Happy holidays people~! It's been a long while since I last updated, I know! But! I managed to get another chapter done before the year ends! I do hope you enjoy this chapter! Not much action, but that doesn't mean there is none! I hope you enjoy this chapter, readers~! And have a Happy New Year~!
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Kingdom Hearts. I do not own Guthrie and, soon to join, Allen. Well, actually I kind of do own him.
*OPENING*
Let's fly to the sky
(The sun rises as Merry sails across the ocean)
There's not a single cloud in the sky
(All the current Straw Hats watched the sun rises, Luffy on the figurehead)
Let's fly to the sky. (It's time to fly around) Catch the perfect breeze for you
(The camera faces the sky as the title appears on the screen)
Paint the sky with (Let's go to the wonder world) imagination that no one's ever seen
(Camera faces back to the Going Merry as everyone went on with their peaceful business)
OH! OH! Even if it's too dazzling (Come on)
(Xion looked up and saw Marines ahead of them and warned everyone)
OH! OH! under the sun
(They all prepared themselves for battle. Marines fired cannon balls at them)
OH! OH! If it's you, you can make it! Throw away your pride and FLY!
(Luffy, Zoro and Sanji sent the cannons back at them. Usopp fired a cannon of their own with Xion, in her Wisdom Form, unleashed Triple Firaga at them, followed by a Thundaga, clearing their path)
Everyday is plain!
Real talent makes the world go round
(Going Merry sailed through the smoke. Everyone looked content as they enjoyed the sea breeze)
Deceit won't work anymore.
(Scene changed to Jaya in Mock Town, as camera faced each of the Blackbeard Pirates.)
Mayday, the red light is stopping you too
(Scene changed to Cricket's home, showing Cricket with Masira and Shojo side by side.)
Lend me an ear! And I'm gonna stick on my RAP! Wussup!
(Guthrie fights against some pirates and Heartless. One tried to sneak up on him and Chirithy knocked it away.)
"From tomorrow on I'll get serious!"- seriously cut it out with excuses like that
(Allen danced as he dodged the attacks of the pirates and attacked them at the same time)
Increase your money with your dream! Time is money like NASDAQ!
(The Straw Hats looked at Cricket's gold and searched for the South Bird)
When will you do it boy? It's now or never man! This is the moment, right?
(The crew then arrived at the Knock Up Stream and went to the skies.)
Everybody put ya hands in the air and clap ya hands like this like that
Clap ya hands everybody! Everybody just clap ya hands!
(Scenes quickly changed to different scenes. Xion and Guthrie crossed blades, Luffy's one-hit KO on Bellamy, the group trying to catch the South Bird, then finally their first encounter with the Shandia Warriors)
Let's fly to the sky (It's time to fly around) Catch the perfect breeze for you
(The Straw Hat Pirates arrived on Skypiea and were approached by the White Berets and fought them)
Paint the sky with (Let's go to the wonder world) imagination that no one's ever seen
(Scene changed to the group in the Upper Yard fighting against Heartless, Shandians and Priests)
OH! OH! Even if it's too dazzling (Come on)
(Scene changed to Xion fighting against a blonde Organization XIII member with knives and lightning magic)
OH! OH! under the sun
(Changed to Guthrie and Allen teaming up against the Nobodies)
OH! OH! If it's you, you can make it! Throw away your pride and FLY!
(Changed to Luffy battling Eneru. In a flash of light, opening ends with all of Straw Hats on Merry, facing the camera)
Last time:
"What are you doing here?" Xion asked the Shandorian.
"Well... Let's just say my group is better off without me." Allen answered.
The female Keyblade wielder knew there was more to what he meant, but decided to not ask any more about it. "Hey. Our friends back at camp are having a bonfire. Want to join in?"
"Is that why I saw a huge light over there?" He pointed to the direction of the fire.
"Majority of our crew and some... guests wanted to party before tomorrow."
"What's tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow, we go to find gold."
Allen had a look on interest on his face. "Sounds like fun. Mind if I join?"
Guthrie didn't seem to like the idea and was about to speak against it, but Xion beat him to it. "Of course you can. I'm sure our captain, especially, would be okay with you joining us. Come on, I'll introduce you to them!" She led the tanned guy over to the rest of their crew.
Seeing how much the female trusts this stranger was confusing the counselor more and more. Last he checked, Xion didn't know a thing about the island or anything about the people who lives on it, and yet, she treated Allen as though she knew him her whole life. Unless...
'Did she remember him?' he wondered. His mind then went back to when Xion was ordering him to get to Luffy and the others. 'Back then... Was I imagining it? No. I know what I saw. Her eyes... They changed to yellow, like a Heartless.'
When Xion introduced Allen to the rest of the Straw Hats, as expected, they were all wary of the guy, especially Usopp. Not-so-surprisingly enough, Luffy welcomed the guy with open arms.
"Any friend of Xion is a friend of our's!" he said. "And besides, you kind of helped get us to the rest of our crew, so you're a really good guy!"
"Luffy, you're way too trusting!" Usopp cried out.
"He's right!" Nami agreed. "For all we know, he could be here as a spy!"
"He's not a spy," Xion said, to the navigator and sniper's shock. "I should know. I remember him. We can trust him."
"But Xion-san, he's part of the enemy group!" Sanji told her.
"Just because he's a Shandorian doesn't mean he's all bad. When Vivi was a member of Baroque Works, did we trust them in the end?" Like a jab to the chest, one mention of their temporary member's name brought more than half the crew to despair. "I THOUGHT YOU GUYS WERE OVER IT! Also, I thought I told you guys that I can talk her through our Dream Eaters!"
"Bad time to ask who?" Allen whispered to Robin.
"Vivi is a princess and a temporary crew member," the archeologist answered. "I wasn't a member while she was around, but she was a good friend of theirs. And because she was a princess, she decided to leave the crew for her kingdom."
"And as you can see, she left quite an impact on them," Chirithy added. Looking to Zoro, he added, "But I'm surprised you're not as affected. Did you not spend much time with her?"
"I'm just respecting her decision. These guys on the other hand..." The swordsman trailed off as he looked and saw the guys still depressed. "Well, you can see for yourself."
Allen looked and noticed how gloomy the atmosphere had become. He looked to the side and saw that the bonfire was dying down and looked back to the gloomy members. An idea came to mind as he shot himself over to the flames.
Guthrie was the first to notice his action. "What are you doing?"
Instead of answering, as soon as he was directly above the bonfire, Allen thrusted his left arm down, shooting out flames and reigniting the fire. This caught all the Straw Hats' attention as they looked back to the Shandorian.
"Hey, hey! We can't have this gloomy atmosphere before the big search tomorrow!" Allen said. "I heard from Xion. Tomorrow you're going to look for gold! I know this place like the back of my hand so I'll help out! And also, this night is suppose to be a festival, isn't it? Eve of gold searching festival! This night is still young. Let's keep partying!" He shot himself into the air again and did some festive dancing.
Almost instantly, Luffy was amazed at how good the guy was at dancing and danced along with him. Soon enough, the depressed members got their own little cheer back and celebrated along with the two, and the wolves with them as well.
Zoro was a bit impressed with how the guy got the group back in their positive attitude. "Well, doesn't he know how to act fast."
"I remember. His only answer to gloominess is dancing," Xion said. "For some reason, his dance always seem to cheer me up. I don't remember from what, but it always cheers me up."
Though it wasn't the first time Zoro heard such peace in her voice, it was quite rare for her to do so. It made him wonder if this really was Xion who was with them or if this Shandorian with them had something to do with her being at peace.
After some time of partying, the crew and the wolves all fell asleep. The next day, as soon as morning came, a panicking Usopp woke them all up, claiming that he saw someone on their damaged ship. At first, none of them believed him, for he was a liar. But then, when they got to the altar, they were met with a big surprise.
"The Going Merry's been repaired!" they all said in shock.
All the damages Merry took when Chopper and Chirithy fought against the priest were patched up and the mast that was lost in the fight was back. Usopp cried tears of happiness while everyone else was amazed at the repairs... somewhat.
"Did you do this?" Xion asked Allen.
"I know little to none about ships. You're asking the wrong guy," he answered.
"But who fixed our ship for us out here?" Zoro asked. "The only people besides us in Upper Yard are our enemies."
"Even if my fellow Shandorians aren't your enemies, like me, they don't know a thing about ships. There's no way they would know how to fix one."
"But even so, it kind of bothers me," Usopp said.
"How so?" Guthrie asked.
"While we were on Sky Island, Merry's been in her flying model. How did the person who fixed her know she didn't have a crest, wings or tail?"
Allen took a good look at the figure head. "Maybe because of your ship's head? I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that kind of animal isn't a bird sort."
"That might be the case," Chirithy agreed.
"I'd be more worried if someone wrecked it," Nami said. "But in any case, we got work to do, so chop chop."
"Wait, aren't you a little curious, Nami?" Chopper asked.
"Not really."
Before the blue-nose reindeer could say any more, Xion told him, "Just let it go, Chopper-kun. I'm sure whoever fixed Merry is already aware of how thankful we'd be."
The young doctor nodded in agreement to hew words.
A little bit later, the group had Usopp in charge of getting Merry off the altar. Man in question brought Chopper along as they drove the Crow to the head. Once there, he used his 'Usopp Aa-aa-aa' to latch on to Merry's figurehead. Once that was done, he had Chopper propel the Crow at full speed. It seemed like a good idea... until the Crow was suddenly taken to the air, unable to handle the ship's weight, and broke.
After repairing the small boat, Usopp had Chopper switch with Chirithy. The doctor's response?
"Why, Usopp?! Was it because we failed that first attempt? I can be more useful! I promise!" he pleaded, wanting to be more useful.
"It's not that, Chopper. The thing is, that backup idea I spoke about, you can do it too," Usopp said. Seeing the confused look at the devil fruit user's face, he leaned in to his ear and whispered, "If I make you go along with this, success or not, Xion will definitely kill me!"
It was there, Chopper caught on to his plan. "I-I see!" To the talking Dream Eater, he then said, "C-Chirithy, good luck!" Without giving the little guy any time to respond, Chopper went into his Heavy Point and leapt to the altar where the rest of the crew were and tossed Chirithy over to Usopp.
"What was that toss for?!" the Dream Eater demanded.
"Chirithy!" Usopp called out, getting his attention. "I got a little job for you. Chopper could do it too, but I feel you are the best at it."
"Huh? Something that I can do? What is it?"
"First I want to know... Can you do it?"
"Oh come on! You said I'm the best at whatever you have! Let me do it! I want to help as much as I can!"
Hearing that brought a huge smile on the sniper's face. "Is that so?! Well said!"
The next thing Chirithy knew, he was all tied up and hanging from the back of the Crow.
"Usopp... Don't tell me your backup plan is..." the Dream Eater spoke.
"That's right. It's the bait plan," he said.
"Why me?!"
"I would use Chopper, but in doing so..." Usopp imagined what would happened if he went along with Chopper as he had once thought. Success or failure, it wouldn't matter. The end result? Xion would 100% kill him for ever doing that. "SCARY!" he shouted.
"That should be my line! I'm being used as bait here!" Chirithy shouted. To Guthrie, he then cried out, "Guthrie! Save me!"
Rather than instantly coming to his rescue, the male Keyblade wielder asked, "Ussop, you aren't planning to get Chirithy killed, right?"
Snapping out of his imagination, the sniper shouted, "Of course not! I'm not gonna do that on purpose!"
"...Go for it."
At those three words, Chirithy cried out, with eyes bulging, head expanding and an actual mouth with shark-like teeth, "HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME?!"
"Oh, he had a mouth?" Zoro asked so casually.
"You're cruel," Robin stated to Guthrie with a grin.
"We signed up to do stuff like this, so he might as well get use to it," the guy reasoned. "Besides, if he was eaten whole, he can just disappear and reappear here."
"Usopp's lucky he didn't choose you," Xion said to her younger-brother-figure, who nodded in agreement.
Just then, a skyshark appeared, freaking Chirithy out. "IT'S HERE!" he cried out. "Someone help me!"
"Now, Sanji!" Usopp cued in. As he started the Crow, the chef kicked a harpoon over to the skyshark. The weapon pierced through its fin and held it back from attempting to gobble Chirithy whole. That, of course, didn't stop the man-eating fish there, as it came back for round two, this time using all its strength to unintentionally get the Going Merry off the Sacrificial Altar. Once it started to slide down the stairs, Zoro cut the rope. This caused the skyshark, which was using every ounce of its strength to swim, to recoil into the air, missing the Dream Eater and flipped over the Crow.
After killing the skyshark and boarding Merry, the crew held one last strategy meeting.
"Now then, here's the map," Nami said, setting the map of Upper Yard down. "The search team will go this way, straight south. The 'right eye' should have some sort of ruins, so watch out for enemies and bring some gold back!"
"You make it sound so easy..." Zoro complained.
"There are actually some ruins there," Allen said. "At least along the way, near the 'right eye'."
"I'd love to investigate them!" Robin stated.
"Wait a second. You keep talking about gold, but you're not coming?" Luffy asked the navigator.
"No way! It's too scary!" she answered.
'Well isn't she quite the hypocrite,' Guthrie thought.
"Meanwhile, the rest of us will leave the island with Merry. We'll be in danger, too, if we stay. We'll head for the beach ruins area as fast as possible. According to Allen, there's little to no chance that his group or the priests will be around there. Let's meet up there and escape Skypiea." Nami was marking down all the coordinates that the group had to take and go to. "By then, we'll be super-rich pirates! We can buy whatever we want!"
"All right! All the meat I can eat!" Luffy cheered.
"There are more important things than meat!" Xion told him. Then a thought came to her. "But wait, what about Allen?"
That question brought silence to the crew as they turned to him. "What about me?" the Shandorian in question asked.
"What are you going to do after this? If any of your allies sees you with us..."
"Oh that? Don't worry about it. If it means getting you guys to the 'right eye', I won't mind what happens to me after. The worst that came happen besides getting killed in the middle of their battle is being exiled. Not that the last thing matters anyway."
Hearing that brought concern to them. "What do you mean by that?" Robin asked.
"I'm already an outsider to them in the first place." That concern changed into shock. "I don't know much about my dad. According to my mom, he was a Blue Sea Dweller like you guys. Those two fell in love at first sight. But because my people aren't quite fond of your kind, he had to leave. A few days after he left, my mom was having me. Just the mere thought of her being together with my dad was enough for people to distance themselves from her. My uncle was the only one who stayed by her side and supported her. Several years later after I was born, my mother couldn't handle the pressure of the glares they were sending her, despite how much I was dancing to make her smile, and..." Allen trailed off there, but everyone had a feeling they knew what happened afterwards. In fact, they were practically in his shoes once before in their childhood.
Luffy's eyes shadowed under his hat as he heard the story.
"That's why it's fine," Allen said with a pure smile on his face. "I managed to get by on my own with some support from my uncle and cousin. I'm pretty sure I can handle being exiled from the tribe."
"How can you be so calm at the thought of being exiled?!" Usopp asked.
"He's right! Aren't you even a little bit worried? You're basically sacrificing your own life for us!" Nami followed.
"When you're seen as an outsider all your life, the mere thought of being banished from your home doesn't really scare you so much," Allen simply answered.
Robin couldn't help but see herself in Allen's place. Like him, she knew what it was like to be alone in the world with little support. She then looked over to Luffy, the man who prevented her from committing suicide.
'Are you going to do to him what you did to me?' she wondered.
As if hearing her question, the rubber man lifted his head with a smile. "Okay. I've decided." Pointing at Allen, he then said, "You. Join my crew!"
That demand caught almost everyone off guard. "Luffy?!" they questioned.
"Well why not? He's a good guy! He can dance, he has wings, he's a guerilla, and more importantly, he's Xion's friend! He's joining this crew!"
"Whoa, whoa, wait a second. Don't I get a say in this?" Allen asked.
"Even if you don't, you're most likely joining us anyway," Sanji told the Shandorian.
"Most of us didn't want to board, but this guy somehow managed to recruit us anyway," Zoro explained.
"Come on! Join us! I won't accept a 'no'!" Luffy said.
Allen seemed to be thinking about the decision. One look at Xion, though, and he instantly made his decision. "All right, I'll come with you guys. On one condition." That got all of their attention. "While we're looking for the gold, if it's possible, I'd also like to assist my fellow Shandorians in taking down Eneru."
"WHAT?!" Nami, Usopp and Chopper gasped.
"Despite what they've done, they're still my family. It'll leave a bad taste in my mouth if I leave while they are out there suffering."
"Oh no. That's not part of the plan at all!" the navigator said.
"Yeah! It was scary enough to deal with a priest! You're telling us to kill a god here!" Usopp agreed.
"Yeah!" Chopper also agreed.
"Sure thing." Despite their reasons, Luffy agreed to Allen's conditions, much to their shock. "He's helping us out get to the gold. We should help him out with the god. Besides, I want to kick his ass anyway!"
"I wouldn't mind seeing whoever this god is myself," Zoro concurred.
"Well, that guy did make Conis-chan cry," Sanji added, smoking a cigarette.
"You can't be serious!" Chirithy said in disbelief.
"Even if they aren't, something tells me we're going to meet up with trouble anyway," Guthrie pointed out.
"This crew is known for getting into mishaps and troubles," Xion pointed out. Robin simply giggled at the fact.
"Okay! Now that that's said, let's go!" Luffy shouted.
Unknown to them, something was watching them from afar. The spy disappeared into the shadows.
Elsewhere in Upper Yard, a woman stood. She wore a familiar black coat and had short blonde hair with two strands sicking out like antennas. Standing before her were some alligators. Or at least, what seemed like alligators.
"More nuisances..." she muttered.
The gators all charged in to attack, when the woman summoned a set of yellow daggers in her hand and tossed them at the reptiles. She then charged in after them, as her weapons pierced one gator and electrocuted it. She nimbly avoided the other gators' jaws and got behind them. She recalled her knives and tossed them in different locations. Next thing the gators knew, each knife fired a beam of lightning-based energy, striking each and every single one of them. Not only were they weakened by this attack, but they were also paralyzed. Calling back her knives once more, the blondie suddenly teleported from one reptile to another, cutting and slashing them with her weapons. Soon enough, her assault was over, and the crocs all lied defeated in their own blood.
"That wasn't even a warm-up. I'm extremely disappointed," she said. Just then, one of the creatures Allen, Xion and Guthrie faced the night before appeared. "Oh. A Dusk. What is it this time? Something to report, I hope." The creature nodded and took out what seemed like a sketchbook and a pen. It scribbled something on a blank page and showed it to her. One look, and the woman mercilessly destroyed it.
"So... she's here after all. And with some of those somebodies at that. Well now, it's soon time to bring you home. After I kill off these people who brainwashed you... Xion."