Changing the course
The sky was clear after the last storm that the King Sunny had crossed, leaving the air crisp and the sun seem unusually bright, while the choppy waves had long left space for much calmer waters.
Since Thriller Bark there had been laughter and enjoyment, but it was skin-deep, quickly swallowed by the fierce determination that burned into the very bones of all the Straw Hat Pirates. A determination born out of shame, shame because they hadn't even come close to defeat the third warlord they met. With the help of two giants, and the participation of hundreds of Moria's ex-victims, while everyone was still somewhat fresh despite the fast-paced battle of a few days prior against Moria, they still had less than a snowball's chance in hell.
Luffy sat on the King Sunny's figurehead, the breeze and constant swaying of the sea made the brim of his hat flutter a bit, casting a shadow that danced back and forth on his eyes. Eyes that were almost blazing while his face was cast in a grimace, and slowly, his brain performed the act of thinking.
"Hey, no fair captain!" Merry's voice was still a novelty among the crew, but it demanded attention mostly because they'd never get tired to witness the result of the miracle that allowed a dying caravel to keep adventuring with them: "Why do you have to hog all the fun? I too want to punch the strongest guy around!"
Despite the child-like shape she kept while sailing regularly, her spirit was born from the love of the crew, and with that love, came some of their traits, which included but were not limited to Luffy, Zoro, and Coby's enjoyment of difficult fights. She threw the hood of her raincoat back as she spoke, revealing the same blazing gaze of the captain, the swordsman's evil grin, and the First Mate's own defiance.
"I'm the captain!" Luffy pointed out the obvious, "So I fight their captain!"
"But this way I don't get any adventure!" Merry whined in the same way the rubber-man did when he annoyed Sanji into giving up more meat to sate his neverending hunger, she stomped her foot on the ground of Thriller Bark, making the surroundings shake slightly as it was like several tons had just been dropped onto a minimal surface: "I want to fight the strong guy too!"
"Maybe a compromise?" Coby's voice cut in while he twirled the two Zoan-swords with a broken, clearly unpracticed motion, "Technically this is Merry's first true adventure with all of us, so we can all fight together?"
Luffy huffed in annoyance, but relented, and with that, he got to enjoy once more the experience of sitting on Merry's figurehead, only that it was her actual head now, while she ran across Thriller Bark at unbelievable speeds, her flanks a mixture of wood and fur, with spots alternating with portholes, and her anchor acting as a tip for her tail. Her back was just like the deck of the Going Merry, and even if the masts with their sails furled were a bit odd, it was easy to feel her pride in flying their jolly roger far above their heads.
When the confrontation with the onion-guy came, it ended much faster than what anyone thought: oh, they had met some interesting stuff along the way, and Zoro had his little duel with a dead-samurai that had also Brook's shadow into it, but this would be the more fun part.
Merry had been the first to jump forward, returning to her child-shape but with cheetah-like legs that turned her into a yellow blur on the ground: claws extended, she had gone for the throat of the laughing Shichibukai, who made no motion to defend himself while his shadow rose tauntingly behind the rest of the crew, and just as the Going Merry's sharp claws began to cut into Moria's neck, something weird had quickly happened, and the fight was over.
The neck belonging to the shadow of that guy exchanged places with his real counterpart... and he was beheaded. Coby had frowned while straightening up, the elongated blades of the two zoan-swords retracting to a normal size: "Well, that was underwhelming."
"How did you do to do that?" Nami had been the first to ask while everyone witnessed the entirety of Thriller Bark's landscape change as the shadows that had held it prisoner dispersed.
The First Mate had shrugged then: "When there's a double, it never hurts to attack both." as if it was obvious. And for the pink-haired pirate, it really was.
Luffy's frown intensified at the memory: they had won so easily, that when the bear-guy appeared, they thought they had a chance. Unconscious at the time, the captain had to be told how the First Mate had cheerfully sacrificed himself while dropping his cracked crystal ball. He had to be explained that he likely had developed a plan during the battle, and he hadn't been able to explain it because, well, they were fighting at the time.
Still, this was the first time that the Straw Hats met someone that truly outmatched them all. They had been at their best, Oimo and Kashi had joined into that battle, and they too gave no trouble at all to the Shichibukai. Had something like this been the reason why Coby had always been so eager to use his tricks to win? Because he knew what would happen without them?
Luffy crossed his arms while the swaying of the ship failed to tranquilize him: Lola and Brook had confirmed that Impel Down was the place where prisoners were kept. Luffy's brain acted sluggishly, and the captain gritted his teeth because of the effort: this was what Coby was for! He was meant to be the one making plans, while the man with the straw hat made the decisions. As he tried to think, his memory awoke suddenly with no forewarning, offering the memory of Bon-chan sacrificing himself to allow the Straw Hat Pirates to escape.
After a while, he gave up, his thoughts shifting to something else: after all, his crew was meant to do what he himself couldn't, so he called: "Robin! I need your help!"
With a raised eyebrow, the archeologist left the chair she had been sitting at, her eyes fixed on the chessboard she had enjoyed several times with Coby, and quickly walked towards her captain. The lingering sense of shame that everyone felt because they'd been unable even to fight back against Kuma irked her while one fist clenched unconsciously. While she walked towards her captain, her eyes grew hard and cold: only for the remote chance of saving the Merry, Coby had led the raid on Enies Lobby, and if the seriousness in Luffy's tone was anything to go by, he wasn't going to do anything less.
As the archeologist walked, she passed by the only married woman on the ship, which exchanged a single nod with her, onlny to return to what she had been doing.
Lola had known the kind of shame that was now seeping through several members of the crew, even if she had never felt it so sharply as now, on board of the most fantastic ship her eyes had ever seen. Her dream had been reached after the long night prisoner on Thriller Bark: the shame that made you feel worthless because you weren't strong enough to win once you decided to stand up for what you believed in. And her husband, her odd, young, mad, self-sacrificing husband, was gone, just like her shadow had been when Moria took it.
One moment it was there, the next... gone. Before, the one thing that pushed her forward despite the difficulties had been her dream, and now that she had reached it... she proved that she was unable to protect it. The most attractive trait on the seas is personal might, or the ability to not be a liability.
Lola knew intimately just what kind of monster awaited in more dangerous waters, the kind of world tilting powers that could flatten islands with a negligent wave of a single hand. She remembered her mother, and the side effects of one of her temper tantrums getting the best of her. She had been glad to sail in Paradise in search of her husband-to-be, far from the deadly waters of the New World, crossed as they were by even more dangerous people, and at the idea of finding her own safe place away from there, Lola had felt some of the tension that one naturally developed if they wanted to stay alive in Totto Land leave her, and she had been grateful for it.
But to have a husband, she'd joined the crew of one man that aimed to be Pirate King in a heartbeat: she knew that she'd rather die by the side of her newly found love, instead of hollowly going ahead with her search. After so many 'No', that one 'Why Not?' had rung like the golden bell that she had been told about. She was ready to sail back into the New World, and to face everything with a smile on her lips.
Then a frown appeared on her features as she remembered what Kuma had said while personally capturing her husband: Charlotte Coby. It made no sense, for he had been born in te East Blue, and there was no way it could be one of Mama's, but the bounty posters that the Shichibukai leafed through had to be printed, arguably too soon. After all, even if their wedding ceremony had been something broadcast, it had been limited to Monkey D. Luffy declaring 'You're married now! Let's go party!'.
Lola was not unaware of those that'd seek to marry her only to get an in with Big Mom, and she had refrained from spreading the truth of her lineage, even if it was something that she had planned to tell Coby before the King Sunny sailed into the New World. Then how was it possible that a bounty poster already existed with Charlotte Coby printed on it? Was it possible that the World Government and by extension the Marines had some way to predict the fate of star-crossed lovers?
On the swaying deck of the King Sunny, Lola shifted her grip on the twin sabers that Coby had given her after they got married, and stabbed them forwards, instinctively adjusting her hold and the tension in her back to see how far they could extend beyond the bulwark of the King Sunny. The Giraffe-themed blade had once been called Bamboo It was a sword with a perfectly straight blade and that which was finely decorated, with a leather-like hilt with the same colors and patterns of the animal the Zoan fruit had imparted on it. It had a straight-edged tsuba and a pommel that is trapezoidal in shape with a cross engraved, and a tuft of brown hair off it, as if the tail of the giraffe itself.
Even considering Lola's familiarity with more katana-like weapons, it was clear that it would give its best with far reaching, fast lunges that could leverage the lengthy nature of a giraffe's neck, while Funkfreed had a natural predisposition towards unpredictable slashes that could be performed with the trunk-like blade, while the fanning of the elephant's ears could perfectly be twisted to act as a shield, and the tusks themselves to either pierce in much closer distances, or to entrap and disarm the sword of an enemy.
The pink haired pirate tightened her hold on the weapons, and began pushing herself towards a better understanding of just what they could do. The most attractive trait on the seas is personal might, or the ability to not be a liability.
Of course, captain Luffy hadn't hesitated in deciding that they would free Coby, even if it meant training in one single place until they were strong enough to break into Impel Down. The most attractive trait on the seas is personal might, or the ability to not be a liability. The thought rang again and again into Lola's mind, and she gritted her teeth, ignoring the layer of sweat that began to cover her features: by the time she got her husband back, she'd be the most attractive woman in the whole world, and if it meant growing so strong to go toe to toe against her own mother, so be it.
Not far from where Lola was training, the Going Merry was avidly reading through Chopper's notes about Zoan transformations: not all that he had experienced could apply to her, of course, mostly because of how odd her existence was, even by the standards of the Straw Hat Pirates, but it helped her greatly, just as it had done on Water 7 in order to reign in her natural caravel-like size.
Due to her dual nature of both ship and ship-fairy, or klataubermann, the cheetah-zoan she had eaten not only acted as a form by its own, but it bridged the distance between the other two parts that made her true self. As a child, she could call upon the might relative to someone the size of a caravel, while as a ship, she could freely run with the speed of a cheetah.
Even if she hadn't been asked, she didn't need to know her proper, official role on the King Sunny: she was naturally poised to be a smuggler, and while she could now fight like a human, after all, she still had a vast, comparatively to her child-shape, galley that she could fill with all manner of things. Leafing through Chopper's notes, her pupils grew wide as she suddenly found something that had been clearly scrabbled by the medic while he was in Brain Point: Coby maintains that the potential evolution of Zoan-type fruit eaters is limitless. Two directions for myself: the instinct and physical might of the reindeer, the unbound mind and will of a human.
Did that mean that she could push her transformations so that her galley would grow, her sneakiness in child form become subtler, and her speed and strength while using the cheetah's natural expression of her power become greater? The Going Merry bit her lower lip, her mind quickly going to Coby's own notes that detailed the uses of four of the Six Powers the CP-9 members had showcased, while speculating on the remaining two. Shifting her fingers, she willed the cheetah's claws to come out, only to shift back into her spirit-based shape.
Even when he's not here, Coby's looking after me. Merry clenched her little fists while a smile that showed too many sharpened teeth appeared on her face, the familiar, greedy tension of a great challenge settling on her with the same reinvigorating energy that it did with Coby every time he tried something new and potentially lethal in order to improve. The King Sunny would carry the Straw Hat Pirates over the seas, while the Going Merry would take care of bringing them wherever they wished on land. after all, if there was something that everyone was coming to accept by now, was that Devil Fruits were bullshit: could she carry her whole family into her galley while shifting forms?
She straightened her back and quietly closed the notes she had been studying in order to figure out a way to grow stronger: she'd have to ask Chopper for a Rumble Ball or two...
Zoro's focus moved away from the diminutive form of the Going Merry running towards Chopper, who was busy scribbling furiously into yet another notebook, only to hover towards the decidedly odd vision of Sanji balancing himself on his hands and spinning about, with Mikita jumping along his legs, clearly changing her weight with no forewarning, and if her concentrated frown was anything to go by, she was pushing her limits as much as she could.
The eyes of the swordsman shifted to Lola's form, which showed some training, the result of many instinctive developments, and some potential. Robin threw her head back in her customary laughter, and Zoro kept thinking about what he could do to improve faster than he had been. Coby had never volunteered any suggestion for him, knowing that they'd likely be unwelcome, but to be a swordsman, was to improve constantly: if you're not getting better, you're regressing. That was a saying he lived by: and every day, he strived to do more repetitions, and to think more about the moves he could perform.
With everyone busy, Zoro walked towards the back deck, exchanging a nod with Franky and Usopp, which were talking animatedly between them, whil keeping the course set by Nami, who was off to the side furiously practicing with her recently improved staff.
Yubashiri, Sandai Kitetsu, Wado Ichimonji... and now, Shusui. There was no doubt that the black blade was of exceptional quality: heavier than what it looked, it tended to power up his attacks in ways that Zoro hadn't been able to control just yet. And a swordsman that couldn't control his sword, wasn't deserving of the title, never mind to aspire to greatness.
In silence, the green-haired man jumped on the bulwark that cordoned the helm's deck of the King Sunny, and unsheated Shusui: he breathed in, brethed out, adjusted his hold on the hilt, and raised it to the sky, readying himself to cut the seafoam in the wake of the ship's passing, and only the seafoam.
"Zoro?" Usopp's voice stopped him before he could begin his training, and he turned his head, glaring at the cause of his interruption. The sniper grimaced, but his knees didn't wobble, unlike they'd have done not so far before, and he went ahead with his request: "What's up with your swords? I mean, Coby mentioned that the high-quality blades have something more than mere steel in them, but... I mean, steel is steel, right?"
"I don't know." the swordsman expression relaxed as he was asked a question about a topic he enjoyed, then he lifted the black blade, observing how the metal glinted under the sun, "I just feel that this one is better than Yubashiri, which is better than Sandai Kitetsu."
"And you use three swords, right?" Usopp's eyes were focused on the other three swords hanging at the side of the green-haired man, who simply raised a challenging eyebrow.
"You want to learn how to use a sword?"
"Something like that." the sniper nodded, his eyes turning towards the piercing ones of the swordsman that stood on the bulwark, "I want to learn the difference between common steel and the one that makes a sword, and I was wondering..."
"I will lend you Yubashiri." Zoro cut to the chase and jumped down onto the deck while sheathing once more Shusui, "Don't mistreat it."
"Isn't that one better than Kitetsu?" Usopp accepted gratefully the blade that was being handed over, but his nose twitched lightly towards the rest of the swordsman's weapons.
"Kitetsu is cursed." a fierce grin appeared on the green-haired man's face, "It drew all of its previous owners to madness or a bloody death... I like it."
Even with his growing reserves of courage, the sniper of the Straw Hat Pirates paled immediately at the malice positively oozing off the swordsman and he drew back, bowing lightly to thank Zoro only to turn and run towards Franky, tapping him on one shoulder before shouting: "Nami! Mind the helm!"
usopp franky
The duo composed by the sniper and the shipwright ran inside the King Sunny, quickly reaching a room that had been set aside as a workshop for both Franky and Usopp to tinker in: the room was more or less a square, well lit, and with work benches against the sides, which showed off a great variety of half-completed works ranging from pellets to reconstructed hands with a combination of cogs and springs, to the more carefully disassembled cannonballs, for which the duo had found a common passion.
"There we go then." Usopp unsheathed Yubashiri with a careful, slow movement, as he didn't doubt it could easily cut him if mishandled. Then he turned his eyes towards Franky: "Are you sure? I mean, I'm not..."
"I made those plans." the blue-haired cyborg waved him off: "And from what I've seen of your power, I won't like it, but it will spare me weeks of work, for now, just figure out that steel."
With a sigh, Usopp became the first Sword-eater of the Straw Hat Pirates.
And as he felt the impossibly sharp steel of Yubashiri on his tongue, he began to munch on it, trying to figure it out just like he had managed to separate knowledge from a written book. Soon, the Straw Hat Pirates would gain access to the incomparable Usopp-steel, and the world would grow smaller under the fame of the great Usopp...
Back to the front of the ship, Robin had barely managed to reign in her laughter: frankly, she should have seen that coming. But it was so insane, so outrageous, so Coby-like that it felt like the First Mate was still among them. Once she reined in her breathing, she finished answering to her captain's question: "Enies Lobby, Impel Down, and Marineford are the most famous bases in the world, they form the triangle at the end of the first half of the Grand Line."
Using her power, arms grew from the deck in a triangle: "Each is a well-defended stronghold of the marines, and with their Gates of Justice, they close off the current in a way that forces the ship to sail only in one direction."
"And Coby is in Hyper Old?"
"Impel Down." Robin fought down a smile, "The first stop after Enies Lobby, yes. But if we don't manage to open the gates when we're there, we'll be swept to Marineford, where the admirals are when not on the field, where the Fleet Admiral dictates what the others have to do." in a more serious tone, she continued, "Even if we manage to raid Impel Down, we'd then have to sail towards Marineford, and we can't win there: they'd knew we were coming... there is just no way."
"NAMI!" the shout rang like thunder across the deck, calling everyone back to attention while the navigator blocked the helm and ran to her captain, who was pushing his brain hard: "How long will it take to sail back to Engine Bobby?"
"Maybe a couple of weeks, if we skip the Florian Triangle and the weather allows it." she answered immediately and without bothering to correct his misnaming attitude, "Why?"
"Robin says that from there we can reach Coby." Monkey D. Luffy said as if that explained everything.
"I also said that infiltration in Enies with a group of four is very different than doing the same with a whole ship and crew." the archeologist added, and we still don't have a way to open the Gates to Impel Down, captain, we'll be swept to Marineford." she contained a grimace as reality imposed itself on the brief dream that Luffy had been able to summon. "And even if we manage to free Coby, we'll still be forced to head to Marineford once we make our way out, and we'll be all captured then."
"How long between Enies Lobby and Impel Down?" this time it was Merry's voice that cut into the conversation, making Robin shrug helplessly.
"A day? A few hours?" the archeologist truly had no way of knowing that: "The current is fast enough that allows incredible mobility to the marines, but if the gates remain closed, we'd be trapped and they could catch us at their leisure by letting starvation work for them, and they can prepare with a large advantage. In that triangle, our position is very predictable..."
"We have two weeks to figure out how to open the Gates of Impel Down from outside then." Zoro's smile was fierce as he caressed his blades, already imagining himself cutting it down.
Mikita crossed her arms while she pointed out the obvious: "Yeah, but the final problem remains: even if we spring Coby free, we'd be trapped within the marines' triangle of strongholds, won't we?"
"Eh, that won't matter." Luffy had suddenly grown bored with the conversation, and was busy picking his nose."
"Eh!?" many of the crew reacted with that expression, while an annoyed Mikita brought her hands on her hips: "And why's that?"
"Because by then, we'll have Coby back." Luffy answered as if he was pointing out the obvious, sitting once more on his special place on the King Sunny's figurehead, "He'll plan the rest."
The absolute confidence in the missing crewmember landed like a silent thunder among the pirates, who were left staring at the back of their captain with expression varying between amazement and amusement.
"Nami." when Luffy's spoke, his tone was serious, "Bring us to Coby."
"Aye, aye captain." the orange-haired navigator shook her head while her prodigious mind already began to think about what was needed: "Aye, aye."
AN
All this story is rushed by definition, and I hope this chapter managed to push forward the plot while patching up the weak joins exposed previously. I still need a better name for the ship, I really was hoping for something without 'Sunny' in it (I really despise this whole Nika'thing that Oda decided to do), but if nothing comes to mind, for now, I've corrected it with King Sunny and left it at that.
And my original plan was to have canon happen as before, merely with Coby present at Marineford, but this chapter kind of ran away from my fingers: it wouldn't have been fair towards Luffy's character if I had him sail towards Sabaondy as if nothing happened. It took a while, but despite my best efforts, canon died here too... Once I'm done with this version, I'll probably add the one in which the events unfold like in the original, only with Coby along for the War of the Best.
The crew:
I set up the changes that the last events caused, beginning the growth process of those members of the crew whose path shifted from canon. I've had fun thinking about the Going Merry, the potential for that one is insane, while I hope I managed to characterize Lola well enough. Zoro now has lent Yubashiri to Usopp, which used it along with Franky for a quick and dry power-up of sorts.
I had no idea the shipwright of the Straw Hats used Wapol's odd metal to improve himself, so thank you to those reviewers that mentioned it when I killed off Drum's old king. I hope this variation managed to entertain: while merged, Usopp and Franky plan the changes for the cyborg to undergo, then Usopp eats Franky with the needed materials, and spits out the end result.
About Lola:
I cannot believe the amount of distaste for Coby shacking up with Lola: it's one of the most minor points I've placed thus far into the story, and there are genuinely annoyed people writing me to change it? I mean, Coby won't see that woman for more than two years at this point, and while I might not have succeeded, he was kind of terrified, since for the first time he decided consciously to stop riding canon and do what he wanted: a day or two of hedonism could hardly harm him at this point.
As for Lola being ugly: before the timeskip, there was a minimum of difference among young enough women, and not only in their faces, but in their bodies too, Nami was considerably flatter, Nojiko was her own person... now they're all drawn with the same ass, legs, and tits. The only differences, besides big mom and Smoothie (which is simply scaled up), in a woman's appearance (when she'd not a caricature) are found when Oda draws mermaids, and he manages to give them narrow waist and impossible asses despite them not having an ass at all, and I'm not talking about Shiraoshi, or the bitches that caused Sanji to almost die of blood-loss, I'm talking about the shark-mermaid that could see the future, and Kamie, which too changed from being drawn like her own personality into another made with a tramp stamp.
Considering the kind of human shapes avaliable in the One Piece world, Lola isn't exactly a 'monster', but she's drawn in a unique manner, and if what everyone took away from her character was her ugliness, then you've missed her entire point. In any case, it's not like I've spent entire chapters on her and Coby's relationship: I've literally set it all up in less than a hundred words, and then changed the scenario completely.
In any case, I added her to the crew mostly to twist around the Charlotte thing and give Coby something to worry about, while the two Zoan swords are now in the hands of a two-sword-style fighter.
Also, while this story surely has surpassed the 50k words, I'll complete it either with the beginning of the timeskip, or up to the beginning of the descent towards Fishman Island, we'll see how I roll by the time we get there.
Anyhow, opinion, hopes? As always, let me know!
