Chapter 8: Princess and the Sea Kings

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Usopp blinked at Perona.

"So . . . let me get this straight. You lost your boat, found out that the marines shipped it off to a city called Maria Jaws—"

"Mariejois," Perona spat out distastefully.

"Yeah, that. So they shipped it off there, and then you find out that some people are after you—"

"Tennryubito. A slovenly bunch. They disgrace the human race."

The others paused, not sure what to say. The creak of the lantern swinging overhead sounded unusually loud. As it turned out, none of them had ever heard of the Tennryubito, and had no idea who, or what, they were.

Realizing this, Perona gave them a pathetic look. The others flinched back at her demeaning stare, and Luffy scratched his head in confusion.

She sighed. No wonder East Blue was considered the backwaters.

Such ignorance.

These poor souls had no idea how the real world worked.

Not bothering to explain, she waved her gloved hand in the air elegantly, motioning for Usopp to continue.

"…right," Usopp replied rather lamely, "so those guys are coming after you, and since the marines are out to get you too, and you don't have anywhere else to go, so you decided to come back to us?"

Perona's eyebrows furrowed together. "Did I ever say that I hopped onto this boat because I needed help getting away?"

Usopp cocked his head, and then replied, "er, I don't think so."

"So what makes you think I have nowhere else to go, hm? Did I ever say that? Did I?"

Without warning, two Hollows swooped out of her body. They took their places in the air above the table in the middle of the room, at which Perona and Usopp sat facing each other. Their silly smiles betrayed nothing, but the sight of 2 tall ghosts staring menacingly(?) down at him made Usopp jump back with a yelp. He tumbled out of his seat and bonked his head on the floor. Nami took a step forward, but paused when she saw that the ghosts weren't really doing much else. Just floating, immobile, in a silent threat. Perona crossed her arms in a defiant manner as she continued, "Do I look like I need anybody's help? Let me make this clear. I could incapacitate every single one of you in less than 5 seconds. You're all dead wrong if you think I came crawling back here just because some Marines are after my head."

She paused.

"I don't need your help!" she repeated, in case they didn't get it. Usopp's blank stare made it hard to tell if she had made her point or not.

Sitting at the other side of the kitchen to them, Zoro gave a nasty scowl. That bossy tone of hers didn't sit well with him. He made to get up from his spot on the floor. "Hey, you . . ."

"Negative Hollow!"

Zoro fell to the cabin floor with a thud, chair chattering behind him. "I'm sorry I'm alive. Let me become a piece of plankton floating in the sea . . ."

"Whoa, Zoro's gone negative!" Luffy exclaimed, eyes widening at the sight of his fallen first mate. Zoro gripped his hair helplessly, muttering suicidal thoughts and sounding suspiciously choked up at the back of his throat.

Sanji began laughing uncontrollably, leaning against the kitchen stove with a cigarette hanging loose from his open mount. Even Nami seemed hard put to keep a straight face. Never in their lives would they have expected to see Zoro like this…Sanji looked like all his Christmas gifts had just arrived at his doorstep.

But Perona herself didn't look too happy.

In fact, Perona wasn't even looking at Zoro; she was gaping at Usopp with her jaws slackened, a distinctively undignified expression of shock on her features. Her hand began to shake. Usopp stared back at her, oblivious.

"Y-you!" Perona squealed. "What's wrong with you!?"

"Huh?"

Letting out a yell of panic, Perona cried out, "Negative Hollow!"

And this time everyone saw it. A ghost passing right through Usopp's chest.

Perona had sent the Hollow through both Usopp and Zoro the first time. Nobody had noticed because her ghosts had been so fast and efficient and professional (ehem) about it, but Perona knew for sure—Usopp was supposed to have fallen, too. But he hadn't.

But this time, for sure . . . Perona's eyes glinted.

Usopp squeaked in surprise and fell backwards, face whitening at the sight of the Hollow coming out from his back. He crashed down next to Zoro, his right hand reaching up imploringly to the low ceiling of the cabin. He lay there for a few moments, shaking uncontrollably with his face stricken in surprise…

And leapt right back up.

"H-huh?" the sniper patted his chest carefully. He looked up in a daze. Perona felt her eyes bug out of their sockets involuntarily. Zoro was just beginning to recover from his bout of depression. He glanced over at Usopp in wonder.

"Hey, Usopp, how come you're not…"

"Ha, ha…ha-ha-ha!" Usopp jumped up triumphantly. Placing his fists on his waist, he began to laugh. Nobody took notice of his wobbling knees as he began his shaky monologue. "Th-that's right! I can't be defeated even in the face of ghosts! For I am the great captain Usopp, whose glare was enough to send the ghouls and undead foxes of the netherworld running for their lives!"

"Shut up! Negative Hollow!"

Usopp didn't even pause for breath as a 4th Hollow glided through his body. "Come at me where you will, mere spirits cannot defeat the great and mighty Usopp of the East Blue!"

Perona started to panic a little, while Usopp seemed to gain confidence with the passing of each Hollow. The other just watched, fascinated. They knew full well the effects of Perona's ghosts. Not a single being both man and beast had been able to withstand the all-powerful negation. Zoro gave a grunt as he stood back up, casting a dark glare at Perona as he did so. But then he saw Sanji off to the side, grinning like an idiot, and sent a nice oni-giri in the love cook's direction instead.

Damn cook.

"What's going on!?" Perona finally shouted. "What's wrong with you! Why aren't you becoming negative?"

"Negative?" Usopp stopped ranting, and finally seemed to look at Perona. His face took on a serious look, as if contemplating the question, and appeared to arrive at a monumental answer in just a few short moments.

"I'm already negative! No negative ghosts will work on me!"

"Ehhhhh!?" for the first time in her life, Perona found herself at a loss for words. Already negative? Already negative? How could anyone be negative already!?

And this wimp had the gall to look proud of it, too!

She recalled all the men and women of her past: the bandits she'd pounded into the ground; the pickpockets she'd sent into the throes of misery; the merchants and customers who'd tried to scam her in business dealings—and ended up donating their entire fortune to charity. A taste of her Negative Hollows had been enough to subdue them. They had felt so ashamed of themselves that they gave away all their money to try to make up for their sins.

She thought of those that she had sent screaming "mommy—!" at the sight of her Hollows. The big, burly pirates and marines who fell at her feet in helpless surrender.

None of them could bear the thought of contaminating the air with their own pathetic breathes.

These people had been negative. She'd thrown them into negativity.

And here was Usopp, claiming that he was negative all the time. Already negative.

Perona gazed at Usopp with something akin to horror. The boy in question still had a smile on his lips, but appeared to grow uneasy in the prolonged silence. Of course, Luffy didn't have a clue as to what was going on, and began picking his nose, bored. The cabin door crashed open as Sanji kicked Zoro out into the rain, then leaped after him to start another round of deathly serious bouts. Nami gave Perona a glance, Luffy another look, and didn't even bother about the tussling duo as she wandered off to check the ship's directions. This left Perona and Usopp alone as they faced off.

Slowly, Perona's mind began to emerge out of her shock.

"Usopp," she said quietly. A few more Hollows swayed into visibility from her arms. Though Usopp knew they couldn't hurt him anymore, he still looked up at them nervously. 6 ghosts and a scary girl, all surrounding him. What was she planning to do?

Perona suddenly gave him a smile. A lovely pink aura seemed to sparkle out of her eyes. Eyes, normally full of scorn, now filled with some other bright emotion. It was the most cheerful smile he had ever seen her give; enough to brighten anyone's day.

So why did the inside of his mouth taste so sour?

"Don't worry," Perona said, "There are still good things in life!"

The ghost girl and her posse of Hollows all gave Usopp an identical thumbs-up.

"I don't need to hear that from you!" Usopp shrieked.

Luffy fell back laughing, mostly because of the funny, buggy-eyed, indignant expression on Usopp's face. Their orange-haired navigator briefly glanced up from her compass, before checking the sky outside the cabin window.

"Zoro, Sanji, come back inside," Nami called out towards the open doorway. "The storm clouds are thicker up ahead—it'll be heavy downpours until we reach the entrance to the Grand Line."

"Nami, that's not the problem here!" yelled out Usopp. "Didn't you hear what she just said to me?"

"I did, but right now it's more important that we get onto the Grand Line safely. They say that the entrance to the Grand Line is notoriously difficult to get through—we may be in for some rough sailing ahead."

As always, when it came to the ship's route, Nami was all business. Usopp went to go sulk in a corner, followed closely behind by some stray Hollows ("Get away from me! Go away! Leave me alone!") who shared their mistress' deep need to comfort this poor, lost, little soul.

It's okay, long-nosed boy. Our mistress feels pity for you.

Sounds of protests could be heard outside—apparently Zoro wasn't letting Sanji come back inside. This pissed the love-love cook off even more. How dare this marimo get in the way of obeying the lovely Nami-swan's commands! A crash and a boom followed a string of curses from Sanji—whether it was the thunder or the sound of Zoro being slammed onto the deck, no one could be sure.

"Get in here in 3 seconds or I'll throw you overboard!" Nami yelled at them, slamming a map of the Grand Line hard onto the table as she did so. Observing the impending violence promised in Nami's expression, Perona quietly retracted her Hollows and took a seat beside the navigator. Luffy plopped down in the seat across from her, staring at the map excitedly.

"So this is the Grand Line, huh?" Luffy muttered, fidgeting in excitement. "Looks cool!"

"You don't even know how to read a map," Nami sighed. "It's been 3 seconds. Perona, please shut the door. It's getting wet in here."

Wordlessly, a Blue Hollow morphed out of Perona's head and swooped towards the cabin door. But the moment the ghost disappeared into the woodwork, Sanji came tumbling in through the entrance, followed close behind by Zoro, both soaked to the bone.

But Sanji wasn't down for long.

Leaping up, he began to rant, "Nami-swan, I've arrived at your command! Ah . . . the sound of your melodious voice has rescued me from the ice-cold rain. All the thunderstorms in the world won't be enough to quench the fire that beats within my heart—"

Slam!

Sanji found himself face-planted into the wet cabin floor, Zoro standing over him with one leg held up. A solid shoeprint marred the back of the cook's blonde head.

"Shut up, ero-cook. All your talk is making me want to puke."

Sanji leaped up in a frenzy, eyes blazing with fire quite different from the fire allegedly burning in his heart. "This marimo-head! This is the last time you get in my way . . . !"

"Shut it, both of you!" snapped Nami. "I'm trying to explain something here, and the next one to interrupt me gets to swim all the way to the Grand Line!"

That brought some peace and order back into the room. Luffy chuckled in amusement as Zoro and Sanji, one grumbling and the other all hearts, settled down in chairs to hear what Nami had to say. All the Hollows disappeared back in Perona's body, and Usopp, seeing that nobody was paying any attention to him, slunk into his own chair with a final accusing glance at Perona.

Of course, she didn't even notice.

Seeing that she had everyone's attention at last, Nami lifted a finger and pointed, her fingertip landing decisively on one part of the map. "I've studied this map over and over ever since I stole . . . borrowed it from Buggy, and I've come to one conclusion. The entrance to the Grand Line, is a mountain."

"A mountain?" Usopp breathed.

Luffy's eyes widened in excitement. "Cool!"

"How can that be?" Zoro frowned. "How is a ship supposed to travel on a mountain?"

Nami shook her head, seeming to be just as puzzled as the rest of them. "I'm not sure, but there's no other way into the Grand Line but here—look."

The others needed no further prompting. They all leaned in to see where Nami's finger indicated. Sure enough, at the start of the band of ocean water labeled "Grand Line" in cursive letters, there stood a mountain, its elevation marked by squiggly lines ringing around the center of the land mass. Nami pointed to another portion of the map—the blank blue section just north of the letters "Calm Belt."

"We're somewhere around here right now. We'll have to keep heading West, and eventually we'll run into the Red Line, which is where the mountain is. From there, we'll somehow have to—"

"Wait a minute, hold on," Zoro held up a hand, tilting his chair back precariously as he voiced his question. "Why can't we just go directly South from here? We can just get onto the Grand Line if we keep sailing down, right?"

"We can't do that, Zoro!"

Everyone turned to look at Luffy, who looked absolutely scandalized at Zoro's innocent inquiry. Nami nodded proudly in agreement.

"For once, Luffy's got something sensible to say. We can't sail south, Zoro. The Calm—"

But Luffy didn't let her finish the sentence. He pointed an accusing finger at Zoro, shouting, "we have to go through the entrance, because it's cooler that way!"

"You idiot!"

A bonk on the head from Nami calmed Luffy down somewhat. Perona smirked at the bewildered gaze that Luffy threw at his navigator; he seemed utterly confused. That wasn't the real reason? What else could there possibly be?

Nami huffed in annoyance. "Like I was saying, we can't go straight south, because the Calm Bel—"

"Hey, look! The storm has stopped!" Usopp yelled excitedly. He had been sitting facing the only window of the cabin. At his shout, everyone, even Nami, turned to look.

Sure enough, a clear blue sky greeted their eyes.

"Whoa, that was fast!" Luffy's chair clattered noisily on the floor as the captain bounded towards the door. Moments later, everyone stood on deck, staring up at a small fluffy cloud passing overhead. The ship lay completely still on the calm waters. Hardly a wave stirred the flat expanse of blue stretching out before them.

Luffy grinned, clutching his hat despite the lack of a breeze in the air. "Well, this feels better than going through a storm."

"Hn," Zoro stretched out against the mast, ready to take a nice, long nap under the warm sun.

Perona gave his slumped form a distasteful glance. "The deck is still wet."

With a snap, her parasol lay open and settled on her shoulder. Such sunny rays could work terrible things on her skin. Zoro didn't even crack an eye open.

Only Nami sounded distressed as she looked up and down from the map, clutched tightly in her hands. "This can't be right! The storm is supposed to continue all the way until we reach the entrance. Unless we've . . ."

Her voice trailed off. Eyes widening, Nami bolted towards the ship rails and looked out to the horizon. "Oh, no!"

Perona cocked an eyebrow at Nami's panicked voice. With a light tap of her boots, she sailed through the air and joined Nami by the starboard side, suspended a few feet above Nami's head. She looked at where Nami stood staring.

"Oh? So the storm didn't stop after all."

Nami didn't seem as calm. Whipping her head around, she dashed back towards her crewmates, yelling, "quick, get up, guys! We have to row back to that storm as fast as we can. Hurry!"

The others looked in the direction she pointed. Sure enough, a great, black mass of broiling storm clouds covered the ocean behind them. It made a stark contrast with the lovely blue waters they were resting on right now.

Perona gave a little hum of reluctance. "I don't particularly care for the rain."

"It's nice and sunny out here . . ." Usopp agreed, "why do we have to go back there?"

"Oh, for crying out loud. Look!" in an instant, Nami had the map held up and shoved in Usopp's face. The boy leaned back involuntarily. Best be wary when Nami had that look on her face.

Nami began pointing furiously at one part of the map. "We're on the Calm Belt, guys! Here, the part Zoro was talking about. We have to get out of here right now. I'll explain later, just hurry up and start rowing . . . !"

At the mention of his name, Zoro sat up a little and gave a yawn. "But why? We can just keep sailing south and we'll end up on the Grand Line anyway. Unless you really think Luffy's right, and we should aim for the entrance just because it's cooler."

"It is cooler!" Luffy insisted. Nobody bothered giving him a reply.

"No! We have to get out of here. Right now! We have to . . .!"

Everyone else watched as Nami grabbed a spare paddle from the other side of the deck and tossed it in Sanji's direction. The cook caught it deftly and saluted, "Anything for you, Nami-swan!"

"Hurry up!"

The panic in Nami's voice had slowly been building into hysteria. When she turned an imploring eye on Perona, the ghost girl gave a disgruntled pout. She'd rather risk a tan on a sunny day then go through a rainstorm.

But the desperation in Nami's footsteps twinged on Perona's conscience. Rather slowly, some Blue Hollows wafted out of Perona's hair and made their way to the pile of wooden paddles on deck. The paddles began to glow a faint blue glow, one by one, as Perona's Hollows slithered inside.

"Faster!" Nami urged. "Hurry, hurry! The Calm Belt is the home of—!"

And then, the ocean waters fell away.

Perona's eyes widened like saucers as a freakishly huge, slimy, blue-green wall suddenly rose up in front of her, inches from her nose. She had been floating off to the side of the ship, feeling sort of disengaged as she let her Blue Hollows do the menial labor. But now, she found herself blinking furiously. The entire Straw Hat crew, the Merry Go, everything, had disappeared from sight. Replaced by this striped blue-green wall dripping with seawater.

"Hm?"

Subconsciously calling out 2 Negative Hollows, Perona backed away warily. With a start, she suddenly realized that the big wall before her was moving. Rippling, like some huge mass of flesh.

Bump.

Something halted her steady retreat. As she drifted backwards, the top of her parasol tapped against something solid behind her back. A formidable black shadow hung over her head. At the sight of the grotesque shape of the shadow of whatever was behind her, Perona let all hell break loose.

"Negative Hollow!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Suddenly, the air became filled with frenzied Hollows. Responding to their mistress' call, they swooped up and through anything and everything in sight. Through black and blue walls, through green walls, through red and orange walls—everywhere, walls. They surrounded her on all sides as she floated above the ocean waters.

One of the walls snorted, the sound reverberating over her head.

"Huh?" Perona craned her neck up. Up, up, and up. Her eyes trailed up the colossal mass of sleek stripes, finally getting a chance to take in the overall shape of the mysterious intruder. It looked more like a tall cylinder than a wall, on second thought. And up above, high, high above where Perona hung suspended in the air, she finally spotted a single eye attached to the side of this cylinder.

The eye blinked down at her.

She blinked back, jaw disengaged.

"Oh . . ." she breathed.

Other eyes blinked down at her, from all sides, as the Negative Hollows continued to travel through the gigantic bodies.

It was her first time encountering so many Sea Kings at once.

A resounding groan filled the air. Perona watched, frozen, as one by one the Sea Kings sunk back into the watery depths. Those were definitely gigantic droplets of tears falling out of their perfectly round eyeballs. The collective cry they let out sounded strangely subdued. Although she felt her Negative Hollows gathering around her after another job well done, Perona could only stare.

"Peronaaaa!"

"Perona-chaaaaan!"

The sound of idiots brought her out of her stupor. Glancing towards the distance, she saw a familiar ship sailing through the air. Actually, it was falling fast, plunging headlong in a mad descent towards the stormy waters.

Where had they been?

Snort!

The tallest Sea King in the bunch gave the small ship (in comparison) a derisive flick of its head before diving back into the waters. Huge waves lunged up as it plunged into the peaceful waves.

"Ugh!"

The generous dousing of seawater was enough to get her back in her senses completely. Perona quickly regained her former irritation as she felt cold, salty water drip off her drooping pigtails. Her stockings felt clogged with water and bloated inside her boots. Her skirt hung raggedly from her belt, ruined beyond repair by the constant barrage of rain and sea.

From beneath her soaking wet bangs, Perona watched the Merry Go land back into the storm with a resounded splash. "Peronaaaaa, hurry baaaaack!"

"…those sea kings," Perona muttered, as she glanced around the calm ocean surface. The Sea Kings had disappeared, as if they had never been. But the sight of them—the vibrant colors, the unique and individual sizes and shapes, the huge eyes—were ingrained in her mind. "They…."

In an instant, Perona had flown back to the Merry Go. Some of the others shouted at her about Sea Kings and danger and whatnot, but she wasn't paying attention. Giving them barely a glance, she slipped straight through the deck and into Nami's room below, where she knew Nami stashed a huge pile of blank paper to draw her maps on.

In two shakes of a stick, Perona had a towel wrapped around her hair and a pile of white sheets of paper stacked on Nami's desk. 5 sharpened pencils lay in a neat row to the right of her hand.

Very good.

She could hear some muffled voices from overhead, where the rest of the crew stood out on deck.

"Whoa, how did you do that, Perona? Are you really a ghost, Perona? You just went through the floor! Perona, come back and show me how you did that!"

Ignoring Luffy.

"Perona-chaaaaan! Are you hurt? Please show me your lovely face!"

Ignoring Sanji.

"Perona, we're nearing the entrance of the Grand Line! We need all the help we can get!"

Ignoring Nami.

"Make me," Perona muttered as she took up her first pencil. An odd glint shown in her eyes as she scanned the perfectly white piece of paper sitting under her, waiting to be turned into a masterpiece.

Slowly, she began to sketch.

Then she picked up speed. The sound of the scratching pencil filled the room, despite the roaring storm raging outside. Faster and faster her pencil danced. In the corner of the room, Kumashi sat staring unblinking at his mistress, wondering what sort of creative spurt she'd had this time.

When his mistress got into this mood, it was all but impossible to disturb her.

Anything that attempted to bother her would get 3 Negative Hollows and a Mini Hollow on the side.

"Such wonderful symmetry. Such beautiful color schemes. This is it. This is it!" Perona whispered furiously. Below the lead tip of her pencil, the majestic forms of the Sea Kings from just moments before began to take shape. Five, six, seven, eight pages fluttered onto the ground, each sporting a different Sea King roughly drawn on its front. "My next big design. A 'King' variation of the Princess brand. Based off the Sea Kings, with all the grandness, the splendor, the majesty. It's going to be big!"

The door to the room slammed open; it was Nami.

Oh, yes, Perona had forgotten that this was her room.

"Perona, we can see the entrance of the Grand Line up ahead! It's Reverse Mountain. There's a stream that's flowing straight up the side of the mountain, and at this rate, we're going to crash!"

"Quiet, Nami. I'm a genius at work!"

"But Perona, if we crash, you won't be able to work because we'll all die and sink!"

At the word "sink," an image of Perona's papers tragically drowning in the ocean waves flashed before her eyes. Her newest designs, drowning. Her only remaining designs . . . the only ones left after Smoker kidnapped her beloved boat.

She threw down her pencil violently. "It's all Smoker's fault. I'll serve him 10,000 Mini Hollows the next time I see his sorry face!"

Flying straight up, Perona disappeared into the ceiling. Realizing that the ghost girl had gone up on deck, Nami hurried out as well, knowing that the formidable entrance lay just up ahead.

"Here it is! Here it is!" Usopp and Sanji had grabbed the key, and everyone stood staring at the entrance to the Grand Line. A violent onrush of waters boiled and churned all around. Every wave, every maelstrom, every droplet of rain seemed to converge onto the narrow water channel at the base of Reverse Mountain. All the forces of gravity fell away at the mouth of this waterway. Beneath the multiple archways that overlooked the channel, the waters rushed up the mountain, in a violent hurry to climb to the peak. The awesome sight of water running up instead of down…the sight had Perona grumbling in unconcealed complaint. If she waited too long, her inspiration would disappear, and her new Sea King designs would never see the light of day.

"Here we goooooo!" whooped Luffy, oblivious. He stood at the very forefront of the ship, meeting the winds head on, and not helping the others at all.

The arches loomed closer. Perona could make out gold-embossed engravings running up and down the length of the manmade entrance.

As the Merry Go swerved left from a big wave against its right, Nami yelled out, "to the right! To the right!"

"To the right!" Usopp and Sanji repeated, and yanked the key as hard as they could.

Snap.

The duo froze. At the sickening sound of a snapping twig, Nami, Perona, and Zoro swung their heads around to stare at the key. It lay broken off and useless, dangling in Sanji's guilty hands.

A horrified silence ensued.

"We're going to crash!" shrieked Nami, turning deathly pale.

Perona pursed her lips. What to do? What to do? Her beautiful Sea King sketches!

"Zoro!"

A straw hat came went flying in Zoro's direction. Even before the man caught it by reflex, Luffy had taken a running start and jumped. Straight out into the open waters.

Perona's eyes all but popped out. "Luffy!"

You're a Devil's fruit user, you king of idiots! You'll drown!

The young boy paid no heed. Taking a deep breath, Luffy puffed his skinny frame out into a huge bouncy mass: "Gomu gomu no balloon!"

The entire Straw Hat crew got jarred off their feet as Luffy cushioned the impact between the ship's port side and the first archway, by wedging himself between the two colliding objects. The ship bounced off the boy's inflated rubber body. As if pulled by magic, or miracles, the Merry Go righted itself and went sailing past its captain—straight up the waterway headed towards the top of the mountain.

"We're through!" Usopp and Sanji yelled in relief.

"Luffy!" Zoro shouted. "Grab my hand!"

"Forget the hand!" Perona snapped as she zoomed past the bushido's outstretched arm.

Luffy's form, now back to its original size, had bounced up slightly thanks to the impact by the ship. But he was still falling. Falling towards the ocean—the one thing in the world he had no chance against.

Just as the top crests of the waves licked Luffy's back, Perona snatched the boy's elongated arm and flew into the air. Cold droplets of rain pelted them both. The towel wrapped around her hair had long since blown off in the storm.

"Are you an idiot!?" Perona shouted above the sound of the crashing thunder. It seemed like she was asking this question a lot these days.

Of course, this realization didn't help lighten her mood.

As fast as she could, Perona raced towards the Merry Go as it sailed further and further away. The crewmates were yelling at them to hurry up, to get on board before they reached the top. Perona scowled darkly.

She put on a burst of speed.

Without warning, Perona let go of Luffy's hand.

The boy instantly plunged down, "whoa!" and bounced safely onto the foredeck. Rolling over a few times from the momentum, Luffy stumbled up, laughing with excitement.

"Shishishi, we're on our way! We're going to the Grand Line!"

Without a second thought, he skittered over to the front of the ship, yelling and shouting in between whoops of joy. The others joined in, smiling from ear to ear, leaping and laughing, for once sharing their captain's infectious grin. Ahead of them, the peak of Reverse Mountain loomed into view. No longer did it seem foreboding. Instead, it appeared almost to welcome the newest pirate crew with open arms.

"Their captain almost dies, and they have the nerve to stand there with stupid grins on their faces," Perona muttered disapprovingly. Perhaps because she was the only other Devil's Fruit user on board—the strangling hold of the ocean, the inescapable murky depths…meant a lot more to her than it did the rest of the Straw Hat pirates. The fact that Luffy had practically thrown himself into the jaws of death, even if it was to save the ship and his crewmates, didn't sit very comfortably with her.

Yes, it worried her. She'd admit that much.

But more than that, it grated on her nerves, that someone could risk their lives on such a whim, just to save his friends.

Because he valued them that much? He didn't care if he died?

Or because he trusted them to save him? Because he knew he wouldn't die?

Which was it?

At that moment, Luffy turned around and grinned at her. "Hey Perona, thanks for saving me! Shishishi! Now we all get to go to the Grand Line together!"

The corner of her mouth twitched.

Maybe it was a frown of annoyance. Or maybe a small smile of wonder.

Whichever it was, Perona quickly erased it before slowly flying over to join them. Below the deck, her papers lay forgotten, if only for the next few minutes. She followed the others' gazes to the top of the mountain. The rush of pride and accomplishment, the sense of awe, it felt more real than ever as she stood alongside this rowdy pirate crew.

They were on their way to the Grand Line.