Been a long while, but we've finally got a new chapter, so enjoy it people.
"So you helped with those fireworks last night huh?" Zoro asked Usopp as they started getting ready to leave the island.
"Well, I figured I could help out… and I DID get us some gunpowder too! They were so grateful for my help as well! They said-" Usopp started, clearly about to go into another story.
"Yeah, don't care." Zoro said, causing Usopp to facefault.
Lumen sweatdropped a bit as he looked at the two, before turning back to Akira as he stood on the ledge "Well, it was nice having you around for a while. It's really too bad we're on opposing sides."
Akira sighed "Yeah… honestly if it were up to me, I think I'd want to pull your bounty and just let you guys keep exploring… all you've done so far is wander around and help people after all."
"No! I wanna keep my bounty!" Luffy called suddenly "And I want it to get even bigger!" and cue Nami hitting him over the head and downing him.
"No way in hell moron! If it gets any bigger we'll have to worry about big time Bounty Hunters even more!" she roared at him in annoyance.
"You already have 5 people with bounties on your crew." Akira added with a sigh "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the next time you end up pulling something big, you ALL have a bounty by the end of it."
"Then I hope they'll get my good side." Sanji said with a grin… before Zoro muttered 'What good side?' and the two were at it again.
"Ignoring the idiots." Vivi said "Hopefully the next time we meet, it'll be when we can relax."
"I hope so Princess, and I promise I'll keep trying to have young bounty removed." Akira said with a nod "Anyway, I won't hold you up any longer. I'll go wander around the island a bit before I head off too." he said, standing up and pulling his marine coat back on "See you Straw hat!"
"You better join my crew next time!" Luffy called to him with a big grin.
Akira laughed at that, waving as he walked away.
With him gone, it wasn't long before they set sail, the Log Pose pointing them to their next island. "Wonder what we're gonna find next," Lumen mused.
"Hopefully it'll be another peaceful island like this one," Usopp said.
"Somehow I'm not sure if our luck will hold," Vivi sweat dropped.
"Besides, peaceful islands are boring!" Luffy piped in, before getting a shoe thrown at his head.
"That's your opinion! I'd like some more peace and quiet!" Chopper told him from where he was trying to take notes down in his book.
"Wait, was that MY shoe?" Usopp muttered, before looking down… and then dived into the water to get it back when he saw his toes.
Carue sighed out a quack, grabbing the rope to fish him out, while Robin chuckled a bit from her seat on the stairs "Never a dull moment in this crew, is there?"
"I'm surprised you haven't caught on by now that being in this crew means leaving your sanity behind." Lumen said in deadpan.
"I'm sure it'll sink in eventually." she said with a shrug, her usual smile still in place, as the crew sailed on.
A few days passed after that, and it was one early morning that Lumen woke up in the crows nest, wrapped up in a blanket after standing guard all night as he yawned, pushing himself up "Bright and early… man I'd never wake up with the sun back home." he muttered, before he looking around, blinking the sleep out of his eyes as he spotted an island in the distance. "Huh, well would you look at that?" he mused, putting his Driver on, and with one quick transformation he was using the enhanced eyesight from Taka to get a clearer look "Looks… empty… and weirdly pineapple shaped… well, Luffy might have fun exploring at least." he said, before jumping down and transforming back, stomping the deck a bit "We got an island people!"
His shouting had an effect as it woke up the others…and judging by the ensuing commotion he was hearing, probably woke up some of them in weird ways. "As funny as these can be, maybe we should look into expanding your hull Merry." he said, patting the railing… and he heard a groan from the wood that for some reason he could imagine meant 'Maybe'.
Lumen just chuckled a bit at that, right as Luffy climbed up from under the deck. "An island?! Where?!" Luffy asked enthusiastically.
"Right there," Lumen pointed forward to where the island was up ahead as the others soon emerged from below deck too.
"Kind of a strange looking island," Nami said as they could see it now.
"I thought that too, but when I used Taka I didn't see anyone…or anything for that matter other than plantlife. Seems it might be deserted," Lumen said.
"Aw man." Luffy said in disappointment… before Sanji kicked him in the head, sending him flying off the mast, where Lumen caught him by the leg and dunked him into a barrel.
"10 points!" Usopp called with a laugh.
"I suppose we can see if we can't shore up our food stores while we're here and wait for the log to set again." Vivi said with a smile while Carue let out a small yawn, shaking himself awake.
"It should only take a few hours." Robin said "I recognize the island. It isn't named, but it's decently known as a resting point on the Grand Line among people who just explore. The log takes about half a day to set."
"Anything else to know?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"It's covered in fruit, I didn't really spend a lot of time exploring when I last came through." she said with a shrug as she smiled.
"I don't think it's charted." Nami said, quickly rolling out one of her maps that had most of the documented islands of the Grand Line "It should be… about here." she muttered, tapping an empty spot on it, before smiling "Well, I guess I'll do a little survey then."
With all in agreement more or less the crew soon docked onto the shore of the island. Disembarking they were met with an island that looked like quite the paradise, and with a lot of fruit as they were told, to which Sanji wasted no time in stocking up. From there Nami had the boys draw straws to decide who would be guarding the ship, to which Chopper drew the straw that meant he was on guard duty. As for the others, Lumen opted to go with Nami in charting the island, Vivi and Carue also decided to do some exploring while the rest of the boys helped with gathering up supplies.
… oh, and Robin stayed on the ship too, but most of the crew viewed that as a given.
The day was certainly rather calm for the crew, save for one tiny slip-up on Chopper's part because he got lost in his reminiscing.
And then the end of the day arrived…
"Man you guys just plain suck." Lumen said in deadpan as he looked at Luffy and Usopp… who had completely failed to get any fruit for some reason, while Zoro and Sanji both came back with full baskets.
"Yeah, well, I'd like to-" Usopp started to say, before Vivi covered his mouth.
"Quit while you're ahead. You KNOW he'll do better just to show off." she told him in deadpan.
"She's right." Lumen nodded with a grin "I totally would."
Usopp grumbled a bit after Vivi removed her hand from his mouth, but ultimately just opted to go back on the ship with the others.
"So, how was your day, Chopper?" Vivi asked once they were all back on the ship and making preparations to set sail now that the Log Pose had reset itself.
Chopper paused a bit, seeming to think about it, before he smiled "It was pretty good. It was calm… but I had fun!" he said, and sitting nearby on the ship, Robin smiled a bit, a new flower resting in a vase on her table as she kept reading.
A few more days passed and the crew was having a rather peaceful day again, the weather being pretty good, something Nami confirmed that it would be a day of smooth sailing. As such the crew was able to enjoy the day.
First up (because let's get this out of the way) was Zoro who was…up on the mast doing push-ups…with his thumb…from the top of the mast…and he was counting into the thousands. Yeah, nobody question how that was physically possible. On a more normal case was Lumen who'd opted to get some training in too, going for regular push ups down on the deck.
Near the back of the ship, Vivi was with Carue, though unlike usual she was busy sketching something on some paper with some notes on it too. Not too far away was Robin who idly glanced at her before going back to the book she was reading, while back near the front, Nami continued to watch in case of any sudden shifts in the weather, with Sanji coming out with some juice that he'd prepared using some of the fruit they'd gathered.
Last but certainly not least was the idiot trio (Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper), who were fishing off the side of the ship, trying to see who could hook a better catch. So far Chopper had been the first to catch something, even if it wasn't a particularly big fish. Not to be outdone, Usopp soon hooked something, seemingly something big with how he struggled against it. However, when he managed to pull it up…
"Tiny." Luffy said plainly.
"That's a guardian fish?" Chopper added in deadpan.
"If that was making you struggle, maybe you need to pack on a bit more muscle, Usopp." Lumen called over.
"Shut up! All of you!" Usopp shouted in annoyance.
Luffy just laughed at his reaction, before his attention was immediately called by his own fishing rod that had just hooked something. "I got something!" he grinned as he pulled, and much like Usopp he seemed to be struggling. "It feels like a big one!"
"Coming from you it HAS to be big." Lumen said with a grin, coming over and grabbing onto the fishing rod with Luffy, grunting a bit at how heavy it felt "Yeahp, definitely big. Ready?"
"Yeah, on three!" Luffy grinned "One, two, three!" he shouted as he and Lumen pulled hard, a huge splash coming from the water as they pulled up his catch… and they heard it land on the deck with a heavy CLUNK noise.
"What did we catch?" Luffy asked excitedly as everyone was now looking at what he'd caught…and stopped short.
"...is that an ammonite?" Lumen blinked.
"A what?" Sanji asked, having just happened to be nearby.
"Something that SHOULD be extinct…we're not near ANOTHER island like Little Garden are we?" Lumen answered and then quickly asked, looking around, to which the ones who had some decent idea of the Grand Line shook their heads.
"Well if its supposed to be extinct then what's one doing here?" Zoro asked, though there was no answer to that one…at least not one in response to his question, but rather…
"Think we can eat it?" Luffy asked.
"Of course that's the first thing you think of…" Usopp said dryly.
"Well I suppose if you cook it in its shell…" Sanji mused.
"Don't eat the possibly extinct species you idiots." Lumen groaned in deadpan.
Before any further discussion on what to do with the catch could be had, the day took a turn for the strange…or should that be normal for this crew…as the side of the ammonite opened up revealing it was a hatch…meaning the ammonite was some kind of vessel.
"Huh?" was the general reaction from the crew members who had mostly normal brains.
And then, of course, someone climbed out of it, and…
"Well… doesn't he look shady." Lumen muttered, earning a nod from Vivi as they looked at the well dressed man whose face was clearly used to smiling heavily.
"My my, that was quite tumultuous, but, I must thank you for getting me out of the water!" the man declared with a big smile.
"Who's this guy?" Luffy couldn't help but ask.
"Ah, pardon me for not introducing myself sooner," the man said…with a smile that felt so obviously plastered it just made them even more suspicious of him. "With a single call I'll cordially deliver products to your town. I'm Rice Rice from Transponder Snail Mail-Order," he said. "It's very nice to meet you."
"...the heck is Snail Mail-Order?" Zoro said bluntly.
"Well he did say its a delivery service. Has anyone actually heard of it though?" Lumen asked.
"Shockingly I haven't for once." Robin said idly, even as she kept reading her book.
"That just makes him more suspicious," Vivi said, Carue keeping an eye on him in case he tried anything funny.
Rice Rice didn't seem to notice this as he continued speaking. "Truth be told I was in the middle of a delivery when I was swept up in a rather violent storm. Its truly fortunate that you fished me up," he said before turning to his ship. "In fact, as a token of my appreciation…" he then went into his ship, and pulled out a stack of…they looked like books but in reality they were catalogs. "I'd like to introduce you to some of our products."
"Not giving us anything?" Nami raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, what's this?" came Luffy's voice as somehow during the conversation he'd gone over and started rummaging through Rice Rice's ship…and pulled out…honestly they didn't know what it was, it looked like a dumbbell with an overly long handle… that was wiggling nonstop.
"The heck is that thing?" Lumen said, looking on in utter confusion.
"That's our top selling product," Rice Rice said, before going through an explanation that…half made sense…and then it just went from there as he started pitching various different items from stuff that honestly made little sense to actually more sensible stuff like knives and the like.
"Well…he certainly is well stocked," Robin mused, while a few of them were morbidly wondering how all THAT could fit into his ship which was tiny. Eventually though Nami was the one to stop the sales pitches by asking if he had something.
"Paper?" Rice Rice blinked before smiling that plastered smile again. "Of course I have some," he nodded before going through his things and taking out a few stacks of paper, which he then went on a sales pitch of how it was a type of paper that would basically last next to forever and was virtually indestructible.
As he was doing that, Lumen idly flipped through one of the catalogs… before glancing at the vessel and humming curiously. As he did he idly noted the conversation that followed. He wasn't surprised when Nami clearly wanted to buy the paper. She needed that for her maps after all. However, when Rice Rice named his price…if there was music in the air it would have stopped with a record screech.
"Right, pull the other leg." Lumen said, moving away from what he was doing "No paper is worth that much, not even if it's made of Adam Wood, not that someone would use it for that in the first place. Besides, how do we even know if it's as indestructible as you claim it to be?" he said, his vision unfocusing for a single moment but he quickly refocused… and he wasn't complaining about the information he seemed to suddenly know.
Rice Rice seemed to flinch momentarily but quickly put on that plastered smile again. "I assure you that all items in my inventory work as advertised and are priced reasonably," he said…though the slight shake in his voice threw that into doubt.
"That so?" Lumen frowned, before taking one of the papers and handing it to Luffy. "Luffy, do your worst."
"Okay," Luffy grinned before he grabbed the paper and started pulling. Everyone was fully expecting it to tear…but to their shock, the paper held. Luffy blinked, and then tried again…and again…and now he was pulling with his teeth too. Still nothing.
"...okay, so you weren't speaking out of your ass," was all Lumen could say to what he was seeing.
This seemed to give Rice Rice a bit of confidence again. "Of course, the quality of my products are guara-" he started, but paused when his brain registered something. "Excuse me, but what did you say his name was?"
"His name is Luffy, why?" Vivi blinked, a little confused.
Now Rice Rice was starting to sweat. "Luffy? You wouldn't happen to mean Monkey D. Luffy, would you?"
"Uh…yeah she does," Zoro said, before pointing his thumb up the main mast. "This IS a pirate ship."
Rice Rice almost mechanically craned his neck up to confirm that yes, that was indeed a jolly roger waving in the wind. When he confirmed that, he went stock still, like his brain was going through every scenario possible. He was so out of it that Usopp waved a hand in front of his face…no reaction. Eventually though, it seemed he finally registered everything and… "Oh my, look at the time, I must be on my way!" he said before running to his ship, jumping in and getting the hell out of there.
"Weird guy. Wonder why he ran off so quickly," Chopper blinked.
"Probably because he realized he's on a ship with wanted pirates," Sanji shrugged.
"He was so out of it he never noticed his stock. Or lack of it," Lumen snorted…as behind him was a whole stack of items he'd grabbed from the ship.
"When did you get those?" Usopp blinked.
"While he was trying to process the part where he's on our ship," Lumen chuckled.
Yes, Rice Rice was stock still for THAT long.
"You and the witch really were made for each other." Zoro groused in deadpan.
"Hey, he was trying to fleece us first," Lumen shrugged. "Probably."
"I have to admit, he DID act like a typical shady clerk." Robin said idly… from where she'd been reading all this time.
"We got the paper, so I'm not complaining," Nami chuckled as she picked up the paper. "Now if you'll all excuse me…" she said…before she retreated into the Lounge and closed the door.
"...what was that about?" Luffy blinked.
"Considering she just got high quality paper, I'd say she's going to use it for her maps," Robin chuckled a bit.
"That sounds about right." Vivi mused "It'll probably take her all day."
Carue quacked something, Chopper listening, before he turned to the others "He says we should probably avoid disturbing her unless it's important."
"Makes sense, we can handle ourselves just fine for now." Lumen said "So, how about we start cleaning up this little mess a bit?" he said, gesturing to the pile of stolen objects.
"Who died and made you captain?" Usopp muttered.
"Luffy's brain." Lumen shot back in deadpan… and Usopp couldn't really argue that.
"Was it ever even alive?" Sanji muttered, earning a snort from anyone who was close enough to hear. Either way, nobody really argued and got to work. The deck looked better without a mess anyway.
With that the crew was continuing on their voyage, still well on the heading of the Log Pose, which Lumen was holding onto for now. However, things took a turn when the weather started to darken, and before long the sea became rougher. Even so they weren't (complete) idiots and thus they knew how to handle some standard weather. It was only when things started getting…rougher…that they were starting to get worried.
"Think we should call Nami? The weather's getting pretty rough!" Vivi suggested as they were busy weathering a literal storm.
"We can handle a normal storm without her," Lumen said, not wanting to bother Nami for something like this. If they couldn't handle a normal storm without her, then what goo-?
"Uh…Lumen? I don't think this is a normal storm anymore," Chopper gulped, pointing his hoof at something, to which Lumen looked…and his pupils became pinpricks when he saw the forming CYCLONE. That was all the prompting Lumen needed to make a beeline for the Lounge and start banging on the door.
"Nami, we got a cyclone coming!" he shouted.
There was only a second of delay before she flung open the door with a "What?!" as she ran out, frowning as she saw the forming storm in the distance "Good thing you called me… alright, let's move people!" she shouted over the wind as she started giving everyone instructions so they could avoid the storm.
Thankfully, they'd caught the storm early enough that with Nami telling the crew what to do, it was rather easy to get away from it and get back on course, and once they were in the clear, everyone felt themselves relax as they finally found some calm waters.
Lumen let out a sigh of relief "Man… we're really lucky you're practically psychic when it comes to weather." he said, turning to Nami.
"Yeah, I guess we are." she chuckled, before giving him a short hug "Still, you were doing a good job until that point, so I think I can trust you to keep things calm until I'm done." she said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before she headed back into the room, making him laugh a bit.
A few days passed since then and once again the weather was messing with them. In this case in the form of a fog that may as well have been pea soup. "Seriously, how long is this fog going to last?" Lumen groaned. He'd tried using the Taka Medal…and even then he could barely see through the fog.
"Seems like it could still be a while," Nami frowned. For the life of her she couldn't figure out why the weather was so stuck lately. "For now we'd be better off maintaining this pace. The last thing we want is to crash into something."
"Yeah, it'd be a pretty dumb way to go if we were sailing too fast and crashed into a rock or something," Lumen snorted.
"Kinda makes it boring though," Luffy said from his special seat. Even so, he wasn't arguing either since even he wasn't THAT dumb.
"Hey, I think I see something!" Usopp said from where he was using his goggles to try and see if he could make out anything.
"What is it?" Vivi asked as Usopp tried to focus more. When he got a clearer view…
"Look out! There's a huge ship up ahead!" he shouted.
"Wait, what?!" Lumen said, before grabbing a longview and peering through it "Oh shit he's right, that's a Marine Ship! Sanji! We need to turn, now!" he called back to the upper cabin, Sanji poking his head out curiously at the shout… before he gasped as the ship started to come into view and he turned the rudder quickly.
"That was pretty close." Zoro said with a frown as they moved out of the way in time thankfully.
"Yeah, but it's not over yet, we're surrounded on all sides!" Usopp shouted down to them in fear.
"No… no, we're good." Lumen said, looking a bit confused even as he spoke "From what I can see the ships are in the… Sloth Formation… stupid name and how the fuck do I even know that?" he muttered the last part to himself in confusion.
"So basically as long as we don't alert them we'll be fine?" Vivi asked.
"Pretty much. Even then as long as we keep quiet, even if they notice us they probably won't be able to get ready in time to stop us," Lumen said.
"So we go nice and slow. Probably for the best," Robin mused.
Doing that exactly, they sailed through unnoticed by the Marine ships. Even so they remained tense, not wanting to relax till they were fully through. They were around the middle of the formation however when something happened…namely them noticing someone, a boy wearing a chef outfit with a metal pot near him…though he seemed to be a bit spaced out by how he seemed to be looking at the sky. The crew opted to not worry about that…until said boy happened to look…and noticed the Jolly Roger painted on their sails.
Naturally that caused him to freak out a bit and in his surprise, he accidentally knocked over the pot. Now most would expect him to just run back and alert the ship's crew…instead he went and grabbed the pot…which caused him to fall over.
Seriously kid, you're lucky the Pirate Crew in question was the Strawhats or you'd be sleeping with the fishes.
Luffy's hands flew out, grabbing both the boy and the pot… except the boy hit his head on the railing as he was pulled out, causing him to conk out.
"Jeez, way to go rubber-brain." Lumen sighed, palming his face as Chopper ran up to the boy quickly to check him over.
"Thanks!" Luffy said, before Zoro hit him over the head with one of his sheaths.
"Not a compliment." he snorted, before looking back at the kid "So, what are we doing with him?"
"Well, we can't exactly put him back on the marine ship…" Vivi sighed as by now…they'd cleared the formation.
"Welp that settles it, looks like you got a new patient, Chopper," Lumen sighed.
"I'll get something for his head," Chopper nodded as the kid was soon moved inside.
"Let's drop anchor here for now, at least until we decide what we're doing with him." Nami said, with Zoro nodding and dropping Merry's anchor down.
With everything set, and the Marines well away from them…for now anyway…the group started to head inside. As Lumen was about to go in as well, Robin pulled him aside. "Hm?"
"Mind if we talk a bit?" Robin said.
"Uh, sure?" Lumen shrugged before following after her. He didn't really have a reason to deny the request anyway. "So…what did you want to talk about?" he asked as they were now on the back deck behind the cabin.
Robin sighed a bit at that. "There's…really no easy way to ask this," she admitted before looking him in the eyes. "Be honest with me Lumen, do you REALLY not recognize me?"
He blinked… several times in confusion "I… what? I don't…"
Robin frowned a bit "Do you have amnesia maybe? But… no, you still remember your family clearly, and selective amnesia about a teacher would be just silly." she wondered, confusing him more… before he suddenly felt a sudden white hot flash go across his mind, grasping his head as he almost lost his footing.
He almost didn't realize Robin was trying to keep him standing as he was just intensely focused on what was going on inside his head.
He could see them… memories that felt like his, but at the same time, he didn't really have the context of experiencing them.
A memory of himself, learning from a younger looking Robin, disguising herself clearly with something that changed her skin tone and eye color, he could even see a memory of him learning how to read the Poneglyphs from her in there.
And then, a few more memories, of a younger him, with his family, but… he didn't actually remember these having happened in his life.
And he especially didn't remember ever seeing his father dress like a Marine from this world.
After what felt like hours, but was actually just a few minutes, the pain finally lessened, and he blearily realized he was back inside the cabin… and Chopper was shining a light in his face as he sat on a bench "W-when…?" he rasped, his throat feeling dry.
"Robin brought you in just a minute ago, saying you suddenly looked like you were experiencing an intense headache." Chopper informed him "We kept calling your name but you were unresponsive."
"Did something happen?" Nami asked in concern.
"And did SHE have anything to do with it?" Zoro asked, looking at Robin suspiciously, and for once, Robin actually looked mildly offended.
"I'd never hurt my student." she said, narrowing her eyes back at him, surprising the others.
"I… no, it's not really Robin's fault." Lumen said, wanting to diffuse that situation quickly "She asked me a question, and then I started getting a headache because it triggered… something I think." he said, shaking his head "It's like a hammer was taken to my brain to lodge out some hidden parts of it."
"Is it related to all those times you spaced out while talking about something?" Vivi asked him curiously.
"Maybe?" Lumen said with an unsure frown, before looking aside, seeing the boy from earlier still asleep "I'd rather talk about it after the kid is gone, just to be safe."
"That's fair, yeah." Usopp nodded "If he overheard something bad, it might end up getting passed on to his superiors or something."
"Yeah… plus it gives me time to sort it out a bit more." Lumen added with a sigh.
"Well, while you do that, here, better to think with your stomach full." Sanji said, putting down some soup in front of Lumen, earning a grateful nod from his fellow blonde.
"Well, I'll wake him up now." Chopper said, fetching something else from his bag as he walked to the still unconscious kid, pulling out a corked vial and opening it… and the boy started waking up just from smelling it "Looks like the smelling salts work." he said with a nod, corking it back up and putting it away.
The boy, who they quickly learned was named Tajio, was obviously wary at first learning he woke up on a Pirate ship… but after having some of Sanji's soup, he seemed to calm down a bit, realizing that they didn't mean him any harm, and seemed to develop some respect for Sanji because of him being such a good cook.
As he quickly explained, he was a probationary cook on the ship they spotted him on, and the pot he had with him used to be the curry his ship's cook had made… which he spilled after tripping over something while carrying it.
And as… punishment, maybe? Well, the head cook told him to remake it himself… and Tajio just kept failing and failing, since he needed to be able to replicate the exact flavor his boss had, as every ship had its own unique recipe.
Sanji almost wrote him off as a lost cause when he heard he'd been on the ship for six months now and hadn't learned anything… until Tajio mentioned wanting to find the All Blue.
Lumen looked at Sanji as he stopped short, grinning a bit as he idly listened to Tajio talk about it "Now doesn't he remind you of anyone?" he said cheekily.
"Real cute." Sanji snorted.
Lumen smirked, before turning to Tajio "Well, how about we at least help you get back to the ship kid? And, hey, I'm sure as thanks, you wouldn't mind letting Sanji here look around to see what makes the difference between a Marine kitchen and a Pirate one."
"Ah… um… I… guess that sounds like a fair trade." Tajio said slowly as he thought about it.
"It's decided then." Lumen clapped his hands with a grin, earning a few laughs. "Luffy, help them get back there, and then just stay hidden somewhere, alright?"
"But hiding's boring." Luffy pouted.
"I'll tell you a fun story when you get back if you listen, how's that sound?" Lumen said in deadpan.
Luffy hummed with his eyes closed, tilting his head from left to right in thought, before he grinned "Alright!"
With that, Tajio and Sanji both grabbed onto Luffy as he stretched over to one of the ships, the trio becoming hidden by the fog quickly enough.
Once the three were gone, the rest of the crew were about to figure out what to do while they waited for their captain and cook to return. At the time Nami noticed Lumen was still looking where the three had left, but from the look in his eyes it was clear he was seeing something else in his mind. "Is something wrong? You've been spacing out a lot after whatever you talked to Robin about," she asked with a frown.
"Oh uh…well…nothing's WRONG per say, but…" Lumen sighed. "I've just…had a lot to think about, and well…there's…something I think I should say," he said before he went after the others.
Nami blinked, but ultimately followed him, not sure what to say. All she could tell was that whatever this was, it was important…and clearly Lumen was not exactly happy to talk about it. After quickly gathering everyone still on the ship together, the group was soon gathered in the lounge, and after taking a moment to confirm that everything was clear still, they found places to sit.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Zoro asked.
"Well…I guess there's no easy way to say it," Lumen sighed. "I…haven't been fully honest with everyone."
Most of the crew looked at him in surprise, but Zoro nodded "I had a feeling there was something you weren't saying… but I figured you'd just tell us when you felt comfortable about it." he said with a shrug.
Lumen nodded "Right, well… I'm not actually from any of the Blues… or Paradise or the New World. I'm not from the Red Line either before somebody tries to guess that." he said, with Usopp closing his mouth with a click "I'm… literally from a whole other world, a different universe if you want… but, the weird part is that for some reason, I seem to have some memories from living in this world even though I never did."
The crew stared at him in shock for a good moment, before Robin closed her eyes in thought "That… could explain some things." she mused "But… if you're telling the truth, how DID you end up in this world?"
Lumen shrugged "Simple, I died. I got the metal equivalent of an Elephant charging me and basically breaking my body apart. Then I met the god of my universe, at least I think he was, and he basically had me randomly choose another universe to send me too because it wasn't supposed to be my time to die yet."
"Um… are you… sure you aren't running a fever or something Lumen?" Vivi asked in concern.
"He's telling the truth." Usopp spoke up "I… don't really point this kind of stuff out normally, but everyone has a little tick when they lie. Lumen hasn't moved weirdly."
"There's also the fact that no matter how good of a liar one is, their heart beats faster when they lie." Robin added "I put an ear inside your shirt, right over your heart… it still sounds even." she revealed, with Lumen pulling his shirt away a bit to see an ear attached to the inside before it disappeared into petals.
"So, you're not lying," Zoro said, before adding, "So what's the problem?" he said.
Lumen blinked. "Uh…aside from the part where I'm from another world and I've basically been lying to you all this whole time? The part where I'm getting memories that I shouldn't have, and the fact Robin somehow knows me. That really shouldn't be possible," he said the last part a bit dryly.
Zoro blinked a bit, before nodding after a moment "Yeah, fair point, that's pretty weird."
"There's also one OTHER thing, but that one isn't so freaky when you consider the Multiverse itself. There's a manga back in my world, basically a comic book but mostly just in black and white, about this world that follows our crew. My sister is a fan of it, but I only ever read up to all of you going up Reverse Mountain." Lumen explained "I figure it's possible for this sort of thing to happen and the way it works is that the authors are, without realizing it, seers who get visions from other worlds."
"That… yeah, it's a bit off, but thinking of it like that, it makes sense." Nami said after a moment "So, you basically know what we did in the East Blue, but beyond that, you're as blind as the rest of us?"
"For the most part." Lumen said "My sister wanted me to read the story, and she did mention some parts of it, Story Arcs named after locations, the only prominent one I can think of she mentioned is Water 7. Everything else she told me about we've already done."
"Water 7 is an island on the Grand Line known for its shipyards and exceptional shipwrights." Vivi spoke up "It would make sense for us to go there someday, especially if it's to repair Merry and upgrade her for the rest of the voyage. Maybe even recruit a proper shipwright."
"What's Water 7 like beyond that?" Chopper asked curiously.
"The City of Water is a common nickname for it." Robin spoke up "It's known for having canals all around it, using small boats pulled by Yagara Bulls to help carry people around the island."
"Sounds like fun." Nami said with a smile, before frowning "But, back on Lumen's memories… you can fill in the blanks, can't you?"
"Some of them, yes." Robin confirmed "But I think if I say too much he might get a worse headache than he already did." she added with a frown "At the very least… you and I lived on the same island for a few years, and while I was in hiding, your family hired me to be your tutor, and I ended up teaching you how to read the Poneglyphs."
Lumen frowned, rubbing his head a bit "This is so weird… I believe you, of course, but why do I have those memories if I'm from another world?"
"Well…" Usopp spoke up, raising a finger "You said your body was basically blown to bits, yeah? So… what if there was another Lumen in our world, and when you ended up here… your soul basically went into his body because he was dying?"
A chill went down Lumen's spine when Usopp said that. Granted there was no proof of him being right or wrong…but it honestly would make a lot of sense if that was what happened. "That…okay that makes a lot of sense…even if there are a few holes still…" Lumen gulped.
"Perhaps we shouldn't discuss this issue further until we have more information?" Robin suggested. Even if she didn't show it, she felt more than a little disturbed by the idea that the Lumen she knew might be technically gone.
"Probably a good idea yeah," Lumen nodded.
"Though..while we're on topic, I'm curious about the OOO Driver then," Vivi mused. "If you're from another world, then how did you obtain the Multi-King's power?"
"That part is… funny." Lumen said with a laugh "The story exists in my world too as a series called Kamen Rider OOO, which has a toyline that includes replicas of the transformation items. I was a fan of it, so I got the belt and all the medals. God let me bring something with me when he was sending me here, and since I chose the Driver and medals, he made them become real."
"That's…really strange," Vivi blinked. Honestly the odds were crazy like that.
"You're telling me," Lumen snorted. "But yeah, that's the truth of things. Sorry again about lying the whole time.
"Eh, its fine," Usopp shrugged.
"To be fair, we probably wouldn't have let you on the ship if you'd come at us with THAT story from the get go," Nami sweat dropped.
"Which is kind of why I came up with the fake backstory, yeah," Lumen sweat dropped as well.
"Besides, not like you were planning anything bad, so eh, not really a big deal," Zoro shrugged.
Lumen blinked…before chuckling. "Thanks everyone. Honestly I almost feel silly worrying you'd have taken this badly."
"This is the Grandline," everyone said dryly. Yes, even Robin.
"Yeah… put like that… this ocean is crazy." he said with a dry laugh.
There really was no beating what this ocean could throw at you.
And Bam!
Yeah, we revealed Lumen's origins to the crew now, which I bet nobody was expecting to happen in a chapter of filler episodes lol
And what's this? He has a past with Robin? Well, you'll have to settle for some bread crumbs for now, but don't worry, you'll get the full story eventually.
But, anyway, yeah this chapter was mostly cleaning up the last arc some more, dropping Akira since he IS just a temporary member, and continuing their voyage before that little bomb we gave you.
We hope you'll enjoy everything else that's to come, because now...
Count the Medals:
Red: Taka, Condor
Green: Kuwagata, Kamakiri, Batta
Yellow: Lion, Tora, Cheetah
Grey: Sai, Gorilla, Zou
Blue: Shachi, Unagi, Tako
Orange: Cobra, Kame, Wani
Black: Kani
Purple: Tyranno