Chapter 24: We Will All Get Stronger
Disclaimer: Every day I fall deeper and deeper into despair. Right or wrong, mortality, empathy - those concepts are becoming meaningless to me as I embrace the philosophy of pure evil. I am transforming into an entity whose sole purpose in life is to steal ownership of One Piece away from Eiichiro Oda.
Does anyone know of a cool super villain name?
Previously:
The Going Merry is assaulted by Doflamingo as they are leaving Skypiea, the crew is easily defeated, and they only manage to escape as they fall out of the sky in ten thousand metre plummet to the ground…
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Cold. Dark. Wet. Luffy's heart was pounding like a drum as he plummeting downwards like a stone through the soft, damp cloud. Everything blurred around him. He glimpsed dark shapes, but his body couldn't move. His lungs screamed for air as the cloud filled his mouth; thick, wet and salty. He wanted to run, fight, move, but around him the world just fell away.
And then, instantly, he broke through the cloud barrier. The bright sunlight was nearly blinding and his chest screamed in relief, but there was no time. The air whooshed by him, whistling in his ear as he squirmed in the freefall.
The sound of screaming hit him. Luffy's fists tightened as he glimpsed the dark shape of the Going Merry, upside down as it plummeted out of the sky. His friends needed him.
Move. The single thought was so powerful that it reverberated in his skull. No conscious thought was required. There was no doubt or hesitation, just an unstoppable compulsion that powered his arms and legs forward. Luffy's feet collided against air with such force that the shockwave powered him forward.
The crew was scattered across the sky, seemingly suspended in mid-air as the ground rushed up to meet them. Everyone on deck had been knocked clear off the ship as it capsized. Luffy could sense them all clearly. Usopp and Conis were to his left, while Sanji and Zoro were falling above him. Nami and Chopper ended up nearby, while Robin was freefalling next to the upside-down ship.
Luffy's heart pounded and every muscle twitched, but his crew was spread across. He couldn't reach them all in time.
Move faster.
Suddenly, he felt the electricity surround him. It shot through him like an earthquake of power, and then the air cracked as Luffy forced the energy downwards. The air hissed and then the captain was shooting downwards. His arms wrapped around Robin so quickly that it took her breath away, even as he dragged her onto the bottom hull of the Going Merry.
The ship was tilting in freefall. The huge weight of gold on the rear was causing the Going Merry to cartwheel, making the world spin as Luffy pushed Robin onto the wood. His mind was spinning. It felt like zero gravity. Everything around him was maddeningly disorientating, but Luffy clearly focused on Robin's arms around his waist.
"I've got to save them!" He shouted, glaring at the falling bodies of his crew. The white surface of the White Sea was getting close very quickly.
"Save the ship!" Robin replied, barely audible over the wind. Her dark eyes were as cool and collected as ever, even despite the circumstances. It made Luffy's heart skip just looking at her. "Your friends will save themselves."
Just for a second, Luffy hesitated. Then, he met her eyes and he realised what she was saying. The Going Merry was upside-down and spinning. They had to stabilise it before they hit the clouds. His stomach churned at the thought, but Luffy nodded, before shooting away to the figurehead. His muscles roared and the lightning sparked as Luffy pushed furiously against the prow, but slowly the ship started to spin.
Arms sprouted across the ship as Robin dragged herself onto the deck, clutching the railings as she used her powers to unfurl the sails. The wood groaned as the air resistance hit the mast, while the whole ship tiled upwards quickly.
It took all of Luffy's strength just to hold the ship steady. He was fighting against gravity and physics as the ship tried to topple, but the lightning surrounded him and his feet pressed against the air as if it were stone. He wrestled against the momentum furiously, while the world seemed to fall around him quickly. The White Sea was approaching fast. There wasn't much time left.
Around him, the others floated across the sky in their freefall, writhing furiously. A figure shot through the air propelled by jets of cloud. Luffy barely had time to see Wiper skate on Jet Skis onto the Going Merry, spinning agilely in mid-air. Wiper growled in frustration, before shooting upwards to kick Usopp towards the plummeting Merry.
The sniper was in his giant toad form as he managed to grab a hold of the mast with webbed fingers. Surprisingly, Usopp wasn't screaming or trembling in panic. His eyes were bulging with fright, but he still managed to leap towards the crow's nest and use his tongue to wrap around Chopper's body and drag him towards the ship, like he was picking a fly out of the sky.
"Please work!" Nami screamed as she flourished her Clima-Tact, generating a gush of wind that repelled her backwards. A chain of arms from Robin caught her and swing towards the deck, but Nami still managed to land against the wood with cat-like grace.
Vivi grit her teeth as she focused on her powers, dematerialising into a cloud of sand that churned in the air, propelling herself like a rocket as she spun like a sandstorm. Nami was there quickly, forming her cloud sword as a rope to drag Vivi onto the deck.
They're safe, Luffy thought with gritted teeth, but there was no time for celebration. It took everything he had just to keep the Going Merry stabilised. The sea of clouds was zooming towards them like a concrete block. Luffy could only clutch the prow tighter as he focused on the three figures still tumbling in the air.
Sanji held his arms wide, using the air resistance to twist towards Zoro. Somehow, the chef had still managed to light a cigarette even when falling to his death. "Don't you dare miss, marimo!" He warned, as the two men collided in mid-air.
"Oh, shut it, pervert!" Zoro retorted angrily, raising all three swords with a flourish. With a grunt of exertion, Sanji kicked outwards, his foot colliding against Zoro's blades. The force of the blow sent Zoro shooting away while Sanji pushed backwards towards the Going Merry.
The swordsman only snarled as he watched the cook sail towards the ship, readying his blades. "Thirty-six pound cannon! " He shouted loudly, just as he slashed downwards with furious force. The recoil of the attack was enough to repel him backwards in the opposite direction, sending him crashing towards the ship like a cannonball. Sanji was there to grab him and pull Zoro up on deck, clutching at the railing tightly.
"Conis!" Nami screamed, staring at the angel still falling helplessly in the sky. She was thrashing madly as her dress flapped, her blonde hair spilling everywhere. There were tears in her eyes, but Conis never made a noise as she tumbled in the freefall.
"I've got her!" Wiper growled, shooting off the Going Merry with a hiss of pressurised air. Everything seemed to freeze just as the raider lunged at her. Every second dragged like an eternity. Just as Wiper's hands were meters away from Conis, his Jet Skis spluttered and ran out of fuel. Wiper could only stare as he was left helplessly soaring past Conis, so close that their fingertips brushed against each other's lightly.
For one second, the ocean looked like it would swallow them both. Conis' heart nearly stopped.
And then, Conis started to scream.
It started out as a high-pitch squeal of pure terror, but then suddenly it transformed into something else. Her voice became shriller, sharp as a blade and so loud that it cut through the air. Her voice transformed into a sound inhumanly sharp, like a bird's cry overpowering everything.
Nobody even had time to react. All of a sudden, there was a flash of feathers, and then another cry answered Conis' scream. The next second, she gasped as suddenly she was shooting upwards on the back of a giant animal.
The eagle was absolutely massive, with wings as wide as a ship and a body as large an elephant. Conis landed softly on the bird's back, clutching at brilliant golden feathers as quickly over the air with lean, powerful wings. The eagle appeared out of thin air, but agilely swept Conis up on its back, caught Wiper lightly with shot towards the Going Merry with a single sweep of giant wings.
No one even had time to be surprised at the magically appearing bird. The Call Call fruit, Luffy recalled faintly. So that's what it does.
Then, with a tremendous impact, the Going Merry collided with the cloud sea and kept on going. Luffy couldn't even react as the cloud swallowed everything yet again.
The ship collided with the cloud hull first. A ship could float on Sea Cloud, but at that speed the Going Merry had too much momentum. If it had been at any other angle, the impact would have torn them apart, but the Going Merry was falling too quickly to stop. They shot downwards through the cloud like a bullet, tearing through the White Sea. Luffy felt his body immobilise in the water, but this time he managed to clutch tightly onto the ship and hold his breath.
They sunk faster than an anchor. Bubbles rushed by while the cloud threatened to pull Luffy away, but he gripped so tightly that his fingers dug into the wood. The White Sea was deeper, his lungs burned for breath, but just as his vision started to blur, the Going Merry broke through the other side.
Suddenly, oxygen hit him again and Luffy sagged in such relief that he let go of the ship. They were falling so quickly that Luffy was seemingly suspended in mid-air as the air rushed by. The vivid blue of the vast ocean stretched out as far as he could see.
His heart pounded furiously, but Luffy's stomach churned with dread. He could fly, but the ship couldn't. They were falling so fast it was hard to even think properly between the adrenaline and the fear.
"Luffy!" A sudden voice screamed shrilly, and Luffy turned just as sharp but gentle claws wrapped around his shoulder and pushed him onto the deck. Luffy could only gasp at the size of the giant golden eagle that Conis was riding, even as it agilely swept across the falling ship. "Fire your lightning into the Dials!"
Amid the wind and his heartbeat, Luffy could barely hear Conis' desperate screaming. She was still clutching tightly onto the head of the giant eagle, hair flapping madly. "The Dials! Lightning!"
Frenziedly, Luffy turned towards the Dials fastened onto the mast of the ship. There were Dials everywhere after Conis' modifications; the hull was dominated by enormous Dial mechanisms that Luffy didn't understand, but these Dials were different. The shells were fastened with metal brackets, with large knobs and levers, connecting to machinery that spread into the floor. Luffy recalled how Conis activated the Jet Dials on the hull using this control panel.
"Lightning!" Conis screamed again, barely audible as her eagle shrieked loudly. "As much as possible!"
There was no time to think. Instantly, Luffy grit his teeth and imagined lightning. He focused on the crackling power inside of him and suddenly the floodgates opened. He could feel the electricity flowing through him, even as the air crackled and burned white-hot with ferocious power.
The others flinched from the heat and nice as the power burned next to them. It came out so hot that the wood charred black and the metal glowed red. It was intense that Luffy could barely control it, but somehow he felt the Dials absorb every spark of power he unleashed.
Around him, the whole ship lurched as hundreds of Dials triggered and released. Machinery and mechanisms from inside the hull started to churn. The deceleration hit them like a truck, knocking everyone out of weightlessness.
Usopp's eyes bulged as he croaked in panic. Luffy was still firing an arcing stream of lightning into the ship, but it was burning through the electricity as fast as he could generate it. "… Can… can the Going Merry fly?!" Usopp exclaimed in awe.
"Of course not!" Conis replied loudly, but the eagle had to flap slightly to keep level with the ship. They were still falling, but not as fast. "That'd be impossible."
Luffy roared in exertion. Every muscle tingled and strained as he groped for more and more power, but he refused to give up. His friends relied were relying on him. Every vein on his body bulged as the air shimmered red with sparkling heat.
And the sound of hissing was incredible. The Jet Dials on the hull of the ship were all pushing out so much air that Going Merry was steadily slowing down. The giant eagle perched on the deck, lowering its back as Conis slid off. Everyone else stared between Luffy and the bird with disbelief.
The wind started to ease slightly. Conis was trembling as she looked out over the horizon. The curve of the earth was clearly visible at this height, and the sun glittered even despite the dark clouds overhead.
"It can't fly," Conis explained breathlessly, shielding her eyes from the blinding stream of lightning. "But it can fall slowly. The Thunder Dials in the hull to store electricity, linked up to the Jet Dials that convert it into updraft. Enough power, and the Going Merry will… hover…"
They were all panting, but slowly and surely the ship started to steady itself, until it was drifting downwards almost like a leaf on the wind. Luffy was still growling with the strain as he stood by the mast, pushing power straight from his palms into the mechanics of the ship.
The sight of being almost suspended in the air, drifting down slowly, was mindboggling. "This is amazing!" Vivi muttered in awe.
"Wow…" Conis murmured, leaning next to the railing. The giant eagle chirped in agreement. "It actually works!"
The exclamation caused Usopp to splutter. "You mean you weren't sure?!"
Luffy gulped, but he couldn't afford to stop the lightning. His whole body was aching, but they were still thousands of metres of the ground. "This is really heavy, you know!" The captain screamed.
Nami blinked but quickly took charge. Enel might have been able to power the whole Arc Maxim with ease, but Luffy wasn't as powerful yet. It was taking everything he had just to stop the Going Merry freefalling.
"Sanji!" Nami ordered. "Unfurl the sails!"
"Sails?" Zoro grumbled in confusion. "But we're falling through the air!"
"Just do it!"
With a shout of 'As you wish, Nami', the sails unwound from the mast, the pirate flag proudly fluttering in the air. The light wind hit them suddenly, and in an instant the ship was lurching forward, accelerating faster and faster.
At this height, the wind was strong. Nami had to clutch tightly onto the railing to keep her balance, while Conis was caught gently by the eagle's talon. There was no water resistance to slow the ship down. They were still falling, but now they were moving forward and breakneck speeds, all the while the ocean below was a vast, empty blue blur.
The Going Merry was sailing through the air. The very thought was enough for a grin to break out across Nami's face.
The fear and panic shattered into an inextinguishable excitement from adrenaline and nerves. Usopp laughed nervously, while Luffy's eyes widened at the sight.
With a shriek, the giant eagle took to the air with a single flap of huge wings. The beast agilely soared circles around the Going Merry, before hovering over prow of the boat, clutching the figurehead and flapping with steady, powerful gusts of wind. It was enough to slow the descent just a bit more, while the whole ship rocketed across sky as if were falling down the world's longest slide.
The view was beyond incredible. Luffy could only gaze at the scene with pure wonder. For so long, he had loved sailing, but it turned out that flying was even better.
I want a flying ship, Luffy thought enviously, as the wind whooshed by him. The Thunder Dials felt fully charged, so Luffy stopped the stream of lightning. He walked to stand at the prow of the ship, arms out stretched as he watched the world sail around him. His grin stretched from ear to ear.
"This! Is! Awesome!"
It took a long time for the adrenaline to fade. Going from fear, to life-and-death terror, to utter excitement was a nightmare for the nerves, but between the view and the cool air, the crew had gone from terrified to excited and filled with awe – they were flying! Luffy was laughing madly, jumping up and down from the crow's nest, or running on the air alongside the ship.
The Dials took a huge amount of energy, and the ship was still slowly falling to the sea, but it was slow enough that they were hovering over the ocean. Navigation was impossible, but instead they just watched the entire tapestry of the world stretch out beneath them as they glided over the waves. It all looked so… small from up here.
"Thank you so much!" Conis said somewhat nervously to the golden eagle perched on the block of gold. She was still trying to wrap her head around her new powers. "You were really helpful… I'm sorry I don't know what to call you…"
The eagle chirped loudly. Chopper glanced up at the bird. "He says his name is Maximus," Chopper translated to Conis. "And he says he's happy to help."
Conis pursed her lips nervously, frowning at the eagle. She remembered screaming, and then suddenly the giant bird had appeared from thin air. "Where exactly did… Maximus… come from?" She asked cautiously.
Maximus chirped in response. "A place called Havenmere Forest," the doctor translated. "Apparently he heard you call, so he came to help."
With the eagle's sharp claws, hooked beak, and vivid eyes, he looked rather intimidating, and Maximus was so large he shadowed over everyone. Chopper had been very hesitant to approach. Still, there was something friendly with how the animal interacted with Conis.
The bird flapped his wings slightly. "Maximus has to go now," Chopper explained, looking at Vivi. "But he says that if you ever need him, then just give him a call."
At that, the bird stretched his massive wings and took off with a single, powerful beat. The eagle disappeared into a spot on the horizon within seconds. Luffy just stared in awe, hanging off the mast idly.
"Whoa… !" He whistled. "Conis, your power is so cool!"
She hesitated but didn't reply, looking at her hands in shock. Next to her, Usopp lay on his back in his toad form, staring at the sky, so large and round that he dominated the deck.
"So that's the Call Call fruit…" Usopp said with awe. "You can summon giant birds! I guess that makes you a… Caller Woman? A Calling Person? A Call Girl - oh wait…"
"It is pretty cool," Vivi said kindly, pushing past Usopp. "I'm sure you could do a lot of great things with that power."
Conis fidgeted slightly at being the centre of attention, and the reality of being so far from Skypiea was beginning to get to her. Vivi placed her hand to her shoulder reassuring. Zoro glanced at her curiously.
"Say, Conis," he asked casually. "Just how many Dial upgrades have you made to this ship?"
"Quite a few," Conis admitted, more comfortable with a familiar topic. "Most of them are Jet Dials and Breath Dials on the hull, with Thunder Dials to store energy. Lots of the design was copied from Enel's ship, but a lot smaller. You use the main levers there on the mast to control the Dials. Adjusting the gain and you can make the ship turn faster, give it bursts of speed, and adjust the buoyancy with load."
"So, it can't fly?" Luffy pouted.
She shook her head. "No, the Dials aren't strong enough for flight," she explained. "We don't have enough of them, and unlike the Ark Maxim, this ship wasn't designed around them. The most you could do is hover a bit. Once we land, we can't fly again."
The captain sagged miserably, before moving to charge up the Dials again with lightning. The high from the fall hadn't worn off, but there was nothing to do on the ship until they landed. Conis glanced around the deck.
"There are also other improvements," she explained. "I've put Heat and Light Dials in every room, and there are Impact Dials around the sides that should help for protection. I'm also working on a cloud generator like Enel's, but that's proving difficult…"
"What about weapons?" Wiper interrupted suddenly. Out of everyone, the raider seemed the most out of place on the ship. He was sitting cross-legged at the portside of the deck, shining his bazooka slowly. "What sort of weapons does this heap of junk of have?"
"Careful what you say about the Merry," Usopp warned. Wiper just frowned.
"Not many." Conis hesitated. "I'm not really that good at making weapons…"
The raider scoffed dismissively. "We've got five cannons below deck," Usopp said defensively.
Wiper just raised an eyebrow. "No, you don't," he said with a shrug. He had already inspected the whole ship, and was quite disappointed. "Those things aren't cannons. More like children's toys than anything."
Usopp bristled, turning to stare at the raider. "And just what do you know about cannons?"
"Hmph. I forged the weapons for all the warriors in my tribe," Wiper said with a shrug, thinking back to his God-Slayer. "All of the good ones at least. Those cannons you've got below deck are pretty crap quality, and they're rusting to pieces. Just how many times have you even fired them? I'm surprised they haven't exploded."
From her tangerine grove, Nami turned to stare at the raider. Those cannons had come from Kaya with the ship, but they had never really been used. "You think they're dangerous?"
"They definitely aren't dangerous to any enemies," Wiper retorted. "Any gun needs proper maintenance. You can't just get a weapon and expect it to work if you don't care for it. Mind, those cannons… I could do better with a box of scraps."
Nami paused, glaring at the raider suspiciously. Wiper hadn't connected with the crew at all; he never really talked anyone but Zoro, and even then it was mostly to duel or argue. Still, if he was going to be on-board…
"Ok," Nami decided finally, arms on hips. "Congratulations, you've just volunteered. We've got plenty of scraps and lots of Dials; you get to make us some new cannons."
The raider glared at her. "Why should I?"
"Consider it the fee for staying on this ship. You've got to help out," Nami said coolly. "You are now the ship's Weapon-master, which makes all the cannons your responsibility."
Wiper stared at her incredulously. Zoro glanced at him almost sympathetically. "Don't bother trying to argue," the swordsman advised. "She always gets her way eventually."
Nami grabbed Wiper's arm and dragged him upwards. The raider looked like he was about to punch her, but Nami just smiled meanly. "Come with me, we've got some guns to inspect," she said, pulling him below deck. "Also, I want you to have a look at this cloud sword for me. How long would it take to put all the functionality of this staff into this sword…?"
"Oi!" Usopp protested, hopping after Nami and Wiper. "I spent a long time building that Clima-Tact, you can't just get him to replace it!"
The trio disappeared below deck in a frenzied argument. Vivi watched them go and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Huh, so we've got a Dial Mechanic and a Weapon-master now…" She frowned. "Say, how come I didn't get a position when I joined up?"
"Huh. Did you want one?" Luffy asked curiously.
Vivi shrugged. "It would have been nice," she admitted.
Luffy nodded definitely. "Alright, then you are now the ship's Princess!"
"A princess isn't a profession for a ship," Robin noted, glancing up from her book for the first time.
"Oh, I'm sorry, archaeologist," Zoro retorted sarcastically. Robin just smirked gently and kept on reading.
"Well, what sort of role could she have?" Luffy asked curiously.
Robin shrugged. "Quartermaster, boatswain, first mate, second mate, helmsman, lookout, treasurer…" She mused. "There are lots of titles out there if you want one."
"Alright," Luffy said firmly. "Vivi, you are now all of those!"
"All of them?! You're meant to pick one!"
"Why not just take them all? Then you're eight times more important than everyone else."
Vivi pouted as she tried to think of an argument, but Luffy just laughed. Around them, the mast creaked and the Dials hissed as the ship continued to drift towards the surface. They were close enough to see the waves on the ocean now, and the scent of sea water drafted up towards them. It was getting late in the evening, and everything seemed so tranquil.
The only sounds came from below deck, where Nami argued angrily with Wiper. Apparently, after Wiper had said he was good with Dial weapons, the new duty of Weapon-master had grown to include personally redesigning every weapon on the ship. Usopp then added that he wanted a new slingshot and some of those Jet Skates, please, which caused Wiper to finally lose his temper and punch Usopp in the nose. The sounds of the pair wrestling carried across the ship, followed by a chorus of croaks and grunts.
At some point, Usopp tried to swallow Wiper with his giant toad mouth. That just made the raider annoyed.
The brawl lasted right up until Wiper threw the toad straight into a pile of barrels in the storage room, only to pause as one of those barrels yelped. Suddenly, everything turned quiet as they both looked at the suspiciously trembling barrel.
"Um… Did that barrel just scream?" Usopp murmured, his body rippling as he returned to his human form. The barrel in question was doing its best to stay silent.
Wiper's fists clenched. He recognised that voice anywhere. He scowled darkly as stomped his foot onto the barrel. "Oh, no you didn't…" he said darkly, just he kicked off the lid of the barrel.
The sound of gulping filled the room. Everyone was silent as they stared down on the small stowaway crouching inside. A vein bulged on Wiper's forehead.
Aisa attempted a small smile. "Hey, Wiper," she said with a small wave. The raider's eyes were bulging with rage. It took a long time for him to speak.
"AISA!?"
Luffy turned to stare at the sound of frenzied commotion emerging from below deck. Wiper burst out onto deck, carrying Aisa tightly by the scruff of her dress. The young girl was thrashing angrily, biting Wiper's hand in indignation as she wailed, but Wiper didn't seem to care.
"You!" Wiper yelled, pointing at Luffy. "Turn this ship around. We're going back!"
Luffy scratched his head. "Turn around? You mean… straight up?" He said confusedly. "How am I supposed to do that?"
Wiper paused, frowning with the sudden dilemma. After a couple of seconds, he turned and faced Conis.
"You!" Wiper demanded, pointing at Conis this time. "Call that eagle back again. He's going to carry this one back to Skypiea!"
"I'm not going back!" Aisa yelled, sticking her tongue out at Wiper angrily.
"Shut up, you don't get a vote!" Wiper snapped. "Now come on! Where's that eagle?!"
The crew slowly formed around the commotion. Luffy looked at Aisa confusedly. "Say, where did you come from?"
"She stowed away," Wiper growled. "And now she's going back. Bring me that eagle already!"
Finally, Aisa managed to slip out of Wiper's grasp. The raider swiped for her, but she was already running away to Robin's leg. "I'm not going back!" Aisa announced loudly. "I'm going to become a pirate!"
Wiper's face turned red with anger. "You are not becoming a pirate!" He screamed.
"I am too! I mean, you're a pirate!"
"I'm not!" Wiper objected instinctively.
"You kind of are," Usopp added.
"Shut up!" Wiper snapped. "She's going back and that's final!"
Luffy sighed, before crouching down so he was on Aisa's level. He looked at the young girl quietly, placing his hand gently on her shoulder. "Why did run away?" He asked softly. "Don't you have people up there that care about you?"
The girl bit her lip, glancing down slightly. "Yeah," she admitted, thinking back to Laki. Her parents died when she was young, but her cousin had always looked after her. "But I still wanted to leave. I want an adventure, and I really want to see the Blue Sea!"
Luffy paused, staring at her curiously. Aisa's eyes were resolute. Wiper just looked between them incredulously. The raider was clearly fazed by Aisa's presence. "Don't talk to her!" He shouted. "This ship is way too dangerous for a little girl!"
"I'm not a little girl!" Aisa screamed. "I'm a warrior of Shandia! You said so yourself when you took me into the battle for Upper Yard!"
Wiper's mouth opened in protest, and then closed again. His jaw flapped open repeatedly as he tried to think of a counterargument. "That was different!" He finished lamely. "Everyone was there to look after you then!"
"And now you're here to protect me!" Aisa argued. "Or aren't you strong enough?"
The raider bristled with the accusation. "Of course I'm strong enough!"
"Great, then it's settled." Aisa grinned brightly. "I'm staying, you're looking after me."
Wiper looked ready to murder someone. "No, that's not… you can't… just don't…" he stuttered helplessly, looking around for support. Zoro just folded his arms and smirked at the raider. "Someone tell her that she can't stay!" Wiper pleaded, a hint of desperation in his voice.
Luffy looked around the crew, but no one seemed to have any objections. Sanji just shrugged. "Why not let her stay?" The chef suggested, lighting a cigarette. "Lots of ships take on cabin boys and cabin girls as apprentices. I was apprentice chef on a ship when I was younger; it's a great way to get experience."
"It's too dangerous! Think of all the battles you guys get into!" Wiper shouted, glaring hatefully at Sanji.
"When it comes to battle, she will stay on the ship, safely out of the way," Robin said soothingly. Aisa opened her mouth to object, but Robin squeezed her shoulder warningly. "It'll be perfectly fine. I quite like the idea of having a cabin girl on-board, actually."
"Plus, she has that really powerful Mantra," Nami added. Aisa nodded eagerly. "That'll be really useful."
Aisa smiled brightly as she sensed victory. She never stopped holding onto Robin's leg. Wiper glanced around desperately. "But… but…" the raider muttered weakly, looking for any hope in the argument. "This is a pirate ship! You can't have a eight year old girl on-board!"
"Cabin boys are pretty common, actually," Zoro added, looking at Aisa. "They do all the boring chores around the ship that no one else wants to do."
Nami frowned. "I thought Usopp did all the boring chores."
"Aisa would do them all instead of him," Zoro said with a nod.
Usopp grinned evilly, looking down at Aisa. "That's it! She's our cabin girl now! And oh there are going to be so many chores for you to do…"
The sniper looked really excited at the prospect of having someone to boss around. Aisa frowned and kicked him in the shins. Already, everyone was starting to mill away, leaving Wiper to stare at Aisa angrily.
"You can't be here!" Wiper repeated. "What's Laki going to think?!"
"I left her a note," Aisa said promptly. "What did you leave?"
It was a horrible, horrible feeling to be out-argued by a eight year old. "That's different!" Wiper protested. "You've just ran away from everything you've ever known!"
"Well, so did you!"
"That's… that's different!" Wiper struggled for the words. "You just can't be here, alright? You're eight!"
She walked over to him and took his hand tightly. "That's why I've got you to look after me," she said with a bright smile. Aisa had always looked up to him like a big brother. A moody, angry big brother, but he had still been just as much her family as her Laki was. If Wiper ran away, then of course Aisa was going to run after him.
Dammit, Wiper thought in defeat, I can't fight this anymore, can I?
"You're still going to have to do all the chores," Wiper muttered weakly.
"Deal," Aisa said with a grin. "And in return, you're going to train me!"
Wiper groaned and tried to protest even as Aisa clung onto his arm tightly. Luffy just smiled as he watched the scene on the deck. Aisa and Wiper were arguing, Nami was talking to Conis about Dials, while Vivi, Chopper and Usopp played with Carue curiously.
"Say…" Luffy overheard Vivi asking Usopp curiously. "Did you ever figure out what Carue's power is?"
"No," Usopp muttered miserably, just as Vivi fed Carue a small fish. "We've tested everything. He can't fly, he isn't fireproof, he can't talk to fish, he's not super strong, and he doesn't even have heat vision! Carue's power is boring!"
"Huh," Vivi mused, absentmindedly throwing another fish to the giant duck. Carue caught it out of the air. "Maybe it only activates in certain conditions. And all we know about the Devil is that is that it's really spicy…"
Carue swallowed the fish down in a huge gulp. Usopp shrugged his head. "Nope, I've tested it all," Usopp said firmly. "The only unique power he has is that he can do is lick his tail feathers with both feet in the air, but I don't think that's from the Devil fruit. I'm absolutely certain that he doesn't have any—"
Suddenly, Carue belched. It was burp loud enough to cause the ship to tremble, and suddenly a cloud of green gas burst out of Carue's throat. The gas stunk of sulphur, and it was so intense that it corroded straight through the wood of the railings. The wood blackened and burned away under the intensely powerful acidic belch, leaving a hole in the deck the revealed the storage room below.
Vivi blinked. Usopp stared dumbly. Carue just looked mildly embarrassed. It was a while before anyone spoke.
"Yep," Usopp nodded definitely, staring at the corroded wood. "I can work with that."
Below, the ship was less than fifty metres above the ocean now, and falling faster as the Dials started to drain. The waves were cresting underneath and the ocean was singing in the cool evening breeze, but somehow Luffy was more interested in watching his friends than watching the ocean. Everything was so lively that Luffy felt more content than he thought possible.
He was a pirate. He loved the ocean. He just loved his crew more.
This is what's important, Luffy thought definitely, still sitting on his special seat as everyone else braced for collision with the water. There was going to be a splash.
Still, the memory of laughing figure dressed in pink was never far from his mind. Luffy had thought he had gotten so strong, but slowly he was beginning to realise that there was always a bigger fish.
I refuse to let anything happen to them, Luffy decided, looking between his crew, one by one. He would never lose them.
Slowly, Zoro approached Luffy slowly, watching the ship fall back into the Grand Line. For a few seconds, neither of them spoke. There was unspoken confirmation that they were thinking the exact same thing.
"So…" Zoro said finally, quiet enough so no one else could hear him, while holding tightly to the railings. "That pink guy… do you know who he was?"
Luffy shook his head. "No idea."
Zoro nodded. "He was strong." The statement hung in the air, even as the ship kept on accelerating downwards.
"Yes," Luffy said simply, thinking back to that moment, It had been over so fast. "He was."
"He used Haki." Zoro said the word casually, but there was just a hint of a question in the statement.
"Yes. He did." Luffy's voice was cold.
"Are there any more out there like him."
"Probably."
"Right."
The water was dangerously close now. They were rushing towards the surface at breakneck speed, the rudder was only just skipping across the waves. The Dials were throwing up splashed of seawater everywhere. When they hit the ocean, they wouldn't be the same crew that left.
Zoro looked out into the empty horizon. "Ok then," he said firmly. "I think it's about time that you teach me how to use Haki."
The captain nodded, eyes still focused on the distance. Zoro paused. "Actually…" the swordsman continued. "I think you need to teach everyone on-board how to use Haki."
The whole ship shuddered as the prow bounced off the waves, soaking everything on the deck. "Yeah," Luffy agreed quietly. The Going Merry crashed into the ocean with a small tidal wave of force. "I think that's a good idea."
OMAKE:
The Many Uses of Devil Fruits
"Usopp!" Nami shouted loudly as she glared at the sniper suspiciously. Usopp was standing protectively in front of the door to the kitchen, while the sound of crashing echoed from inside. "What's going on here?"
Usopp sweated with panic. "Well… it's complicated…" he muttered weakly. From inside, something was banging against the door, desperate to get out.
Nami glared at him. "What. Did. You. Do?" She muttered with slow fury.
He attempted a smile. "Well, it's a funny story actually… you remember back in Alabasta, how we faced that big guy with a giant gun that ate a Devil fruit and then turned into dachshund?"
Nami wasn't smiling. Usopp gulped and continued. "So, that got me thinking… if inanimate objects could 'eat' Devil fruits, then that might be really useful. I mean, can you imagine how cool it would be if I turned a cannon into a giant animal or something?"
The navigator was getting a bad feeling about the direction of this conversation. "Oh no…"she groaned, rubbing her eyes tiredly. It was far too early in the morning to deal with this.
Usopp continued unwillingly. The crashing from the kitchen was getting louder. "I figured that we have plenty of Devil fruits, so it couldn't hurt to experiment a bit." Another loud bang from inside the door. "So I took one of those Devil fruits, and…" A large wallop collided with the door. Usopp's smile was glassy. "… and I took a fruit juicer…"
It took a few seconds to process that statement. "A fruit juicer," Nami repeated slowly. Usopp nodded.
"You made Devil fruit juice." Usopp grimaced and nodded again.
It sounded as if the kitchen was being destroyed. "Oh, Usopp, what did you do?! " Nami demanded.
The sniper shifted uncomfortably. "After I juiced the Devil fruit, I might have… tripped a bit…" He said sheepishly. "… and the spilled the juice over something…"
"What did you spill it on?"
Uncomfortably, Usopp slowly opened the door. Inside, Nami glimpsed a furry black and white animal tearing through the cupboards, ransacking the room. It was as large as a small dog, but this animal had a distinctly metallic shine to its fur. And it had a handle for a tail and a spout for a mouth.
Usopp slammed the door shut quickly, before the creature could escape. "It was the Rat Rat fruit," Usopp explained slowly. "… Model: Raccoon…"
Nami blinked. It took a while for Nami understand the situation. "Usopp…" She said slowly. "Did you really transform our kettle into a racoon ?!"
"Well, it sounds so bad when you say it like that…"
"Our kettle?! " Nami repeated incredulously. "A raccoon?! "
"It's ok, it's ok!" Usopp squealed, just as the raccoon-kettle started to scratch at the door again. "I'll handle it, I promise. I'll sort it all out!"
Two days later…
Nami and Usopp lounged on the chairs on the deck in the morning sun. There was the sound of footsteps, followed by a door creaking open, and then a sharp squeal. Suddenly, the ship was thrown into chaos as the sounds of crashing pans, hissing and boiling water echoed around the ship.
Vivi raced out of the kitchen. Her clothes were torn by scratch marks and her hair was messy. She had just been trying to make a cup of tea. "Someone help!" Vivi shouted loudly. "The kettle has gone on a rampage again!"
Neither Usopp nor Nami reacted straight away. Slowly, Usopp tried to hide by sinking further into his seat, while Nami turned to stare at him exasperatedly. There was a quiet pause.
"Dammit, Usopp."
Next chapter: 'The Royal Society for the Preservation of History in the Grand Line'…