Chapter 13
Roosts
Maxwell watched as both Shura and Fuza fell into the cloudy lake below. Given how he had tried to kill all of them, Maxwell wasn't feeling very sympathetic to the priest. The sky-sharks can have him, for all he cared. They had other business.
Pierre landed on the deck of the Going Merry, allowing Gan Fall to dismount. The old man walked towards his two charges as they were the ones to blow the whistle. However, the sky-knight was staring harshly at the mage. "Who are you!?" the knight demanded, "How are you able to control such power!?"
Maxwell stepped back, he wasn't expecting such questioning from Gan Fall. Apparently he wasn't too keen on lightning either. The mage steeled himself however, he wasn't just going to back down because other were afraid of him, "My name is Maxwell Trevelyan. I'm a mage, if you must know. And you Skypieans seem to have some real issues regarding electricity."
"...You didn't eat a Devil Fruit?" The knight eyed him warily, "I see no dials on your person."
Maxwell frowned and whispered, "Again with the dials... My magic is my own," the mage said firmly, "I was born with it, I trained with it, and I know what to do with it," Maxwell stepped stepped up to the chevalier, "If you have a problem with it, Sir, I suggest you vent it now before this comes to blows."
Gan Fall stared at the mage. Both men looked each other in the eye. They were taking measure of each other and both of them knew either one of them could bring the pain.
Gan Fall instead decided to sigh. His armoured shoulders seemed to sag, "...That will not be necessary."
"...Whew," Chopper breathed a sigh of relief. The doctor had been frozen stiff at Max and the knight's confrontation. Gan Fall had helped save them and Chopper was worried about another fight breaking out.
"Forgive me... Understand, that Enel also has power over lightning. To use electricity as you have... He will likely take it as an insult, especially as one of his priests has now been defeated."
Maxwell also seemed to relax as the old knight explained himself. "He uses lightning?" Maxwell questioned. Gan Fall nodded in response. That confirmed what Nami had reported earlier. "...I assume he's a Skypiean then?"
"He takes the form of a man..." Gan Fall agreed, "But his heart is black as night, and takes pleasure in the terror of his victims. He's nothing more than a monster in human skin...!"
*CHOH~!* Everyone flinched as a loud bird call boomed across the lake. Maxwell and the others looked up to southbirds circling around them. It would be amazing, if they weren't too many times to big! Most of them were larger than the Going Merry! Max could feel the wind generated from their flapping wings.
"Such huge southbirds! How did they get here?" Chopper voiced what Maxwell had been thinking at well. They looked like just one of them could swallow them while.
*CHOH~!* The largest one reared it's head as it called out in it's deep voice. It had been hovering, looking down on them. The birds call seemed to be a signal though. The other gigantic southbirds started chirping. It seemed to be joyous, a euphoric cacophony of sound as the bird flew away.
Seeing that the skies were clear, Maxwell finally decided to speak, "...What in Andraste's name was that about!?"
Chopper had turned to Gan Fall, "Why were they calling you God?"
"God!?" This made Maxwell jolt, making him step back from the old man, "Okay what the hell is going on, on this island!?"
The sound of explosions echoed through the forest. It was distant, but Maxwell recognized them as the sounds of battle. An army was charging through the forest.
"...That will likely the Shandians," said Gan Fall. He started moving towards Pierre, "...With Shura eliminated, there might be a chance to defeat the other priests, and... Urgh!" The old man stumbled as his body started to shake.
"Sir Fall!" "Knight of the Sky!" *PIEH!*
Man and beast alike arrived at Gan Fall's side, each in their own state of worry. Pierre was squawking, as if trying to talk to his master. Maxwell sported a surprise grimace as he caught the old man before he could fall. Chopper was nervous, but he critically looked over Gan Falls body.
"Ugh... I'm fine... Hah..." the old man was trying to breath steady.
"Chopper what's wrong with him?" Max looked over at the proper medical expert who had their medical kit out.
He had a stethoscope and was listening for his pulse through his arm, "...He's experiencing burn shock. That lance must have kept grazing his skin and armor. Look!" Maxwell did see the burns. They were all on the outer sides of his biceps and Maxwell did notice significant warping on the gauntlets, "Help me get his armor off!"
Maxwell and Chopper undid the facets on Gan Fall's armor. Maxwell may not have been a squire, at any point in his life, but still recognized what went where. Templars never taught their charges how their armor works, but when they're a constant sight you notice a thing or two. Chopper was able to convince Pierre to carry the old man inside, where they layer him to bed. It was important that Gan Fall's temperature remain stable.
The old man tried to protest but eventually succumbed to his body's warning. He feel asleep in the warms covers of the bed.
"...Come get us if anything changes," Maxwell told the bird mount. He stood up after treating the burns on Gran Fall's arms. Gan's condition was a mix of things, from the inner ear balance, to G-forces, to an adrenaline high. His burns were just a cosmetic. As Maxwell treated him, he thought a cream would have been better, but the two healers had settled for magic instead. Burns were tricky, but Maxwell still volunteered. They had time now, with the other priests distracted. Maxwell stepped out and looked for Chopper. The reindeer was on watch while Max treated their patient.
Time had flown by since their encounter with Shura. They had been listening to the echos of battle all afternoon. Maxwell hadn't even realized how late it was till the sky was starting to turn orange. And none of the crew had come back yet!
"Chopper!" Max called around the ship. It was still disheartening to see the state Merry was in. A missing mast, holes in her haul, charcoal patches everywhere on the deck. Their ship was in the worst state Max had ever seen.
*Sniff...* Maxwell looked up, hearing the sound of a running nose. It sounded like Chopper was up in the tangerine grove. The mage went around the cabin where he knew the stairs lead up to it. There he saw Chopper sitting on the box, looking like he was trying not to cry.
"Hey..." Chopper stiffened at Maxwell's voice and quickly wiped at his eyes, "...Something on your mind, Chop?" Maxwell took a tentative seat beside him.
The human-caribou just stared at the floor, "...Do you think I'm weak, Max?" His voice barely came out as a whimper.
Maxwell frowned, "What? No! Of course not!, What brought this on?"
"...Everyone on the crew is either really brave or really strong... And I feel like I am none of those things. I couldn't defend the Merry or get a single hit on that guy!"
"Chop—!"
Chopper sniffed his nose again, "I just... feel so ashamed... I couldn't do anything! I had to depend on you and Gan Fall's help. I want to be my own man dammit! Beat the bad guys on my own, so you guys know you can rely on me! Not just for being the doctor...!"
...
...
...
Maxwell sighed, "You feel like you failed... Like nothing you can do will ever make up for it... That you should have done more."
Chopper perked up, looking at Max with shock and surprise, "...How—?"
"You're not the only one who has failed Chop..." Maxwell nodded, though it was more to himself, "I failed my fellow mages long ago."
"What!? But you were at war! How does that—!?"
"It was back before I officially joined the war..." Maxwell took a breath, taking a moment to bring up the memories again, "Our First Enchanter had just returned after the disaster at the White Spire. It was a congregation for the Fraternity of Enchanters. He explained that, after all that happened there, the Circle had mad the resolution for independence. Making the rebellion official. It was then that the Templars were recalled, citing a gathering of forces and to eliminate all mages within their care. Our templars didn't do that... Instead, they ignored the kill order, said goodbye, and marched off Maker knows where..."
Chopper looked at Max surprised, "But... You always said—"
"That I hated the Templars? Ha, no! ...It was the war I hated. It's easy to see faults in the Templar cause, but that's a different story—No, it was after ours left, where I had failed."
Chopper had forgotten his tears, "How so?" It seemed Maxwell tale was working.
"...Weeks after our Circle's schism, our Circle hadn't joined the war yet. Oh~, but we argued. 'Join the war,' 'Wait this out,' 'Go to the Chantry!' Even the apprentices had been brought in to weigh in on the issue. Well, at least the eldest ones. Anyways, we were all debating one day and my teacher, Senior Enchanter Lydia, became part of the day's central debate with another mage... One of her former apprentices I was taught alongside with." Maxwell then sighed. He hated thinking about this part.
"…It was ugly. Lydia soon became the voice for the Aequitarians, while... Gregory had become the leader for the Libertarians—Though he might as well have been a Revolutionist…" Maxwell closed his eyes, "Tensions... finally snapped, and Gregory killed Lydia on the spot."
Chopper gasped. He knew how horrible that feeling was.
"I was standing right behind her when she died... She had acted as a mother to me... And I didn't support her at all during the debate. I thought it'd be another day of roundabout arguing." Maxwell dragged a hand over her face, "I wasn't even supporting either faction. I was a flipping Lucrosian of all things...! After she died, nothing was ever the same. A fight broke out, members from all sides fought. The Aequitarians and Libertarians, started slinging spells all over. Other mages protected and evacuated the apprentices, youth, and feeble out of the tower. I remember fighting, but, it's all a blur now... Thankfully Gregory died in the crossfire."
"...That's so sad... Wait, if this Gregory supported the Rebellion, how did you come to join?
Maxwell began to grimace, "I... I saw an old friend of mine... Andromeda. She was a Templar."
"What!? No!" Chopper leaned in looking at him expectantly. He had to know more.
"Yes. Friendships weren't forbidden, but they weren't exactly encouraged either," Maxwell certainly wasn't going to explain how he had a crush on her for the longest time.
"You see, after our Circle's debacle, I had left the tower. I had fallen into a self-loathing, pitiful isolation after leaving that tower..." And being rejected by his family, "Kind of sad really. When I stumbled across her, she had officially left the Templars. However, doing that comes with certain risks... Risks that she had fallen victim to."
Now it was Chopper's turn to frown, "What do you mean?"
"...When someone joins the Templar Order, they have to ingest a certain mineral called lyrium in order to activate their powers. It's the central component in enchanting but... it has side effects." Maxwell let that thought hang for a moment before continuing, "Unrefined, it's dangerous. Raw exposure has induced seizures, deafness, blindness, migraines, and in the case of mages: death. Processing lyrium makes it safe to handle, but... mages have only ever used it as a component. Templars just drank it straight, and they had too drink it, in order to maintain their power. However, to Templars, lyrium was addicting..."
"...She was suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Wasn't she?"
Maxwell nodded his head, trying not to delve to deep in the memory, "...I won't describe what she was like, or what she had resorted to doing, but... when I saw her like that, it forced me to take a good look at myself... And I made sure her final days were in comfort."
"Oh..." Chopper bowed his head in a moment of silence.
"Still think you're a failure?"
"Huh?" Chopper's head snapped back up to him, "What do mean I—Wait...!"
Maxwell then smiled, "Made you forget, huh. Didn't it?" The mage then knelt down and placed a hand on Chopper's furry shoulder, "Listen, Chop, everyone fails at some point in their life. You failed, I failed, everyone's experienced failure at some point in their life. What's important is learning from your failures, and learning to see past them. You'll get your chance, Chop. Just you wait."
"Chopper~! Max~! Where are you!? What happened!?" It was Nami's voice.
"...Speaking of waiting," Maxwell stood up and looked out beyond the bow. Zoro, Robin, and Nami had all returned and were at the lake shore, "WHERE THE BLOODY F #$ HAVE YOU BEEN!? EIGHT F #$&*( HOURS! Did you enjoy your hike? 'CAUSE WE HAD TO DEALL WITH A F #$&*( MURDEROUS PRIEST WHILE YOU WERE OFF GALAVANTING THROUGH THE WOODS!"
"Oh shit... He's mad," Nami tried to be very careful not to show her fear.
"Mad? Oh I'm not mad, I'M F #$&*( FURIOUS YOU MONEY GRUBBIN' FINCH! HOW IS IT THAT YOU THREE GOT OFF SQUEAKY CLEAN WHILE THE TWO OF US HAD TO FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES!?"
"Was it at least a good fight?" Zoro asked. "At least you got some—WHOA!" Zoro had to duck, realizing a fireball was had been coming straight towards him. Maxwell defiantly had his Inferno spells back.
"Hey, look! It's the Going Merry! That's the altar!" Both groups looked to side, realizing that was Luffy's voice.
"YAH~! NAMI~! ROBIN~! I HAVE FINALLY PASSED THE TRIAL OF LOVE~!" Sure enough, Ussop, Sanj, and Luffy had arrived riding in a small ferry longboat, with Sanji gushing his heart out.
"Wait, was that one of the trials?" "Were you scared!? Well, Captain Usopp is here! You can relax now!"
The crew was all back together again. Joy.
O O O
"The mast... It's gone...!" Usopp looked at the stub in the deck that used to be their mast. The boat crew had ferried Nami and the others, so they were all back on the ship. Suffice it to say no one liked the state of the Merry.
"...Ah... That... I'm sorry, Usopp..." Chopper apologized. Both him and Maxwell were standing beside him, "We fought hard, but that priest burned a lot of the ship..."
"Were either of you injured?" asked Usopp.
"We were constantly on the defensive. The priest was even able to dodge my arcane bolts," Maxwell explain. "Usopp, you know how accurate those spells are."
Usopp hums in agreement, "And the priest had a burning lance, right? Sounded tough... Good thing neither of you got burned, right!?" The sniper then proceeded to laugh, "Don't worry, we'll deal with the ship later."
Both crewmates blinked at Usopp's words. He was usually the person most attached to the boat, cherishing how they originally got it.
Chopper then walked up to the ledge of the ship and put his arms on the air, "I will become a dependable man!" Honestly, Maxwell imagined him on fire. Like a burning heart, full of passion.
"Hey Chopper! Where's that old man? You guys said he came here, right?" Luffy had just finished looking around the deck.
Chopper turned back to his captain, "Yeah! The Knight of the Sky...!" Chopper's fiery dementor then deflated.
"He's in rough shape..." Maxwell continued for the doctor. He escorted everyone where they were housing him for now, "I don't know what that knight does, but he fights like a demon. However, I'm starting to think his old age is starting to catch up with him. He flies at near sub-sonic speeds and implements a ton of acrobatics. Honestly I think he's pushing himself to hard."
Luffy crouched by the old man's side, with Pierre's permission, "He would try that hard... Just for a free whistle he gave us...!?"
"If the Knight of the Sky didn't come, me, Max, and the ship probably wouldn't have made it," said Chopper.
Sanji let out a puff of his cigarette, "There are a lot of things I wanted to ask him." Max and Chopper may have been housing him the dining room. That's why Sanji was in here, "I'll just wait until he wakes up!" The cook then turns to the bird, "Thanks to you too."
*Pieh~* The polka dotted bird actually looked bashful.
Max, Chopper, Sanji, and Luffy then proceeded to head back outside. "With the ship like this, and the sky getting dark, we'll have to wait until tomorrow to go back to Angel Island."
"Oh, was that what the city was called?" Maxwell asked.
"Yep," Sanji then made a suggestion, "Anyways, let's go ashore in the forest. We'll go camping next to the lake! If something happens, it'll be a better place to fight too!"
"WOOHOO~! YEAH! CAMPING! PARTY!" Luffy cheered.
"Eh!? Wait, where're in enemy territory!" Usopp pointed out, "How can we go camping?"
O O O
Apparently by having a barbecue.
The crew set up camp like they said they would. They were in a little flat alcove amongst the trees, not too far off from the lake. The girls had the tent while everyone else would sleep outside. Sky-sharks were on the menu tonight, or at least for Luffy. Sanji set the fire up for giant fish-on-sticks and Luffy was going through them like clockwork, "Yummy~!"
"Geez, you'll eat just about anything," Nami looked over from her seat pillow. Thankfully Sanji had something else planned for dinner later.
Usopp had actually brought out a chalkboard with them—"Wait, when the hell did we have that in the hold!?" Maxwell eyes bugged out at the sight. He was beside Chopper keeping an eye on Gan Fall. The crew had dragged him out on the mattress so he wouldn't be vulnerable in the ship.
"Tell you later—Alright, let's go through all the reports! What happened to everyone?" Usopp tapped a stick against the board.
Sanji decided to go first, "We encountered Satori from the Forest of Illusion, a priest who uses Surprise Balls. While the surprise balls made the fight tough, the toughest part was that he predicted our movements using a technique called Mantra, or something."
"So we weren't just imagining things..." Maxwell muttered. He had decided to speak for them, "The priest Shura used a lance that could burn whatever it touched. He appeared out of nowhere riding on a condor, and seemed to predict our movements too. The only reason we were able to get him was because he was busy fighting the sky knight. That bird could also breath fire somehow, and burnt the mast." What he didn't mention was how Chopper had to tear it off, throwing it in the lake to try and preserve it.
"You guys must have had a tough time," said Nami. She was up next, "But we discovered that this island is the other half of Jaya. The City of Gold didn't sink in the ocean, but flew up into the sky!"
"Wait, are you serious!?" Maxwell looked over at their navigator.
"Dead serious," Nami nodded, "You remember Cricket's house? We found an overgrown ruin that matched it! His house always looked like it had a second floor, but there was no stairway. This one did! It was right by the shore!"
"Sweat Andraste...!" That was important.
"O~kay," sounded Usopp, "Thanks for everyone's report. Good work! Based on your reports, we've learned many things! But the biggest discovery is this! Believe it or not, this island is the City of Gold, the one that the Saruyama Alliance was searching for!"
Maxwell deadpanned. Nami had explained that already.
"REALLY!?"
The mage then facepalmed. Luffy hadn't been listening until now.
Zoro had turned to the chef, "So what is this mantra thing?"
"Heck if I know," Sanji smoked on his cigarette, "I only know he used it to predict our moves."
"'That which looks into the hearts of men and time...'" Maxwell paraphrased under his breath. He wasn't sure why, but remembered back to when he had met the Spirit of Alabasta. It had explained to him that their were other powers in this world than just the Devil Fruits. It never gave him a name for it, but the spirit had described it as "Will Incarnate." Perhaps this "Manta," was one such power? The Islander had only ever named one of the three. The Colours of the King...
Of course, the next question was, what were they going to do now?
"Gold, eh!?" Luffy had apparently caught onto the idea of gold, "I've been waiting for an adventure like this!"
Nami winked at the rubber-man, "Yup. If you're interested, that makes things easier."
"Oi, Oi, Luffy! Did you forget that raider's warning!?" Usopp looked back at Luffy.
"What warning?" Maxwell's eyes narrowed at Usopp who had gulped.
"...After we beat Satori, we had a brief encounter with some tribal warriors. They left us alone for today, but warned that they wouldn't hold back if we didn't leave the island."
"...So, we'll be facing off against two factions on the island. Great..." Maxwell then looked over at Luffy's eaten shark, "...Hey Luffy, pass me that stick and fish bones." He might just be able to make a staff with all that... After he washed all of it.
"The god will be angry!" Chopper pointed out.
Robin seemed to smile at the thought, "Heheh... Sounds interesting...!"
"Nonetheless, with treasure up for grabs, pirates won't stay silent, yeah?" "With plenty of enemies...! This is a game of survival!"
Luffy stood up, pumping his arms in the air, "Alright! It's decided! We'll go and find the gold!"
*Grumble...*
"—After we have more meat! Sanji!"
"YOU JUST ATE TWO WHOLE SHARKS! HOW ARE YOU STILL HUNGRY!?"