Here's another chapter of SCP: Tides of Bonds! Here, we will see how Allen is still alive and the search for the missing pirates. And a bit of how Xion is doing. Hope you enjoy~
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Kingdom Hearts. I do not own Guthrie and I kind of own Allen.
*OPENING*
(Lala intro)
(Xion Guthrie come down sliding panels one at a time, followed by Nami next to Xion Ussop next to Guthrie. Nami shows the Log Pose to Xion, telling her where to go, while Ussop looks pompous while Guthrie shrugs his demeanor. Nami Ussop are replaced by Zoro Sanji respectively, and glare daggers at one another as Xion Guthrie push them away from another. The two are replaced by Chopper and Robin respectively. Chopper dives into Xion's arms as she does a spin hug with him, while Guthrie observes the book Robin is reading with interest. The two are replaced by Allen Chirithy, with Allen patting Xion's back, grinning at her as she blushes a bit, while Chirithy stands on a barrel, both he and Guthrie causing sparks to shoot at each other from their eyes. The two disappear, and Luffy appears between Xion and Guthrie, grabbing their shoulders and pulling them in as he grins. The two look at one another, and grin, as the background scene shifts to them being on the Going Merry, with the rest of the crew behind them.)
Hello, goodbye to repetition
We cannot be stop
Time to go around to our
Happy days, happy days
(The scene shifts to the sky, with the title of the story appearing)
Hello, goodbye, it cannot be stopped
Because there is desire
(Scene shifts to the Straw Hats on the ship, with Luffy Ussop fishing, Nami looking at the Log Pose, Zoro sleeping on the crow's nest, Xion helping Chopper with medicine while Chirithy watched, Robin reading her book, Allen practicing his dancing, and Sanji cooking with help from Guthrie.)
It's a journey that does not endKeeps going, going!
(Xion steps back, wiping her forehead, then looking ahead to the endless sea beyond, wondering what lies ahead.)
You, are
Being shaken by your ragged feet
(Panning through a screenshot of Kokoro, Chimney and Gonbe and Yokozuna, to the Galley-La crew, to the members of the Franky Family, with Franky in front of them, to the masked members of CP9.)
Still, still
No one has much of anything!
(Nico Robin turns and walks away to the tower in Eniss Lobby, with Jabra, Kumadori and Fukuro silhouetted above, followed by Spandam, then Xaldin and Saïx. This shifts to the angered faces of Guthrie, Luffy and Xion.)
I feel like I can fly
I can fly anywhere
Whenever I'm with you
(The trio run through the town of Eniss Lobby, striking numerous marines in their way, while the screen circles around the trio, ending with them standing in the middle of their Straw Hat crew (and Sniper King) on top of the building, facing Robin, Franky and CP9.)
No matter where we are
I feel like I am
Shivering everywhere
(The two Keyblade wielders thrust their Keyblades up at the villains, only to be interfered by the two Organization XIII members. They leap towards them, with Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats following in pursuit. CP9, led by Saïx, Xaldin Leopard Lucci, leap at them, ready to clash.)
Together when I am with you
If you clench strongly
(Through all the battles of the Straw Hats, Second Gear Luffy starts fighting Leopard Lucci, with Xion fighting Saïx as hard as she could.)
No matter what happens
I'm moving forward
(Guthrie fights and parries off Xaldin, calling out to Robin with a free hand raised to her, as she stands there in the pitch black darkness.)
Together when I am with you
If you clench strongly
(Robin looks back at him, then closes her eyes as she recalls the memories of Ohara. A tear falls from her eyes, hitting a ground, which turns the darkness into the open sea and sky. More teardrops fall, forming white birds that represent each Straw Hat as they soar in the sky together.)
No, no
No matter where we are
I feel like I can fly
(The birds fly over the Going Merry, as it sails into the sun, with silhouettes of the Straw Hats smiling and grouped together as they prepared for their adventure.)
Last time:
Nami was in shock with what she heard. "It was for us...? Wait a second... You said she did it for our sake. But what about Allen?"
Iceberg was silent there. In his head, he was counting off the number of people remaining in the Straw Hat crew. Robin said she wished for the remaining ten to be spared. Excluding her, there was Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Chopper, Xion, Guthrie, and Chirithy. There was also that long-nose boy with them, and the dancer they spoke of. That makes a total of nine people, so there must be one other. Regardless, Robin must have wanted Allen to also leave safely with the others. So why...?
As they pondered on Robin's true intentions, a commotion was heard nearby. The pair turned and saw a small group of shipwrights gathered there.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Iceberg shouted in disappointment, for his men were ganging up on and beating up a lone male.
"But Iceberg-san! This guy here is one of the Straw Hats! He said so himself!" one of the shipwrights said.
"Even so, they are not the ones responsible for what happened here!" Hearing the truth from their trusted and well-respected mayor and boss shocked them. "I'll explain it all later. Just put out that fire now! And release him!"
At his order, the shipwrights hesitantly released the boy they ganged up on and went back to helping the others with the fire.
"Man... And I thought my treatment back home was harsh..." the boy muttered.
Nami's eyes widened at the sight of the injured person before them, shocked that he was even here. After all... didn't he die?
"Hm? What's wrong, Nami?" he asked. "No, what I should be asking is what happened to you?! What happened while I was out?!"
The navigator couldn't find the words to answer his question. All she could mutter out was... "Allen...?"
After getting caught up with what happened on Nami's side, Allen was just shocked at how much he missed. "Xion did what?!" he gasped out.
"I don't think it's really her, but that's what happened," Nami told him.
Allen knew what she meant. If anything, he had a good idea what happened to the vice-captain while he was out. She found his presumed-dead body and was so saddened that she got herself swallowed up by her own darkness. In short, this was his fault... partly that is.
"Now what about you? How in the world are you alive?" the navigator asked.
"Believe me, I thought I was dead, too. Or at least close to," he answered. "It may be because I haven't really fully recovered from the usage of the Reject Dial back in Skypeia, but taking an Impact to the chest is really different from used the Impact itself."
*FLASHBACK*
Back before Robin 'killed' Allen, when she held him up with her powers, she sneakily summoned another arm to snatch an Impact Dial from his pouch and passed it onto another summoned arm, hidden under her cloak.
Allen noticed the woman doing just that and looked at her in the eyes. "Robin... What are you...?" he breathed out.
"I'm sorry. But I cannot allow you to follow us any further," she said, pulling her real arm back. "This is farewell."
As she thrusted her real arm forward, she curled her hand up in a fist and had her summoned arm slam the Impact Dial right in his gut. The feel of the strong impact in his gut was extremely painful, especially with the added real punch, Allen felt blood swelling up in his mouth. As Robin straightened herself, she canceled her powers, causing Allen to fall on some crates, with the dancer coughing out blood at last, making some trail down from the corner of his mouth and he fell into a state of unconscious. Robin looked down and quickly used her Devil Fruit powers to slap a circular, black paper on his chest and splatter some fake blood she prepared earlier on it and all over him, making it seem as though she truly made the hole and Allen was truly dying, if not dead.
As Blueno joined her, she quickly called off her summoned arms, as the big guy looked down at the scene.
"With this, the two who are with you can also have what they want," Robin said. "I've seen how Demon-san sees him. This may help awaken what they claim was in her the whole time."
"Perhaps so," Blueno agreed, completely buying the act.
*END OF FLASHBACK*
To heat that Robin had actually faked Allen's death was more than just a surprise to Nami; it brought relief. "So... Robin didn't betray us after all," she said.
"No," Allen answered. "Although, I was quite shocked at my own condition when I came to. I actually thought I had a hole in my chest."
"Well you better get yourself out of that shock now!" Nami said, happily slapping the boy's cheeks together. "We have to gather everyone and tell them the news!"
"Wait! Straw Hat and the others were beaten! And even though she wasn't really defeated, Starlight Blade is..." Iceberg spoke. "What do you think you can do now?!"
"'Now'?! It starts now! Luffy, Xion and the others are fine!" the navigator told him. "It'd take a lot more than that to take them out. We're gonna get Robin back. When unsure, anyone can be weak. There's no limit to their strength when they know it's okay to save her!"
"And Starlight Blade? You saw what she did."
"It's because of me that she became like that, isn't it?" Allen asked the mayor. "If that's the case, then I'll go find her and bring her back to normal myself."
Iceberg couldn't believe what he was hearing. It wasn't just the words being spoken, but how confident Nami and Allen were when they said their claim.
"Chopper! Chopper!" the navigator called, rushing to the downed reindeer. "Chopper, wake up! We have to find everyone! Chopper, wake up!"
Upon seeing the girl slapping and chopping the animal's face to wake him, all the guys, including Allen, looked at her in shock.
"I thought you said everyone got seriously injured! Stop chopping him like that!" the dancer shouted. Nami ignored him and continued on forcing the pirate doctor to wake.
Some time later, Chopper woke up, the fire was put out, and the truth was revealed to the bandaged man-reindeer in his hybrid form.
"Then, it's not that Robin doesn't like us?!" the happy and relieved doctor asked.
"That's right!" Nami and Allen confirmed.
"I'm so glad!"
While the trio of pirates were having their own conversation, the shipwrights stared at them, specifically Chopper, in shock. The reason? They saw a reindeer turn into what they assumed to be a raccoon dog.
"So, Chopper, we have to find Luffy and the others right away and rescue Robin!" Nami told the doc.
"Okay! Let's go find them!" Chopper happily agreed. He looked around and then asked, "Where are they?"
"We don't know. That's why we have to look for them," Allen answered.
"All right...! I'll do my best!" Next the bystanders knew, Chopper changed into his Heavy Point form.
"Whoa! He turned into a gorilla!" one of them shouted.
"You guys, wait," Iceberg called to the pirates. "I don't care if you go after Nico Robin. But the sea train for the government personnel will depart at 11 tonight. Well, this is just my guess, but it's highly possible that they'll take that train. In other words, Nico Robin will, too." Nami, Chopper and Allen were shocked at the given news. "Likewise, it is also possible you will find Starlight Blade at least somewhere near the station. But after that train, the sea train will be suspended for the time being, since Aqua Laguna will be coming soon."
"But that means..." Nami trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought.
Iceberg nodded, confirming her suspicions. "If you miss this train, you can't sail out, of course, which means there's no other means to leave this island."
"But wait! Even if the train doesn't leave in time, if Xion arrives there first..." Allen spoke up, just now having an awful thought.
Unfortunately, the mayor of Water 7 nodded, once again confirming what he was thinking. "If she gets there first, be it she or Nico Robin, but one of them will die."
"Oh no! This is bad! What time is it now?!" Nami asked.
Checking his pocket watch, Iceberg answered, "10:30."
"What?! We've only got 30 minutes left!"
"Can't you do something?! Like stopping the sea train for a few minutes or put the station under lockdown?!" Allen asked.
"Unfortunately, it's destination, Enies Lobby, is an island off-limits to those other than Government personnel. The engine driver is also from the Government. He won't listen to me. And if I put the place under lockdown, not only will CP9 be alerted of my being alive, but they may return and do much worse to me and the shipwrights here," Iceberg explained.
"But that can't..." Allen trailed off, slowly losing hope in their initial plan.
"Then, the only way left is for me to go to the station and somehow persuade Robin directly," Nami spoke up.
"Then Chopper and I'll search for Xion and the guys."
"I'll tell you both where Luffy and Zoro flew, so search those areas! If you find them, tell them to come to the station immediately."
"Okay. Got it," Chopper nodded.
"But what about Xion?" Allen asked.
"Well..."
"She was tossed in that direction," Iceberg interrupted Nami, pointing at the exact location where Xion was sent flying to. "She was knocked over there after her, so she wouldn't know." While that was true, that Nami wouldn't know where Xion had gone to, especially when the vice-captain had tossed her out the Galley-La building, Iceberg also knew that she wouldn't feel comfortable telling Allen and Chopper of that exact reason, even if Xion wasn't really herself at the time.
"Hey... Guys..." came a strained voice. Everyone turned and saw Paulie waking up, slowly going into a sitting position.
"Ah! Paulie-san! You're okay!" one of the shipwrights gasped in relief.
What came out of his mouth next surprised them all. "Give the girl and her friends a hand."
"What?! G-Give them a hand, you say, Paulie?! They're the culprits who tried to kill Iceberg-san!"
"We should restrain these two! Lucci-san and Kalifa-san are still missing and-"
"The assassination culprits are not the Straw Hats! They're innocent!" the rope-user shouted at last, silencing everyone. "The real culprits tricked us, and we falsely accused them! I don't know the true identities of those masked men, but the Straw Hats fought against them for us! As a matter of fact, Iceberg-san and I are alive because of them, right?" The guys all stood there silent, aware of how true that last statement was and shocked that they blamed the wrong group this whole time. "You don't have to look for Lucci and Kaku. We may not see them again."
"What?! You know what happened to them?!" one of the shipwrights asked, as Paulie stood on his feet.
"They're visiting their hometowns," the rope-user lied, not willing to speak the truth to them. How can he? Even he still couldn't believe the truth behind them.
His response only raised more questions amongst them.
"Hey, you, shameless girl!" Paulie called out to Nami.
"That again?! Hey, stop calling me that!" she retorted.
"You're going to the station, right? I'll show you the way."
Shocked by his kindness, Nami accepted the help.
Meanwhile, the shipwrights were still hounding at Paulie for answers.
"Paulie-san! Hey!"
"Is what you told us true?!"
Having enough of the questions, the blonde guy shouted, "Quit jabbering and help them already! Are you trying to hurt Galley-La's name?!"
Frightened by the look he gave them, they all saluted. "N-No, foreman!" The group then bowed to the pirates, apologizing to them and offering them their service. One guy even suggested to the others to have the Yagaras out and ready to be used.
"I really don't have a clue what's going on myself here, but we have to start our search for the others first," Allen said to his fellow, happy crew mates, who nodded in agreement.
Soon enough, all the Yagaras the shipwrights had were out. Everyone went in singles or pairs and rode on one of the sea creatures, thus beginning their mission to find their missing comrades and save Robin.
"Chopper, Allen! I'm counting on you guys!" Nami told the boys, as she, Paulie, and a couple others broke away from the group.
"Yeah! We'll be sure to bring them!" Chopper replied, holding onto one of Zoro's sword.
Seconds later, Allen found a turn for his route. "That's my exit!"
"Be sure to bring Xion-nee back!" Chopper told him.
"Leave it to me!" With that, the dancer of a pirate separated from the rest.
'Great Warrior Kalgara, if you can hear me. Please... Let me make it to her!' he prayed.
Meanwhile, in another part of the lower part of Water 7, Guthrie was only just waking up, realizing that he was trapped. The last thing he remembered was being blasted out of mansion, and crashing into some rubble after a long flight. What had happened was that he ended up crashing into one of the houses, causing the walls to break and fall all around and on top of him, momentarily knocking him out. His limbs were trapped underneath all the rubble, with the exception of one arm.
"Dammit..." he weakly groaned. "I couldn't do it again... Robin was right there, and I couldn't even... And not only that, but Xion too..."
He thought back to her last words before she left. It was over. They were never gonna see her again. He once again found himself in a moment where he was unable to do anything else but be a victim.
"Dammit, why am I so useless?!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. He felt the tears forming in his eyes. Was there really nothing he could do to save the people he cared for. Was all of his efforts just wasted away?
Some time into the search, rain began to fall. Allen and his Yagara continued to travel around the area, but found no sign of Xion or have any leads of her.
"Damn it... Where is she? And it doesn't help that the sky is crying..." he muttered to himself. "Xion!"
"Allen!" came a familiar voice.
Allen had his Yagara stop in its track, as he looked around to find the source of the voice.
"That voice... Hey! Where are you?!" he shouted.
"Up here!" Allen looked up at one of the houses. To his shock, he found a familiar someone hanging by the edge of the roof.
"Chirithy?! What are you doing up there?!" Allen gasped.
"It's... kind of a funny story..." the Dream Eater answered. "But wait, what about you, Allen?! I thought you died!"
"Yeah, and I'm never going to stop hearing that, am I?" the dancer muttered to himself. "Just hang on! I'll get you down!" Using his Dial Boots, he shot himself up to Chirithy and grabbed him, landing safely on the ground.
"Whew. Thanks for that," the Dream Eater thanked.
"How'd you get up there? Where are Guthrie and Xion?" Allen asked, knowing that where Chirithy was, there was usually one of the two Keyblade wielders with him.
"I don't know! Last I saw Xion, she was taken over by whatever darkness was in her! So much so, I was too scared to be around for another second and poofed away! It wasn't until I stopped sensing that darkness I decided to poof back! ... Which made me fall and hang from the roof..."
"That's why?!" Allen quickly recovered from shock as he realized one other thing. "Wait, if that's true, then you know where Guthrie is, don't you?!"
"Yeah. He went this way!" Chirithy led the way to where his partner was thrown to. Before he could get far, Allen picked him up and placed him on his shoulders.
"It's faster if we do it this way!" Next the Dream Eater knew, the winged pirate activated the dials on his boots and started to travel through the air at high speed. "Which way?!"
"Just keep moving down this path!" With that, the pair continued their way to one of the missing Keyblade wielders through the rain.
Meanwhile, with Nami, after arriving too late to the station, in which the train had left minutes earlier due to the dangers of the storm, she and Chopper regrouped and continued on their search for their remaining members. Well, except for Sanji, that is, who boarded the train just as it left. Not just him; Franky and Usopp are on it as well.
As they continued their search, Nami saw something on a wall that made her stop. It was a page of the newspaper article from earlier this morning, one that displayed wanted images of Luffy, Zoro, Xion, and Robin. As she stared at the poster, she overheard shipwrights speaking out their doubts about finding three of the four people on it, alive or not. Of course, there were a couple that told them off for such doubts.
'Where are you guys?' the navigator wondered. 'Luffy... Zoro... You boys wouldn't be taken out by a leopard man like that, right? And Xion...' Her mind went back to what happened when she last saw her vice-captain, a memory that she wants to forget, especially when she knew that it wasn't really her at that time. At least, that was what she hoped. 'We finally know why Robin left us.' One thought of said archeologist, and Nami continued to take off in a sprint. 'Just you wait, Robin. I'm coming to rescue you with Luffy and the others without fail!'
"Nami!" she heard. Looking up, she saw Allen jumping down from the roof, Chirithy on his shoulder.
"Allen!" she gasped out. "What's up? Any good news?"
"We haven't found Xion yet, but we know where Guthrie is!" the dancer told her.
Just hearing that one of their missing friends was going to be found soon was more than enough to put a smile on her face. Plus, from what Iceberg had told them, he was sent flying in the same direction as Luffy and Zoro. They find him, they can find the other two nearby. "Great! Where is he?!" she asked.
"That way!" Chirithy pointed. And off the pair of humans- well, one human and one Shandian- go.
A bit of time in their run, Nami slowed to a stop, hands on her knees as she panted in exhaustion. This prompted Allen to stop as well.
"You okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine... But we have to get to Luffy and the others," she answered.
"There's something between two houses!" came a young voice. "Hey! Look! Look!"
The trio of pirates turned to the source and saw Kokoro, Chimney, and Gonbe looking towards the backstreets from the rails.
"Kokoro-san!" Nami called.
"Chimney and Gonbe, too!" Chirithy followed.
The trio turned and were greeted by a set of familiar faces.
"Oh! You're those pirate kids!" the woman recognized.
"Ah! Pirate guys! Hey, look over there! There's something there!" Chimney called to them.
The trio were confused as to what would be so interesting that a child would be calling them over at a time like this and joined them.
"Just what is it you're going on about, Chimney?" Kokoro asked her granddaughter.
As the pirates came closer to the rails, they were shocked with what they were seeing before them.
"Wait, what's with this dried-up sea?!" Nami gasped.
"The sea usually dries up on the Blue Sea?!" Allen asked in shock, for this never happened in the White-White Sea.
"No. It shouldn't happen!" Chirithy answered. He sensed something from one direction and looked to see some rubbles just at the edge of the back streets. "Don't those rubbles there look suspicious to you?!"
His pirate friends looked to the direction he was looking and saw the pile of wreckage a bit far from them, just by what should've been the seaside.
"I'll check it out!" Allen said, using his Dial Boots to shoot himself and Chirithy over to the debris.
"Wait, Allen!" Nami called. It was too late, though, for the pair of boys were already quite far from her.
She wasn't the only one who wanted to stop them, for some of the shipwrights saw the Shandian heading to the restricted area.
"What the-?! Hey! Someone's heading to the backstreets!" one of them called.
"Someone stop them!" another called out.
"Impossible! He's moving too fast!" said another.
Mentally swearing at the foreigner of their sea, Nami looked to the direction Chimney was looking to. Any normal person would not be able to notice it, but Nami saw it. Wedged between two large buildings, she saw him; Luffy was trapped between buildings.
Kokoro herself just noticed the captain in the spot Chimney was pointing to. "That straw hat... Isn't that your King of the Pirates?" she asked Nami.
Rather than answering, angry at the ridiculous situation Luffy got himself in, Nami took the stairs nearby and headed down to the backstreets as well, much to the old woman's shock.
"Hey! Where are you going?! Don't go down the backstreets!" she called out.
Shocked that another person was going down to the restricted area, some of the shipwrights went after Nami in an attempt to stop her. Nami knew better than to take the long, normal route to get to Luffy in time before the Aqua Laguna comes and instead traveled by the roofs to get to her captain. All her time sneaking onto other pirate ships and taking away their treasure was not for naught, as she was making a somewhat smooth travel getting to her destination, despite the rain and her heels.
Back to Allen and Chirithy, the latter was losing energy from his Breath Dials in his Dial Boots and started to traverse via the roofs like Nami was doing. He would've just replaced the dials, but he was down to his last pair and would rather save those for emergencies, especially with what was going on with the sea. On the bright side, they were not far from their goal.
As they closed in at the rubbles, Allen couldn't help but look towards the dried-up area, where all the sea water was gathered far from them.
"Man, the Blue Sea seriously is scarier than anything the White-White Sea has to offer!" he said out loud, feeling uneasy about the wave away from them.
"Hey, I hadn't been awake for as long as you, alright?!" Chirithy barked at him.
They arrived at the collapsed building, with rubble piled twice as wide and almost as long.
"He's in there!" Chirithy pointed out. "I'm sure of it!"
Allen jumped off the roof and landed right by the rubbles, trying to shift the broken wall pieces to reach Guthrie. "Hey, Guthrie!" he shouted into the pile. "You in there?! Give me a sign, now!"
Guthrie was surprised to hear the voice of his fellow new crew member. While he was slowly starting to question if he was dying at the moment, he still gave an answer. "Yeah... I'm here."
Hearing his voice was a sign of relief to Allen as he tried to move a big piece of rubble in the way. "Listen, you just hang tight, okay?! I'll get you out of there in a minute!"
"...What about the others? Are they fine?" the counselor asked.
"Yeah! Well, Sanji is missing, Luffy and Zoro are somewhere lost out there, Nami and Chopper are looking for them, and goodness knows what Xion is getting into right now. Chirithy is with me, though."
Hearing his 'ex-partner' with Allen made Guthrie unsure of what to feel. Honestly, all he could do was feel the uselessness and despair of it all. Finally, he answered, "Listen, you gotta make sure the others are okay, alright? Just find our captain and our first mate. Don't worry about me."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Chirithy demanded. "You know there's a giant wave coming, and if it crashes, you're dead!"
"He's right. If we don't free you now, you're a goner!" Allen barked at him. "So shut up and hang tight. We'll free you, and go save Robin!"
"What's the point?" Guthrie asked, looking at his free hand, "I wouldn't be of any help. Aren't I dead anyway?"
"If you're saying that because of what Robin had said, I am far from dead! And even if I was, what's gotten into you?!" Allen demanded, stepping away to glare at the pile of rubble. "Where's the powerful force that was Guthrie?! The guy who, despite the difficult fights he went through, pushed onward, determined to win in the end?! Where's the guy who was suppose to be Xion's guardian?!"
"I don't know... I mean, Larxene, Aokiji, Ussop, Robin, CP9, the Organization... I was unable to stop the people I care for from leaving, nor was I able to defeat the opponents who targeted Xion and my crew. No matter how powerful my attacks were, or how much of my bottled-up anger I unleashed to deliver judgement onto my enemies, my efforts were useless in the end!"
"Guthrie, all that anger that you had gained from your vengeance against your uncle isn't gonna help you no matter what," Chirithy stated.
"See? I'm useless as I was back then, just like I am now!" Guthrie barked. "What could I do to redeem myself?! I had no answer back then, not even when I was asked about it...!"
*FLASHBACK*
In his homeworld, a younger Guthrie was kneeling down at a gravestone, with his aunt Sinopa standing behind him. This grave was his uncle's, the man he accidentally killed, yet he had no idea he did it for an entire year. All he ever did was gather up all his rage and vengeance to retaliate back at him, only to be lashed out at someone who was gone for good.
"I'm so, so sorry, Aunt Sinopa," Guthrie apologized.
"You didn't mean it back then," she told him. "You were just defending yourself against him. You didn't know he-"
"Died? That I killed him? I would have. All I thought about when I was coming home was wanting to enact my revenge against him after what he did to us. If anything, I would've actually killed him even if I did return."
Sinopa placed a hand on his shoulder. "Guthrie, you know you would never do that. You are too kind for that."
"No, I am not!" Guthrie shouted, throwing off her hand and standing over her. "I would've done it! I hated him for abusing the two of us for all this time, and that hatred gathered up inside me for a year. I came back to re-enact what he did to us all this time, all at once, until he died in agony! But all this anger, all this hatred... I have nothing to throw it at! Nothing to use it for! What am I suppose to do with all this villainous hatred inside of me?! I wanted our lives to be happy, but I can't do it with all of this in my heart! I... I don't know what to do with myself anymore!"
Sinopa watched her nephew's face contort in grief. He was broken, beyond anything she had seen. A young boy who was almost a son to her was now in so much pain, and she had no idea what to do to help. There was one idea she did have, and it was something her sister did whenever she felt sad back when they were young.
She wrapped her arms around her nephew, holding him tight. "Then just let all those feelings out, bit by bit," she told him. "I can't give you an answer as to what to do with all that anger and despair. All I can do is be there for you if it is too much. I can hug you like this, listen to whatever you have to say, let you divulge your feelings until you are calm again. But one thing's for sure; no matter what you say, whether or not you believe you are a person of vengeance and anger, I will always see you as my nephew. My sister's child. Nothing will change that, okay?"
What his aunt said wasn't curing Guthrie, but it was enough to know that someone like her was here to carry the grief for him. The pain that was inside his heart, eating away at him. His fingers dug into his aunt's back and, with one inhale, he screamed at the top of his voice. Shouting his grieving cry of agony. The mournful sound of agony that wished to be unleashed, so his pure heart would be free, so that his happiness would be found again. This was not an answer, but it was a start.
*END OF FLASHBACK*
Guthrie looked down, thinking on that past, as he still was trapped in the rubble. "I thought I could find my true happiness by being with the crew and helping them. I thought I could use the anger in me to stop enemies that we encounter. I thought Robin would be the person who could guide me to a brighter hope. Guess none of that worked out well, did it? I failed to keep our crew together, my anger and Keyblade helped no one, and Robin left us, not caring to come back."
Allen wasn't too sure what to answer to this. He was starting to see that Guthrie was just as fragile as he was. Though the problems they had were different, between Guthrie's internal rage that was gathered for his deceased uncle, and his half-breed Shandian heritage and being shunned by his fellow tribe, both of them had pain, and Guthrie has yet to completely overcome his.
"You can pity yourself at another time, you idiot," Chirithy spoke up, getting a shocked look from the dancer. "Guthrie, you don't have a clue what's going on or what you have done. You see only the losses you have made, but I see a whole lot of wins that counter that. Sure, Ussop left, but you couldn't stop it, no matter how hard you tried. So you lost to a bunch of big-shots and some Organization members. You're alive, right? Use that anger to rise back up and become better, stronger, more powerful than before. And Robin... Well, putting my own opinions to one side, she didn't betray us as you thought."
Guthrie was quite surprised, hearing this last bit of news.
"Turns out the World Government was planning to attack us with some powerful force, and it would be beyond any of us to stop it," Chirithy continued, retelling everything that was told to him while he and Allen were searching for him, before they met up with Nami. "In order to protect us from this attack, she turned herself in to CP9, followed their orders to pin the blame of Iceberg's attack on us and leave us. The fact is that she cared for us so much, she is willing to sacrifice her life and her dream to help us survive! How else do you think Allen is alive right now?! Or did you think he's only a voice in your head?!"
While that last one hurt the Shandian pirate, for a moment, there was brief moment of silence in the rubble. Guthrie thought about it, looking back on seeing her leave the mansion, her last words. He then went further back her words to him after he and Chirithy broke up. Finally, he remembered the smile she gave, and the kiss on the cheek she added, when he chose to help her fulfill her dream. The light of hope started to shine out from in his heart once more. The words of his Dream Eater, and the news that Robin didn't betray them, swelled up inside of him.
He smiled and began to chuckle lightly. Then he went into a bit of a laughing attack as Chirithy and Allen looked a bit worried, wondering what was the meaning to this. Finally, Guthrie stopped laughing, then formed a determined, angry face.
"God, I'm so stupid! Here I am, throwing a pity party, and Robin just gave herself up and left us, despite all the things I told her?! I said that I would always be there to bring her back if she was taken away. I told her I would be her light. I told her that I would help her seek out her dream. What kind of idiot does she think she is to just toss my words out the window like that, and think I would be okay with her giving up like this?! It's so stupid, I can only laugh at it. Robin... No, CP9, and Organization XIII. To hell with all of you!"
As his arm piece glowed, so did Chirithy's bag, rather whatever was in it, to the Dream Eater and Allen's shock. As the owner of the bag opened it up, five medals that Guthrie had gathered in his time before meeting the Straw Hats emerged out.
"I can't just stand around, waiting for death's embrace, when Robin chose to sacrifice herself to save us. I am so done with losing so much to all these big shots! I am done losing my friends! I WILL WIN AND GET EVERYTHING BACK!"
Chirithy and Allen watched as the medals glowed brightly, then shattered and morphed into a new medal; a gold one with a filigree ridge. It suddenly shot into the rubble as Guthrie summoned his Keyblade, and joined the other medals within the keychain, without pushing one out. He could now use a seventh medal.
Wind started to gather around the teeth of his blade as he made a war cry. "Tornado... X!" All of a sudden, the two from the outside got blown back as a huge cyclone blasted upwards, not only freeing the Keyblade wielder from the rubble, but destroying the house that came from it. The rubble flew upwards, swirling and flying into other buildings, causing them to fall as well.
At the same time, the pair of buildings Luffy was trapped in suddenly broke apart in two separate ways, freeing the rubberman at last after hearing the truth from Nami about Robin.
Just right after that, another tall building was split apart from the chimney, where a now-freed Zoro was trapped within. Thanks to Chopper delivering his cursed sword, however, the guy was as free as the other two.
Up above, the shipwrights watched the set of miracles occurring in the backstreets.
"Ahhh! What the hell?! He broke the buidlings!" exclaimed one of them, watching Luffy's 'escape'.
"Holy cow! What the heck are they doing there?!" exclaimed another, watching the tornado Guthrie made.
"What the hell are they?!" questioned another, witnessing the chimney building's destruction.
Back at the scene with the Keyblade wielder, Allen managed to hold onto Chirithy, enduring the storm. When they looked at the spot the rubble was at, Guthrie was standing there, his head bowed in dramatic pause. A leather western hat that came from the house he had just destroyed floated back down, carried by the winds, and landed on his head. He looked up, placing a hand on his new headgear.
"Let's go! We got an archeologist to save, right?!" he shouted. He took off into the streets, blindly passing Allen and Chirithy, who were baffled at the quick turn of events. However, the dancer quickly recovered, and raced after him, with Chirithy on his shoulders.
As hard as it was to believe, Guthrie was somewhat empowered by his newfound ambition and anger. It sped him up to the point that he ran vertically up the wall of a building, reaching the rooftop. Allen quickly swapped his Breath Dials and caught up to the male Keyblade wielder as the wave crashed down onto the town, causing major damage to the buildings, some of them even being uprooted from the ground.
Just then, a bunch of flying Heartless and Dragoon Nobodies coming their way.
"As if we had enough problems as it is!" Chirithy exclaimed as he held onto dear life with Allen.
"Get the hell out of my way!" Guthrie roared, leaping up and performing Sonic Blade, blasting through one Heartless at a time. His attacks were so strong, he eliminated each Heartless in one hit.
As for Allen, he used his quick, dancing reflexes to avoid or counter any oncoming Heartless or Nobodies that tried attacking him and Chirithy.
A Dragoon shot upwards and came down at Allen, making him double back in shock. However, just as the Nobody raised its lance, Guthrie's Keyblade came spinning at it in a Strike Raid, shredding him from behind with a clean cut down the middle, before he called back his weapon to his hand. Allen saw Guthrie's expression. It was filled with rage, but his eyes were so focused on his surroundings, he was able to detect his friend from danger.
He turned in midair as he saw more Heartless and Nobodies still in his path. "I am so not done here!" he declared, his body glowing. He bursted with a powerful energy as he was surrounded by a light green aura. "Style Command: Fever Pitch!"
"A new Style Command!" Chirithy noticed as Allen used his Dial Boots to rocket himself high in the air, as the Aqua Laguna had arrived and started to destroy the backstreets, raising buildings from their spot in the process.
"Oh man. Guthrie!" Allen called out to warn.
Guthrie was aware of the danger he was in and, with rapid strikes and kendo skills, slashed much faster and stronger than before, destroying all the Heartless and Dragoon Nobodies before he landed on a building and making a break for it away from the dangerous wave. Unfortunately, no man can ever outrun a wave as big as this. Just as Guthrie looked back to meet his maker, Allen landed right by his side and grabbed him.
"Stag Leap Flare Impact!" With the Impact Dial he equipped onto the sole of one boot, he shot the two of them into the air, enduring the recoil, as flames shooting out of the heel of his other boot as an extra boost, leading the trio over to the stone bridge where the rest of their crew were at.
As they flew, Guthrie could feel his arm piece absorb the darkness and energy of the Heartless and Nobodies he defeated, shining brightly before it shot out another medal. He ignored it as it flew behind them, but Chirithy managed to catch it in his bag. He looked in and recognized the magic spell. A Reverse Medal spell: Trick Firaga.
'A fire-element spell, and a powerful one...' he noted. 'But Guthrie doesn't use fire magic, though...'
On one end, Luffy and Nami made it to the bridge. On the other, Zoro and Chopper arrived. In the middle, Guthrie, Allen and Chirithy managed to land safely on it. The crowd cheered as the team, in some miracle, escaped being consumed by Aqua Laguna.
As Luffy and Zoro were recovering, Nami and Chopper high-fived one another, congratulating the other for saving their allies. They looked back at Allen as he approached them with Chirithy on his shoulder, who was sighing in relief.
"We all made it back in one piece, huh?" the Shandian stated.
"Yeah, somehow..." Nami answered, looking at Guthrie, who was doubled-over, still on his feet, but exhausted. "What's with Guthrie and that aura? Is he okay?"
"He's still in his new Style Command," Chirithy noticed, looking back at his partner as he raised his head. "But man... How could he suddenly gain so much strength in one go? I mean, I didn't even think he would fuse medals together to form a new powerful one, let alone gain a new Style Command..."
As Guthrie looked at his friends ahead of him, he felt something, something in him told him that where they were standing wasn't a safe place at all. He turned to see the Aqua Laguna start to raise up, and was about to consume them all. The others noticed and were beginning to panic.
"No you don't!" Guthrie roared, unleashing the last of his Fever Pitch power, creating a storm of slashes that created a shockwave in a fan formation. The attack somehow parried the wave coming at them, making it split and go around the pirates.
"Guthrie!" Chopper cried out.
"Move, now! This bridge isn't safe!" he shouted, turning and running with everyone as they made a mad dash up the stairs. Chirithy gripped Allen's face, screaming in fear, as the latter tried to breath and see where he was going. The shockwave of the counselor's attack ended as the wave crashed down on the bridge. The citizens were just as shocked at the wave coming down, thinking it consumed them. However, they saw, to their amazement, the pirates had actually barely avoided the wave.
"Damn, that was close!" Zoro growled, while Allen was trying to pry Chirithy off of him.
Luffy and Nami looked at their crew, and noticed someone was missing.
"Wait, where's Guthrie?!" Nami asked.
"AAAAH! He got washed away by that wave!" Chopper cried out, fearing the worse.
"No!" Luffy gasped, looking back at the bridge, and seeing something that startled him. As the waves died down, someone else was out on the bridge, holding sturdy ropes as they were lengthened over to the broken part of the bridge.
It was Paulie, growling as he tried his hardest to keep a good grip to keep the broken part of the bridge up.
"It's the rope guy!" Luffy exclaimed, seeing him.
"Crap..." Paulie growled, skidding on the wet ground, but retaining his footing as his hands started to bleed from the rope burns.
"He's trying to save Guthrie!" Nami gasped as Luffy raced towards him.
"Gomu Gomu no Grab!" he shouted, stretching his arm into the center-point of where Pauley's ropes were. He felt Guthrie's vest in the water, grabbing it and yanking it back. The young man came flying out of the wave, his Keyblade in one hand and his new hat in the other, and toppled to the ground at his pair of saviors' feet, coughing and gasping for air.
"Hey, you okay?!" Luffy asked his counselor.
"Somehow..." he coughed, rising to his feet again.
"Hurry! We're not safe yet!" Paulie warned them, as another tidal wave was coming at them. "Run to the ship-building island!"
The trio turned tail and ran towards the stairs, the wave bearing down at them. Nami, Chopper and Zoro were calling out to them as Allen only had one eye to look while he was losing his breath under Chirithy's grip on his face. The wave came down on them as they made one final leap. The stone bridge and stairs shattered under the wave's power. Miraculously, Luffy, Paulie and Guthrie all managed to avoid all of that, and arrive on the island with the rest of the group, toppling to the ground from their leap.
"They made it!" Chopper cheered.
"Thank goodness...!" Nami sighed in relief.
Zoro smiled and nodded, but turned to see Allen topple over, nearly unconscious as he couldn't breath through a certain Dream Eater on his face.
Paulie relit his cigar as he growled to Guthrie. "You damn moron. You're lucky to be alive. What were you thinking, attacking the wave like you did?"
"Are you alright?! You're not hurt, are you?" Chopper asked Guthrie and Luffy, going into his Brain Point form.
"I'm fine, thanks to you guys," the counselor answered. "But man, that was way too close."
"If it hadn't been for your last move there, we all would've been swept away," Nami pointed out, shuddering a bit at the mere thought.
"Thanks, Guthrie," Luffy thanked him. "And thanks, rope guy. You saved my crew member."
"I had no idea Aqua Laguna would be like that. I can't stop shaking..."
"That wave scared me half to death!" Chopper pointed out. He then noticed Zoro placing a foot on Allen's chest as he bent down and tried to help the poor guy pry Chirithy off of his face.
"If it was that bad every year, we would be sunk," Paulie pointed out. "I'm just as surprised as you are. This ain't normal, at all."
"You pirates are one step short of crazy." The team turned to see Kokoro, along with Chimney and Gonbe. "You guys are lucky to be alive right now."
"Oh, hey, Monster Granny," Luffy greeted. "I didn't know you were here, too."
"Of course I am. I may be drunk, but you'll have to be stupid to stay at sea with this storm! Na-ha-ha-ha!"
"You guys were awesome!" Chimney followed up, looking at Luffy and Guthrie. "Your arms were like 'boing-boing' and your blade was all 'slash-swish'!" Gonbe nyad twice in agreement.
"Yeah, I know..." Luffy smiled and agreed.
"I'm just as surprised by my efforts as you were," Guthrie agreed, looking down at his Keyblade. "Where did that all come from?"
He heard Zoro, with Chopper's help, finally prying Chirithy off of Allen, the latter gasping for air as he demanded, "Are you trying to kill me?!"
As he breathed in a couple of breaths, Zoro took a good look at Allen's almost-murderer. "Looks like he passed out," he noticed, seeing Chirithy's blank eyes.
"How the hell can he pass out and keep that tight grip on me?!" the Shandian demanded.
"By the way, what were the two of you doing down below when the wave hit?" Luffy asked, looking at Guthrie and Zoro. "Couldn't you get away?"
"Got caught under some rubble after half the house fell on me," Guthrie answered, massaging his shoulder. "God, I can't believe how I am still alive. Guess being with you guys helps my endurance or something. What about you, Zoro?"
"Well...you know..." he started, not sure if he should say the embarrassing answer.
Unfortunately for him, Chopper answered the question. "Zoro got stuck up a chimney."
The blunt answer did not settle well with the swordsman as he, with a dark look, grabbed Chopper and started choking him.
Luffy found the entire thing hilarious, as he laughed and clapped his hands. "Zoro, you dope! I couldn't be that lame if I tried!"
Nami angrily grabbed the side of his mouth as she angrily retorted, "Don't forget, you got stuck between two buildings TWICE! You're both dopes, okay?!"
"And I thought my situation was embarrassing..." Guthrie muttered, while Allen was shaking and slapping Chirithy strongly and, due to the near-death experience with him, mercilessly. "Never mind that. Nami, Chopper, Allen, give us the rundown on our situation, along with where everyone else is at."
"Oh, yeah. There's a lot of things you guys need to know," the navigator realized, looking at Luffy still in her grip and Guthrie. "You too, Zoro." The swordsman didn't relinquish the choking doctor, while Allen finally got Chirithy to his senses, though he was dazed from the throttling and his face was quite bruised from the slaps.
And so, the trio had explained to the found members what really happened earlier, why Robin decided to leave them the way she did. To say they were shocked to hear the story again was an understatement, especially to Zoro who was hearing this for the first time.
"So you're saying Robin sacrificed herself for us?" he asked.
"That's right," Allen confirmed.
"And Sanji and Usopp are also on the train with her?" Guthrie asked.
"Yes," Nami answered.
"And not only that, but Xion-nee..." Chopper trailed off, as he and the rest of the guys took in what Nami and Guthrie told them about what became of their vice-captain.
"What do you want to do, captain?" Zoro asked Luffy.
The captain was looking back out to sea as he listened to the whole story again. Fist met palm as he then answered, "There's nothing to think about. Let's find Xion, sail out immediately after, and follow them!"
The shipwrights were looking at them, speechless, as they wondered if the captain was serious about what he had said.
"There's no other choice," Zoro spoke, getting back up on his feet.
One look at their faces, and everyone could tell. These guys... were serious about their captain's order.
"We're off... to rescue Robin!"
Meanwhile, in an abandoned-looking warehouse, Iceberg was doing some tinkering on something. After hearing that Nami was too late in finding and stopping Robin from boarding with the Government, he had a feeling he knew what they were going to do next, which led him to a warehouse than had not been used for years. It was a long shot, but after her claim that the Straw Hats' real battle was just beginning, he had a feeling they will be grateful what he was doing.
As he was working on his little 'gift', an odd shadow was slowly making its way towards the unsuspecting man. Slowly, it continued to inch closer. Once it was close enough, the Heartless within shot out to attack him... only to be attacked itself.
Iceberg heard the sound of something being struck down and paused in his work. "I see you're awake," he spoke without turning around. "I have to say, fate sure is a powerful thing. I was on my way here, then you suddenly showed up in a frenzy. Good thing you were having some kind of self-battle, or I wouldn't have even managed to knock you out unconscious when I did."
"I shouldn't be here," the person spoke. "I... shouldn't be anywhere..."
Iceberg put down his hammer and turned to them. "Whatever you do from here on out has nothing to do with me, but I will say what I said back there once more in case if you forgot it. They are still alive, and she left to protect you guys."
"And it's because of that I can't be anywhere near them! Not after what I did..."
"... I understand how you feel. Believe me, I do. I had- rather, have- a friend who was like you once. He made a decision that was for the good of us at first, until it was used against him. Well... I wouldn't call it a decision, as it was more of a habit or a hobby for him. After he saw his own creations get used the way they did, however, he tried to deny ever creating those, as they were meant to be used for purely good purposes. Never were they to be used against the innocents."
"Where are you getting at...?" the person asked Iceberg.
"Well... Basically what I'm saying is, don't let one negative thing, no matter how big, identify who you are. It may be a part of you, but it will never define you as a whole. No matter who it was that was in control of the results of your actions, you yourself are not guilty of it. No matter what, at least be proud of you yourself. That... was what our teacher taught him." Iceberg's thought went back to the time when he was just an apprentice of a shipwright, specifically his teacher's last moments just before he was sent off to be killed for something he was proud of doing as a shipwright.
The person he spoke to was silent, contemplating on what was said. "... Did your friend ever recover from it?" she asked.
"Depends on how you mean. But... You can say he's doing well now. As well as can be at least. But, we're not talking about him. We're talking about what you want to do to make up for what was done. Just like he did..." Though he muttered out the last part, the person definitely heard what he just said. "So, what are you going to do now... Xion?"