"Say, why did you suddenly decide to leave?"
Silence.
"Do you want fish?"
More silence.
"Maybe he can't hear us, Lucy."
"Why wouldn't he hear us? He's not deaf."
"Maybe he's an idiot."
At that, Zoro threw Happy a look that showed just how well he could hear him. Happy hid behind Lucy in a flash.
"Do you think Wendy and Charle are ok?" Happy asked Lucy after some more time in silence.
"Of course. Wendy's strong, and they're Fairy Tail mages. They definitely are ok." She guaranteed Happy, although she didn't feel as confident as she sounded. Her hand touched the black key, now attached to her key-ring, and she felt no magic coming from it. It was just like a regular key. Why and how did it send them there, then? Why did it suddenly take control of her?
She had too many questions and no answers at all. She thought about summoning Crux to ask him for information, but decided to wait until they were in dry land and away from strangers – as much as Zoro didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd harm her, she'd rather not have Crux disclosing too much information in front of him.
"Mages?" Zoro finally spoke, snapping her attention back to reality, "That's not real."
"Of course it is! I am a mage!" She protested, showing him her keys. "Didn't you see Gemini?"
"Devil Fruit powers aren't magic," Zoro spoke back, "or so I've heard."
"Devil what?" She repeated, frowning, "I don't even know what that is."
"Are you saying you've eaten one without even realizing it? How stupid can you be?" He asked, genuinely curious, "although Luffy..."
Before he finished his sentence, he went silent and tense, and Lucy swallowed whatever answer she was about to give him. His entire posture changed at the mention of Luffy, whoever that was.
Suddenly, he punched the boat so hard that he made a hole in it.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Lucy jumped, startled, as water came in, slowly but still dangerous. "ARE YOU TRYING TO SINK US?"
His eyes widened just slightly as if he'd just realized something.
"This is bad," he spoke, and Lucy fought the urge to hit his head.
"DON'T SPEAK AS IF YOU WEREN'T THE ONE BEHIND THIS!" she settled for yelling while Happy flew around them shouting for help. Sighing, she reached her keys and grabbed the one she needed, "Open, gate of the lamb, Aries!"
He didn't react as surprised by the sudden appearance of a person this time – though Gemini hardly counted as a person. He did look annoyed.
"You're making us sink faster," he pointed out.
"Shut up! Aries, help us!" She begged, and the lamb girl complied.
"Wool blanket," Aries cast, and the entirety of the ship's floor was covered by a layer of wool that, surprising Zoro, the water couldn't pass through. They, along with Aries' help, removed the water remaining on the boat, and Lucy breathed relieved.
"Why did you get all noisy if you could do that?" He asked, now impatient.
"Because in order for the wool to remain here, Aries has to stay, and that requires magic, moron!" She still shouted. "If I run out of magic before we reach an island, we drown!"
"There's no such thing as…" he then froze. "Wait, there was sea water on all of us when you made that one appear," he spoke, pointing at a shy Aries.
"Yes, thanks to you!"
"Sea water doesn't make you weak?"
"What kind of question is that? It's just water."
"Devil fruit users can't touch sea water!"
"I'm not that! I told you, I use magic! See?" She showed him her hand, the one with Fairy Tail's mark on it. "I'm a Fairy Tail mage."
"That's a stupid ship name," he commented.
"It's not a ship!" She snapped again.
"Right, right. Man, you're noisy," he complained, lying back. "This wool sure is soft. I'm taking a nap."
Just like that, he fell asleep.
What a simple minded guy.
They sailed through the night, and Aries helped Lucy row until Zoro woke up and took the spirit's place. Sometimes, he'd look at her, impressed with her willpower. She didn't look like she could last that long doing that simple exercise.
"We're never going to reach anywhere like this," Lucy commented, tired, when morning came. She wiped a sweat off her forehead and stopped rowing for a minute. "My magic won't last more than a few hours, either."
"I'm sorry," Aries promptly apologized.
"If Gray were here he could make a path," Happy pointed out.
"Yeah, well, he's not here," reaching for a silver key, she opened the gate of her compass, Pyxis, and asked it to point them towards an island. Any island.
It took it longer than usual, and it seemed exhausted when it finally picked a direction.
"Thank you, Pyxis," she said with a kind smile before closing the gate. "Happy, can you see if we're too far from it?"
"Aye!" The exceed flew away while she and Zoro resumed rowing. After a few minutes, Happy returned. "We're not so far, I can see it after I fly for a while," he told her and she nodded, standing up.
"Star dress: Aquarius!"
"Whoa!" Both Happy and Zoro were impressed when she suddenly changed her outfit, to a blue one with scales. Her hair changed, too. "Why are you playing dress up?" Zoro asked.
"Magna Wave", she raised both hands, and a huge wave formed below them, raising the ship with it. "Hold on to something!" She instructed, and the wave pushed them forward so fast that they nearly fell off the ship.
They landed a lot closer to an island.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Zoro shouted at her, letting go of the ship's edge. "You almost threw us off the ship!"
"You did the same thing Aquarius used to do to us," Happy commented, flying above them, completely dry.
"It's not a ship, it's a boat!" She stated, ignoring the exceed "and I just brought us closer. I told you I can't keep the wool for much longer!"
"You look weak now, though," he pointed out and she nodded.
"Aquarius' form is the one that requires the most magical energy out of my star dresses," she explained, and took a deep breath. "Start rowing, I need to close Aries' gate."
They resumed rowing and, just as she ran out of magic and Aries disappeared, along with the wool floor, they approached the shore. They were close enough for Happy to carry each one of them, and they left the boat to sink.
"That was close," Happy spoke, after landing with Zoro. "Where are we now?"
"Some island on the Grand Line," Zoro answered, walking ahead. Lucy and Happy hurried to stay with him. "Don't follow me."
"Why would we? You have no sense of direction," Lucy stated, to his annoyance.
"I need to find the rest of my crew," he stated, "this has nothing to do with you."
"We need to find a friend of ours that, according to that swords guy, was in the same war as your friends' brother, so we're coming with you. He might have information on her," she stated stubbornly.
"We're not going anywhere without a ship and a navigator," he countered, looking around the small town. Some people seemed to recognize him and quickly move away in fear, and Lucy couldn't help but notice how they all whispered his name.
"You're famous," Happy commented.
"I'm a pirate, word gets around," he said in a simple tone.
"Somehow you manage to sound proud despite your humble words," she pointed out just as someone came running towards them.
"That voice! I knew it!" An orange haired girl stopped in front of them and threw her arms around Zoro. "Zoro!"
Then she punched him, hard.
"Damn! Nami!" He shouted, covering his head when she moved to hit him again, "what was that for?"
"It's really you! It's not some weird mirage from the Grand Line!" She stated in a cheerful tone. Zoro grumbled something that Lucy guessed was a curse.
Then Nami's eyes fell on the blonde, and on Happy, who rested on Lucy's arms.
"Did Sanji rub off on you or something?" She questioned, and Zoro gave Nami a very angry look. "Who are you?"
"The girl is looking for someone who was in the same war as Luffy," Zoro explained, and the mentioning of the war made Nami look sad. "I take it you've heard about Ace."
She nodded, tearful, and Lucy suddenly realized how much pain Zoro might have been in. To know that a friend was hurting and not be able to be there for them…
She thought about Natsu's pain after losing Igneel. He left before she could do anything, before she could tell him that she was there if he needed her.
"Do you have any idea of where he might be?"
"According to the papers, he disappeared after the war, and the marines wouldn't give more information. They probably don't want to increase their humiliation."
"Is there anyone we can ask?" Zoro insisted, getting angrier.
"I don't know," Nami shrugged, looking at the ground, "I asked around the village, but nobody knows anything. All they keep talking about is how Luffy is crazy and strong and how Whitebeard's era is over. Things are changing, and people aren't focused on the minor details of a war that had so many significant occurrences. Did you read the part about Red Haired Shanks ending the war?"
"Luffy's guy?"
Nami nodded.
"Can't we ask him?"
"How would we even reach a Yonkou?" She asked, not dismissing the idea though. "We don't have a ship, money, or a devil fruit user that could help."
"We can't do nothing!"
"What about asking the marines?"
"They can't tell people! And we can't just show ourselves to the marines, we're wanted people, remember?" Nami hit Zoro in the head before answering him. "I did manage to get a grisp of our location, though. We're not far from Water 7. If we could sail there, I could navigate us towards Sabaody again. Everyone might gather there, we did agree to meet in three days."
"We need a ship, then, right?" He asked, and she nodded. "Any ships at the port?"
"A few pirate ones, yes."
"What about an Eternal Pose to Water 7? Don't you need one of those?" He inquired, and Lucy wondered what an Eternal Pose would be.
Nami gave him a wicked smile and showed him what looked like compass needle inside a round glass, supported by a wooden frame.
"Got that covered," she assured him and they started moving towards the docks. Lucy had a bad feeling about that, and given the fact that they were friends and she was the unknown person, she figured that maybe she'd be better off staying behind.
Just then Nami turned to the blonde: "Our captain would probably invite you to come with us, he's friendly with everyone, so if you want to… You have a better shot of finding out what happened to your friend in big places like Water 7 or Sabaody."
Lucy nodded.
"She can help too," Zoro commented, and they walked towards the docks. When they approached it, he suddenly accelerated, eyes focused on one ship, the biggest amongst them all.
Nami smiled, watching as, one by one, the pirates on the ship fell into the ocean, as Zoro cut his way across it.
"Come on," she called Lucy, who watched impressed, and a bit scared. She felt sorry for the pirates, and a bit wrong for stealing their ship; "We're setting sail."
••
••
"Are we still too far from our destination?"
"We're five minutes closer than the last time you asked."
"That's five minutes too much! She can't handle that long in a ship!"
"We can't help it! We couldn't anchor even if we wanted to, there's only ocean around us!"
"Aren't you a navigator? Navigate us towards land!"
"That's what I'm doing!"
"SHUT UP!"
Both Charle and the crew's navigator jumped at the order, and the latter got even angrier as he realized it hadn't been his captain's order.
"Don't go giving me orders, doc'," he spoke in a calm voice. Charle half expected them to engage in a fight. "Just tend to Fire Fist."
"I did, and I also tended to the girl," he told them, and Wendy began to stand up, looking better. "I gave her something for the motion sickness."
"That medicine is amazing, Bedlam-san," Wendy thanked the doctor, giving him a gentle smile.
The bluenette relished in the feeling of traveling aboard a ship without feeling sick - she missed that. She hated feeling like her insides were turning as soon as she stepped on a transportation.
Wendy approached the edge of the deck, looking at the vast blue ocean, taking in the water and the shadows of creatures within it. She couldn't hear anything beyond their ship - anything but water and wind, that is. They weren't anywhere near firm land, that was for sure.
Charle and the navigator were still arguing about something, whereas Bedlam returned to Ace's side, determined to be there in case Fire Fist just as much as coughed. Despite being completely healed, he still didn't wake up.
'Find me'.
Wendy blinked, looking around for the female voice, but it sounded like it had been inside her head.
'Find me, find me before it's over. Find me before you sail west. Before the world drowns in darkness, find me."
Suddenly, Wendy felt a powerful wave of sorrow and darkness try to overcome her, and she embraced herself, closing her eyes and trying to shake it away: it wasn't like anything she'd felt before. She felt its anger, its desire to do harm for no reason at all. She felt it with such intensity that it was painful - those feelings went against her very own nature, but she couldn't stop them.
She also felt fear and despair and, in the female voice that reached her, she felt hope.
"Find me, or that is all that will remain."
The voice and its presence faded, and soon after, so did the overwhelming sensations.
Wendy fainted.
Author's note: Thank you to everyone who stopped by and left a review. It felt incredible to read your opinion over the story :)
LucilliaNovaDreyar, LoveFaithHope and MewMew: thanks for the kind words, hope you all have a great week and enjoy the story.
Zombooka: hahaha no worries about not reviewing much, I get it. I have an habit of thanking everyone in the author's notes, so don't mind the fact that I mention you here to thank you ;)
10smash50: I don't plan on overpowering one character over another. They live in two different universes and fight in different ways, I hardly think it's easy to compare skills. Not sure I agree with you on the Wendy vs post-timeskip Luffy though xD but if and when I put them on situations that show off power and skill, I hope that it's in a way that doesn't feel forced ^^ thanks for the feedback!
: Laxus forced the entire guild to hurt one another though, and Wendy knew that. In this world, she could only see the amount of people willing to die for Ace and his own grandfather moving to execute him. She had no prior knowledge of their story or of the situation, so her thoughts were based on the short knowledge she had, and given that, it's rather expected that she wouldn't understand Garp's actions (my point of view at least :) )
Finally, the guest reviewer, your review/comment gives margin to a wide discussion of the theme, and although I'm tempted to do that here, it would be lenghtier than the chapter lol. I'll sum it up: I agree that the Strawhats' character development was huge after/because of Ace's death. No questioning that. However, Luffy and his friends all think he died, and although they'll find out that such thing didn't happen, I plan on working with the impact of what feeling like he lost his brother because he wasn't strong enough will do to Luffy. His friends still failed to be there to help him (in their point of view) and Luffy will still feel like he failed, too. So yeah, Ace's alive and there won't be 2 year training thingy, but I do plan to work on the emotional sideeffects of the war. Also, the headline thingy: it would be anticlimatic to write that 'firefist survived', but if the writer changed the headline to something like 'strawhat Luffy manages to stop the execution in the middle of marineford', it would still be interesting to people there xD all depends on how you approach things.
I hope that, if you do decide to read this through, you enjoy it. I'm always open to your feedbacks :)
That's it, no comments or explanations of the chapter/reasons behind it this time. See you guys soon :)