Coco: Hey, guys, how are we today? I hope everyone is doing well. Anyway, not much to say starting out this chapter, so shall we just get started?
'So, that's the whirlpool,' Wren thought calmly Masira was getting them closer to the swirling body of water.
It was quite the specter. As they reached the edge, a certain navigator and sharpshooter were growing rather nervous. In fact, they were both already screaming and crying.
"I don't remember signing up for this." Nami cried as she latched onto Wren. "Wren, save us!"
"Though I feel flattered that you believe in my strength that much, I can't do anything against something of that magnitude." Wren said with a small shrug. "I am at its mercy the same as you."
Nami, who tightened her grip on Wren's arm, paled when hearing that as Sanji rushed over to the two ladies.
"Don't worry!" He said. "I'll protect you both."
Havel shook his head at the cook as he was making his way inside Wren's shadow. There was no way he was allowing himself to get wet during their little endeavor to Sky Island.
"I've never seen one this big before," Robin said as she looked down at the whirlpool.
She sounded as calm as ever though, which was the total opposite of some of her crewmates.
"This is bad!" Usopp cried. "I changed my mind! I wanna go back."
"Sorry, Usopp." Zoro apologized. "It's too late for that. You know who is already excited."
He looked pointedly over at their captain as Luffy threw his arms up into the air with a large grin on his face.
"Let's go to the sky!" Luffy declared with a laugh.
Wren, who chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm, suddenly shifted her weight seconds before a giant sea king popped out of the water. Though she relaxed since the beast was no threat as it had fallen victim to the very whirlpool they were sailing into. As the others stared in shock at what happened, Wren let out sympathetic hum.
"The poor thing," She said.
"The poor thing?!" Nami, who snapped out of her shock, snapped. "I think you mean poor us! We're about to be joining that monster if we don't turn around!"
"If we turn around, we'll never reach Sky Island," Wren pointed out.
"I don't care!" Nami growled.
Wren blinked calmly at the angry and definitely frightened navigator as Nami was close to breaking the skin on Wren's arm with her nails due to holding on so tightly to the slightly older woman.
"It's time for us to go," Masira told them. "The rest is up to you now. Good luck."
As Luffy called out a farewell and a thank you to the monkey brothers and their crews, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper were crying pleas for them to come back. Though they were ignored, which had Wren chuckling into her hand.
"Oh, no!" Chopper shouted. "We're being sucked in!"
Usopp, who gave up on the monkey brothers helping out, turned to look at Luffy in a last-ditch effort to get their captain to make a run for it.
"Don't be so unreasonable, Luffy!" Usopp pleaded. "Let's go back while we still have time. Don't you understand that this Sky Island stuff is just a bunch of make believe? It's not worth getting us killed!"
"It's all make believe?" Luffy repeated. "Is that what you really think?"
Wren's brow quirked at the serious tone Luffy adopted as their crewmates were trying to get him to give up on Sky Island.
"Usopp's right!" Nami backed up her crewmate. "I think this is a really bad idea."
"It maybe be a stupid dream, but I have to try," Luffy said before turning around with a large grin on his face. "It could be our greatest adventure!"
As the cowardly trio became resigned in their fate, Wren turned to Zoro who walked up behind the group with a pensive look on his face.
"Instead of wasting your time bickering, you all might wanna take a look." Zoro said.
Wren turned in the direction Zoro was looking while noticing they were beginning to descend into the center of the whirlpool.
"What do you mean?" Usopp asked Zoro.
Zoro pointed towards the whirlpool as Wren let out a thoughtful hum while cupping her cheek.
"It's sucking us in," Zoro said.
"I suppose this is the moment of truth," Wren said. "Either we make it to the Sky Island or some of us will die drowning in this whirlpool."
As Usopp, Nami, and Chopper looked at her with wide, frightened eyes, Robin's lips turned up ever so slightly in amusement.
"How could you say that so calmly, dammit?!" Usopp snapped.
The others started screaming as they tilted in towards the center. Sanji, however, just came up behind Wren to wrap his arms around her waist. She tilted her head back to look up at him question as he grinned.
"Let my arms protect you, Wren-chwan~" He said.
Wren just quirked her brow up at the man as the others continued screaming bloody murder. However, the whirlpool suddenly disappeared below the surface, which landed the crew on smooth water and not in the bottom of the ocean's depths.
"What happened?" Sanji, who still had his arms around Wren, asked. "It just disappeared."
"What's going on?" Luffy asked as he sounded equally as confused.
"I don't get it," Usopp added. "Where did it go?"
Nami looked down at the deck with her eyes widening and her body shaking as if she was sensing something bad.
"I feel it." Nami said. "It's starting. The whirlpool sunk under the surface."
Wren opened her mouth to speak, but closed it and frowned when she sensed approaching voices.
"Hold it right there!" A familiar voice called out.
Wren's eye widened as her body went rigid. Sanji noticed and looked down at her in concern as she turned her body in the direction the voice came from. The others did as well while seeing a ship—or rather a large raft—coming their way with four people riding on it. Wren didn't care about the other three as her gaze locked in on the one who spoke.
"Teach," she said with her voice taking a dark tone.
Sanji's eyes widened at the growl in her voice as she stepped away from his hold towards the deck's railing.
"…Wren-chan…" He murmured in confusion.
Wren didn't react to the sound of her name as her pupil seemed to dilate like a predator spotting its prey. Her anger began to rise as her hand reached for her sword.
'I'll kill him,' Wren mentally snarled as Thatch's smiling face came to the forefront of her mind.
—FLASHBACK—
"Wren-chan, look at what we found while exploring," Thatch called out to the girl who was once again paying a visit to the Moby Dick to get away from her own crazy crew.
Wren looked over at Thatch with a quirked brow as he and Ace were walking over to her. Both of them had those ridiculous grins on their faces that always seemed to irk her. And in their hands were bunches of wildflowers.
"You discovered flowers," she said then went back to her book. "Congratulations."
Despite her disinterested tone, the two men held the flowers out to Wren who tried to ignore them.
"Come on, Wren, we've noticed you looked a bit down today," Thatch said. "So, we wanted to cheer you up. Now how about a smile for your favorite Whitebeard Commander?"
Wren gave him a blank look as Ace turned to frown at him while bumping Thatch out of the way.
"Hey, that'd be me," Ace told his crewmate.
Thatch let out a laugh as he bumped Ace back, so he could stand in front of Wren.
"Think again, Ace," Thatch said. "I'm obviously Wren-chan's favorite. You annoy her all the time."
"Hey! I've gotten better at not making her frown," Ace defended himself.
The two bickered for a few more seconds, which had Wren sighing at the pair of them. She closed her book loudly to get their attention. They looked to her as she took the flowers from their arms into her own. The amount of them was ridiculous to say the least.
"So, you wish for me to smile at my favorite commander?" Wren questioned the two. "If I do this, you'll leave me alone, yes?"
The two nodded their heads, so Wren decided to give them what they wanted.
"Marco-san," Wren called out to the passing first commander and ship's doctor.
Marco paused mid-step to give the younger pirate a curious look. When she smiled at him, not only him, but Ace and Thatch as well were shocked.
"I hope you know that you're my favorite commander," Wren said with her tone actually sounding sweet.
As the blonde blinked and looked between their smiling guest and his crushed crewmates, he soon grinned and gave a chuckle. Deciding to play along, Marco gave a slight bow.
"You're going to make this old man blush, yoi." Marco told her. "But thank you, Wren. I'm honored, yoi."
He then laughed when Thatch practically jumped him to tell him it was unfair that Wren smiled at him and not Thatch. Ace just sat on the deck pouting as Wren watched the scene.
"You two are so ridiculous," she said to Ace and Thatch after she stopped smiling.
Ace just pouted at her some more as he brought his knees to his chest.
"Why aren't I the favorite?" He asked.
"For obvious reasons, Ace." Wren replied bluntly.
"And what about me, huh?" Thatch whined as he was still latched onto Marco.
"Why would you be my favorite when there is Marco-san?" Wren questioned to rub salt in their wounds.
Marco laughed once more as now Ace was yelling at him for being so popular. Wren, who shook her head at the three, brought the flowers up to her face looking as if she was smelling them, but in reality, she was hiding the small smile forming on her face.
'Moments like this,' She thought. 'I can almost pretend I don't have to go back to that hell. I can imagine something better like being a part of a family.'
She then couldn't hold it back any longer as she let out a small laugh, which brought silence to the deck. None of the three men made a sound as they listened to the sound of her laughter. When she noticed their stares, she stopped laughing and stared at them with a frown.
"What is it?" Wren asked.
"Nothing," Thatch said as a happy smile pulled across his face. "Wren-chan's laugh is just beautiful that's all."
Wren looked at the man with a slightly wide gaze as the smile grew across his face.
—END OF FLASHBACK—
Everyone on the Whitebeard Crew had always treated her so kindly. Despite being part of a rival crew. Despite being so cold and standoffish most of the time, they kept trying to be her friend. Especially that fool Thatch. Even those few times she lashed out and told him to leave her be, he never held anything against her.
It was like he knew what she was going through, and tried to give her anything to keep her from completely teetering into the darkness. Someone as kind as him was an extreme rarity in this world, and Teach made the choice to snuff out the bright like that was Thatch. It made her beyond angry.
"Well, well, well," Teach said as he kept his eyes on Luffy and Zoro. "If it isn't Straw Hat Luffy."
"It's him! The Mock Town guy." Nami said.
"The what guy?" Sanji asked as he kept close to Wren.
He could see how agitated she was. Actually, he could see how furious she was. He's never seen her mad like this and it was worrying him.
"I've come all this way to collect on your 100 million beli bounty!" Teach declared. "So, don't be shy."
The man let out a laugh that only irked Wren further as she drew her sword of its sheath.
'He's dead,' Wren thought as Luffy called out to Teach in confusion about his bounty.
Though before the conversation could continue, Wren stepped up onto the railing.
"Teach!" She called.
The pure rage in her voice seeming to silence even the noise of the waves and the wind. Her crewmates looked at her with wide eyes since her tone was something truly frightening. Though despite her anger, Teach smiled at the sight of her.
"Ah, if it isn't little Wren." He said with a laugh. "I didn't know you'd be here, girlie, and I hope it's no hard feelins, but I'll be takin you in for your 85 million bounty as well! Alongside Roronoa Zoro who has a bounty of 60 million! Zehahaha!"
He then gasped when Wren slashed her sword forward with a torrent of sea water slicing at Teach and his crew. He ducked with his eyes widening when the water, which was as sharp as a blade cut the mast of his ship cleanly in half. Water swirled around Wren's sword as letters appeared along the steel blade. The undines' gift to her, which allowed her to use their water magic with her weapon. It wasn't a power she could control just yet, but she was sure ending Teach would be easy enough with it.
"You cowardly worm," Wren said when she saw the man tremble. "When you killed Thatch, did you even face him or did you stab in the back, Teach? Or should I address you as Blackbeard now?"
The others gasped because they remembered Ace telling them that Blackbeard was the man who had killed one of his crewmates.
"So…so you heard about that, did you?" Teach asked. "You must have seen a member of my former crew recently."
Wren didn't reply as the waters below started to churn as her blade glowed even brighter.
"I'm not going to waste my breath on the likes of you, Teach," Wren said coldly as her hair whipped around in the wind that was picking up. "Any last words before I end your miserable existence?"
Behind her, her crewmates watched with bated breath. This was a side they haven't seen of Wren before. The woman has shown annoyance and slight irritation, but this was completely different. It was an icy anger. One that sent chills down the spines of those witnessing it.
"She's going to change the currents at this rate!" Nami called over the wind. "We'll never get to Sky Island if she doesn't calm down!"
"Yeah, well are you going to try and calm her down?" Usopp retorted. "Her look alone could kill someone!"
Nami frowned. She wasn't afraid of Wren. She didn't think the older woman would hurt any of them. Though she wasn't sure if she could calm Wren down either.
"Wren," Luffy, who was suddenly sporting a serious tone, called out. "He isn't yours to take down, remember?"
Wren slowly turned her head to look at Luffy who stared back at her calmly despite the animalistic look in her gaze.
"He's Ace's to fight," Luffy reminded her.
Wren didn't reply at first before lowering her sword, which stopped its glowing. The waves and wind calmed back to their original restlessness as the knock up stream was beginning its approach.
"You're right," Wren agreed with Luffy in a calm voice.
With those words, it looked as if Wren was going to back down, but she then suddenly slashed her sword sending a wailing slash forward that destroyed Teach's ship. Teach and his crew all shouted in shock as they fell into the sea water below.
"Wren, why did you do that?!" Usopp asked nervously.
"Because if he had stayed in my sights any longer, I wouldn't have been able to control myself," Wren replied honestly. "This way he gets to live…for now."
Wren then looked to Luffy as the boy was watching her with an unreadable expression.
"Sorry for losing my temper, Captain, and putting a damper on the beginning of our adventure." Wren said with a slight bow. "Especially, since you have your new bounty to celebrate."
At her words, Luffy grinned and let out a laugh as he turned towards Zoro who was also grinning.
"That's right!" Luffy said. "100 hundred million! Isn't that awesome or what?"
"60 million's not too bad either." Zoro said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, well, Wren got an 85 million beli bounty!" Luffy laughed. "Pretty cool."
"Oh, you think so?" Wren asked. "I feel a bit insulted actually."
As Nami snapped at them to get serious, Sanji watched Wren closely. She was acting as if she was fine now, but he could see the tension in her jaw and how her hand kept curling and uncurling as if she wanted to reach back for her sword. He stepped up closer to her while putting his hand on the small of her back. He said nothing and Wren said nothing either. However, he felt her muscles relax slightly underneath his touch. The group then stiffened as the ship gave a sharp shake.
"Everyone, hold on or get inside!" Sanji said as everyone moved down towards the main mast.
Wren planted herself near the stairs as Usopp let out a frightened scream due to the ship rising.
"Oh, no! The ship! It's being lifted up!" He cried.
'It's coming,' Wren thought.
Just then the stream shot up like a straight pillar towards the sky. The Going Merry sailed speedily and shakily up the pillar as everyone tried to keep their bearings.
"What's happening?!" Usopp shouted in fright.
"We're sailing up a huge pillar of water!" Sanji called back.
"This is awesome!" Luffy cried happily.
Wren wasn't sure if the word awesome is the word she would use, but it was astonishing just what nature could pull off. Even during all her years in the Grand Line, has she ever thought she'd be sailing up a pillar of water that connected her world with the skies above.
"Alright, I can't believe it's finally happening!" Luffy said from his special seat. "Let's go to Skypiea!"
He laughed in excitement, but as he was eagerly waiting to reach their destination, Sanji noticed something.
"Hold on," He cautioned. "It's not going to be that easy. Look."
"What now?!" Usopp demanded.
"What's wrong?" Luffy asked. "Did we forget about something?"
Wren looked down as she began to feel the hull tilt backwards, which wasn't a good sign.
"The hull is starting to float." Sanji informed his crewmates. "If we don't stop it, we're going to fall into the ocean."
"What do you expect us to do about it?" Usopp asked as he was barely hanging on. "We're having a hard enough time hanging on as it is. Or haven't you noticed?!"
Sanji gave the sharpshooter a look as Wren let out a thoughtful hum. They needed to think of something quick because holding on for dear life isn't going to save them when the ship finally slips from the pillar to crash back into the ocean.
"Oh, no!" Chopper cried. "What is that?!"
Everyone looked up to see the large yellow sea king from earlier as it was falling back towards the ocean.
"The sea king," Zoro said.
"Is that the one from before?" Chopper asked sounding worried.
"Yes," Wren replied. "Which means if we don't come up with some kind of solution, we'll all die along with it instead of reaching our desired destination. That wouldn't be too much fun, now, would it?"
"Your sarcasm isn't helping things!" Zoro snapped at her.
Wren just let out a chuckle as the others tried to figure out what to do. Wren didn't look to worried as she glanced over at a certain navigator who had been very quiet these last few minutes. Said girl had a look of utter concentration on her face before looking towards her crewmates suddenly.
"Spread the sails!" Nami ordered. "Right now!"
As the others gave her a look of confusion, Wren gave a small smile.
"Sure, it's a pillar of water but it's still part of the sea." Nami continued. "It's a rising current! The wind from below is a rising current providing geothermal heat causing a steam expression. It may be packaged differently, but it's still wind and water! Trust me, I'm a navigator, aren't I?"
Her words rallied the crew as the boys quickly went to do as Nami ordered. As she instructed them on what she wanted, Wren moved up into the crow's nest despite the dangers. She actually felt a rush of excitement that she hasn't felt in a long time as she was eager to find the island above the clouds. She looked down as she held onto the top of the mast as the ship continued to tip backwards. Though it looked as if things might end badly, the ship suddenly took flight. And soared along the knock-up stream.
"We're flying!" Luffy cheered. "Yeah, we're heading for the sky!"
Wren let out a small laugh as the others below smiled while feeling pretty excited themselves.
"I did it!" Nami said excitedly as Sanji smiled at her.
"Nami-san, good job!" Sanji said giving her a thumb up.
He then looked around for Wren to see if she was excited, but when he didn't see her on the deck with him, his head tilted up. His eyes widened when seeing her holding tightly to the crow's nest above them.
"Ah, Wren-chan, you could get hurt from up there, my love!" He cried in worry.
He then scurried up the mast to join her. Though when he almost fell out, Wren managed to grab him by his tie and tug him towards her. He fell into her with their faces coming close together momentarily. Sanji stared at her as he took in her happy smile, cheeks flushed from the wind, and her sparkling gaze. He felt as if his heart melted into a puddle of goo, but he snapped out of his thoughts when she spoke.
"Careful, Sanji." She chided. "Wouldn't want you to fall off before we even get there."
Sanji smiled glad to see her so happy and carefree. Her walls completely down in this moment. He wanted to capture it, or at least try to hold onto it for as long as he could.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Wren asked curious. "Something on my face?"
"No, my dear." Sanji said. "You just have a beautiful smile."
Wren felt that odd flutter returned to her chest at his words as he continued to stare down at her with a gentle gaze. Wren tried to understand what the feeling was, but soon became distracted when seeing they were about to crash into the clouds above.
"Perhaps we should move back down to the others." Wren said as her eye remained on the approaching clouds.
Sanji turned his head seeing what caught her attention with his eyes widening momentarily.
"That would probably be best." Sanji agreed.
They went to rejoin the others quickly, but just as the others noticed their approach to the clouds as well. The group gasped as they hit the clouds above, which caused everything to turn white.
Coco: And that is the end of the chapter. I do hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter they'll be reaching Skypiea and starting a new adventure. Not sure when the new chapter will be out since I need to figure how to involve Wren in this arc. I have a few ideas but nothing too solid.
Anyway, I guess we'll see each other next time~ So, remember to stay safe out there and keep being your beautiful selves!
