Chapter 75
The Sound Of Faith
After saving Hiron's life, Eli wasn't prepared to face another danger; his mother's hug. Almost strangled in the tight embrace, the beanpole waved for help, fruitlessly, as the Skypieans watched the scene with hearty amusement.
"Conis..." Eli whined, looking at the blond angel with huge, desperate eyes.
A lovely laugh, resembling that of the sound of tinkling bells left the winged girl's mouth as she looked at the pirate's face flushed in both embarrassment and suffocation.
"Let her go mom," Hiron said, standing by his mother's side.
"HIRON !" Finally unclasping her arms from around Eli, the woman wrapped them around her son's body, a gasp escaping his mouth as she did. "Stupid, stupid boy..." she said, rapidly brushing the boy's scruffy mane.
A hand on her chest, Eli breathed deeply, enjoying the air as it filled her empty lungs at last. With every breath she took, a smile appeared on her face while she gazed at the family reunited.
"Thank you," Eli whispered as she gave Hiron a mischievous wink before turning around to face Conis. "We can go now," she said.
The blond nodded and the two girls walked over to her vehicle. It looked like Nami's and was apparently called a waver. Thanks to a Breath Dial equipped at the rear of the little ship, it was capable of moving on the sea without the help of a sail. Somehow, it reminded Eli of Ace's Striker and at that thought, the pirate's green gaze trailed toward the Upper Yard.
A huge ship was floating in the sky, right above the giant beanstalk, and higher, black clouds were boiling, noises resembling roars of anger emanating from the dark mass. Dozens of thunderbolts were relentlessly striking the holy land; God's fury was devastating.
"We have to go to the Merry," Conis said as she grabbed the handles of her waver. "Usopp and Sanji were badly injured."
With a nod, Eli wrapped her arms around the angel's thin body and soon, the blowing sound of the dial propelling the vehicle filled her ears. The pirate girl was once again very weak, and gladly, she had accepted the free ride to save the little stamina she had left. After all, she had no idea of what was waiting for her on the Upper Yard. Were her friends still fighting ? They had to, for defeat was utterly unacceptable. They had to, for the sun had yet to cast its hopeful light on the country in the sky.
"Merry !" Eli cried happily, as the little sheepy ship appeared in the distance. Docked on the Upper Yard, it was immobile, its figurehead smiling imperturbably despite the thunderbolts striking around it.
The two girls climbed aboard, their heels tapping with force on the wooden deck as they searched for the pirates.
"Suu~"
To the sound of the cute cry, the girls' heads snapped in the direction of the little sky fox. His fluffy tail waving rapidly, it had a worried frown on his face.
"Suu." Conis opened her arms and, as she crouched, the fox jumped on her chest. "Where are Sanji and Usopp ?" the angel asked, rubbing gently the soft fur of her pet.
"Suu ! Suuu !" The fox shook his head rapidly, his worried frown further furrowing.
At that moment, Eli knew where they were, where they all were. The bonds that had formed through their adventures tightened on her insides like a metallic net, pushing the girl to look upward, at the sky. The floating ark, it obviously was Enel's, and they were all there, fighting against a God for the salvation of this country, and Eli knew, above all, that she had to be with them.
"Conis." Her eyes clinging on the ark, the pirate girl tapped her toes on the deck, preparing her legs for one last run. "I'll be leaving the Merry in your care."
"Please..." The blond angel gazed at the beanpole, a faint smile on her face. "Please, be safe."
"Don't worry." Eli gave the worried girl the thumbs up while sporting Luffy's trademark grin on her face. "It'll soon be over."
Both girls nodded and Eli took off like a shot. Ignoring the fatigue and the pain, she dashed through the giant forest over to the beanstalk. The thunderbolts accompanying her every heartbeat, a bright sensation washed over her as she reached the cocoon of cloud protecting the ancient city of gold. Figures, very familiar, were standing there and as her green eyes traveled on each of them, the girl felt her forces coming back in her weakened body.
Relief, however, had yet to completely ease the pirate girl's anxiety. Bodies were lying on the soft ground... Speeding up her pace, she appeared next to Sanji and Chopper motionless figures and the little Shandian girl who was sitting by their side.
A quick yelp left the little girl's mouth as a swift breeze swept her hair away with the paramecia's brisk arrival.
Hard pants burning her throat, Eli stared at the blond and the little reindeer. "Are they... alright ?"
"ELI !" She heard from behind her.
Looking over her shoulder, she saw Usopp and Ace running in her direction.
"Sanji... Chopper..." Slowly, she stood up and ran her hand in her messy hair.
"They are okay," Ace said as he came to a stop in front of the girl.
The moment she saw his freckled face, Eli couldn't force down the large smile that brightened her own. Just like the other pirates, he seemed rather exhausted but alive nonetheless.
"O-kay OKAY ? Are you kidding ! We have to leave now Eli ! This is a nightmare !" His legs trembling just like his high pitched voice, dread was painted over Usopp's face.
"Where... are..."
"Nami and Luffy are up there," Ace said calmly, causing Eli to look up at the beanstalk
Ace took a step forward, his shoulder almost brushing against hers. "You did it again..." he said quietly.
Turning her head to the side, Eli looked questioningly at his grave face.
"You were there and.. and when the island vanished I..." Ace took a deep breath and turned his head to look at his lover. "We were worried about you, Eli. You took reckless risks once again and we didn't even know if you were alive or not."
Eli was silent and thoughtful as she looked deeply in the flame user's dark eyes. She reminded the bomb incident in Alabasta and the worry she has caused him then.
"Girl," Gan Fall called out. "Is everyone safe ?"
"They are alive," she said loudly as Eli held the flame user's deep gaze.
"Trust me, just like they all do," she whispered for only Ace to hear. "Just like you trust Luffy..."
Slowly, she lifted her hand to his shoulder.
"Don't-"
At the moment her skin brushed against his, Eli felt pins and needle vibrating inside of her flesh. The burning wave raced from her hand throughout her body in a split second. Despite her wide open eyes, the girl saw blank while she was thrown away like a shot until she roughly hit the fluffy ground.
"Wha.. What..." Eli shook her head rapidly. "What... happened...?"
In her swirly field of vision, she saw Ace hurrying to her side. Frantically, the girl scrambled backwards away from the dangerous young man while Usopp's laughs filled her thudding ears.
"Don't touch me !" she yelled, as the mighty shivers running under her skin gradually dissipated.
"I'm filled with electricity." Ace sighed. "Sorry, I should have told you."
"Yes." Eli rubbed rapidly her trembling arms. "It would have been nice."
"Are you okay ?" Usopp asked. A frown on his face he seemed genuinely worried about the girl condition, who, taken aback, only nodded wordlessly. "Great ! Let's get out of here now !"
Eli's jaw went a little slack as she watched the marksman's hands moving in all directions. Surely, he feared for his safety more than for hers.
"Wiper ! WIPER !"
As she stood up shakily, Eli stared at the little Shandian girl, trying to remember her name... Aisa. A frown on the childish face, the girl was stomping on the floor while yelling the name of her elder countryman. Useless, the man was looking fixedly at the dreadful scenery of the Upper Ward being swept by God's fury.
Shandians were the descendants of Jayans, Robin explained. They had been sent into the skies along with their homeland four hundred years ago. Their island was torn apart and, as they reached the sky, the people of Shandia, already shaken by terrible losses, were driven out of their home by the Skypieans.
The angels saw in the fertile island a holy ground sent by higher forces just for them. And so, the war began. The war over the new and rich land that had appeared in the skies with the magnificent ringing of a golden bell.
"Did you say something about..." Wiper turned around to look at Robin. "... a golden bell ?"
"Yes." The archaeologist pointed upward. "It's up the stalk," she simply said.
"Enel is after that bell...!" Wiper glared at the ark flying above the beanstalk.
"Let's follow Nami's plan and go back to the ship !" Usopp screamed, louder than the monstrous storm. "Just leave everything to Luffy !"
"Shut up Usopp or I'll touch you," Ace said, and as the flame user reached out his hand in his direction, the long-nosed teen jumped backward, slamming his hands on his big mouth.
Shifting his gaze from the now quiet marksman to the Shandian warrior, Zoro had a thoughtful look on his bruised face. While she looked at his face and then at Ace as the black-eyed pirate stared up the beanstalk, Eli knew that they shared the same thoughts.
"That bell.." she said quietly, now looking at the dark sky as well. "Luffy is going to make it ring..."
"Hey ! In the golden city, there should be a HUGE golden bell, right ?" Luffy asked with a face-splitting grin.
"Yes," Robin said, looking above her shoulder. "It was recorded in Norland's logbook."
"Why did you ask ?" Zoro said.
"I just had a very funny idea !" Luffy laughed. "If I ring that bell REALLY hard here, Chestnut mister and the gorillas will hear it, right ?"
Ace and Eli chuckled at the rubber teen's cheerful behavior.
"They sure will !" Ace said, patting his little brother's back.
"He said he was going to make it ring and there is no way Nami can get him to come down," Ace said, very aware of the strength of his brother's resolve.
Zoro nodded. "This means that his target is the same as Enel."
Once he had set his mind on something, nothing could make the young captain move. Carelessness, stupidity, or utter faith no matter what was the thing that was pushing him forward, Luffy never looked back.
Therefore, his crew was to remain here, in the middle of the wrathful storm, waiting for the saving sound of a golden bell nestled in the highest clouds of the land in the sky.
"DANGER !" Usopp yelled, almost deafening Eli and Ace who were unfortunately very close to him.
The two tall pirates blasted a glare of pure hatred at the long-nosed teen, who, after slamming once again a hand on his mouth, lifted his trembling arm upward.
"Something is falling down," Usopp squealed from behind his palm, holding with difficulty his crewmates harsh stares.
A leaf was falling down along side of the beanstalk. Slowly, it floated from the right, to the left, to the right. Usopp dove onto the fluffy ground with a loud yell of fear despite the slowness of the leaf's fall.
"There's a message on it," Eli said as she rapidly studied the leaf. "Cut the beanstalk, and make it fall westward."
As they looked upward, the pirates could see that the direction to which they were supposed to cut the beanstalk into was Enel's ark. Hovering in place at the west of the stalk, a little cloud was floating by its side. Was the golden bell there ? Had it been waiting for four hundred year nestled on this little cloud ?
"UWAAH !" Usopp bleached face, turned blue, as he stared upward.
The group gasped as the reflection of a gigantic ball of thunder emerged from the sky darkened their eyes. It was even bigger than the previous one which had wiped Angel Island in a few seconds.
"ENEL !" Wiper screamed, anger spreading in the air with his hoarse voice.
"That monster..." Gan Fall muttered.
"There is no way we can get away from that..." Usopp lifted his hands to his face that was distorted in bewilderment and dread. "We are doomed !"
"Luffy and Nami have a plan," Ace said pointing at the leaf. "They are going to use the beanstalk as a bridge to reach Enel's ship."
"That's suicide !" Usopp yelled.
"Is it a suicide or a working solution ?" Zoro asked. "We won't know until we try."
Eli nodded. "And it's not like we've got any other option."
The God of the Sky Country, however, didn't seem like he agreed with the pirates' plan. More thunder bolting from above, right into the soft ground, its anger spread from the skies to the pitiful humans and their feeble hopes. As fast as they could, they ran for cover while the blinding arrows pierced through the cocoon of cloud, revealing the magnificent sight of the ancient city of Shandia, buried for four hundred years.
Panting hardly, Zoro was barely standing. His body was bruised but his faith in his captain wasn't shaken by his exhaustion. With a gasp, the swordsman unsheathed one of his swords and dashed over to the beanstalk.
Swiftly, he jumped and raised his blade to cut a part of the beanstalk in a flash. But as the swordsman touched the ground, a thunderbolt raced in the air in his direction. As fast as she could, Eli took off and dashed over to her crewmate, her green eyes flickering rapidly as the rays of light petrified the young man right under the paramecia's bewildered gaze.
Shot in the air for a second, Eli jumped on the wild wind to catch Zoro just in time before be fell on down toward the city of Shandia.
"HELP !" Eli yelled, feeling Zoro's weighting heavily on her frail arms.
Her eyes closed, Robin popped a hundred hands to make the swordsman roll to safety.
"It's not falling down !" Usopp yelled pointing at the beanstalk.
Unfortunately, Zoro's mighty attack wasn't enough and the stalk, if slightly shaken, was still standing upright. Unfortunate indeed that the only one of the pirates who could cut was now lying unconscious on the ground that was threatening to collapse because of the relentless assaults of the thunder Logia.
"TSULALA !"
A loud cry of pain caused the group's attention to snap in the direction of the beanstalk. Next to it, the giant snake, the one Enel called King of the Sky lifted himself high up. It was crying, an endless flow of tears pouring from his giant eyes, and with another heart-breaking cry, it shot its head to the stalk. The impact resonated throughout the ruins of its beloved city while the group wordlessly watched the beanstalk titling from a side to the other.
Eli's green gaze followed its swaying from left to right, while the King of the Sky collapsed on the little patch of cloud still remaining around of the stalk. The amplitude declined, and with it, the hopes of success. As it came to a stop, the giant reptile slipped gradually from the cloud, and fell onto the stone ground of the ancient city, the storm roaring louder than before, as if it was mocking the group.
Was it the end ? For once, Eli let the darkness engulf in her mind with uncertainty. She could flee. Looking at the gigantic ball of thunder gradually descending from the dark skies, Eli knew she could flee. The paramecia could run and live. The little energy she had left was enough for her to run away, run away with her life. But then what ? Running away she would leave her hopes, behind, she would leave all that she lived for behind. Her dreams, her family... her love.
And so, desperate, she ran. Not for her own life, but for theirs. Eli ran toward the beanstalk and while she used all that she had left to make the stalk fall, Usopp and Ace joined her. They launched attacks after attacks, relentlessly. Maybe there was no hope left, but that was the only thing they could do.
They were exhausted, and in the cries the pirates uttered, their pain, their frustration, their crushed hopes barely got heard as they were nothing compared to the wrathful storm of their doom.
"Eli you have to run !"
The girl squeezed her eyes shut as she heard the voice of her lover. She had heard that before...
"Take Aisa with you ! Eli !"
She heard him and rage as well as dismay started burning inside of her. Not again...
"ELI !"
"NO !" Finally she stopped the endless hammering of her heels on the stalk, feeling pain spreading all over her trembling body as she did. "Don't ask me to leave... Not you !"
Slowly, Eli turned her face around to look in the eyes of the flame user. "Didn't I promise you ?" Tears started gathering on her big green eyes. "I won't run away... Not ever again."
"Move pirates !"
From behind Ace, Eli saw wiper dashing in her direction. Snapping his head around, the flame user jumped away from the Shandian warrior's path.
"What are you-"
Without a word, Wiper pushed the pirate girl away. A gasp escaping her mouth, Eli flew in the air while watching bewilderingly as the Shandian, pressed his palm on the stalk.
"REJECT !"
A loud explosion sound burst in her ears as the base of the green stalk blasted in tiny particles.
And it fell. Slow at first, the beanstalk bent to the side before plummeting faster. It fell.
With its fall, the screams of Usopp pervaded on the Upper Yard as well as those of Aisa. They yelled the name of their only hope, they yelled to the dark skies, hoping to be heard by the young pirate.
Luffy.
Thunder blots roaring from all around her, Eli felt the soft floor she was lying onto collapsing. Yet she couldn't move. She felt herself sliding down while her eyes clung on the top of the beanstalk. Her thoughts were hollow, colorless. Emptily, she stared at a little dot flying from the tip of the stalk to the monstrous ball of energy.
Luffy...
Hands, probably Robin's caught the paramecia during her fall, and laid her gently on the ground of the ancient city of gold, next to the last remaining bit of the beanstalk, but the girl feeble attention was only focused on the large ball of thunder. It was emitting a bright light. It was blinding, yet her eyes couldn't leave its sight. And, in a heartbeat, it vaporized to nothing along with the dark clouds that were looming on the floating country.
The sky was so blue then, luminous, like never before, and as the rays of the sun touched her body, Eli felt a warm and vibrant sensation washing over her... Hope.
"RING IT BRAT !" Wiper yelled. "RELIGHT THE LIGHT OF SHANDIA !"
Eli couldn't force down the smile that was brightening her face, nor could she stop the flow of tears streaming from her eyes and, with the most beautiful sound she had ever heard, she felt her heart beating with every golden rings of the lost bell of Shandia. She could feel love, and dreams, and hopes, all merging and shining inside of her. She could feel her very soul singing with that magnificent sound...
The sound of faith itself.
"When we reached that island we heard a very loud ringing sound of bells. The sound from those gigantic, beautiful bells made of gold can be heard from all the corners of the sea, like a message delivering the city's glory in the old days. The change in civilizations throughout the ages in the endless oceans is for us, who have lived but a few dozen years, a grand matter that left us speechless !"
to be continued
While writing this chapter, I really became more aware of how moving and powerful the sound of the golden bell was. I think that writing this fic allows me to project myself deeper in the world of One Piece that when I was just a lazy watcher. Of that I am glad :)
I hope you liked this chapter. I don't exactly know when will be the next because, sadly, I'm a bit sick. Nothing worrying but still slightly incapacitating.
See you soon.
I would like to publicly thank Sara Tatakai for her wonderful drawing of Eli (it is now linked on my profile). Thank you very much for loving my story :)