A/N: Uh, yeah, long time no see?
Chapter 34
Visions
"Have you ever seen the future?" Cantora asked as the group traveled deeper towards the center of the ship.
"Not seen as in a vision," Harry admitted, "only once as a spoken prediction," he continued, thinking back to the day he told Nico Robin she'd find friends who would support her dreams. 'And,' he thought to himself with bitterness more out of habit than real emotion, 'through another's prophecy.' That was long past however, so he shook himself out of such thoughts and focused on the present. "Are there people who can?"
"With some help, yes," Cantora told him, when suddenly the floor opened up beneath them. With startled yelps, the men tumbled to the floor while the young woman slid calmly down a well-placed ramp.
Looking around, Harry could see that other than the wooden ceiling that had already swung closed over their heads and the few flickering torches around them, the rest of the room they'd fallen into was made of metal, likely steel.
"This way," Cantora urged them as she walked towards a wall. Placing a hand on the silver material a square door appeared, easily large enough for them all to walk through.
Inside this larger room, almost everything was made of metal, though hanging from the ceiling shone a large chandelier, and the floor and walls were lined with either greenery or shelves. It was clear that the only way in or out of this strong hold was through the use of Cantora's unique power to create a doorway.
"On Fishman Island there is a young mermaid who can see visions of the future with the power of haki," Cantora spoke, closing the door and sealing them inside as she approached a covered shelf. "However, her Color of Observation, though strong, is not enough to see something significantly far away from the present. What concentrates her supernatural talent with haki is a rare item she only happened to stumble upon while exploring the seas around her home." The woman created a new door into the sealed shelves and pulled out a large orb, clear as crystal but for the pearl sheen visible from certain angles in the light.
She set the ball carefully down on a cushioned chair and turned to Harry. "My request is that you use it to try and see my future."
"That is so cool, yes sirree!" Spaz gushed, bouncing on his feet while leaning towards the gleaming sphere, not quite daring to step closer but clearly fascinated by its power.
Harry reached a hand out and caressed the air around it, refraining from contact as he relaxed in the chatter of his excited friend.
"I'm not exactly a fan of divination," he slowly sounded out. "I'm well aware of the reality of fortune-telling, but I'm mostly of the belief that any good that may come of knowing the future often holds a high price."
"I'm aware of that," Cantora replied, dismissing Harry's worries. "The young mermaid I mentioned is certainly not very happy seeing disasters in her visions. But that shouldn't matter so much for me. Do you have any idea how old I am?"
This time Roxy answered, having a greater knowledge of the Old Man Merchant legend from his old job. "It's been theorized that you've been a man of trade for nearly eighty years now."
"Close enough," Cantora shrugged, "though originally this business was a family trade. Eighty-five years ago, I ate the Door fruit to my merchant father's horror. A decade later, my ability became his business' most valuable trade secret, because he could ship goods faster than any other merchant in North Blue. I inherited this island of a ship from him about half a century ago, I suppose, and I've been the so called Old Man Merchant ever since.
"So you see," she continued, running a hand through her rusty brown hair that didn't show a hint of the grey expected of one over eighty five years old, "I'm not nearly the age I appear, and as I get farther on in the years, I worry more about what will become of my business. I have no children, and all protégés I've attempted taking on cannot handle my, hmm, empire is a good enough word, though a bit grandiose. What I wish to know is how much time I have left to either find a capable heir or disassemble everything."
"Time of death," Harry whispered. "What a morbid thing to look for," he muttered. His mind vacillated between his curiosity to know if it was even possible to direct a vision towards a specific event and his own dislike of prophesized deaths. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be seeing anything so specific as her actual day of death, however, and so his hand glided over the pearl-like surface of the crystal ball and a scene appeared.
The room is an empty bar, with shelves filled with bottles of different colors. Standing in front of the shelves is a large man with a square jaw and hair fashioned like a bull's horns. He is cleaning a glass with the bottom of his apron with a blank expression on his face. When he is satisfied, he turns around towards a wall where a calendar is displayed. Harry only just barely read the year – 1517AOP – when the bartender places his empty hand over it and pushes. A circular door appears, opening up into a cupboard of beer tankards. His cleaned glass joins them before the door closes and disappears.
"Harry? Harry!, Harry, Harry, Harryharryharry – "
Harry startled a step back and shook his head clear. "Yeah S'hpaz, wha's wron'?" he slurred.
"You totally blanked out for almost ten minutes, Harry, are you sure you're okay? Has that ever happened before, 'cause I don't think it's ever happened before, and really that was freaky when you didn't blink at all, no sirree, you didn't, and –"
"I'm fine, Spaz," Harry reassured him, blinking a few times. Now that he thought about it, his eyes were rather dry. Had he really been out of it for ten minutes? The vision seemed barely thirty seconds long.
"Well?" Cantora inquired eagerly, reaching over to grasp Harry's hands. "Did you see it? How long?"
Harry thought back to what he'd seen. "Only one person can have a devil fruit ability at a time, so is there a way to lose your ability?"
"As far as current research knows, death is the only way for a power to be lost. After a user dies, the fruit is reborn somewhere, free for the taking by another," Roxy explained.
"I see," Harry sighed. "Then, I'm afraid you have less than five years. In 1517, a bartender will create a door in a wall to put away a clean glass."
Cantora drew back in shock. "Less than five years? Kami-sama above, less than five years! I suppose there's nothing for it. I'll have to start scaling back business as soon as possible." She started mumbling under her breath, pushing open doors at seemingly random locations and pulling out timetables, schedules, inventory lists, den-den-mushi, and a pile of unfamiliar objects she arranged over a large steel block.
"Is there really no way to narrow it down further?" the woman asked, flipping simultaneously through a planner and an address book.
Harry shook his head. "To be honest, I'm surprised I could see such a clear vision of anything over a week or two into the future. Fate isn't something set in stone, there are just certain major events that are inevitable as a result of past events. Everyone's death, for example, is inevitable. Considering how valuable devil fruits are, it's inevitable that your power will be found by another and used. My guess is that whether you die in an accident or of old age, these two events will occur in such a way to bring about the vision I saw, but not much else can be predicted. Does that make any sense?"
But Cantora was no longer paying much attention to him, having received an answer when Harry shook his head in the negative.
"Ah, um, go on and use the ball for as long as you wish," she hurriedly offered, before opening a door into the steel block in front of her and pulling out a bag that she threw at them. "Here are you're earnings from yesterday. Just let me know when you want to leave." And with that, she turned back towards her own business.
Harry, Roxy, and Spaz traded glances before turning back to the crystal ball, just staring at it for a moment. What the heck were they going to look for?
"Red-hair is going to be so jealous," Roxy smirked, running a hand through his hair to sweep it back, admiring his own reflection in the large orb.
"He can be rather childish about such things," Harry agreed. "Sometimes, I don't think he's any older than Luffy."
"Nah," Spaz disagreed, rocking back and forth on his heels. "He's more like Luffy's older brother, yes siree, always teasing him and stuff, yeah?"
Harry chuckled. "I wonder if Luffy's still upset with his older brother." He picked up the orb and watched as another bar appeared, this time the familiar inside of Partys'.
"They've been away for awhile now," says Makino as she dries a wine glass. "Do you feel lonely, Luffy?" she asks the boy before her.
Luffy is sitting at the bar on a tall stool with a glass that was empty but for a few ice cubes."Nope," he denies. "I haven't forgiven them for the bandit incident yet! I overestimated Shanks. I thought he was a tough pirate. What a disappointment."
"Really?" Makino smiles. "I think people who can laugh it off after being picked on are pretty brave."
"That's because you don't understand," Luffy pouts, balancing his cup on its edge with his mouth. "There are times when a man should fight back!"
"Oh?" Makino laughs good-naturedly as she humored the child's moodiness. "I guess I don't know much about this sort of thing."
"That's right," Luffy replied petulantly, "you don't."
"Excuse me."
Makino and Luffy glance towards the door of the bar at the incoming customer only to gape at the familiar face of Higuma, the mountain bandits' leader.
"Well, looks like the pirates aren't here today," Higuma states with a grin. "It sure is quiet." He steps forward, leading his band of men into the bar and seated themselves with no further ceremony. "What are you waiting for?" he barks, slamming a hand down on the table with a loud bang. "We're customers. Bring us some sake!"
"Yes, of course," Makino quickly replies and soon the bar is filled with the drunken laughter of bandits as they guzzld beer and wine.
"Remember the expression on those pirates' faces the other day?" they laugh.
"He didn't even say anything after getting hit by a bottle."
"What a gutless pansy!"
"When I see a gutless chicken like that," Higuma sneers, "it just makes me so mad. I really wanted to kill him. Pirates only know how to act cool."
"SHUT UP!"
"Huh?"
"Don't underestimate Shanks!" Luffy shouts, jumping off his stool only to be held back by Makino as he tries to advance forward towards the bandit leader. "He's not a coward!" he yells, ignoring Makino's pleas to 'let it go.' "Don't underestimate Shanks!" he repeats, at such a volume that one wonders if he is instinctively using his rubber body to increase his lung capacity.
Luffy continues to scream when Higuma rises from his chair and approaches. Makino gasps in fear as the bandit looms over them. She shoves herself between Higuma and Luffy only to be backhanded to the floor. Luffy is lifted by his collar and tossed out the bar door with a shocked yelp, followed by Higuma and his band.
"Shit," Harry cursed, stumbling backwards. "We have to go."
"What's wrong?" Roxy inquired. "What did you see?"
"Is something going to happen to Luffy? Is he alright? No, wait, it wasn't the bandits again, was it?" Spaz asked, shooting out questions rapid fire.
"Cantora!" Harry called out. "We need to go."
"Go?" Cantora blinked. "Are you sure? You've barely used the pearl at all. Though, I suppose I wouldn't be averse to the idea of you coming back tomorrow for another session, but –"
"There won't be a next time," Harry interjected. "And if we make it in time for what I saw then I assure you've more than paid back any services I've performed for you, so if you please take us back to the docks?"
"If you're in that much of a hurry, then follow me," Cantora acquiesced, holding a bent arm out to her side. With her hand raised flat, she pushed the air, and a door formed out of the empty space, opening into a dark void. The merchant stepped forward to straddle the two sides, waving the others in with her other hand.
Having no other options, Harry, Spaz, and Roxy walked through the door, followed by Cantora who let the door swing close behind them.
"Now if I recall correctly," Cantora muttered to herself, holding her arm up once more, this time above her head against the strange black light that surrounded them, "Red-hair Shanks is docked at unit G, subunit Ram, space number 16." She pushed, and a door swung up and over, revealing a square of sky.
The mismatched group of four clambered up to find themselves on the deck once more, behind an abandoned grilled kabobs stall. On the other side of the stall floated Roxy's and Shanks' ships. Surprisingly, the crew could be seen rushing towards them as well.
"Ah! Kid, Boy, you're here!" Shanks yelled, pointing at them in surprise. He detoured slightly towards them and skidded to a stop a few feet away. "And this must be your new friend, Cantora! Nice to meet you," he grinned. "These two speak quite fondly of you," he added, clasping Harry and Spaz by the shoulders with a cheeky wink, making Harry roll his eyes and Spaz splutter in protest.
"You as well," Cantora smiled. "Of course, you're quite famous by your own right, Red-hair Shanks."
"You've heard of me?" Shanks asked excitedly. "Awesome!"
"Oi, Shanks," Harry butted in. "Not that it isn't great and all that you're making friends and all, but why are you all coming back so early in such a rush?"
"Ahaha," Shanks laughed nervously. "Well, we might be strategically retreating from what might be a rather large pirate crew who might have threatened to kill everyone aboard this ship because we might've just defeated their team in the battle-royale after which they complained we never would have managed such a feat if their captain was participating to which I might've replied saying that their captain is a coward for not doing so from the start."
Harry, Spaz, Roxy, and Cantora barely had a second to stare in shock at this information when the rest of the crew arrived in a great stampede, yelling at them to hurry up and board the ship.
"Right! Let's go," Shanks chirped. "So long, Cantora," he bid farewell, then grabbed Harry and Spaz by their sleeves and pulled them into a run at the ship.
"Good luck!" Cantora called at them.
Harry looked over his shoulder and waved goodbye. "You too!"
A/N: *sigh*, Merlin, I didn't realize my college class schedule this semester was so killer! I think I've got a flow working out now, though, so I hope to keep updating!
Reviewers:
Kimay: Thanks for you're wonderful(ly long) reviews! Yeah, if you thought chap 33 was a long time coming, sorry about this one... .
To those of you who actually suspected Cantora was the merchant: You guys are scary! Geez, haha, :P
To those of you who were upset that the merchant wasn't Sirius: I'm sorry, but I really don't plan on bringing Sirius into this. When someone dies, they're dead. Dead people stay dead. I already defied this big time with Harry's "failed suicide" and it's bugging me enough without bringing anybody else back. I realize there's nothing particularly wrong with believing the Viel didn't actually kill Sirius, but I've read too many fanfics that start with Sirius and end up treating death like some sort of temporary illness you can just bounce back from. I don't want to go there.
GameJunkie7: Yes, yes it's very scary. But also kind of awesome.
Thanks again to my beta, PyromanianBlackWings
647 reviews so far, 2/6/12
Thanks everyone for sticking with me!
PS: All of a sudden, I'm getting an influx of alerters for my Supernatural/HP crossover "Witch" that I didn't really plan on continuing. What the heck happened? Did some really popular author favorite it? Was it placed in some really often perused archive? Someone clear up the mystery for me, please!