AN:Wow! I didn't expect so many people to actually enjoy this fic, it's such a nice feeling to see people leaving comments, favouriting and following. So thank you! It can only be onwards and upwards from here, right? I'm updating a little (okay, A LOT) sooner than what I thought, however the next chapter will take a lot longer to write than what I've been doing for the last ones.
"NAMI! THE LIGHT JUST WENT OUT!"
Luffy's shout rang out through the ship, spurring us all into action and for the most part panicking at this admission, but Nami didn't look to worried.
"That was our guiding light, too!"
"Captain, lighthouses go out from time to time." I pointed out before anyone else could.
"Besides, it's for time like these you have a navigator, you know?" Nami sounded from above us. "So don't worry. I know the basic direction at least."
"You're amazing, Nami!" Luffy shouted excitedly, stars in his eyes. Sanji was nodding beside me in agreement.
"Can you get off of there please?" Nami had only just realised where Luffy was hanging from.
"No! This is my spot!" His excited tone had become indignant.
"WHEN DID I SAY I WANTED IT?" The shark teeth had appeared once again.
"This is rather troubling however," Nami was looking down at a map for what I was assuming the Grand Line, "At this rate, it'll be what the rumours have said."
She suddenly gasped and ran into the galley, beckoning for us all to follow her.
"What have you realised, Nami?"
She gave me a look, "Why do you think I've realised something?"
"People don't just gasp and run inside with everyone else following them for no reason."
"She makes a point, witch."
Sanji glared at Zoro and made to open his mouth to comment when Nami spoke over the top of him.
"The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain." It was a dramatic moment, especially once she slammed the map onto the table. I was half expecting there to be background music.
"A mountain?"
Everyone was a little confused, looking at Nami like she had genuinely lost her mind. Usopp's mouth was dropped open, Zoro looked a little angry and Luffy had his head tilted to the side like a puppy. Sanji and I were the only ones who hadn't reacted too much, myself because I knew what was coming and Sanji, probably because he was from the North Blue and had had to come to the South Blue somehow.
"Precisely my reaction, I had a pretty difficult time believing it myself when I looked at the map, but look at it!" She pointed at the map, directly towards the lighthouse. "The light of guidance was pointing directly at Reverse Mountain which is located here on the Red Line."
"Does that mean we have to crash through a mountain?"
"Is that even possible without breaking the ship?" I couldn't help but be curious.
Continuing to explain whilst pointing at the map, "No, there's a waterway right here."
"A waterway? Are you crazy? Even if that is a waterway, there's no way a ship could climb UP a mountain." Usopp couldn't believe what Nami was suggesting.
"Usopp, if that's what the map says then we probably should do what it asks. Especially if Nami believes it." I couldn't help but point out to the sniper, who still looked at Nami and the map in disbelief.
"Exactly. That's what the map says." "As if what Nami says could ever be wrong!"
"Isn't that the map you stole from Buggy?" Zoro asked. "Can you really depend on it?"
"Are you saying that Buggy is undependable, Zoro?"
"Pretty much." I laughed at the dry response. Luffy on the other hand wasn't paying any attention to the lack of trust most of his crew had in the stolen map.
"Are we really going to climb up a mountain? On a ship? That sounds so cool!" The stars in his eyes doubled in size the longer he looked at the map. "It's a magic mountain, right Ebony?"
Startled at being addressed so suddenly by the captain, I only nodded and put my thumbs up in response.
"Why do we have to go through the entrance directly in the first place? Couldn't we just head south and then enter?"
"Zoro, you really shouldn't have said that."
"No we can't!" Luffy shook his head emphatically. I almost thought that he was going to make that a captains order.
"Besides Luffy's desire to go up a mountain, there's probably a good reason for it."
"Exactly Ebony."
"It's so much cooler to go in using the real entrance!" Luffy had completely ignored both Nami and myself, causing the both of us to sigh and look at each other.
'Men.'
"Guys! The storm has suddenly stopped!" Usopp was looking out the window, hands pressed up against the frame. Luffy cheered and ran outside, followed by the ever loyal Pirate Hunter.
"You're right." Sanji took another drag of his cigarette.
"No, that can't be right. The storm should have led us directly to the entrance."
I knew that this was a bad thing to happen.
"That doesn't sound too good, Nami."
"No it doesn't."
We both heard someone shout about the weather; about how nice it was outside.
"Oh no! We've entered a calm belt!"
Everyone stared at the panicking Nami, unsure as to what to do.
Dragon arrived safely back at the Revolutionaries Headquarters, with the information that he had gathered and the envelope the stranger known as Black Ebony had given him to give to his Chief of Staff.
The advert that they had put into the newspaper was thought out, but also suspicious in a way he hadn't believed to be possible. How many people knew about Sabo and his hat, his goggles? It was true that he was a wanted man, but these distinctive characteristics had never been shown to the world as when out on missions he would normally wear the classic hooded style that even the one called the Crow Queen had seemed to adapt.
"Sabo, I have a letter for you from the contact I mentioned I was going to meet in Loguetown. Another Outlier."
"Another one? Where from this time?"
"Earth, as they put it. This world, however is a story in their world."
This brought the Chief of Staff to a standstill.
"A story? About what?"
"They never said, only that it was a story about this world." There was silence for a moment before Dragon added, "A story that you were mentioned in, perhaps your past as well."
The blonde man gasped; he didn't expect that at all. He'd only known his name because it was sewn into his top hat, and that he'd been in the way of the Celestial Dragons when they had gone to Goa Kingdom.
"They wanted me to give you this." He handed over the envelope and left the room, allowing Sabo to open and read it by himself. He had a feeling that it would change everything and nothing all at once. A combination that he wasn't sure he liked or not as of yet.
"What's a calm belt?"
Ignoring, or at least not hearing the questions being thrown her way Nami looked as if she were to start hyperventilating.
"Nami, take a deep breath and breathe ." At this point I was standing behind her, my hand on her shoulder. She didn't shrug it off, which meant a lot considering how little she trusted strangers or new people in her life.
"Hey, look the storm is still going strong over there!"
"Weird, it's perfectly calm here!"
"THIS IS NO TIME TO BE JUST STANDING AROUND!" Nami shouted at the rest of the crew, who were standing around admiring the lack of storm around. "WE HAVE TO RETURN TO THE STORM, NOW!"
"As you wish, Nami-swan!" Sanji was the first to jump into action, not that I would have believed otherwise.
The others however were looking at Nami like she had lost her mind.
"Why are you getting so worked up?" Luffy had stuck his finger up his nose and continued talking. "This is a ship, not a row-boat."
"Why would we want to go back into the storm?"
"Apart from the fact that calm belts are known Sea King nesting spots?" I couldn't help but state, only Zoro seeming to pay any attention.
"JUST SHUT UP AND DO WHAT I SAY!"
"Sea Kings? But the weather is so nice here." Zoro looked bored, as Sanji ran around with a random oar in his arm.
Nami thrust a pointing hand into Zoro's face, "Fine! At your suggestion we've drifted south!"
"What's wrong with that? we're in the Grand Line now, aren't we?"
"If it were that easy, anybody would be coming and going into the Grand Line whenever they felt like it!"
I had to admit that the shark teeth that Nami was sporting were quite scary, but knowing the woman she'd probably feel as though that's a compliment.
"Listen up everyone! The Grand Line is surrounded by two belts, known as being windless, calm. Exactly where we happen to be stuck right now!"
"It's definitely calm, no wind at all. So what's your point?" Zoro turned around when suddenly everything started to shake.
"This is exactly why! Freaking sea king nest!"
"WHAT!"
I was suddenly on the receiving end of the stares of my crew mates. I opened my mouth the explain more when the ship started to shake more, rising out of the ocean and into the air, knocking us all down onto the deck from the pressure.
Looking up I was suddenly staring directly into the eye of a creature that seemed to be the height of the Eureka Tower back home, possibly even taller. I'd seen smaller sea kings come into port back in the Loguetown, but never something of this size and magnitude.
"HOLY SHIT!" Luffy's shout brought me back to reality.
"I did say it was a Sea King nest, didn't I?"
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO EARLIER?"
"It may have slipped my mind." And it had, in the grand scheme of things this was very very tame. The Grand Line was full of stranger things, after all.
"How could something like this slip your mind?" Nami looked close to tearing her hair out.
"BACK TO MORE IMPORTANT THINGS GUYS!" I shouted at her, spinning my arms wildly in the general direction of the ocean.
"Alright, as soon as this goes back into the ocean we paddle as fast as we can!" Zoro had grabbed an oar from the storage cupboard on deck and shoved one into Luffy's arms. I grabbed one as well and nodded.
"Sounds good!"
There was suddenly a massive rumble and a ginormous sneeze from below us, sending the ship flying with us along with it.
"A GIANT FROG IS COMING THIS WAY! AGH!"
The frog was massive, more like a toad in its colouring.
"DON'T GET THROWN OVERBOARD!"
Too late for that, as both Usopp and myself went flying.
"USOPP! EBONY!"
Quick as a flash, Luffy had wrapped himself around the lookout post and reached both arms forward grabbing both Usopp and myself by the backs of our shirts. The both of us flew backwards, hitting the deck with a loud thud and painful backs.
"Thanks captain."
"Shishishi! No problem Ebony!"
Sabo didn't quite know what to think. On one hand he really wanted to know what caused him to set sail, why he had been shot at by the Celestial Dragons (besides the obvious reasons), his past and why sometimes he could hear and see two other boys; both with black hair, one with freckles and the other a scar under his left eye. On the other, it could dredge up some unwanted things that it may have been for the best to leave behind. This feeling, however, was something that made him incredibly uncomfortable. He didn't like it at all.
Thus his decision was made and he carefully opened the envelope.
'Sabo,
You don't know me, nor do I know you (at least not personally). But I do know people who do, people who miss you and have thought you to be dead for the last ten years (give or take a few months.)
I am unsure as to how I am going to get you to remember. In the alternative universe, the other timeline you only remembered after a tragedy. A tragedy of both a personal and internationally felt nature. I will say this now, I will not allow this to take place. I cannot allow this to take place; my captain will be forever damaged, scarred mentally and physically. And you will never forgive yourself either. I cannot allow this hurt to befall either of you, nor those that hold everyone involved dear to them.
The Marines and the World Government cannot have them.'
Sabo was almost hyperventilating at this point. He knew now that something was missing, something incredibly important. And something would happen in the future that would change all of that, something this Outlier wished to stop from happening.
'I want you to remember, need you to remember if I want a hope in hell of trying to save this person from the tragedy. I've seen the aftermath. I never want to see it again.
I've included some pictures of your brothers.'
Sabo faulted at that. Brothers? He had brothers? That could explain the two phantom children that he sometimes saw. And they had thought him dead for a decade? He didn't know what to think, what would he do if he were in that situation? (Although now thinking about it, he would have been in that situation in the future and may still be if this Ebony couldn't stop whatever tragedy happening in the future from actually taking place.)
He took out two pictures from the envelope, one was of two young boys with one wearing a hat that was clearly far too big for him. The other was of the same boys, but as grown (or at least a lot older) men. Their faces were familiar, the older ones at least immediately due to the fact that the Revolutionaries had their wanted posters up on a board at their Headquarters. The younger faces made him stare though.
" Sabo!"
The voice was something familiar to him, he heard it in his dreams sometimes but this time it was followed by a face. The face of the younger of the two in the picture. Suddenly memories started to flood in. Of boys, wild children running from and towards jungle animals with nothing but pipes that were double the size they were; three young boys sharing a bottle of stolen sake, becoming brothers. The arguments, the laughter, the memories .
He screamed and passed out.
Thunder and lightning flashed through the sky. I'd landed on my back after Luffy had caught Usopp and I from going overboard; he wasn't as lucky, landing directly on his front. I'm honestly surprised his nose wasn't broken from the force alone.
"Thank the gods, we're back in the storm." Was a sentence I never thought i would hear.
"Now do you understand why we have to use the mountain?"
"Yes, understood." Zoro sounded shaky, his head in his arms looking downwards. I caught a flash of his eyes, wide and a little frightened.
"How did you know about the sea kings, Ebony-chan?"
I laughed at Sanji's question.
"Mostly because people who attempted to come out into the Grand Line, mostly pirates but sometimes ordinary merchants, would get stuck and the sea kings would sink their ships. I'd be called out to help rescue them."
"Rescue them?" Usopp had his head cocked to the side, having sat up off of the deck.
I nodded, "The marines, surprisingly don't have a whole bunch of people who are fantastic at swimming. I'm alright, better than most, so I'd be the one they'd take out to help."
"WHOA! We've got our very own lifesaver!" Luffy cheered. Knowing him as I did, that was probably a good thing as he'd jump into the ocean at the nearest opportunity.
"Ah, I got it!" Nami exclaimed, like she had suddenly had an epiphany.
"What?" Zoro had lifted his head out from his lap, an annoyed expression on his face.
"We really are going to climb the mountain."
"Tch, you still going on about that?" He shook his head in disbelief.
"It's got something to do with the currents, right Nami?"
"Correct; if the currents from each of the four seas were to all head towards that mountain they would be driven up the waterway." She turned and continued to explain to the rest of the crew, still laying or sitting on the deck. "At the top, the currents merge and go out to the Grand Line. We're already riding the currents, so all we have to worry about it steering the ship in the right direction."
Putting her hand on her face she went to continue, but I couldn't help but interrupt.
"Isn't Reverse Mountain meant to be a winter island? And the fact that if we fail to get ourselves through to the mountain we'll crash and end up at the bottom of the ocean?"
"True."
Luffy however wasn't really listening, "So it's a magic mountain!"
"Pretty much." I said at the same time as Nami, "I shouldn't have expected you to understand…"
"Nami-swan! Ebony-chan! You're both amazing!" The noodle dance was in full force, hearts floating above his head.
I couldn't help but stare at them as they started to float towards me, poking them and making them pop. I shuddered a little as the made a wet kissing sound after they'd been popped.
"Never heard of a ship going up a mountain before."
"I've heard a bit."
"About the mountain?"
"No, more like the Grand Line."
I joined in the discussion that Zoro and Sanji were having.
"Most people, I think that the statistic is more than half, die trying to enter the Grand Line."
"Right, entering the Grand Line is not an easy task." Sanji smirked.
"GUYS! I see the magic mountain!" Luffy was grinning so wide that I thought his face would split; probably the only reason that his face hadn't split was because he was made of rubber.
"That's a huge shadow!" Again with the human anatomy defying stunts; Usopp's jaw had dropped to almost meet his waist. I think that would be one of the things that I would never be able to get over, not the powers gained from fruits or mad training.
"That's the Red Line." I gave a dramatic wave with my arms.
"It's so big, you can't see the top even through the clouds!"
"Get a good grip of the rudder! We don't want to get dragged under!" Luffy was still grinning as he shouted out the order. Sanji and Usopp ran over to the rudder and gripped it tightly on either side.
"Just leave it to us!"
"Amazing" Nami was staring at the mountain in unfiltered shock and awe.
"I can't believe it, the ocean really is going up a mountain."
Zoro had a pair of binoculars out. I held out my hand and he handed them to me. Getting a good look through them, the view was as incredible as it was bizarre.
"We're veering off course! A little to the right!"
"Right? Okay!"
"Turn starboard!"
There was a sound, a sickening crack as the beam of wood split in half. We all stared at it in horror, disbelieving of what happened.
"Crap!" The word had let my mouth before I could sensor myself. I didn't like swearing in front of people if I could help it.
"The rudder…."
"WE'RE GOING TO CRASH!"
Luffy went flying out towards the opposite of the ship, his hat flying off of his head. Zoro reached out to grab it before it was lost, almost cradling it.
"GOMU GOMU NO FUSEN!"
The force of Luffy's defence was enough to push the Going Merry back onto the right course.
"We're saved!" The relief in Nami's voice was palpable.
"Luffy, grab onto my hand" "Captain, grab onto my hand!"
Zoro and I had both shouted at the same time, reaching out our arms. Luffy reached in and grabbed one of our hands with his own and we pulled him in, causing him to slam into the deck without breaking it.
Sanji and Usopp were doing a strange dance, Usopp holding the broken half of the rudder in one hand. The two of them were doing some strange leaps and side clicks, making me collapse with laughter.
"WE DID IT! WE'RE SAFE!"
The excitement in the air was contagious.
"Now all we have to do is make it down." Zoro lightly punched my shoulder, seeming to accept me as a crew mate. At least for now; I knew that he would continue to keep on eye on me until he could safely believe that I posed no danger to his captain or the rest of the crew.
"Whoa! I can see the Grand Line!"
We all stood next to Luffy, leaning against the railing. I looked beside me, everyone was smiling, happy.
AN: I've also just noticed that, depending on what I like more, I switch between the English and the Japanese translations of attacks. I find that I prefer the Japanese titles more, so that's probably what I'll be using the most.