Chapter 2
Kaiju
"Hehe... I gotta say, this is some crazy stuff you're putting us through," Luffy mentioned to Nami.
Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Maxwell were all in modified barrels connected to a winch. Each barrel had a bolt hole to look through, canvass sleeves through which they could move their arms, and the chord connecting them to the winch was actually tubbing, so they didn't suffocate. The tubbing also doubled as a communication system with the metal cones attached to the winch. Unfortunately, the barrels only covered their heads and torsos.
Luffy got two barrels of course, as to cover his legs, lest he be dead in the water. Luffy wanted to go because he wanted to explore the wreck some more. Zoro was one of the more dependable members of their crew. And Sanji— "I promise I'll find some clues on how to go to the sky Nami~!" —was an idiot. Though, Maxwell wasn't missing out on his chance to see the bottom of the ocean.
"Thanks. I'll leave it to you!" Nami waved at the chef. She was humouring Sanji.
Max looked over the side, "Hey Usopp, you sure this is going to work?" He readjusted the weights inside his barrel. They were suppose to help them sink.
"Dive down with no worries, Max! My design is flawless!"
*MUNCH!*
A giant fish had rose up out of the water, catching a stray pterodactyl in its lips.
The fish was bigger than the Merry.
...
...
...
"Okay..." Maxwell takes his place on the ledge.
"Good luck everybody!" Nami called out. And then the four crewmates jumped into the ocean.
Maxwell felt his legs dangle in the water, but the sea water hadn't gone into the barrel to much. His torso was still dry, thank Andraste. The mage looked down through the water below, as blue water turned to navy. There were sea monsters down here.
"Oh crap..." Maxwell watched as they steadily sunk down. There was a leviathan like serpent coloured like an anaconda. He could see an small island sized sea turtle below them. Maxwell blanched as he saw a shark swim by, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."
The four Straw-Hats sank deeper into the ocean. It was rather dark now. Maxwell held an up arcane bolt to illuminate the sea floor. He barely dodged a harpoon as it went flying by him. They were not alone down here!
Divers appeared, looking like a crew of some sort of golems. Though, they were just men in metal suits. They had lightbulb shaped hauls that covered there upper body, and thigh guards on their legs. Honestly they looked like professional versions of what Max was wearing, but without the water getting in.
Maxwell aimed his arms at the enemy divers. Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji couldn't do much down here, but Maxwell could fight back. Arcane bolts fire out like canons at the divers. Their equipment was a lot more sophisticated, but most of them went down with one hit. They retreated, being pulled up and escorted by the remaining divers.
The mage looked around. There were no other divers he could see, so Max looked up, "Hey guys! Is there another ship nearby? We have other people down here!"
...
...
...
The ship wasn't responding.
Maxwell turns to look at Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy. He could see Zoro and Sanji trying to call inside their own barrels but weren't having much luck either. Luffy looked undeterred though. He just gave Max the thumbs up, and continued descending. The winch hadn't stopped yet.
The St. Briss shipwreck could be seen now. The old galleon was in two pieces, and the ship must have had three levels within its haul.
Maxwell looked around the shipwreck. The ocean floor was... empty, which put a damper on his excitement to be here. On the run, back in Thedas, whenever he hid at a port town, Max heard sailors tell all sorts of tales about the ocean. Underwater cliffs, colourful rock formations with fish swimming all around them, sunken treasure with gold coins every five feet. Max of course, read up on this world's knowledge of seafaring, and actual knowledge of the sea floor, but he wasn't expecting a blue desert. Sand stretched out out as far as the eye could see, before it all just turned blue. There was the occasional rock jutting out, but otherwise there was nothing. Just a blue, sandy, emptiness.
Maxwell had enough of that back in the Fade.
They landed on the wreck, surrounded by fish, and clouds of silt that still hung in the water. Each of them took out a sack they had pouched in their barrels. Maxwell dropped some of the weights. They used the stones so they won't lose the bags floating in the water. It also allowed Maxwell to move up and down in the water more, so they all did some exploring.
Max wasn't quite sure he knew what he was doing. He held his light aloft, but couldn't find any books or papers in what looked like the barracks. There were plenty of hammocks strung about, but nothing that was actually useful. Max bounced back out.
Luffy had picked up a fancy jar, with a bird like mouth and decoratively designed. It could have been a pitcher for water, or perhaps even wine? Maxwell imagined it being on a side table, with a goblet or two. Either way, the jug shattered in Luffy's mits. Max frowned, but decided to move on.
He found Zoro in the haul next, and his eyes lit up. Zoro was trying to draw an old saber he had found in the ship. He had got the sword out, but the blade shattered as it got exposed to the sea water. All that was left was the hilt, and a little bit of corroded steel.
Maxwell tapped Zoro's barrel, careful not to touch the octopus that hitched a ride on Zoro. It was weird seeing one up close. Anyways, the swordsman turned around and Maxwell did some hand gestures as Zoro wouldn't be able to hear him. Maxwell was asking if he could have that hilt, and was trying to be polite. Zoro shrugged, the saber was broken anyway, so he handed Max the broken sword. Max stashed it under his barrel and into his shirt, just so he wouldn't lose it. He knew exactly what he was going to do with this!
Luffy caught up with them and they went deeper into the wreck. They found Sanji had broken down one of the walls, leading into the captain's cabin. There were books scattered on the floor, in front of a bookshelf, but they didn't pay much attention to that.
There was a skeleton on the floor, and had a spear sticking through it's skull. Multiple poles were sticking into the walls, like they had been thrown. One even pinned a bathrobe to the wall. The St. Briss had definitely been attacked.
Luffy tapped on everyone's barrel. There was a padlocked chest in the room. Zoro shatter the lock and opened the chest. It was empty, save a single feather, that was remarkably in tact. Zoro held it up, Luffy looked disappointed, Sanji shrugged, and Maxwell crossed his arms in thought. What could be in the sky? They still needed to grab the books.
All of sudden, a giant black spike sheared through the wall. The force had displaced the water and pushed them all back. "What the hell is that!?" Then a bubble started coming out of the spike.
Air filled the cabin, and Maxwell could feel the shipwreck be lifted. Maxwell looked back at where they had entered. There were other spikes, or more specifically claws, grasping onto the ship, five on each side.
Maxwell thought back to what Robin had told Chopper while Usopp was building everything, "It means lifting up sunken ships back up to the surface..." They were being salvaged, literally.
More divers came in and Maxwell immediately attacked. Only now did Max realize that there was less water. He could feel his barrel getting heavier without the air pocket. Thankfully Zoro and Sanji stepped in, sending the divers flying back into the water.
Luffy smiled, "Hey guys! How about we take off these barrels?" Maxwell could actually hear him now.
"You really think that's a good ideal Luffy?" Zoro sheathed one of his katanas as he looked around. Then paused, realizing he could hear the others now.
The water was about ankle deep now, so Luffy lifted his off, "Woo! That sure was stuffy." Maxwell, Sanji, and Zoro all looked at each other before following suit. "See? We can take off our barrels now!"
Zoro took another look, and didn't notice the octopus now on his shoulders, "Never imagined so much air could be pumped down here. But I wonder who's trying to lift the ship back up." It did smell like bananas.
"You don't think Nami and Robin are hurt, do you!? They haven't responded to any of our calls for a while now!" Maxwell conceded at Sanji's point. Though, he was also thinking of Usopp and Chopper.
Then another wall got broken down, "WHO THE HELL'S GOING AROUND CAUSING TROUBLE ON MY TURF!?" "Salvage King" Masira had punched through it, and he looked pissed.
"Wow, it's a monkey," Luffy points out.
Maxwell facepalms.
"Huh?" Masira adopts the dopey grin, "You really think I look handsome?"
Maxwell's eyebrow twitched, while Luffy looked at him confused, "Handsome? What, he isn't a monkey?"
"Don't ask me." "How should I know?" "Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm Marisa, I'm a salvaging pirate that patrols these waters."
"Why do you look like a monkey?" Luffy asks.
Masira smiles, "Oh jeez, you're going to make me blush, Ukikiki! Anyways, have you guys seen any weird people around?" Zoro, Max, and Sanji freeze at this question.
"Oh yeah, there were these weird guys in masks and metal suits! They kept trying to shot at us." Luffy was sitting on the barrel, and actually getting chummy with him.
"Oh no! I hope none of you guys got hurt! These guys have been attacking my crew as well," Masira wasn't putting two and two together.
Sanji lights a cigarette, "...Jeez, even we didn't find these kind of idiots on the Baratie..."
"Baratie? Oh! So you're from East Blue!?" "Yeah, and you really look like a monkey." "Shucks, stop trying to embarrass me!"
"Er... Zoro, you still have a..." Maxwell pointed at his shoulder.
"What the hell...?" Zoro plucks the octopus off his shoulder before throwing it into a corner, "Whatever, let Luffy handle this guy. Freaking sea monkey."
Maxwell nods, "Agreed. Let's look around," The three crewmates exited the room, "Since we can't pick any papers, we might as well grab something."
Thankfully the salvage had also brought up the sacks they'd use to bring everything. Zoro and Sanji's already had a decent pile. Sanji focused more on personal effects, while Zoro's had a collection of weapons. Luffy's seemed to have a lot of junk, while Max's was admittedly sparse. Max hadn't really found much worth taking. He was focusing to much on the log books and documents.
"Barely found anything, huh Max?" Zoro looked at Maxwells empty sack, "Oh yeah, why did you want that broken sword earlier?"
Max took the hilt out of his shirt, "Something I'd like to try when we get back up... When I was waking up, back in Alabasta, I learned some things about back home..."
Zoro's eyes went wide at the news, "Wait—seriously!? How?"
The mage snorted, "You know how I stopped that bomb, and you guys had Merry revive me? It had a few unintended side effects. Long story short, I now host three spirits in my head, born from my old shattered consciousness. Merry had given back so much of my own energies, there was excess, after energizing her for so long."
Maxwell stashed the hilt in his shirt again, "The spirits… They learned a few things, and I want you guys to meet them."
Zoro frowned at his friend's explanation, "...Alright, but if you fall asleep again I ain't waking you up."
"...Ha ha, very funny," Maxwell gave him the stink eye, but it wasn't serious. Everyone in the crew cared about one another, despite their antics.
Sanji's voice echoed through the planks, "Hey bastards! Hurry up and find some shit! We can't keep Nami waiting!"
The two looked at each other, "...Well, duty calls."
"Tch, whatever," All of a sudden the shipwreck jostled. Both crew mates, steadied themselves from being knocked down. They could hear the creaks and cracking of wood throughout the ship. "...Grab Luffy's stuff."
"Right!" Maxwell immediately tied up the bag with Luffy's pile, while Zoro did the same with his. Sanji came running in and immediately grabbed his bag.
"Great! Let's get Luffy!" The trio ran back to the captain's quarters were they had left Luffy and Masira. They were still laughing and being friendly with one another. "Luffy! We need to get out of here!"
"Huh? Seriously, we have to go now? He's a monkey!"
"No! Stop it, stop it, you're..." Masira noticed the bags over their shoulders, "...You! You're they ones who've been beating up my men! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!"
"WHOA!" Max jumped out of the way as Masira tried the punch them with a gorilla sized fist. It hit the wall behind them and water started to rush in. This gave Maxwell an idea though, "Zoro, grab Luffy!"
"Whoa! Hey! Zoro, what are you doing!?" Zoro stuffed Luffy in his sack.
Maxwell blasted Masira back with a bit of magic, "Through the hole! Quickly!" He jumped into the rushing water, sack and all.
O O O
"W-W-WHAT AM I EVEN LOOKING AT! A CONTINENT!?" "IDUNNO! IDUNNO! I'MNOTLOOKIN! I'MNOTLOOKIN! THISISADREAM!THISISADREAM!THISISADREAM!" "A DREAM? REALLY!?"
"Whew..." Nami, Usopp, and Chopper all wipe their foreheads, "Thank God it's just a dream."
Robin looked out with a morbid curiosity, "Oh my... Did those four really get swallowed whole along with the ship?"
"DON'T SAY IT SO BLUNTLY!" Usopp protested.
What they were all looking at defied logic. It was so huge, it was unreasonable. A titanic, kaiju sized, seaturtle had risen out of the ocean depths and apparently had the St. Briss in it's mouth. It was even munching on the wooden galleon.
"It looks so, since you can see the—" "JUST STO~P!" "—air pipes sticking out of it's mouth."
Chopper was running around in a panic "AAAAAGH! LUFFY, MAX, ZORO, AND SANJI WERE ALL EATEN ALIVE!"
"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT FOR SENDING THEM TO THE SEA FLOOR OF THE FREAKIN'GRAND LINE! YOU TOLD'EM THEY'D BE COMPLETELY SAFE WITHOUT A SHRED OF EVIDENCE...!"
Nami looked down, "I... I gues you're right..." She then looked out at the seaturtle and yelled, "MY BAD, GUYS!"
Usopp broke down sobbing, "That apology just ain't right...!" Nami was totally guilt free.
The Going Merry then jostled as the tubes went taut, "Well, this is to be expected. If we don't cut the lines, then this whole ship will be dragged down under."
The three crewmates all yell in terror.
"Robin! You're strong, aren't you!? Can't you do something!?"
"That's... far to big for me to handle."
"C'MON, BOYS! REEL IN THE ROPES! WE'VE GOT TO SAVE OUR BOSS! OUR PRIDE AS THE MASIRA PIRATES IS AT STAKE!" "UKIKIKI!" The remaining Straw-Hats all looked at the ship alongside them. The Masira Pirates were a band of salvagers on a monkey themed boat. And like Masira, they weren't the brightest bunch either, "THE BOSS IS STILL ALIVE! DON'T LOSE ALL HOPE!" "UKIKIKI!"
"...They're right! I's times like these that we've gotta show our teamwork!"
Nami nodded looking just as determined, "USOPP!"
"AYE AYE!"
"Cut he ropes and secure our safety!"
"ARE YOU THE DEVIL INCARNATE!?" "AGH! IT'S THE DEVIL!"
And then the sky went dark.
"Huh!? Wah... WHAT'S GOING ON!?"
'THE DAY TURNED TO NIGHT!?" "It can't be... It's nowhere near nighttime right now!" "MAX! IS THIS YOUR DOING!? MAX! ZORO! SANJI!"
Robin looks over at the Masira crew, "...I-It's an o-o-omen!" "They say monsters appear when the day suddenly changes to night!" "We're gonna sink if we stay here!" "Let's hurry up and rescue the boss!"
*SPLASH! Thud, thud, thud.*
"Luffy!?" Their captain had be unceremoniously shot into the air and onto the deck of the Merry.
Nami runs over to Luffy and tries to slap him awake, "Luffy! What's wrong!? Are you dead!?" No, he was breathing.
Zoro, Sanji, and Maxwell climbed up the ropes with Maxwell being to only one without a load. Zoro had his share. Chopper and Usopp look at them amazed for being alive.
"Max, hurry up and lower the sail! We got to get out of here!" Zoro yelled.
"Right!"
Usopp cries tears of joy as Maxwell energizes the Merry, "Thank God you're safe! Yes, we need to escape that turtle asap!"
Zoro looks at him weirdly, "Turtle? No, I'm talking about the monkey we ran across underwater!"
Sanji adds to the conversation, "He must have been some queer type of underwater creature."
"He was getting along with Luffy for a moment—" "—'Cause they're both monkeys—" "—But once he saw the goods we collected from the wreckage, he went berserk!" "Like a mad gorilla!"
"That'd be Masira, the salvager! But I'm surprised how you managed to escape the turtle's mouth."
"Turtle?" Maxwell lowered his arms as he looked at Usopp, "What turtle?"
Usopp held his chin as he looked to starboard, "Hm? Something's up with that turtle. It's mouth is hanging open... No wonder you guys managed to get out of there..."
Zoro, Sanji, and Maxwell then see the giant sea turtle, "WHOA! WHAT THE HELL IT THAT!?"
"NOW YOU NOTICE!? YOU WERE SWALLOWED WHOLE BY IT WITH THE SHIP JUST NOW!"
Luffy gets up, recovered from his little dip in the sea, "Pfuah! Huh? Why's it night all of a sudden?"
Maxwell also looks up, "...Not night. Just a really dense cloud cover. Though, when the hell did it blow in?"
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE YOU LOWLIVES!" Masira jumps out of the water like a rocket and onto their ship, "You think you can waltz right into my territory, steal my treasures, and just get away with it!?"
Nami looks at Luffy, hopeful, "Treasure!? You found treasure!?"
He smiles, "Hehe! Found a whole bunch!"
Zoro ready his sword, "This is bad, we can't let him go berserk on deck...!"
Before a fight could break out however, Masira's crew calls out to him, "B... B... BOSS! W-W-W... WATCH OUT!"
Maxwell exasperates, "Oh what in Andraste's merry—" Maxwell wheezes as he trails off whatever he had been thinking. His eyes bulged at the sight.
Everyone was looking up. All they could think was "big."
Big!
BIG!
Even the turtle looked up in shock.
Giant beings of darkness stood in the ocean! Black as night, and looking down at them. Five of them! Wielding spears standing as tall as the sky!
"MOOOOONSTEEEERRRS!"
"MERRY!" Maxwell screamed in terror.
The Going Merry's oars sprung into life. Paddling away, AWAY, from those titanic beings threatening to kill them! They crew all pitched in as well, they wanted to get out of there as quick as possible.
Never had a caravel gone so fast in it's life.