Sorry it's late, had a Canada Day party… and I had no sleep… I'm soooo tired…
well.… On with Time on the Sea! Enjoy the chapter!
I no own One Piece! (But it would be cool to…..)
Time on the Sea
Chapter Fifteen
The next day, many of the villagers were hung-over, and lazing around the towns, hands grasped their heads, but huge smiles on their faces. It wasn't until noon that everyone was awake, but Luffy was up earlier than that, checking up on Melody who was still in the state she was last night, glowing blue eyes and fighting loosely at her binds that hold her to her bed. Luffy, sighs and smiles sadly at his wife. And a bit worried at how the crew will react to learning Melody's history. He locks the bedroom door, and turns to see his first mate and cook, "Common, Luffy" Zoro motions "You gotta help loading the supplies onto the ship." The villagers were kind enough to give them food and a few medical supplies for Zoro. "Even Usopp is helping out" Sanji emits as he takes a drag of his cigarette. Luffy smiles, "Right"
An hour later, Merry was packed and ready to go, numerous Villagers stood below them on the docks to see them off. Johnny and Yosaku had left after lunch, needed to get back to their bounty hunting jobs. The only person they are missing is Nami. Luffy and Usopp lean against the railing "Is Nami even going to come?" Asks the bored Usopp, his head slightly pounds from the beer last night. "Of course she is" Luffy says strongly "She's our Nakama!" even the crowd was talking amongst themselves, wanting to thank Nami one last time before she left with the crew.
Just then Nami's voice rang out from the back of the group. "SET SAIL!" she runs through the villagers, as they try to grab her, calling for her to stop. Luffy smirks and the crew set the boat off; Nami reaches the end of the dock and jumps, landing on the deck proudly. Leaving the people shocked. Then, with a small smile, she lifts her shirt up, and multiple wallets fall to the deck. The crowd screams, their wallets missing from their pockets and shirts.
Nami turns to them, a bill in hand and smirks "Take care everyone!"
"YOU ROTTEN LITTLE THIEF!" the crowed screams at the retreating boat.
"Hasn't changed a bit…." Usopp sweat drops. Zoro huffs "She isn't gonna betray us again, is she?" Sanji just thumbs up at her, while doing a wavy noodle dance "Nami, Good job!"
Luffy bursts out laughing, loving his crew more and more.
As the island gets farther away, the angry yells of the villagers turn happy "Come back anytime!"
"Stay safe!"
"Thank you!"
Nami smiles widely, and waves to them "Good-bye everyone! I'm off now!"
As the Island gets out of site, Nami gasps "Wait! Where's Melody!" she starts freaking out, and Usopp joins in, thinking they left her behind.
Zoro and Sanji look to their captain, who is standing against the rail of Merry, his eyes cast over by his hat. "Melody is in her room" he states.
Nami looks at him puzzled "Than why isn't she out here with us?" she walks to her shared bedroom with Mel, and twists the doorknob, it's locked, so she twists it again in frustration, "Who locked it?"
"I did" Luffy walks forward, and pulls out the woman's room key from his pocket.
"When did you get that key?" Roars Nami
"I've always had it, for this reason" he places the key in the lock, ignoring the fuming Nami, but stops before unlocking it. With a quick look at his curious crew and the clear sea surroundings he gets absolutely serious "what I'm about to show you, and tell you…. It cannot leave this ship, or your mouths unless my personal permission."
Nami quiets down, her face neutral and nods, though a bit confused. Zoro and Sanji nod without hesitation their fatefulness to their Captain is absolute, Usopp takes a deep breath, and nods bravely. Luffy smiles lightly "I trust you all, and you might want to tell Melody, but she cannot know, for her own safety and to keep it away from the Marines and Government." With a small click the door swings open slowly.
The dark room is bathed in the afternoon sunlight. And Melody's eyes shine ocean blue. Nami and Usopp gasp at the sight of her; tied to her bed, which she rarely uses, always opting to use a hammock, her arms and legs bound to the head and foot boards.
Sanji crunches his cigarette. Zoro is silent. Nami and Usopp jump when Melody silently tugs at her binds. "Melody…" Nami as has her hand covering her mouth in shock.
"What… why are her eyes blue… Melody?" Usopp tries to get her attention but is stopped "She can't hear you" Luffy explains, "she gets like this once a year, always at the same time." He shuts the door quietly and locks it again. "Sanji, can you make us something to eat? This is gonna take a while" the chef nods, and everyone follows him to the kitchen.
Once settled, with sandwiches in front of everybody, Luffy sighs, they are going to want to know everything… with a deep breath Luffy begins.
"Ten years ago. Shanks, as you know, the pirate who gave me my hat, arrived at my island after a small trip but not alone, they had an extra passenger they picked up who was floating alone in a small boat, not far from the Island. This was Melody. Shanks and his crew brought her to the local bar where I always visited and had food at. It was kinda their base during their time on the island. Melody woke up not long after, we fought, claiming who was older or younger" Luffy laughs lightly "a stupid fight, and then Shanks began to question her on how she got to be alone on the ship." Luffy paused "…but he never got an answer. Instead Melody's eyes turned sea blue, and an ocean wind burst into the bar, it circled around until it enveloped Melody. She then fell unconscious when the wind left." Luffy took a big breath, everyone listening intently "it was then that Shanks explained it, Melody has been blessed by the sea, I don't know why or how or even when for that matter but once a year, for 24 hours she gets into that state, and tries to get into the ocean. But you can tell when it's coming; she gets a fever and a huge headache." Then Luffy's face darkens, the crew are at the edge of their seats. "For some reason, the government is after the person that is blessed. Shanks also told me that the last known person to be blessed was Gold Roger's lover. She was one of the most wanted people in the world, as Shanks said it, maybe more than the Pirate King himself."
"Does that have to do with the tips of her hair being the same sea blue?" asks Nami
Luffy nods "that happened when she ate the speed-speed fruit, even when she cut her hair the color popped up again."
"What happens when she wakes up?" asks Usopp
"She doesn't remember a thing; she doesn't even know what happens for that one day. I promised Shanks I would keep her save from the government, they can't know about it."
"We'll keep Melody-chan safe too!" Sanji roars, with fire in his eyes.
"She's are nakama now as well" Zoro smirks "The government isn't getter their hands on her"
"o-o-of course! With my amazing bravery and strength it'll be a snap!" Usopp sprouts.
Nami smiles "Of course!"
"Shihihihihi, great" laughs Luffy "But remember to act normal tomorrow, she can't know"
The crew nods.
"What would happen if she fell into the water?" Asks Zoro
"On a regular day she would just sink, she doesn't get weak like normal fruit users, but she has never fully fallen in in her blessed state. Once her foot got in, and it was like the sea was trying to pull her in, I got her out though."
Luffy never mentioned Mel's past though; it was hers to tell not his.
Sailing became quiet afterwards. Everyone doing their own thing, Usopp and Luffy played a game, with Luffy checking up on Melody every hour, Zoro napped, while Sanji waited hand and foot on Nami.
After dinner, everyone starts playing cards in the kitchen, and at 5 after 12, in shuffles Melody.
"Sanji~!" she wines "I'm starving…. Make me some food, please! I feel like I haven't eaten all day~" Sanji jumps up "Of course, Melody-chan!"
"Hey, hey Mel! Come join our game!" Luffy smiles widely like a child and pats the seat next to his. Melody smiles "What are we playing?" she asks
"Um… sea-king!"
"It's Go Fish Luffy, not sea-king" Nami slaps him on the back of his head.
"But sea-kings taste better"" he wines. Everyone laughs, while Nami sighs.
Sanji places a pile of food in front of Melody "When'd we leave the island?" she asks, after some bites.
"Yesterday, you were sleeping a lot, so we decided to let you get some rest." Luffy smoothly lies.
Nami nods "You were out like a light" she giggles.
Melody nods in between bites of food, and smiles widely, the crew doing very well at hiding the last 24 hours from her, she doesn't even notice.
(I wanted to stop it here, but it's too short isn't it….. :P well then here's some more!)
Back to Melody's POV
"Hey~! Nami~ can I please~ have a tangerine?" Luffy wines, after being thrown from the trees by Sanji, Nami has just finished planting them on the deck and made her way to a lawn chair shaded by an umbrella on the main deck.
"NO" She says, lifting a newspaper a News Coo dropped off a couple minutes ago.
"So…" I swing my legs from my seat on Merry's railing, behind her, my back to the ocean "We're off to the Grand Line, our next big adventure!" I smile.
"Yep" Luffy laughs from his seat on the floor beside Usopp.
Nami opens her paper and out of the corner of my eye, a stray paper floats from it. "What's this?" I ask out loud and pick it up.
…
"WAHH! Luffy! You got a bounty!"
"What? What? Let me see!" Luffy bounds to my side, and pulls the poster from my hands. "Ohhh~ look here I do!" He laughs and passes the poster to Usopp, laughing wildly. "Nice job, Captain! Who's next I wonder…. I hope it's me!" I pat his hatted head.
"30,000,000 Beli!"
"We're wanted men now!" Luffy celebrates.
"Don't you realize this means your life is at risk?" Nami sweat drops, but she goes unnoticed.
"Look!" Usopp points to the back of a head in Luffy's smiling picture. "That's me! I might be famous!"
"As if" Sanji pouts, and joins us near the poster.
"…With this, we can't afford to be in the East Blue any longer" Nami frets, while Luffy and I hop off the railing and start dancing along with the boys "ALRIGHT Men! Let's head straight for the Grand Line!"
"AYE, AYE!" we cheer.
"Hey" Zoro cuts in our celebrating short from waking from his nap "I see an island up ahead"
Nami turns to the sea, "Ah, we're here already, Loguetown"
"What's Loguetown?" I ask. And stare out at the approaching island lush with trees.
"It's a port town, the last before the entrance into the Grand Line. It is also the birth and death place of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger."
"Awesome, really!" Luffy stares wide eyed from his seat on Merry's Lamb head he just jumps to. "Wow… so that's the town that the Pirate King died at…"
"Yep, the island is also known as the beginning and the end. " Nami explains, "Shall we go?"
"Yosh"
"We'll arrive in about an hour, so everyone get ready"
"Hai~!" we cheer, Usopp goes off into the boys room with Luffy, Sanji goes back to slaving over Nami, and Zoro falls asleep. So heading into my room with Nami I grab my small back pack from my hammock, and what leftover money I have gathered since leaving home. "So…" I muse to myself "I need some new clothes… and maybe I'll get myself a weapon…? Super speed isn't going to be enough on the Grand line." I seal-up my bag and swing it over by shoulder. "Maybe I'll piss off some Marines and get my own bounty while I'm looking around the execution platform…." I grin evilly.
"We're here" Nami calls us back into the deck. I jump off Merry to Luffy's side
"Wow, this is a busy town…" Usopp whistles, it is indeed, hundreds of people, are walking around the shops, the street looks like it goes on forever, from the pier. "We're gonna check out where the Pirate King died!" I grab Luffy hand, and we run into town.
"Yep"
From behind us Nami sighs, and the rest of the crew goes their ways to get what they need.
"So…." I find myself in the middle of a deserted street "where did Luffy go? I can't believe we got separated…" I sigh, and scratch my head. "I guess he went to the platform…. But where's that…?"
Walking my way back to the busy shopping streets I walk past a large weapons store. In the large display window sits a long chain that flared a dark blue tint in the sunlight, and a heavy looking weight on one end of it. "Oh~, I guess I can meet up with Luffy later" I smile eying the weapon, and walk into the store.
A teen, maybe 13 years of age sits behind a large glass display case, reading a book, he has short brown hair "Yo" I greet him, he looks up, my hazel eyes meet his brown ones "Oh, hello" he closes his book "What can I do for you?" He smiles.
"I saw the chain in the window, and was curious"
"Oh, that one" he makes his way to the window, and brings the chain back to his seat "yes, hand crafted" he hands it to me it inspect. It's cold, and surprisingly heavy, the ball being the heaviest point, about the say weight as one of Zoro's easier irons, (heavy enough if dropped it would make a nice dent in wood) twirling it experimentally I smile at the easy use. "The metal is laced with Kairoseki , a solid form of the sea, it cancels out Devil Fruit powers and weakens the user, it's a rare metal, mostly used my Marines, "
Shocked, I glare a bit at the chain, I'm a devil fruit user… but I don't feel weak experimentally behind my back, I spin one of my fingers Nope, my devil fruit is still working…. Weird… Whatever "I'll take it!" I smile. Could be useful in the Grand Line
"Great, it also comes with some extra weights," from inside the display case he lifts out a suitcase, and opens it, inside sit multiple weight, at different sizes, one even is like a grappling hook. "Awesome"
"So the total is 10,000 beli"
"That's reasonable" I dig out my money bag, and out of my 50,000 beli savings extract the amount needed leaving me more than enough to buy some clothes.
"Thank you" I wrap the chain around my waist like a belt, and with suit case in hand I wave to the teen and make my way towards some clothing shops.
Grabbing some plain t-shirts and shorts and asking directions to the platform. I make my way toward the town square.
"Outta the way! Outta the way!" a bunch of men bustle through the crowd all wearing dark cloaks, I dodge them swiftly before they can run me over "Hey! What where you're going!" I yell at their disappearing figures, "Damn rude people, where are they headed anyway, to the platform?"
Then I hear gun shots go off. "Wha- it came from the platform…. Luffy what did you do now?" people are now running away from the centre of the town, they clog the streets, and I get pushed to the side, they run, screaming about pirates attacking someone on the platform. Sighing I jump onto the roof tops, and charge to the centre, the buildings clear into a large circle opening, and at the far end is Luffy, held down by a block of wood, keeping his head and hands down. Buggy the Clown sitting on top of him, his pirate crew around the platform. And an ax held in his hands. "Welcome to the Public execution of Straw-Hat Luffy!" Buggy laughs evilly. "For the crime of angering me, I sentence you to death!" Buggy stands, keeping one foot on the block, to keep him down.
No…..
"Any last words?" He raises his Ax over his head, ready to strike.
Luffy stops squirming, and smiles wide, "I'M THE MAN WHO'LL BECOME THE PIRATE KING!"
"LUFFY!" I scream my heart wrenching
Buggy swings.
"MEL! ZORO! SANJI! USOPP! NAMI!" Luffy grins "Sorry, but it looks like I'm dead!"
My heart stops, as the blade nears its target. "LUFFY~!" I scream as tears prickle my sight.
Then suddenly, a bolt of lightning crashes down on the platform, knocking it over, and lighting it on fire.
In the blink of an eye, I'm in front of the wreckage and catch Luffy's hat as it floats down, and rain starts to pour down. Luffy stands unharmed in front of me, I plop the hat on his head as he laughs "Hahaha looks like I did survive, how lucky!"
My tears become mixed with the rain and I punch Luffy
"Dumbass! Do you know how worried I was!" his rubber body bends back, and reels back to me, his head beside my ear "Sorry, I love you"
My heart quickens, and I turn from him, my face beet red and I nod. He laughs.
By my feet is the charred body that is Buggy, I snarl "This is because I missed fighting with you last time" I kick him, sending him flying into his other crew members, knocking a good number out.
"Come on, the Grand Line is waiting" I smile, my face still red Now isn't the time to sort my feelings but a kiss won't hurt…. I give Luffy a quick peck on the cheek, "Captain"
"Yosh!" with that we charge through the pirates and normal people and meet up with Zoro and Sanji who have dealt with the main part of the pirates, "Come on!" they join our run, as Marines show up, surrounding the area. We run through them, but they follow. The winds pick up and the rain pounds down, quickly shoving my shopping bags into my back pack the four of us split up, I follow Luffy down an alley, and we lose the marines.
"Which way?" he asks
"um… left" we turn left and emerge on the main road, it's deserted. The marines elsewhere.
As we continue are run, we come across a man in our way.
Hope you liked it, please review! (it feels rushed to me… but I think that's only the sleep interrupting my thinking skills :P)