The Melody of the Seas

by Escachick357

A slave girl, bought by Zoro, joins the Straw Hat Pirates as the new musician, but is there more to this girl's past, present, and future that could destroy the Straw Hat Pirates rather than help them?

13. Depression and Luxuries

Ch.13: Depression and Luxuries

Disclaimer- I don't own One Piece, so don't even think about trying to sue me because you can't.

A/N: Okay, for the next few chapters, the chapters will NOT begin with Emily's entries. I will have the members of the Straw Hat Pirates write in it and I will say at the end of each entry who was writing.

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Thursday, November 7

The ship left Wenatchee yesterday, as soon as Nicole's grandparents found the map to Almania. Emily's there. I know she is. Nicole is with us on the trip because she needed information on how to find out about the Almani and she could let us know about the powers Emily may be forced to learn. I feel so weak since I watched that evil woman take her away. Most of her things are still on the ship: her chest from the circus, four carved figurines, a couple pictures, a book of legends and flute music, her dad's diary, and her own diary(which I'm writing in now). All the rest is with Emily. I can't wait to find Pam and free Emily from her evil clutches.

-Roronoa Zoro

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The Straw Hat Pirates stayed in Wenatchee for only a day before going out again. In that day, the map to Almania was found in an old desk in the attic of Nicole's house. All the pirates were eager to leave the small town and begin their search.

Nicole had asked to come along, too. She needed to complete her research and she could fight with a gun.

Luffy agreed, Nicole's parents refused. They were afraid of something happening to their elder daughter, but after an hour of begging, they gave in. Her father gave her a new pistol, a shotgun, and a whole month supply of ammunition for both guns. Her mother gave her a few sets of clothes. Nicole walked to the Going Merry and left Wenatchee with the Straw Hat Pirates.

The Marines had also left for Almania that day. It was a request from Kim, Kelly, and Ryan after the other Marines freed the three of them from under the rocks after Pam, Lyssa, Sabrina, and Emily left. Kim, Kelly, and Ryan explained that Pam was going to use an innocent girl for power, then kill the girl, and destroy everything in the world. It was an all too common threat, so the Marines agreed. What they didn't know was that the innocent girl was actually Emily and they wanted to save her.

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Emily opened her eyes and looked around the room she was in. For days, she prayed that the room she woke up in was the room she shared with Nami and Robin, but it wasn't. This room was different. This room was large, had one bed, painted yellow walls, toys were at one side of the room, a desk at another, and a bookshelf full of books and a few snow globes and a music box. The room was nice, but it didn't have the calming orange smell that Nami's room did.

Everything in the room looked different from her actual room. The bed was large with fancy sheets, fluffy pillows, and thick covers. There was a door leading to a bathroom made for royalty which included a porcelain bathtub, a beautiful sink, and a closet of clean towels. Back in the bedroom was a large wardrobe full of clean clothes, mostly dresses, that didn't belong to her. Pam knocked her unconscious as she left Wenatchee and changed her clothes. Now Emily wore a silky green dress, which she absolutely hated.

She tried to escape from her room, but the door to the hallway was locked from the outside as was the window. Servants came in with food, leaving it on the table for Emily to eat, but she never even touched it. None of the toys were touched either. The servants tried making conversation with her, but she refused to speak to any of them no matter how nice they acted.

Pam came in one day to try and talk to Emily, but all Emily really said was, "I wanna go home." Pam put on the best smile she could and answered, "You will be soon." She put a spoon in Emily's hand and pointed at a nearby bowl of porridge. She said in her sweetest voice, "Now eat, dear. You need the energy." Emily refused. Pam tried again, "But sweetie, you must eat. Please?" Emily refused again.

Now Pam was mad, "I told you to eat!" Emily shook her head. Pam reached into a bag and pulled out a whip very similar to the Hellraiser. Emily stared in fear, but didn't eat. Pam unzipped the back of the dress on Emily and hit her with the whip, "Eat it!" Emily refused. Pam beat her six more times before Emily ate all the food. When Emily finished, Pam zipped Emily's dress and patted her head, "Good girl." She picked up the empty bowl and left the room, locking the door behind her.

Emily was now scared. It had been so long since she felt the pain of a whip and it scared her even more by thinking about it. "Somebody…help me, please." Emily cried, throwing herself onto the large bed. She reached into the blue bag she stuffed under her bed and pulled out a book, Aron's diary. She wiped her tears and started to read:

Tuesday, April 20
Sunny

Mommy and Daddy got really mad at me today. They took me and Emily into town for a while. They asked me to watch over Emily while they went into the grocery store for a minute. Mrs. Motormouth and her husband were in there and they started a LONG talk with Mommy and Daddy. I got bored, so I followed a group of kids to the thee-a-ter. All of us went onto the roof and the bigger kids told me to fly.

I didn't want to, but they wouldn't let me leave until I showed them that I could fly, so I asked them if they would hold Emily while I did it. They didn't want to. I flew in the air with Emily in my arms and she was laughing. Mommy and Daddy came out earlier than I thought they would and screamed when they saw me and Emily in the air. Daddy flew up and took both of us in his arms. When we got home, Mommy and Daddy yelled at me and sent me to a corner until they could think of a good punishment. Emily was put down for a nap, but she was still laughing.

-Aron

Emily giggled at the thought of her brother flying with her when she was just a baby, not even a month old. She wanted to learn more about Aron, so she turned the page to the last entry written in his childish handwriting:

Friday, April 23
Rainy

I spent all day carving a figure out of wood for Emily. Daddy said that I have the gift of an artist because I can make anything look magical. He says that I have more skill than anyone in town. I'm only half done with my figure, but when I finish, Daddy and I will paint my figure and it will be finished and join the rest of the family.

-Aron

"So that undone carving was supposed to be me?" Emily wondered out loud. She never thought that it would be her or that they figure was carved by her own seven-year-old brother. Tears filled her eyes. She had to stop reading. She was feeling homesick. She put Aron's diary back in the bag and threw it under the bed. Then she laid on the bed and cried herself to sleep.

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"115..116…117…" Zoro counted each pushup he did on the deck. He didn't mind doing the pushups, but he missed doing them when Emily was around. When she was around, he'd have her sit on his back, playing her flute. That way, both would be doing their jobs. The music being played, no matter what it was, seemed to motivate him into getting stronger. Now he had to motivate himself to get stronger.

The rest of the crew had felt like they had let Emily down by losing to the psycho woman and her daughters. They did all they could, but were still defeated by those three. Every day on the ship, aside from doing their jobs, they worried about their kidnapped crew mate. The usually high morale was now extremely low because she was gone.

The map to Almania from Nicole's grandpa was old, but extremely accurate. By the looks on the map, it would take three, maybe four, weeks of traveling just to get there, but nobody minded. As long as they were able to free Emily from Pam's evil clutches and destroy the woman and her terrible daughters, there was nothing to worry about. And they didn't want to waste a second.

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The Marines also had a map to Almania, but it wasn't quite as accurate was the one the pirates had. The pirates had the map that showed all the islands and cities on the way to Almania. It even showed where the ocean gets rough. The Marine's map only showed the island and only two rough spots, but nevertheless, it did show how to get to Almania.

Kim, Kelly, and Ryan still had not told the rest of the Marines that the innocent girl was Emily. They had to keep that little part a secret in order to help save her. As they traveled, the three of them decided to consider Emily their friend again and had also decided that it wasn't her fault that Ryan almost died. They had even planned on dropping the 40,000,000 berries on her head…if she was still alive when she was found. And thanks to their little lie, the Marines were sailing non-stop to Almania.

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4th sun 13th day of purple violets
(Wednesday, February 13)

The upcoming queen died today. She's been sick for almost three weeks, so it didn't surprise most of us, but it was still upsetting. Most of the forest was hoping that she'd give birth to a son before she died, but now she left us with a grieving upcoming king and two daughters. Although I'm not afraid of having the elder rule after her father dies. She's more of a boy than her two boy cousins are.

Unfortunately, the town believes that she's too young to rule(she's nine, her sister's three), but there isn't any way she's going to rule anytime soon. Her father is the only one of the three princes that has the kindness, knowledge, and courage it takes to rule Almania and he won't die so quickly. I just wish the town could see that.

Last week I saw the elder princess by the wishing well with tears in her eyes. I heard her praying for her mother to get well and for the townspeople to give her a chance. She's heard the townspeople talking about her as have I. The townspeople say that it was a prophecy that she was going to be a boy when she was going to be born and everyone was to celebrate. But the prediction was wrong and we were given a girl.

I remember that day even though it happened when I was seven. The town was so excited, the smartest prince was going to have a son that would be able to rule after him(the present king was still choosing which of his three sons would be king and was looking at his youngest son). Mother and Father brought out barrels of wine and glasses to celebrate and all sorts of food was cooked.

When the princess was born, a guard came from the castle. He looked disappointed as he announced that the baby was not a boy, but a girl. The town shouted in anger as they packed away all the wine and tossed all the food out into the deepest part of the forest. The priest went to see the little princess the next day along with other religious Almani. The priest claimed that the princess was a demon that would destroy the Almani and must be killed. Bother her father and the king refused to believe that she was a demon and kill her.

Now that the upcoming queen is dead, half the Almani blame the elder princess. They say that if she'd have followed God's needs and been a boy, Almania would be stronger and the queen would have lived. They call her the "Demonic Child", right to her face. But she never cries…not to their faces at least. I catch her crying when she's alone. I saw icy tears roll down her cheeks and I swear that I will never act like the horrible Almani did to anyone, especially someone as sweet as she is.

-Lilie

Emily looked up from Lilie' diary and wiped away a small tear. She suddenly felt like she was there in the entry of Lilie's diary, but all the figures were black for she didn't know how anybody looked. It also reminded her how she was always treated when she was a slave.

Like the princess in the entry, nobody wanted her, nobody could care less if she ran off into the woods and died. But then where would they be if they wanted to learn the Almani secrets?

The door opened and Emily shoved Lilie's diary under a pillow. She looked up and saw Lyssa and Sabrina standing in front of a now closed doorway.

"Are you bored already?" Lyssa asked.

Emily looked away, "I wanna go home."

"You're almost home. Just be happy here. I mean, look at all this luxuries room." Sabrina told her.

"I've seen nicer." Emily sighed.

"Well, I bet you haven't had so many nice toys before. I mean, I'd kill to have such nice toys that you have." Lyssa told her.

"If you like them so much, you can have them."

"Why don't you try on some of the clothes in your wardrobe?"

"I prefer to wear my own style of clothes, not the ones your mother picks out."

Lyssa and Sabrina were starting to lose their patience.

"What about the music box? I'm sure the songs are pretty and did you look at the snow globes?"

"I prefer my own music and I hate snow globes."

"Did you even read the books? They're filled with the favorites of Sabrina and I."

"You think I wanna read Mary Trotter and the Sorceress' Rock or Chicken Pot Pie for the Soul or Soles?"

Now Lyssa and Sabrina were pissed.

"You ungrateful brat! You'll see what happens when Mother gets her hands on you!"

The two angry girls left the room, slamming the door behind them and locking it.

That's just what Emily wanted. She had to escape from this ship…wherever it was. She climbed to the window and peeked outside. The ship she was on was not on the ocean, but in the air. She knew the window was locked, but she knew how to fix that. What she really need to worry about was figuring out if any land was nearby.

A gust of cold air filled the room. Emily turned around and saw a child with her hair holding a pair of jeans and a green shirt, the clothes Emily wore when she was kidnapped. The child dropped the clothes on the bed and ran off giggling. Emily stared in shock as the child ran right through a wall. She shook off her shock and started changing clothes. She jumped when she saw a small key folded in her shirt. Emily brought the key to the small lock in the window and it fit, but she still needed to know where she was.

The cold gust came from behind her again, but this time, instead of being a child in the room, a man that looked like Zoro, but just a tiny bit paler, came in the room. "Z-zoro?" Emily gasped.

The man smiled, shook his head, and lifted up a sleeve, revealing his shoulder. On the man's right shoulder was a tattoo of angel wings in a fireball, just like the one on Emily's ribs. Then she knew who the man was, "A-aron?"

The man nodded and took out a blue marker from his pocket and watched him write and write until he was finally done. On the floor was a picture of a floating ship, a few islands, and a dotted line path leading to an "x" on an island just a few miles away.

"You want me to go there?" Emily asked, pointing at the "x".

Aron nodded then disappeared along with his drawing.

Emily placed Lilie's diary into the bag under the bed. She slipped the bag over her shoulder and unlocked the window. With a soft push, the window opened and Emily climbed out. Emily climbed up to the top of the ship and crawled to the front. She struggled to keep her balance as she walked to the front of the ship and had her wings come out.

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"What do you mean 'she's taking advantage of my hospitality'?" Pam screamed.

Lyssa and Sabrina winced. "It's true, Mother. She hasn't touched a thing in her room." Lyssa explained.

Pam grumbled, "Looks like I'll have to punish her again."

"Oh my God! Mother look!" Sabrina screamed, pointing out a window.

Pam's eyes and mouth widened at what she saw.

Emily had just jumped off the ship and started flying away.

"No! How did she escape?" Pam shrieked. Quickly, Pam opened up a window and started screaming at Emily, "What are you doing? Get back here!"

Emily kept flying. She wished she had more practice with flying because she saw Pam dash to the artillery room with Lyssa and Sabrina.

"Shoot her down!" Pam demanded to her daughters.

"But, Mother. I thought you didn't want us to hurt her." Sabrina told Pam.

Pam glared at her, "Right now I don't give a damn if she gets hurt or not. As long as I can get her back and she's alive. Now do what I say! Lyssa, get the giant net ready! Sabrina, shoot her down!"

"Yes, Mother!" Lyssa and Sabrina shouted.

Sabrina readied the cannons and aimed them at Emily's wings. She fired eight shots and just missed the flying girl.

The 9th had hit the left wing, but Emily was still flying. The 10th was the last one and it hit her right wing. Blood started flowing down the outside of her body, but she wouldn't give up. Not until she got to the island on Aron's map.

Emily flew until she was too far for any of the three in the flying ship to see her anymore. She also felt her wings getting weaker from blood loss. She saw an island with a barrier around it…and she was coming right for it. Her wings gave out and entered her body, making her fall right through the barrier and onto a forest floor.

Emily looked around at all that was around her: trees, abandoned homes, fairies, nymphs, sprites, animals, and even gravestones. The strangest thing was the hundreds of pink balls in the trees, much too big to be fruits or berries. She was now having problems breathing and knew she needed help. None of the animals or magical creatures would go anywhere near her or help her. She thought she was going to die…until she saw something that could help her.

A young girl, a few years older than Emily, was walking the opposite direction Emily was. "Hey! Wait!" Emily called to the girl, but she didn't stop. "Please wait!" Emily pleaded, getting onto her feet and ignoring the flowing blood. The girl didn't stop. She just kept walking. Emily followed the girl up to a large stone wall. For a few seconds, the girl stood in front of the wall before she moved her right hand up to five horizontal lines on the farthest right side of the wall.

The girl started to touch different lines and spaces quickly and music came. The music from the wall filled the air into the tune of an Irish jig. When the girl stopped, the stone wall opened. The girl calmly walked through the wall and played the tune on the other side. Now was Emily's last chance to talk to the girl. Emily ran as fast as she could through the wall before it closed.

The room she was now in looked like a garden. There was grass, trees, flowers, and even a creek. Emily put a hand on the girl's right arm.

Gasping, the girl turned around and stared in surprise at the bleeding girl, "You…"

Emily let out a few heavy coughs of blood, "H-help me…please…" Her strength gave up and she fell to the ground, eyes closed, barely conscious, unsure if she was even going to live.

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Tuesday, November 12

It's been days since Emily was kidnapped, too many to us Straw Hat Pirates. All day, Zoro's been working on a half-done carving. I think he wants to finish it and give it to her as an apology of not protecting her from the kidnapping. I think everyone on the Going Merry wants to make up for not being able to stop Pam and her daughters when they kidnapped her.

Nicole has been a great help on this trip. She's told us all that she knows about Emily's people and even showed me some of the pictures she had of Almania. When we get to Almania, I can look over the old castle and help Nicole find out more about Emily's people. We are two weeks away from Almania. Too far away in my opinion, but we can't speed the ship up any faster. I hope Emily's okay when we get there.

-Nico Robin

Robin set Emily's diary down. The crew was still worried about Emily, so they each decided to write at least one entry for Emily to read once they rescued her…if she was still alive. Zoro had been working non-stop on Aron's half done figurine. He had a reason why and everyone knew what it was, but they didn't know how he got the idea for doing it. Of course, nobody asked him how. Zoro would have told them if they had asked. He'd tell them that he got the idea from a one-of-a-kind book:

Friday, April 23

Lilie and I have decided to forgive Aron for what he did in town three days ago. The fathers of the 5 children that made Aron fly in town came to visit before the rain came. The children admitted that they forced Aron fly and refused to hold Emily. I thanked the men for telling me this and they left. All day, Aron has been carving a wooden Almani girl, possibly Emily in a few years. He's only seven-years-old, but can carve better than anyone in Kupeviru.

He's already half done with the girl and I promised him that when he finishes carving, I'll take him into town to get some paint and paint the girl. He seems really excited about it. He's already made figurines of Lilie, himself, and me and now he believes that with Emily's done, our family will be complete.

-Ryou

Zoro almost finished the carving part of the figurine, but he'd leave the painting job to Usopp. Usopp would do a better job because he had the most artistic talent on the ship. As Zoro carved, he looked all over the deck at the crew mates that were actually out. Usopp was making a new contraption that he refused to explain, Chopper was experimenting with medicines, Robin stared at Nicole's pictures and Emily's diary, Sanji stared mindlessly into the sea puffing on a cigarette, and Luffy sat on the bow searching for any nearby islands even though Nami assured him there were going to be any for at least two days.

Nobody was talking. Nobody even WANTED to talk. The entire crew had grew bored without their musician to cheer them up or to motivate them with her expert flute playing. Everybody wanted her back and they knew that the three Marines that attempted to protect her and even Nicole, who'd only known Emily for a few weeks, wanted her back, too.

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Emily opened her eyes a while later. She was still in the garden she collapsed in, the blood was gone, and she was feeling stronger. The only thing that wasn't around was the girl that opened the door to the garden.

"Oh, you're awake. Are you feeling better?" A familiar voice from the shadows asked. The person from the shadows walked up to Emily.

Emily's eyes widened at disbelief at who she saw, "No way!"

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A/N: Okay, I'm done. I made fun of a few actual books that I found laying around in me and my sister's rooms. Mary Trotter and the Sorceress' Rock is making fun of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Chicken Pot Pie for the Soul is making fun of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Soles is making fun of Holes. R/R if ya want, but I'm still getting over the pain of going back to school, so don't flame me.