BLP 23:
Damn it, I'm drowning again! Luffy fell farther down the water with his eyes open, his arms flailing around him. His cheeks puffed out as he tried to hold whatever air he had left inside his lungs, even though he gasped upon hitting the water and barely had any to begin with.
Planks of wood, shreds of cloth from the sail, broken barrels, ladders, tables, all floated down around Luffy into the depths of the sea. The entire ship had pulled apart on the crash landing into this world's ocean without anyone piloting it. Luffy's arms stopped waving around as much and his vision was starting to get blurry. I found Chopper though, only Sanji and Zoro left. Zoro, what's gotten into you? Everyone keeps saying you're a bad guy, but I don't want to believe it.
Luffy's vision was getting blurrier and his mouth opened up, bubbles floating out and water filling in. This stinks, he thought, while his body started shutting down. Something splashed into the water up above him, but everything was too blurry now for him to make out what it was. The form that smashed into the water came flying down fast with his hands in front of his head in a dive. He pushed those arms out to his sides and pushed the water behind him to send himself propelling farther down into the water faster.
Chopper, Robin, and Smoker can't swim, and Nami and Usopp aren't here. I have to get him fast! Sora swam down past pieces of debris and almost got caught in a sinking net that wrapped around his leg for a second. He kicked it off and kept going down, heading towards the pirate down below who kept sinking farther and farther into the water. He could see Luffy's eyes, partially open but not focused on anything, and Sora found himself speeding up even faster. He kicked his legs downwards and reached out for the pirate, grabbing him around the arms and then starting to swim up.
Sora froze though as he was starting to head up. Something caught the corner of his eye and he saw it sinking with everything else. Oh no! His eyes darted from it back to Luffy and back again. The pirate's mouth was still open and a few bubbles were still coming up out of his mouth, but he was not looking good. Sora clenched his eyes closed and puffed his mouth wide as he was already running out of breath. I'll come back! He started kicking up harder and harder, moving as fast as he could to get up to the surface. He could see the light up above him, the rippling surface and the driftwood that was buoyant enough to float on top of the waves.
He kicked and kicked until he splashed up above the surface. The first thing he did was take a huge gasp of air. The second was snap his attention to Luffy who he did not hear take as large of a breath, or a breath at all for that matter. "Luffy, Luffy!" Sora shouted. He pushed up and tried flying out of the water, it taking a little effort but he managed after a few seconds. He shot up in the air and flew to his right where a pirate ship that was not in pieces all over the place was floating. Sora glanced back while he flew away and made sure he knew where he just came out of the water.
"Luffy!" Chopper shouted up as Sora came descending to their ship. He dropped down on the deck and let go of Luffy so the pirate was lying on his back. "What do we do?" Sora exclaimed. "He's not breathing."
Smoker looked over from the mast as everyone else gathered around Luffy. He did not look as worried as the rest of them, but he was watching closely. Chopper pushed by everyone else and yelled, "I need to do CPR. Everyone move back." He started pressing his tiny hooves down on Luffy's rubber chest to try and get the water out.
"You'll save him, right?" Sora asked, getting up off his knees and to his feet.
"Of course," Chopper said without looking up from his patient.
Sora sighed in relief. "Good," he said, and then turned around and jumped back off the ship.
"Sora, where are you going, hyuck?" Goofy called after the boy.
Donald also called out to Sora, and Robin looked up at the boy with a strange gaze, wondering what he could possibly need to fly out into the wreckage for so soon before they even knew that Luffy was okay. Sora dropped from the sky and back into the water where he just got Luffy out of, and as he went under, Luffy's body arched up and gallons of water started spurting out of his mouth like a faucet.
"Psshhhh!" Luffy spat it all out and then rolled over and started coughing onto the deck. "I thought I was gonna drown!"
"We told you to hurry up!" Chopper shouted and bonked his idiot captain on top of the head with his left hoof. The reindeer sighed and gave Luffy a hug, surprising the rubberman who was about to get back up. "Luffy," Chopper said while burying his furry face into his captain's side. "It's so good to see you." Earlier they were in the middle of a battle so he could not say all he wanted to, but now it looked like things had calmed down and Chopper finally relaxed. "I was so scared."
"It was alright," Luffy said and he stood up, breaking the hug with Chopper. "We may have gotten separated, but we've already found most of the crew. We even have Merry now!" Luffy exclaimed and looked up at the sail with a skull and crossbones wearing a straw hat that Usopp painted on there at the start of their journey with her. As he stared at the sail, he was getting a strange feeling and his right hand subconsciously lifted up to the top of his head. He patted down on his wet hair and his eyes widened. He brushed his hand down the back of his head to the point on his back where the hat was sometimes hanging, but nothing was there either. "HAT!" Luffy screamed in panic.
The pirate spun around and ran to the side of the ship to look off it. He stared out towards the debris of Captain Hook's ship littering the ocean near them, but as he looked closer he did not see his hat anywhere.
"Did you lose it in the water?" Chopper asked in panic.
"What's so special about that hat?" Peter Pan asked as he looked up at the sail and remembered the hat Luffy was wearing earlier.
"Shanks gave me that hat!" Luffy exclaimed.
Smoker's eyes opened up wide and he took a step towards Luffy. "Akagami no Shanks, you know him?"
Luffy turned around and nodded before spinning back around and staring out at the water. "I made a promise I would give it back to him one day, once I become a great pirate." Luffy's hands were shaking at his sides and his chest was hurting as he looked out at the water. "It's probably-"
Splash! The water's surface broke and a boy with spiky brown hair, miraculously staying in its spikes even while wet, emerged from the ocean. Sora rose up in the air and lifted his right hand up above his head. What was in Sora's hand made Luffy's eyes turn into saucers and his chest stop hurting instantly. Sora flew towards him with his straw hat held out in front of him, water droplets splashing off of it, but looking one hundred percent o-kay!
Sora flew all the way back to Luffy's ship and he dropped down on the other side of the railing, right next to his taller pirate friend. Sora lifted up his right hand and his right arm had a long gash going from the back of his hand, over his wrist, almost to his elbow. Luffy's eyes went wide and Sora scratched the back of his head with his free hand, "It was pretty far down so I had to go straight, kind of bumped into some sharp driftwood…"
Luffy reached out and grabbed his hat, but the whole time he kept staring at Sora who was laughing off getting an injury just to get his hat. Luffy's eyes widened and his mind flashed to a few minutes ago when his eyes were closing underwater and that blurry form was approaching him. He couldn't remember perfectly, but he did recognize the shape of the person coming down to get him, and his spiky hair. He could currently see everyone else on the ship too, and the others were all perfectly dry.
"Do you want me to take a look at your arm?" Chopper offered from behind Sora. "Or, can you-"
"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed and spun around. "Chopper, you're here!" The reindeer sweatdropped as he thought Sora had seen him back on Hook's ship, but Sora was more focused on his friends, and fighting Hook, and then his Shadow self, and then the ship crashing. He somewhat recalled noticing him earlier but kind of thought it was another Lost Boy considering all the kids were around Chopper's height and were wearing furry costumes as well.
"Y-Yeah," Chopper said to Sora.
"It's okay though," Sora told the reindeer who he remembered told him he was a doctor back on Destiny Islands. "I got it-"
"Cure," a voice said behind him.
Sora turned around and saw Luffy holding up the white hilt for his Keyblade. Luffy still had his hat in his hand and he was looking down at it with a big smile on his face. Sora thanked Luffy and the pirate only grinned wider at the thanks, considering he felt he should be the one giving it instead. But Luffy had a better idea, and he snapped his head up and looked Sora in the eyes. "Hey Sora," he said, and Sora started from the sudden serious look Luffy was giving him, even if it was hard to tell for some people considering Luffy was still smiling.
"Yeah?" Sora asked.
"Join my crew," Luffy said.
Sora's blue eyes grew huge and Chopper and Robin both looked at their captain in surprise. Smoker ground his teeth but attempted not to say anything for now. Luffy grinned at the younger boy and awaited his reply, but Sora just stood there staring back at him for a few seconds. Luffy joked about it before, back in Wonderland, but I thought he was really just talking to Goofy. I didn't take it seriously, but he really wants me to be a pirate with him. Sora's head bowed and he looked down at the floor at his feet, But, the way Luffy acts, I, don't think I'm cut out to be a pirate.
"I'm sorry Luffy," Sora said. He turned and started walking away while Luffy stared after him. Luffy frowned and hummed to himself at Sora's rejection, but he grinned as he realized Sora was stuck on his ship anyway and he could just keep asking away. For now though, Sora looked oddly depressed. He walked right by the others and over to the opposite railing of the Merry, looking out over the ocean on the port side.
Goofy saw Sora's expression and he turned to Donald. In a voice that he considered a whisper, but was actually pretty loud, Goofy went, "Uh, Kairi couldn't wake up, so maybe she's really lost her-"
"Shh," Donald snapped at him, and Goofy gulped and looked up to see Sora sighing while staring off the ship.
Luffy slightly remembered seeing Riku holding Kairi back when he disappeared inside Hook's cabin, and he had wondered why the girl was not just standing up on her own. Smoker heard what the dog said too and his eyes widened. Lost her- what? Did she lose her heart? Just like Tashigi?
Peter took a step towards the spiky haired kid. "Sora," he started.
"I still can't believe it," Sora whispered. He lifted up his head and had a big smile on his face, "I really flew. Wait till I tell Kairi. I wonder if she'll believe me. Probably not." Sora was not as worried as the rest of them. He knew it, he saw Kairi twitch her hand, he was sure of it.
"You can bring her to Neverland sometime," Peter suggested. Sora turned and smiled at the redhead and Pan continued, "Then, she can try it herself!"
"If you believe, you can do anything, right?" Sora asked, and the others started smiling over at him. "I'll find Kairi. I know I will." He looked up at the sky, "There's so much I want to tell her- about flying, the pirates, and everything else that's happened."
As Sora was speaking, Tinker Bell came flying down from behind him and she looped over to Peter Pan. Peter looked at the pixie and asked, "What's that Tink? What about the clock tower? You say there's something there?"
"The clock tower?" Wendy Darling began. The young girl in a blue nightgown stepped forward and Pan turned back to her. "I am very sorry Peter, but I must get home. I would like to stay with you and the boys for longer, but I am afraid Neverland is not where I belong. Please, return me to my family."
"Are you sure?" Peter asked.
"Quite sure," the girl said, already having thought it over. Peter looked into her eyes and after a few seconds he nodded, accepting her wishes.
"Wendy no," one of the Lost Boys began.
"We'll miss you," another said, the twin of the one who just spoke.
Cubby sniffled and wiped his eyes so the other boys would not see him cry. "It won't be the same without you Wendy."
"Will we ever see you again?" Slighty asked her.
Wendy got down on a knee in front of all the Lost Boys. She put a hand on the shortest boy's head all the way on the left in the skunk costume, and another hand on Slighty's right shoulder as the tallest Lost Boy stood on the far right of the group. "I will always be with you boys. All you need to do, is look into your hearts and I will be there." She pulled them all in to one big hug and the sniffling boys and told her goodbye.
"Hey Chopper," Peter called over to the reindeer on the opposite side of the deck as him. Chopper stopped talking to Robin and Luffy and turned to look over at Peter. "Can you take the boys back to Neverland? I've gotta go bring Wendy back to London, and check what's going on at the clock tower. I'm guessing you're going to be heading off again soon, but we won't be coming along this time huh?"
"Absolutely not!" Donald exclaimed. The others laughed at Donald's enthusiasm, even Peter Pan.
"Well, I'm off-" Peter began, but as he flew up in the air while grabbing Wendy by the hand, Sora flew up next to him.
"Can we come check out this clock tower?" Sora questioned. The boy had his Keyblade in his hand and now that Hook was defeated he had a feeling they should have found the Keyhole already. Maybe it's at this clock tower.
"Good idea Sora," Donald said as he flew up as well, realizing what Sora was thinking.
"Wait! I want to come too!" Luffy called up. "Let me fly!"
The group flying in the air looked around at each other and shrugged. "Go for it Tink," Peter told the pixie floating next to him. Tinker Bell flew down and did a swirl around Luffy, covering him in sparkles and making it so he could fly. Luffy closed his eyes and remembered what Sora told him before. Believe! Luffy jumped up in the air, truly believing he could fly. For a second gravity kicked in and he fell back down, but he did not prepare himself for failure, he just kept his eyes closed, and believed. Golden sparkles covered Luffy's body and when he was only a foot from hitting the deck he shot back up in the air and rose to the height of Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the others.
"Nice Luffy!" Sora called out, and he high-fived his pirate friend.
The two groups split off, one heading on the Going Merry to Neverland to drop off the Lost Boys, the others heading to London to bring Wendy home and find out the source of the disturbance at the clock tower. Neither trip took very long, considering Chopper knew how to get to Neverland already and they luckily landed closeby in the ocean in the first place.
The other group made it to the clock tower in the middle of the night. They landed at the top where there was an area to walk around, and Wendy told them that something was wrong with the clocks down below. The tower had clocks on all four sides of it, but one of the clocks did not show the same time as the others. Sora and Luffy went down and corrected the clock hands, which was really them just punching and hitting them with their Keyblades until they matched the hands on all the other faces.
Once the clock hands matched up, the entire clock face lit up, and then just above the Roman Numeral III on the right side of the circular clock face, a tiny Keyhole appeared. Sora pointed his Keyblade at it from where he was floating fifty feet away, and a thin beam of white light shot out and into the lock, clicking it shut and making the Keyhole vanish. As the Keyhole vanished, a small object dropped from the clock and Luffy stretched an arm down to grab it. He snapped his arm back and they looked at the new Gummi in his hand in surprise. They finished their work in London by dropping Wendy off at home, and Luffy and Sora said hi to Wendy's younger brothers who Peter Pan already knew. Then, Luffy, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Peter all headed back out to sea to return to the Going Merry.
The group returned to the ship just off the coast of an island that had a large group of people on shore. They looked over and when they saw who they were, Peter Pan looked to the others flying with him and said, "Well, looks like that's it guys. I'll see ya!" The boy in green did a flip in the air and a small ball of yellow sparkling light flew up with him. "Come back sometime!" Peter called back and he gave his friends a wave before flying off to Neverland where the Lost Boys were waiting for him.
The other four lowered down to the deck of the Going Merry and thought they were going to be met with questions about what was wrong with the clock tower. Instead, they landed and the first thing that happened was Donald marched forward and spun around with his hands on his hips. Chopper was hiding behind Robin's legs while poking his head out every few seconds to look nervously at Smoker, but the three of them all looked over as well when Donald started shaking where he stood. "That's it!" The duck shouted. "I have held my beak shut, but I won't anymore!"
Everyone looked over at the duck whose face was redder than usual. "What's up Donald?" Sora asked.
"WAWAWA! What's wrong is that there are too many people jumping between worlds. The world order is getting disrupted!" Donald quacked madly.
"It's just one more person," Sora began, trying to defend Chopper who looked sheepish once the angry duck darted its eyes in his direction. "What's the harm-"
"Just one more person?" Donald quacked loudly. "It's been 'just one more person' on every world we've visited!"
"I'm not leaving my crew behind," Luffy said firmly.
"Well you can't bring anyone else on the Gummi Ship," Donald said, and he put his right foot down for emphasis. "There is not enough room, and we do not have time to go make additions every time you want to bring someone else along."
Luffy frowned at Donald, and Chopper looked back and forth between Luffy and the duck nervously. "That's perfectly fine," Smoker said, and the others all looked to the Marine Captain. "There's no need to take the Gummi Ship at all, is there?" He turned to Chopper and asked.
Chopper's face lit up and he exclaimed, "That's right." He smiled and continued, "Since the Merry Go can travel through space, we can just take her to the next world you need to go to."
"Huh," Sora said and scratched the back of his head. "I was wondering about that, how is your ship able to do that?"
Donald was fuming angrily but at the response Chopper had for Sora, both him and Goofy's eyes popped wide in shock. The two animal creatures looked at each other and Goofy wondered aloud, "Big ears?"
"Magic?" Donald said after him. The two blinked a few times, then spun back to Chopper and ran at him. They charged the little reindeer shouting dozens of questions at once.
"Whoa guys, what's wrong?" Sora asked.
Goofy turned around to Sora, "The person Chopper described sounds like the King."
"When was he here? Which way did he go?" Donald shouted all these questions while shaking the smaller, furrier creature by the shoulders.
"I don't know," Chopper replied nervously to the duck that had not stopped shouting since he got on the ship. "He didn't say much, but he really helped me out by making the Merry able to fly through space. And without him Monstro would have eaten me for sure."
Chopper said it and Luffy blinked a few times like he was trying to remember where he heard the name Monstro before. When it hit him, his jaw dropped and he snapped his head to the sky. "Oh yeah! Usopp and Nami!"
"What about them?" Goofy questioned.
"They got eaten!" Luffy exclaimed. Sora, Goofy, and Donald all opened their eyes wide in shock.
Robin spoke up, "The Gummi Ship got eaten too." She mentioned it mainly to the duck who was complaining about there being too many people and saying that he was going to leave them behind. Donald turned her way and she gave him a small smile showing that now they were the ones with the ability to tell him that he could not come, and she saw a lump in Donald's throat go up and down as he gulped.
"Then that settles it," Sora said and clapped his hands together. "We'll take the Going Merry to the next world. Hopefully we'll run into Monstro on the way too so we can look for Nami and Usopp."
The rest of them seemed to be in agreement, but one man was not as excited. "Without the ship though," Smoker began and the others turned back to the oldest man on the ship. "We have no navigation system." He turned to the duck that looked nervous after he said it, and he questioned him, "Will we be able to find a world without it?"
Donald opened up his bill but Sora spoke up first, "Of course we will." The others looked towards him wondering how he knew that, and Sora said plainly, "We've been traveling through pathways if you haven't noticed. It's almost like most of space is full of in-traversable debris, except for the paths we've been taking."
"Very good of you to notice that Sora-san," Robin mentioned as she herself had forgotten that for a moment. "In that case, we must simply find the start of the path and follow it to where the next world may be."
"I sure hope it's that simple," Donald quacked.
The crew got ready to depart Neverland. They had a plan, they had a goal, and they hoped they would be able to get to their next destination on board the Going Merry. Chopper led Luffy, Sora, and Donald through the ropes of getting the Merry off the water. It was a surprisingly simple system using mainly the rudder of the ship that had some magic spell put on it by the King.
The ship lifted off the water and most of the crew looked off the sides amazed at its flying ability. They were even more amazed as the ship picked up speed and shot up into the sky and out into the dark void of space in only a few seconds. The space looked the same as it always did, but for most of them it was their first times seeing it outside of the Gummi Ship's cockpit. They had a much wider angle to look around off all sides of the Going Merry at huge cubes of yellow and purple, meteors shooting through empty space, and squadrons of Heartless ships looking for someone to fight.
"Does the Merry have any defensive capabilities?" Smoker asked.
"Yeah," Chopper said happily, glad the Marine was not attacking him and instead talking about things to protect them. "We installed some lasers on the front of Merry, right inside her eyes."
"Whaaattt?!" Luffy shouted in amazement, his eyes turning into sparkling stars. He ran up to the bow of his ship and leaned over to look at the Merry's lamb figurehead. As he did, Chopper ran into the cabin and pressed a button on top of the rudder. Luffy's eyes sparkled even brighter as Merry's eyes glowed red and then fired beams out into a cluster of purple squares in the distance that exploded upon being shot and gave them a passage through.
"Is that the pathway?" Sora called out.
"It kind of looks like the way we came from," Goofy stated, and as he did Sora noticed a few huge space cubes that he recognized as well.
"Hmm," Sora hummed. He looked right and said, "Then how about over-" The boy dropped his jaw as the direction he was looking suddenly got trashed with rubble. The reason why of course, was because a massive space whale just flew straight through the biggest wall he saw in that direction.
"Monstro!" Chopper screamed.
"Head right for it!" Luffy shouted behind him towards the cabin. Chopper gulped but nodded and yanked the rudder hard to twist the Merry to the right. The others held on to the railings as the ship jolted hard to starboard. Donald fell off his flippers and Goofy fell down on top of him.
"Hyuck, sorry Donald," Goofy said as he got up on his feet. The knight looked off the front of the ship and he lifted up his shield as they were heading for a beast several times larger than the pirate ship they were currently on.
"Get ready to fight!" Luffy shouted. He rose a fist and the others all got ready as well. They ran up to the bow and Monstro was heading straight for them. The whale looked angry, but then suddenly it jolted to a stop in space. Everyone looked at the whale confusedly as a disgusted look came to its face. The whale lurched, and twisted around, and then snapped its head forward and opened up its mouth.
Monstro spat and out of its mouth flew none other than the Gummi Ship, with two recognizable faces inside it. The ship came out spinning and smoking, and Sora yelled at Chopper to steer the Merry under it. As they sailed off to catch their friends, a few of them watched as Monstro shook its head around a few times and then turned tail and swam off a different way through space.
"Got 'em!" Luffy shouted. He threw his rubber arms up in the air as they were about to miss the Gummi Ship, and he yanked back hard. His rubbery arms retracted and pulled the ship hard into the Going Merry, and only by Smoker's quick thinking did the two ships not destroy each other. The Marine Captain formed a wall of thick smoke between the two ships right before the Gummi Ship collided, and it simply rolled up the smoke on Luffy's arms and up over the rail.
Smoker sighed as he thought for a second they were going to destroy their only two ways to travel through space, and Robin chuckled behind him at his relieved look. He frowned at her laughter and calmed himself down, then grinned again and lit up a cigar as they were no longer inside a cramped cockpit and he could finally smoke during a space voyage.
The top of the Gummi Ship opened up and smoke from inside billowed out. "Ack agh ack-ak-ak," Usopp and Nami were coughing as they staggered out of the cabin and down to the Merry's deck.
"What did you do to the ship?!" Donald shouted, after spending the last few days while the others were at the WMAT fixing it up.
"It wasn't us!" Nami yelled, then coughed a few more times. She stood up fully and patted down her clothes to get some soot off of her, "That whale ate us! What have you guys been doing all this time?!"
"Fighting pirates," Smoker replied.
"Closing a Keyhole," Sora added.
"Flying," Luffy said with a huge grin. Usopp looked at him in shock and Luffy said, "Watch!" He jumped up in the air, and smiled wide as he expected to fly. Then he slammed back down on the ship right on his face.
"Nice," Nami said in a deadpan tone.
Robin walked up to Nami as she stared at the captain and she leaned in close to the side younger woman's head. Robin whispered something into Nami's ear and her face turned beat red. She looked down and noticed the tank top she had on was on backwards, and as Chopper explained to the others that flying only works in Neverland, Nami quickly slid her shirt back on the right way.
Nami shot her older friend a look telling her not to say a word, but Robin just smiled and walked away, showing no signs that she was going to. Nami sighed in relief and then darted her eyes over to Usopp who was complaining to Luffy that he didn't get to fly. "When we go back to Neverland you can try it too Usopp!" Luffy told his friend.
Chopper suddenly realized something as Luffy finished speaking. The small reindeer creature dropped his jaw and then pointed at the muscular man in a white toga in front of him. "That's Usopp?!" He ran up and looked up at the chiseled jaw of the man, then a little higher to his nose that stuck out of his face. "It is you Usopp!"
"Oi!" Usopp shouted and smacked his hand out in the air. "Where are you looking?"
The others laughed and Usopp explained to Chopper what happened to him after he left the Destiny Islands. Chopper was shocked that it had been so long for Usopp, but he continued to explain what happened after he got eaten by the whale with Nami. "You would not believe the size of that whale's stomach!" Usopp exclaimed. "There was an entire ship in there with a man on it trying to put the ship back together."
"A guy lives inside the whale?" Luffy asked in amazement.
"Yep, and you wouldn't believe who else we saw in there," Usopp added. He turned to Luffy and Sora and said, "Remember the last time we were in Traverse Town and we went into Cid's shop and met that puppet?" The others nodded and Usopp continued, "Well the man inside the whale was his father, Geppetto. And we saw Pinocchio when we were in there too," Usopp added, though he looked a little more upset as he said it.
"Pinocchio!" A voice exclaimed and the crew all looked towards Sora. The boy did not say anything though, and Chopper looked confused as to who just shouted. A small green head poked out from one of Sora's pockets and he jumped out. Jiminy Cricket landed on the side of the Gummi Ship sitting on the deck, and Chopper stumbled back in surprise at the sight of yet another talking animal, this one wearing a tuxedo and a blue hat. "How did he get there?" Jiminy asked Usopp.
"Who is Pinocchio?" Smoker grumbled.
Sora turned to the Marine who did not know who they were talking about. "He's a puppet we met back in Traverse Town."
"A puppet?" Smoker repeated.
"Yeah, but he wanted to be a real boy," Sora explained, not that it explained much to the Marine who just sweatdropped at the kid's answer. "Also, his nose was even longer than Usopp's."
Chopper's jaw dropped as he overheard what Sora said and Usopp yelled, "Oi!" again at him. The reindeer could see Usopp was not too into that yell though, still having the distracted look he had on his face since he brought up Pinocchio. "There's something else," he said, and turned his gaze to Jiminy who did not like the look on his face. "Pinocchio, he-" Usopp hesitated and Nami also looked down, a hurt look flashing on her face. Usopp clenched his fists and finished, "he lost his heart."
Jiminy held his hands over his mouth. Donald quacked softly, "Aww."
"Just like Kairi," Sora said, his hands balling into fists at his side as well.
"Kairi?" Nami asked, turning to the boy who had a distant look in his eyes.
She turned to Robin to get an answer, but the older woman just shook her head at the navigator and mouthed, 'Later.' Nami nodded and decided to hold that conversation for later, though she gulped as she thought of what else Robin would bring up when they were talking alone. She gulped, then blushed and could not help the small smile that came to her face as she looked over at Usopp.
Usopp had just asked what happened on that pirate ship after they got eaten, and as Sora and Luffy were explaining it, he glanced over at Nami who he saw looking his way. His tanner face reddened a little too but he quickly looked back to Luffy after hearing about Mr. Smee's awesome flying battleships that they had to fight.
While they were all talking, Chopper turned to the cricket who seemed especially disturbed ever since Pinocchio was mentioned. He walked over and tried to get the cricket's mind off of it by asking, "Who are you?"
"Me?" Jiminy asked in surprise, spinning to the young furry reindeer he just met. "I am Jiminy Cricket. I keep a journal of all our adventures."
"Actually, Cricket-san," the two of them turned to see Robin walking over. She bent down in front of him and said, "I have something for you." She pulled a folded up piece of paper out of her pocket and the cricket's eyes lit up.
"Is that-" he began.
She nodded her head. "It is another of Ansem's Reports," Robin stated. "Just like the one I found with Jafar's belongings, I found this one on Captain Hook before I tossed him off his ship."
"Ooh! Another report?" Sora asked, turning from the conversation with Luffy and Usopp and looking over at the page Robin was holding out. "Can I read it?"
"Sure Sora," Jiminy told the teenage boy. "Would you like to see the other one too? I do not believe you have read it yet."
Sora jogged over and took the paper from Robin and the one that Jiminy held out for him. "Yeah, thanks," he told the journal-keeper. He looked at the two pages and said, "Ansem's Report 1, and number 9. Guess I'll start with the first one," he cleared his throat and the others all looked towards him. The boy spoke in a loud voice, "'Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that. I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand. I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times. Darkness...Darkness of the heart. How is it born? How does it come to affect us so? As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness.'"
The boy stopped and he lowered the page. He had a confused look on his face that matched that of most people around him. "This Ansem, he sounds like the great Ansem Leon told us about. Leon did say he spent his life studying the Heartless."
"Read the other one," Robin said, her voice more hesitant almost like she did not agree with Sora. Smoker looked at the woman oddly, wondering what qualm she had with a ruler who sounded like he has the respect of his people.
Sora nodded at her and he lifted up the other one. "Alright, Ansem's Report 9 here goes. Ahem, 'Simply astonishing! Today I had a guest from another world. He is a king, and his vessel is built of the material that composed the meteors. He called the pieces "gummi blocks". It seemed that my opening the door has opened a path to interworld travel. We talked for countless hours, but one story in particular caught my interest: that of a key called the "Keyblade". The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power. One legend says its wielder saved the world, while another says that he wrought chaos and ruin upon it. I must know what this Keyblade is. A key opens doors. It must be connected to the door I have opened.'"
"Gawrsh, you think he was talking about King Mickey?" Goofy asked and looked to Donald.
"Of course he was," Donald replied excitedly. "We're getting close."
"What was that guy talking about with the door he opened?" Nami wondered aloud. "I think we need to find those other reports. Something seems off. The way he speaks too, it's just… creepy, I don't know."
Neither Sora nor Luffy spoke up as the others discussed the paper. They were thinking about the same thing, and Sora lifted up his right hand to make it appear. The Keyblade. He stared at it and turned it back and forth in his hand, The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power. One legend says its wielder saved the world, while another says that he wrought chaos and ruin upon it… Sora found his own gaze subconsciously shifting to Luffy. Chaos and ruin, I would never do that. Luffy wouldn't either! Why would he, why would a legend say that?
"I don't get it," Luffy mumbled. He lifted up his right hand and his red and black Keyblade appeared. "Why'd I get this thing?"
"I ask myself that every day," Smoker muttered.
"It must be because you're supposed to help set everything right Luffy," Sora told his friend. Luffy turned to the teen who stepped his way, "We have to seal the Keyholes and fight the Heartless. It's why we have the Keyblades."
Luffy looked down at his Keyblade and he hummed to himself, "Hmmm."
"Okay," Sora called out and clapped his hands together. "Let's go to the next world!"
"Which way?" Chopper asked, about to head to the rudder.
"Umm," Sora mumbled. He looked around and then snapped his gaze to the Gummi Ship in front of him. There was less smoke coming off of it now, and Sora turned to Donald, "Do you think the navigation system is still working?"
Donald looked at his ship and grumbled complaints about how he was going to have to fix it again. He peered over the top though and coughed a few times, before reaching in and pressing a few buttons on the front console. "Yep, it's working all right. I'll set in the coordinates." He typed a few buttons and the ship turned forty five degrees left so it was pointing diagonally off the front of the ship.
"Guess that's our new heading," Nami said. She turned and called out to Chopper which way to go, and when the Merry turned, the Gummi Ship on top of it turned too until it was pointing directly at the back of the Merry's figurehead. "That's good!" Nami called out and Chopper left the rudder the direction he put it.
He left the door to the cabin open and shouted out, "Can someone stay at the front of the bow and call out which way to go to dodge obstacles? I need to know when to fire the lasers too!"
Nami sighed loudly before anyone else could volunteer. "It's my job as the navigator after all," she said. She marched off for the bow and shouted, "Usopp, let out the sails. Luffy tie down the cannon. Sora-" Nami started barking out orders and Donald frowned that they were stuck on a pirate ship now.
"We're the King's soldiers, not pirates," Donald quacked at Goofy who was looking around with a goofy smile.
"But they sure look happy to have their ship back," the tall dog-person said. Donald looked around and he had to admit that the Straw Hats definitely looked excited to be on their own ship again. Luffy was even lying down on top of the figurehead with his arms wrapped around it.
"Hmph," Donald humphed and crossed his arms. "I still don't like it."
"Come on Donald, cheer up," Sora said as he jogged by the duck and dog. "Why don't you guys help out?" They turned and watched Sora run after Luffy and start tying ropes down with him.
"Looks like Sora's excited too," Goofy said and he laughed into his hand at Sora's childish amazement at getting to be a pirate. Donald joined in on the laughter, but after a few minutes the two of them found themselves right at Sora's side, helping him and Luffy sail the Going Merry through space.
"The next world is right there," Nami called out. The smoke from the explosions of the last Heartless spaceship squadron they took down was clearing and she could see a world behind it. She leaned forward and then shivered at the sight of the world up ahead. "Brr, something's seriously weird about that place," she said.
The others running up to the bow after hearing her announcement looked out and many of them looked nervous too. "That place sure looks creepy, but creepy in a good way," Sora mentioned. The world looked like a giant orange pumpkin covered in dark buildings, with clouds that looked like ghosts, and buildings that had roofs that were shaped like witches' hats.
"It looks like a lovely place," Robin said with a smile as she looked at the world.
"Let's go!" Luffy shouted.
The Going Merry started to descend towards the world below. While they lowered though, a few of them noticed something strange. Sora's excited smile began to fade and he whispered, "That doesn't look good."
"No, it does not," Smoker growled. Out from different parts of the world in front of them spewed dark, black ooze. There were swirling patches of darkness all over the place that looked a lot spookier than the world itself.
"Lower us down here," Nami called back to Chopper, before looking forward and gulping at the sight of a flare of darkness shooting up from a few miles in front of where they were dropping down. "There's an open spot there!" She shouted.
"Are you gonna come with us Donald?" Sora asked as they neared the surface. "Or are you going to stay and fix the Gummi Ship?"
"No way," Donald crossed his arms in front of him. "It's not my fault it got broken. Someone else has to fix it this time." As he said it, he subtly waved his wand around before putting it back at his side and snickering.
"Not your fault?" an angry voice growled down at him. Donald's face covered in sweat and he looked up at the woman glaring down at him with half her face covered in darkness. Nami's teeth were literally sharpening and she had horns growing out the front of her head. "You fell out of the ship, it is one hundred percent your fault! It's your fault we got eaten by Monstro too! And you-" she stopped shouting as something weird started happening to Donald.
It was happening to all of them. Their bodies were changing and so were their clothes. An orange pumpkin mask appeared in front of Sora's face that he moved to the side so he could see better, but as he opened his mouth to mention it he felt weird. He flicked his tongue at his upper row of teeth and was surprised to see his canines had extended like fangs. Usopp looked at his arms and watched as rods started sticking out of them and stitches appeared all over his body like some sort of Frankenstein's monster. Every one of them became adorned in dark, spooky clothing that matched the overall dark feel of this world they were landing on.
"Look," Sora said, pointing over at a gate near the town's entrance they were dropping outside of. "Halloween Town," he read, "that must be the name of this world."
Luffy finished checking out his cool spooky body that went well with this world just like how in Bikini Bottom his body changed to match the world. As he thought about that, he turned to Donald and tilted his head to the side. Donald kept snickering under his breath as everyone shouted about the changes being done to their bodies. Donald's body was covered in white wrappings like he was a mummy and he did not look too surprised by it.
The pirate captain chuckled along with the duck who saw that he noticed and was surprised Luffy didn't say anything. Luffy turned back towards the gate of the town near them and he pointed to it, "Let's go check this place out." The Going Merry landed right as he said it and the bottom of the ship stopped sparkling with golden light, though most of them did not even notice it was glowing for the entire trip.
The furry reindeer steering the ship ran outside in a panic because he suddenly transformed into Heavy Point and had sharp teeth. He screamed loudly though when he saw all the scary figures on the front of the ship. They turned when he yelled and his face turned blue at the sight of Smoker's snow-white face that let his bone structure show through like he was a skeleton. Robin's face was half shadowed and a red eye glowed from inside the pitch blackness of the left side of her face. Nami's teeth were sharp and she had horns, while Usopp looked like an undead monster, and even Luffy gained some more hair on his arms and legs and his ears got a little bigger and hairier too.
"Whoa! Chopper looks awesome," Sora mentioned, right before hopping off the bow of the ship.
"Nice fur Chopper," Usopp called over to the reindeer whose fur was longer and darker than usual.
Chopper relaxed as everyone might have looked like monsters, but they were all still the friends he knew. He ran forward and jumped off the bow more carefully then chased after Luffy. Nami carefully jumped off after him, but her caution was unnecessary as there was someone down below who lifted his arms and slowed her fall. "Thanks," she said as Usopp put her down. The man smiled at her and then quickly removed his arms as Robin landed next to the two of them. He chuckled and ran after Luffy while Nami and Robin walked behind him. Nami could see Robin smirking at her with a sideways glance and Nami whispered under her breath, "Later."
Smoker flew down from the ship and reformed his smokey, skeletal body. He looked up at the top of the gate of the town and read the word made of crooked steel bars. "Halloween Town. Are they serious?" The man looked down at his own body and back at the spooky town before him. Inside the gate he could see a fountain in the middle of the town that was spewing green goo that looked like acid, and there were ghosts floating around the inner town as well. "Guess so," he muttered darkly.
The gates of long skinny black bars started creaking loudly as they opened outwards for the group of creepy creatures on the outskirts of town. Sora marched right in next to Luffy with Donald and Goofy walking behind them, but all four of them came to an abrupt halt as someone sprinted in front of the gate. The man's head had a terrified face on the front, but as he ran past they could see the back of his head had another, much more terrify-ing face that had all four of them jumping in fright. The scared face was the one that shouted though, "Jack! Jack!"
"It looks like everyone on this world is scary," Sora said. The creepy guy with two faces was wearing a tall black hat two times as tall as his own small, fat, triangular body. And as Sora looked closer at the guy's smiling face, he realized it was as creepy if not creepier than the scary pale-faced one on the back of his head.
"If they scare us, we'll scare 'em right back," Donald reassured the teen.
Chasing the two-faced man turned out to be three ghost creatures with beams of yellow light pointing out of their heads like spotlights. They were floating off the ground and the triangle-guy's scary face shouted, "Jack! The Heartless are here!"
The people at the open gate looked around at each other in surprise. They looked back into the square and gazed around to see all the doors shut tight, but a few doors flew open as they were looking and people, very scary people, ran out screaming. Dog-like Shadows crawled out of the doors after them and chased the monstrous people of the world around their own square.
Sora snapped his hands down to his right side and his Three Wishes golden Keyblade appeared in his hands. He was about to charge the ghosts chasing after the Mayor of Halloween Town, when a tall skeleton jumped out of nowhere and spun around into the ghosts. They got slammed back by this skeleton wearing a fancy striped suit, who slammed his fists and pointy feet into the Heartless creatures. The Mayor came to a stop and spun around in relief, "Oh Jack! Wonderful! You have to get these Heartless under control!"
"Sorry Mayor," Jack said as he knocked the creatures away again and a few of them exploded into yellow and green orbs. "Lock, Shock, and Barrel stole the Heart we were fixing to try and get the Heartless to listen."
Sora saw something coming up behind Jack and he ran forward. The skeleton turned right as the Shadow popped up from being flat on the floor behind him, but a Keyblade smashed down into the creature before it could claw at him. Sora did a four-hit combo on the Shadow to knock it back, but the creature did not explode when it hit the ground. "Ehh?" Sora exclaimed, thinking he was strong enough to take on Shadows at this point.
"The Heartless are getting stronger!" Donald reminded him. The duck held up his wand and lightning rained from the sky down on the Heartless Shadows, but he only destroyed the one that Sora already put some damage on.
"Wow!" Jack Skellington shouted in surprise at the strange powers of those running into the town and fighting the Heartless. The first four inside did a fairly good job, but when the rest of the group got into the square, another round of Heartless appeared all over. They ran around fighting Heartless for a few minutes until the town square was finally safe. Sora finished off his last Heartless and stopped back-to-back with another fighter who just destroyed a Heartless himself.
The skeleton turned and looked down at the dark-clothed boy with a few sharp teeth and a pumpkin mask slid off the side of his face. "Great job…"
"Sora," the boy said and held out his hand.
"Nice to meet you Sora. I'm Jack. Now…" he looked around like he was trying to find something.
Sora tapped on the dead man's back and Jack turned to him. The boy was standing in front of the whole crowd he walked into town with, and he asked, "What are all these Heartless doing here?"
"Oh," Jack turned and he looked upset. "The Heartless came to town recently. At first, they were harmless, and I wanted to get them to dance for this Halloween! But, a few days ago they started going out of control. Oogie Boogie has a hand in this, I know it."
"Where is this Oogie Boogie guy?" Sora asked. He looked back at his friends and they all nodded like they thought it was a good idea to go after him too. He looked back at Jack who looked at the boy in surprise, then turned and extended his hand.
Jack pointed out past town and over a graveyard to a strange-looking hill in the distance. "Past the hill is Oogie's mansion. The place is crawling with Heartless though."
"Don't worry," Sora said and smirked at his new friend. "We can handle anything they throw at us."
A/N The Keyhole for Neverland has been sealed! The crew leaves for the next world and run into Usopp and Nami getting spit out of a whale's stomach. They arrive on Halloween Town, but unlike the game where when they arrive the Heartless are all complacent, things have already gotten out of control here. How will they handle this world? Find out next time, on Broken Log Pose! Hope you enjoyed!
nightmaster000 chapter 22 . Nov 15
Great chapter
Thanks!
Evileyes7 chapter 4 . Dec 17
Conqueror's haki wouldn't work on heartless. Since they have no emotions like fear, they can't be intimidated.
Idk about that cuz Heartless are made from Hearts. Besides, I don't think Conqueror's Haki is purely intimidation considering Luffy can knock out people not even looking at him. I'd say since Heartless are made from people's hearts, but don't have very strong "willpowers" they could be frozen by Haki. The stronger Heartless made from stronger people's hearts might have a harder time being destroyed by Conqueror's Haki. Anyway, that's just my take on it. Thanks for the review.