robin, who was listening in, smiled. She had an idea...
NIGHT OF THE FIRST DAY
6:00pm - 60 hours remain.
That night, they had a BBQ - 'they' being the Straw Hat Pirates, Ace, Law, Garp, Emma and her parents, Sarah, and Ben and his three youngest kids.
With eighteen people, one skeleton, one hybrid reindeer, and one cyborg, not to mention one dog and one riding duck, it was noisy and chaotic but also somewhat peaceful and structured.
It seemed that a lot had changed in the past couple of months, in regards to the family's views on Sarah's partner. Maybe something to do with Emma's...?
It also happened to be a fairly warm June night, although Nami kept saying that it was going to rain the following day. Ben's kids seemed to then take it as their mission to go in the pool then, and Emma made sure to keep an eye on Luffy at this point; her family and Ben's family had all been made aware that Luffy and the other Devil Fruit users - including Emma herself - couldn't swim, but that didn't mean that accidents couldn't happen.
Emma sat by Garp on the lounge, drinking red wine, as they both kept an eye on Luffy and watched as Sanji impressed everybody with his culinary skills at the BBQ.
Nearby, Robin was braiding Vivi's hair for her, and Lee was talking to them about the hair-braiding up in Bali.
Nami and Usopp were in the pool. As Sarah swam with Ben's two year old, Takodi, the other two kids, Teina (who was nine) and Kaya (who was thirteen and a boy) suddenly got Nami and Usopp involved in a game of volleyball, boys against girls. That is, until Usopp missed the ball and his teammate complained, causing Usopp to remark that 'his Kaya' would never have been so mean, and this Kaya, who watched anime and knew exactly who Usopp meant, responded by saying that he wanted to team up with Nami because she was 'cooler' than his sister and Usopp. Teina protested loudly to this.
"Don't make me come in there, youse!" Ben warned, from where he was sitting around and chatting with Brook. It seemed a strange combination, until Emma remembered that Ben played the bass guitar in a reggae band.
Nearby, Bruce was enjoying not being the one who had to cook the BBQ for a change. He was able to have a beer, and chatted to Franky about woodwork. Emma recalled that her Dad was good at that, and wondered if, in a parallel universe, he would've been a shipwright or something.
Luffy was listening to a conversation that Law and Chopper appeared to be having. The conversation included words like 'incision' and 'coronary', and Luffy looked a combination of fascinated, confused, and horrified.
Vivi, at one stage, got up and went inside. When she came back out, there was black dog fur on her white sarong. "Ranger looked lonely, so I said 'hi' to him and he jumped up on me." She explained when asked about this, but stopped suddenly at the suspicious look that she was getting from Carue. "I still love you best." She assured the Spot-Billed Duck, hugging him.
That seemed to appease him, as they went over to join Luffy and the doctors.
"Ne, Grandpa..." Emma said presently. She glanced across at Ace, who had fallen asleep, and at Zoro, who was sitting with a beer in one hand and she honestly couldn't tell whether he was awake or asleep. "You never did show me that photo of your grandsons...you know, when they were young, that time when they boycotted clothes?" She recalled the BBQ all those weeks ago.
Garp paused, and then grinned, remembering, as he took out his mini photo album. He showed Emma the photo.
She laughed. "Aww, I can imagine the commotion that they caused. They were so cute though." She added. The picture to the right of that one caught her eye, just then. Her face softened. "Is that them with Sabo?" She asked, a little bit surprised that Garp had a picture of all three of them. It showed three young boys, looking like they'd just come out of some huge fight because their clothes were all missed up and they were bruised and scratched, but all three wore huge smiles on their faces. Sabo had curly blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and a chipped front tooth.
Garp nodded, and allowed her to take the photo album from him and flip through it. She saw mostly pictures of Luffy and Ace, although there were a few of some other people including Marines as well.
At the very beginning of the album, however, was one that made her stop.
"What...is this...?" Emma asked, staring at the very old photograph - it was like one of those old tiny ones from this world. She held the album up closer to her face, to try and see it. She glanced at Garp, who had fallen asleep, and then called: "Ne, Usopp, can I borrow your magnifying glass?!"
"It's in the living room!" The sniper called back, right before he was hit in the face by the volleyball.
"BOMBARDMENT!" Ben's middle kids both yelled.
"Thanks!" Emma replied. "Oh, thanks..." She added to Robin, whose hand had just appeared with the magnifying glass. As the hand disappeared, Emma returned to examining the picture, now magnified.
It appeared to be of a younger-looking Garp, and a man who Emma didn't recognise, until Ace's voice said from her right: "Why would he have a picture like that?"
Emma dropped the mini photo album, and the Baby DenDen Mushi was the one who grabbed it. "Thank you." Emma told it as it went back to sleep, before looking at Ace. "You recognise the other man?" Ace nodded. "Who is it?" Ace's eyes were troubled, and Emma took another look at the photo, finally recognising the black moustache. "Oh...yeah, why would he have a photo like this...? Of him and your...umm...of the Pirate King..." Not even the photograph's caption - God Valley - made any sense, because Ace had never heard of it and neither had Emma.
Emma was scanning the picture again for any clues. "Look, there's somebody in the background there..." She pointed with her pinkie finger nail at the teeny tiny figure. "A woman with long hair..."
Ace leaned in to take a look. They both had their heads very close together, trying to figure out the picture. There was something familiar about the way the woman's long hair fell...like waves...
"Oh, yeah, that reminds me..." Emma muttered. "I have to tell you...about the dream that I had this morning..." Carefully returning the album to Garp's shirt pocket, she stood up and Ace stood with her. As they went around the side, and then out the front, she added: "It was about my Mother...about Edward Undine..."
Boss wasn't usually the type to get incredibly worried. But, then again, never had the end of existence looked so certain.
He stood, watching the Pit Of Chaos, with those of his fellow gods who were able to join him there.
Destiny and Karma wore equally unreadable expressions. Next to them were Luck and Cupid who looked upset, and Chance who continued to look stoic.
"Where is Fate?" Boss knew, but, he needed to hear it.
"Speaking with...with him." Destiny said coldly.
Nobody said anything for awhile. They all knew who Destiny meant. None of them were very happy with this.
"She be alright." Faith said softly, from where she stood beside Boss, looking serious but also somewhat calm.
Boss nodded, without really meaning it. "And, Twister...?"
"Not sure," Karma replied. Her golden eyes looked swiftly over at Faith. "With Little Death, last I saw..."
Faith replied: "Have faith in him..." A slight breeze billowed around them. "Hope, too..."
"Hope..." Boss muttered.
"What about Grace?" Luck wanted to know.
"She is with Life and Death in the Forbidden Zone." Boss replied simply, and the others stopped and stared at him.
Life and Death hardly ever left their own respective domains, with a few notable exceptions. And, for them to have gone to the Forbidden Zone...with Grace...
"If the mortals thought that their worlds were changing..." Karma said suddenly, the unspoken next part of her sentence echoing what they all were thinking.
"This is unprecedented, even for my sisters and me." Karma told them.
"There was no way that we could have known that this would happen..." Destiny said softly. "None of is could have predicted this...right, Boss?" She asked.
He didn't answer, as he thought of his oldest friend, Father Time, currently risking, well, a lot, all for the sake of giving one woman the precious gift of time.
They had done that once before, and...they'd still ended up right where they had not wanted to be.
'Maybe we all deserve to be erased, too, for what we've done...' Boss thought, staring at the Pit Of Chaos, which continued to grow...it wouldn't be very much longer, now...
Author's Notes:
Suite No. 1, Op. 46 - I. Morning Mood (aka, morning music) - youtu. be / kzTQ9fjforY
Baby Bowser's Lullaby - youtu. be / bf76B8W38eQ
Dancing Russian Flowers - youtu. be / 1hMjxnwig0o
William Tell Overture (aka, horse racing music) - youtu. be / c7O91GDWGPU
The Allies' Symbol: dark-anmut/art/One-Piece-OC-Symbols-823698892
I'm Richer Than You! - youtu. be / 7NpPUIvKAeY
Undine's nickname for Newgate is 'New-Chan'. Newgate's nickname for Undine is 'Diko' because it couldn't follow the usual pattern...however, diko is also the Swahilian word for jetty/marina/quay.