Ch. 21- The Celebration
Disclaimer: One Piece, it ain't mine.
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"Oh my God…it's you…" Emily gasped, staring at the figure in front of her.
The figure smiled, "Yes, it's me."
"K-kristina? Does this mean that you're…alive?" Emily asked.
Kristina nodded, "Yes, everybody in the attack 15 years ago was resurrected. Thank you so much, Emily." Emily smiled and nodded.
Usopp wasn't convinced that she was actually alive, "Prove to us that you aren't still dead."
Kristina smirked, raised her hand, and called, "Ice Spear!" A spear of ice hit him in his left arm. "That enough proof for you?" Kristina asked. Usopp quickly nodded.
Emily giggled for a moment, then with a straight face asked, "What happened to Kim, Kelly, and Ryan?"
"Dad is talking with the Marines in the counseling room down the hall. They've been talking for nearly half an hour."
"Half an hour? But your bodies were just resurrected." Nicole exclaimed.
Kristina shook her head, "Actually, we weren't. I guess while Emily was talking with the gods, we were resurrected. The Marines left and met up with Dad a half hour ago."
"Thanks!" Emily called, running down the hall.
Before she even got to the room, a girl inches taller than Emily banged into her. Both girls fell to the ground.
"Itai! Hey! Watch where you're going! This is a castle! Have some respect!" the girl shouted.
"I'm so sorry. I was just in a hurry to get to the counseling room to talk with the Marines." Emily apologized.
The girl stared at her, "It's too late. They just left. They said that they were going back to the 'base', whatever that is."
"Oh no!" Emily cried. She quickly drew her wings and flew out the nearest window and into the forest that led towards the direction of the Marine's ship. Finally, Emily saw Kim, Kelly, and Ryan. They were alone.
Emily lowered herself onto the ground, "Kim, Kelly, Ryan!" The three Marines turned around.
"Emily? What are you doing here?" Kim asked.
"I was going to ask you the same thing." Emily answered.
"Well, we don't have anything else to do, so we're going back." Ryan answered.
"Plus, some of the other Marines were getting freaked out by some of the creatures here in Almania." Kelly added.
"Oh, and the Marines would like to thank you for defeating Pam, but we are taking her body back to the base to collect the reward." Ryan said to Emily.
"WHAT?" Emily nearly shouted.
"You heard me. Besides, I was promised part of the reward and I really could use money ever since the contest in Nanahana." Ryan said to her.
"Hey, I won that contest fair and square. It's not my fault that you got second place."
"Well…I won't lose to you next time. Next time we meet, I will challenge you and I will win."
Emily laughed.
"Keep dreaming, Ryan. I'll always be better than you."
"I don't think so, little girl."
Emily paused for a moment.
"Hey Ryan?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm…really sorry about what I did to you back in Kupeviru."
"Eh, it's okay…I guess. It wasn't your fault. I'm sorry for making fun of you because you are an Almani Pirate-slave."
"I'm not a slave anymore."
"What?"
"I was freed months ago."
"By the way, we might be taking you off the WANTED list."
"Why?"
"Because it wasn't your fault that I almost died."
"Okay, do what you want."
"Fine. I will."
"Fine."
Kim and Kelly giggled. They always thought that it was funny when Ryan got into little "arguments" with other people. When their giggling stopped, they turned their gazes at Emily.
"Hey Emily…even though we are Marines…" Kim started.
"We can still be friends, right?" Kelly finished.
Emily giggled, "Right."
Kim, Kelly, and Emily gave each other a hug good-bye.
Ryan didn't want to hug Emily, but Emily clung herself onto him and gave him a tight squeeze. As hard as Ryan tried, he could not get Emily to let go of him. "If I hug you back, will you promise to let go of me?" Ryan asked the girl clinging tightly to his body.
Emily smiled at him and nodded. Ryan let out a little sigh, put his arms around her body, and gave her a soft hug.
Emily kept her arms around Ryan until a woman's voice from behind Ryan shouted, "Glory Ryan! Stop hugging your little pirate girlfriend and get back to the ship!" Ryan jumped and both him and Emily let go of each other.
Slowly, Ryan turned around and stared into the angry face of his cousin, "Tashigi, it's not what it looks like…"
Emily giggled, waved good-bye to Kim, Kelly, and Ryan, and called, "Thank you so much for everything you've done for me. I'll see you some other time. And Ryan, when we next meet we will have another competition. Sayonara!" she then ran back to the castle. Kim, Kelly, Ryan, and Tashigi stared at her for a minute before walking back to the ship.
"I can't believe she did that!" Ryan complained.
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Emily made it to the castle a minute later. She met the rest of the pirates and Nicole outside of the counseling room. She explained what she had done with the Marines and was led inside the counseling room to meet with the King of Almania. Standing by his side were his two daughters: Kristina and the girl Emily ran into earlier.
"So, you are the one that killed the evil woman who tried to destroy our race fifteen years ago?" the king asked with a straight face.
Emily was actually afraid to answer at first, because she was afraid he'd do something to her if she said that she did. Zoro gave her a nudge in her back, making her jump and nod her head.
A smile formed on the King's face. The man walked up to Emily and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Then I would like to thank you for that." He then looked at the girls beside him.
The girls bowed their heads, "We would also like to thank you for saving our city. Now, thanks to you, we have the chance to become rulers."
Their father shot an annoyed glare at them, stating that something they said was wrong, most likely the sentence about them having the chance to become rulers. But because of that second sentence, Emily was able to realize that the girl she bumped into was actually Princess Melissa, Kristina's younger sister.
Before he could yell at the two of them, Emily announced, "Your majesty. I think I found the Melody of the Seas."
The king stared at her.
"It's true, Dad. I heard the song and saw it help to defeat Pam." Kristina said to her father, backing Emily up.
The king stared at Emily for a little bit longer before he walked towards the stairs, "Come with me." Emily, Kristina, Melissa, Nicole, and the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates followed him out of the castle and in front of the sea. "I want you to play the song." The king demanded.
Emily hesitated, but nodded. She lifted her flute up to her lips and began to play Lilie's lullaby.
As each note echoed through the sea, the creatures living within the ocean began to move around in a way they had never done before. The dolphins dove in and out of the sea in unison, the whales spouted water from their blowholes, the sea dragons lifted the whales up into the sky so the water would spout towards the sun, creating a small rainbow around Almania.
"Ooh! Kirei…" Melissa gasped, staring at the large rainbow.
When Emily took her flute away from her lips, the melody was repeated through the sea even after the animals stopped dancing.
The king looked at Emily, his eyes wide with shock, "For the first time in 500 years…the Melody of the Seas has been found."
Emily blushed, "I never knew that my mother could make up a song so powerful…"
The king smiled at her, "The Melody of the Seas is not only a song, but the person that can play the song. There is only one Melody of the Seas."
"Y-you mean?" Emily asked. The king nodded, "You are the Melody of the Seas."
Emily looked at Kristina, "You didn't' tell me that the Melody of the Seas is a person."
Kristina shrugged, "I never knew. I only knew that it was a song and what it did."
"Wow…" Emily gasped.
The room was silent for nearly five minutes before Melissa broke the silence, "So, are you all going to stay for the celebration?"
"Celebration?" Nami asked.
Kristina nodded, "Yeah. Everyone in Almania is going to have a celebration in honor of Pam's defeat and our resurrection. We'll have games, food, and contests. Please say you'll stay."
The Straw Hat Pirates and Nicole stared at each other then at Luffy. Of course, the captain didn't turn down the offer when he heard that food was involved.
The king smiled at them, "Excellent. I'll have the girls show you to your rooms." He looked at his two daughters.
The girls nodded and started leading the pirates and Nicole down the hallways of the large castle, towards two large rooms: one for the men and boys, the other for the women and girls.
Melissa led the men to the larger of the two rooms. The room had five very large beds, five drawers, four bookshelves, two windows, and absolutely no dust.
"Whoa…" Luffy gasped.
"This is your room. Hope ya like it." Melissa announced before running down the hall. The five males shrugged and laid on their own beds to take a little nap.
Kristina led Nami, Robin, Emily, and Nicole to the smaller of the two rooms. This room had four large beds, two closets, two bookshelves, one window, no dust, and a little table with a vase of roses.
Robin placed a finger on one of the roses. The rose was frozen, yet dry and fresh, not plastic.
"These roses?" Robin asked.
"Oh. They're real roses. They've been in this room for nearly 23 years. My mother taught me how to keep things fresh, frozen, and dry by using a fire and ice spell." Kristina explained.
"Wow…" Nicole gasped.
Kristina giggled, "Well, I've gotta go now. If you need anything, then ask anyone here in the castle." Then she ran off. The four in the room looked at each other, shrugged, and laid on their beds to take a well deserved nap.
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The Straw Hat Pirates and Nicole woke up from their naps about three hours later. The nine of them looked out the guest room windows. The ground was filled with Almani and other creatures setting booths up and cooking foods. The nine of them walked out of their room and took the elevator down to the first floor.
The doorway to the front exit was blocked by two boys aged seventeen and fifteen and Kristina. A large slain animal was behind the boys.
"Hey Kristina! Check out what we caught in the deep forest." The elder announced.
Kristina stared at the animal, "Holy crap! Joshua! Andrew! How could you kill anything that big? It's almost as big as the door!"
Joshua (the elder) smirked, "We used our powers."
"Yeah." Andrew agreed.
"Wow…I didn't think you were paying attention in class." Kristina told them.
"And to think you called us stupid dumbasses." Joshua stated.
Kristina shook her head, "I didn't call you stupid dumbasses. I called you lazy dumbasses."
"That's the same thing!" Andrew shouted.
"No, it's not. I called you lazy and a dumbass." Kristina pointed out.
"Okay, so where should we put this thing?" Joshua asked.
"Try putting it in Golden Town. All the cooks are there. You need some help carrying it there?" Kristina asked.
"You think you can carry this huge thing?" Andrew laughed.
Kristina pointed at the animal and shouted, "Gravity!" The animal was lifted into the air. She turned to her cousins, "Walk to Golden Town and point at a table and the animal will land on it." Joshua and Andrew nodded and left.
Emily walked up to Kristina, "What was that?"
"My cousins killed a large boar in the deepest forest of Almania." Kristina answered.
"Wow…is that for the celebration?" Luffy asked, his mouth watering.
"Yeah, some of it. There's going to be more food when the celebration starts. There's even going to be a food eating contest later on tonight. You going to be in it?" Kristina asked. Luffy nodded. Kristina looked at everyone else, "You know, you don't have to stay in the castle until the celebration. You can walk around Almania also." The pirates and Nicole nodded and left the castle.
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Sanji, Luffy, Nami, Zoro, and Emily walked inside Golden Town. They all had to hold Luffy back to keep him from eating the VERY large amounts of meat sitting on tables, waiting to be cooked.
"Niku…" Luffy whined, unsuccessfully struggling out of his crew's hands.
"That meat is for the celebration. You have to wait." Nami said to him as if he was a little child.
"Niku…" Luffy whined.
"Hey Luffy. Why don't you go hang out with the fairies or something. It'll help keep your mind off the meat." Emily suggested.
Luffy, still groaning, decided to take her suggestion and walked off to Opal Town to see some of the fairies, sprites, and sirens.
Sanji pulled up his sleeves and walked to all the cooks to offer his assistance. None of the cooks turned down his offer.
Nami walked to the many booths to see what was being sold while Zoro and Emily went to chat with the Almani taking a break.
Chopper was in Ruby Town, chatting with a few of the dragons that lived there…that and picked a few medicinal herbs that he'd never seen before.
Robin and Nicole had been there earlier, too. But Nicole left for the ship to pick up Molly and bring her to the celebration while Robin left for Sapphire Town to find out a bit more of the history of Almania. Usopp also used to be there, but went to Opal town to tell his stories to the magical creatures.
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Three hours had passed when a loud foghorn went off. As if on instinct, every person and living thing in Almania went to Golden Town and stopped in front of the Almani King.
"I am proud to once again be around to rule this wonderful city, although it has been fifteen years since the evil Pam, who now is dead thanks to these brave pirates." The king announced, pointing a finger at the Straw Hat Pirates and Nicole. The Almani and creatures cheered.
The King's announcements went on, "And I'm happy to announce that after 500 years, the Melody of the Seas has been found: Twelve-year-old Emerald Emily, the daughter of a pair of Almani that escaped 20 years ago. And, as a request of my eldest daughter, I will eliminate the law of the Almani not being allowed to leave the forest. From now on, every Almani and creature will be allowed to leave Almania and return whenever they please!" Everybody cheered.
"All Hail, King Glen!" the Almani shouted.
"Now, on with the celebration!" King Glen announced.
Instantly, the booths, tables, and games were filled with creatures and people. Luffy sat down at a table next to nine other men and boys, one being Joshua, for the food eating contest. Before the contest began, Joshua had pointed out that he won the contest every celebration ever since he was five-years-old and wasn't going to lose now.
Food was placed on the tables and on the opposite side of the table stood Kristina and her good friend, Stephanie. In between the two girls sat a stool with an extra large banana sitting on it.
Before Luffy could reach for the banana, it started to peel by itself and a face appeared on the inside of the banana, "Hello everyone."
Luffy screamed and jumped up in his seat after hearing the banana speak.
"Ah, Luffy. I see you haven't met Robert the Talking Banana." Kristina told him.
"There are bananas that talk?" Luffy asked.
"We also got apples, oranges, daikon, and lettuce that talk." Kristina explained.
"WHAT?" Luffy shouted.
Stephanie stared at him and asked, "You don't have any of that outside of Almania?" Luffy shook his head.
Kristina sweat dropped, "Well, anyway…welcome to the food-eating contest. The referees of this contest are me and Stephanie. Okay, before the contest starts, these are the rules:
1) Everybody gets equal portions of food. The point of the contest is to eat as much as you can until you can eat no more. The last man standing is the winner.
2) Water will be served to help you wash down your food.
3) If you make a mess by shoving half eaten food into another competitor's plate or space on the table, then you will be disqualified.
4) If you kick someone in the stomach from under the table or touch any of the competitors or do something to their food to make them vomit, you not only will be disqualified, but you have to clean up the vomit.
5) Everything else, except for the use of magic powers, is allowed.
Any questions?"
"Yeah. What do we get if we win?" one of the men asked.
"The winner gets to be a knight of the Royal Family." Stephanie answered.
"Or if Luffy wins…well, we'll find something." Kristina added.
"I want a talking fruit!" Luffy shouted. Kristina and Stephanie looked at each other then at Luffy.
"We'll try and arrange that." Kristina said, "Any other questions?" Nobody said anything.
"Okay, when the banana gets lighted, then the contest will start." Kristina announced.
"Wait, what?" Robert shouted.
Kristina smirked, "Get ready Stephanie. On your mark, get set…"
Instead of her yelling "Go!", Stephanie shot a fireball at Robert. In an instant, the large banana was on fire and ran from the stool. Stephanie laughed and ran after him, throwing more fireballs at him. The contest started.
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Sanji was now standing in front of a booth selling jewelry that looked extremely exquisite and expensive. All of them were beautiful, but there was one that he liked the best and planned on buying it for Nami, who was currently at one of the game booths. The man selling the jewels explained that the thing Sanji wanted costed 150,000 "rupees".
Sanji was confused, "How much would that be in berries?"
The man smiled, "1,500 berries. Our currency in Almania is rupees, but we also take berries. One berry is 100 rupees." Sanji dug into his pocket and pulled out 2,000 berries and handed them to the man.
The man put what Sanji wanted in a little white box and asked, "Would you like me to exchange your 500 extra berries into 50,000 rupees?" Sanji nodded. The man handed Sanji the box and 50,000 rupees. Sanji then headed for Nami.
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Usopp, Chopper, Nicole, and Molly were all seated in front of the large bonfire in the middle of Golden Town. Nicole and Molly were both eating helpings of rice, sushi, and cooked meat from the boar Joshua and Andrew killed. Usopp was telling some more of his stories to some young magic creatures, Melissa, and Chopper, all of whom believed him.
"And with my great strength, I pulled the sword out of the stone and destroyed the enemies attacking my village." Usopp announced proudly.
"Wow…" the group listening to him gasped, not knowing that it was a lie.
"I was asked to be the king of the East Blue, but I turned the offer down so I could continue being a brave pirate." Usopp finished.
"Ahhh…"the fairies, sprites, and Melissa gasped, "Tell us more." Usopp grinned. These kids were so easy to fool.
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Back at the food eating contest, the original ten contestants were now brought down to two: Joshua and Luffy. Both men had eaten five times as much as the other contestants had, although two were disqualified for cheating. The contest went on for nearly ten more minutes until Joshua found that he couldn't eat anymore, but Luffy kept eating.
"We have a winner! For the first time in years, we have a new winner. The winner: Monkey D. Luffy!" Kristina announced. The competitors that lost clapped.
"Where's my talking fruit?" Luffy demanded.
"You'll get it later. Until then, go enjoy the celebration by playing some games or something." Kristina told him.
A boy with dark hair suddenly ran up holding a bottle of water. He placed the bottle in Kristina's hands, whispered something in her ear, then walked away.
"Okay, I gotta go now. All the leftovers are yours for the taking. See ya later!" Kristina told the men and boys. She brought out her wings and flew off.
Everyone but Joshua and Luffy left the table. The two that stayed ate the leftovers untouched by the ones that left.
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Zoro, Robin, and Emily were sitting by the bonfire, drinking and listening to the sirens sing. For the first time in her life, Emily took a sip of wine, although she wasn't sure if she liked the taste of it or not. She liked the conversation she had with Zoro and Robin more than she liked the wine she drank.
Suddenly, in the middle of her conversation, a figure grabbed Emily's shoulders from behind. The girl screamed and accidentally tossed her drink into the fire. The fire grew red and the flames grew larger. Seven seconds later, the bonfire went back to normal. Zoro, Robin, and the figure were cracking up.
Emily turned around and stared at Van, who had grabbed her from behind, "Why did you do that?"
Van kept laughing, "You and Kristina get scared so easily. I'm sorry; it was just a little joke."
Emily grumbled, "Well, don't do it again." She looked up and saw Kristina flying towards a cliff and relaxing on a small rock. She excused herself from Zoro and flew off after the princess.
When Emily got up to the cliff, she noticed Kristina drinking from the bottle. "What are you drinking?" Emily asked curiously.
"A magic water that disables my wings for a few hours." Kristina answered, swallowing the last few drops from her bottle.
"Disable your wings? You really wanna do that?" Emily asked.
Kristina nodded, "I gotta."
Emily looked down the edge of the cliff, "We're really high up."
"Seventy-five feet and a great place for suicide." Kristina answered.
Emily was shocked, "It's a seventy-five foot drop?"
Kristina nodded, "Uh-huh. I've been coming up here since I was little because I needed some place to play and stay away from my lessons."
"And you were never afraid?" Emily asked.
Kristina shook her head, "Nope."
Emily backed away from the edge and decided to change the subject, "How long have you known my mother?"
Kristina thought for a moment, "Since I was six and your mother was thirteen."
"Ummm…do you know my parents' last name? When I was found, all the pirates that saved me knew was my first name and birth date." Emily asked.
Kristina nodded, "Yup. I know your parents' last name."
"Then tell me what it is. Please. I've wanted to know since I was really small." Emily pleaded.
Kristina smiled and whispered the name in Emily's ear.
Emily's eyes widened, "Really?"
Kristina nodded, "Uh-huh. You were born as Asakura Emily. Your parents were Asakura Lilie and Asakura Ryou and your brother was Asakura Aron."
"Wow…" Emily gasped.
Suddenly, a loud horn filled the air.
Kristina quickly stood up, "I have to go now, Emily."
"But…I have more questions for you." Emily cried.
"You'll get your answers soon enough." Kristina answered. She walked to the edge of the cliff.
"Wait! What are you doing?" Emily shouted. Kristina took a deep breath. "Hey! Your wings are disabled! Don't jump!" Emily screamed, but it was too late. The older girl had jumped off the edge of the cliff.
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A/N: Okay, that's chapter 21. The food eating contest was a suggestion from my best friend and Robert the Talking Banana was a suggestion from a friend of mine in my Science Fiction class. I told this boy in my class that I was going to put him this story, so Stephanie (my friend) suggested that I make him a talking banana, so I did. As for Emily's last name…while I was writing this, I was watching Shaman King, so I just borrowed the last name of the main guy. R/R if you want, but don't flame me. Also, if you have ANY ideas, send them to me. I may write good chapters, but they'd be better if I had ideas from other people.