Chapter 4- Plagued By Doubt
The following is a fan-made work of fiction. Certain original characters made by myself will be claimed under my ownership. However, I do not, nor will I ever claim to own One Piece.
One Piece © Eiichiro Oda
Wonderland Island, William Henley, Prairie Flora, Talbot Alice, Hermits of Virtue, Bunsen Jack, Saint Squallace, and Nihilis Orcus © HatOnFire
"You wanted to see us, Luffy?" Robin asked, masking her dread with a poker face.
Luffy had requested everyone to come to a quick meeting concerning their position. There was a bit of anxiousness considering the last time few times this happened, but it wouldn't be too bad.
"That's right," The captain confirmed, "It's taking me a little longer to decide, so here's what I'm going to do. I'll step off the ship for a little while."
"Step off?" Zoro repeated.
"You're going to leave us again?" Chopper questioned with worry in his voice.
"Don't worry, Chopper," The young man with the Straw Hat consoled him, "I'll come back. It won't be like last time."
"No, it won't," Usopp tensed up a little, "You'll be back to kick out anyone who deserves the boot."
The pirates turned to the long-nosed man, surprised by what he just said.
"I'm… going to think on it…" Even Luffy was put off by that, despite his considerations.
"Isn't that counterproductive?" Franky wondered aloud, "You told us you didn't trust us after what we did to you."
"Uh-huh, I did," Luffy admitted, "That's why Brook and Chopper will make sure you don't do anything rash. You guys aren't stupid enough to mutiny, right?"
"We'd never do that," Sanji resented such an idea.
"Good," Luffy blustered, "That'd be the coward's way outta here."
"If I may, captain," Brook interjected to keep things calm between the crew, "You aren't going to wait until the fourth day to come back, are you?"
"No. If the Log Pose resets in four days, I'll be back in three. That should be enough time."
"Enough time to pack up anything personal and leave…" Nami sadly guided her eyes along an invisible line in her head.
"Well, with what I'm thinking, who knows?" Luffy mumbled, "I might not have to throw anyone out."
"Really?" Chopper blinked, "Even when you said that it's the only choice you had?"
Luffy kicked himself for saying that, feeling like he was selling false hope.
"I'll just go now," He decided to leave right there, ready to enter the jungle. "See you when I get back."
"Alright…" Nami uttered with understanding.
"We'll be here when you are ready," Robin added, watching the captain wander off into the forest.
"I don't feel right about this," Chopper crooked his head with some worry, "We were trying to keep something like this from happening."
"The takeaway is that we have some breathing room," The cook stated, "And more importantly, Luffy's back to being himself... ish."
"Even so, I don't think I should accept this," Chopper transformed into his Walk Point form, "This situation never sat well for me, but the more I think about it, the more wrong it feels."
"He made it clear that he'll decide what to do," Zoro blew air out of his mouth, "What else is there to ask?"
"Is throwing out some of you guys really the right choice?" Chopper posed the question that lingered in the captain's mind, "I don't want Luffy to make a choice that'll hurt us later, not after the betrayal is still fresh on his mind."
"Like it or not," Usopp breathed, "This is the right call. Maybe some good can come for you guys when I'm out."
"No one said that you're out, Usopp," Franky announced, "Let's not get into that."
"What difference would it make?" Robin sighed, retreating to the back of the ship at a slow pace. "Either way, it's done. All that remains is to thin the dissenters."
Zoro nodded, walking to the Aquarium Bar for some alcohol.
'Maybe…' Chopper thought to himself, 'Maybe it doesn't have to be this way…'
"Brook," He called the musician over, "Can you come with me?"
"What do you require?" Brook queried, getting in answer in the doctor gesturing him to follow him into the jungle, where Luffy went. "I see."
They went through the bushes and trees, temporarily leaving the crew behind them. It only took a minute for them to catch up to the captain.
"Excuse me, Luffy?" Brook hollered, stopping the rubber man in his tracks.
"Guys, what's up?" Luffy questioned, "Did something bad just happen?"
"No, Luffy," Chopper shook his head, "It's about what you're doing. I don't get it."
"What don't you get?" Luffy blinked a few times, "Just watch the others for a few days and I'll be back. Simple."
"It's not simple, Luffy," The reindeer rejected that reasoning, "None of this is. We got caught up in a total lie and your way of handling it is to get rid of some crewmates; people who we can't live without."
"Well, it's hard, Chopper," Luffy replied after processing that statement, "Even if the flag wasn't taken by those bounty hunters, would there be a situation where they thought lying to us was a better option?"
"I can't answer that," Chopper affirmed, "I just think that if we never entered that icy climate, this never would've happened."
"You couldn't have expected this. I should've, though. My crew didn't show me much respect and I tolerated it for too long."
"From my understanding, captain," Brook cut it, "The crew was taken by surprise. They were robbed of the Jolly Roger and chose not to tell you. This is a harsh offense, but it looks as though Chopper doesn't want the punishment to be expulsion."
"Is that right, Chopper?" Luffy wanted to know if that was the case.
"I said some mean things since I found out we've been had," Chopper lowered his head, "I was hurt, but I said things to Usopp that I wish I didn't now. And I…"
"You don't have to say anything else," Luffy knelt down to the little one, "I understand. You don't really hate them, and neither do I."
"But it's a personal matter," Brook compounded to the conversation, "To consider dismissing someone… That cannot be taken lightly."
"Look, there's something I need to get past right now," The captain whispered, "The pressure of not knowing what'll happen next could be good for them."
"What?" Chopper's sad expression became a puzzled one, "What does that mean?"
"Like I said, I don't hate them," Luffy echoed, "But what they did and how they did it, that's unacceptable. I wouldn't hide something so serious from everybody else."
"Just where is this going?" The skeleton slightly lifted his arm up in bemusement.
Luffy crossed his arms, beginning to let the other two in on his secondary intentions. While the primary one was to have some space to fully determine which memories were true or not before reviewing his crew, the other one may come off as petty.
"I don't know if I can forgive them, but I'm not throwing away the option," He informed them, "After what I went through, though, I deserve something from all this. Like some sort of justice."
"Retribution?" Brook pondered.
"Yeah," The captain nodded with a crooked smile, "Retribution. They hurt me, so what better time to get payback than now?"
"Payback?" Chopper repeated before quickly concluding, "It's not just about the flag, is it?"
"We left it alone during the time it took getting to this island. Now that we're here, I'll be thinking about that incident plus the other times they made me feel small. We'll go from there."
"…That's not right," Chopper shook his head, "We all worked hard to make sure you were safe, and this is what you do?"
"I shouldn't have been so ungrateful after they saved me," Luffy confessed, "But now that we had time to cool down, I'm doing this. If they're really sorry, maybe they'll show it. I'll probably forgive them if they're sorry enough for everything."
"Everything?" Brook noted, "As in, every time they wronged you?"
"I've said that before, too, didn't I?" Luffy shrugged.
"How can you be so casual about this…?" The reindeer murmured before morphing into Heavy Point, enraged by what he heard. "Do you even know harmful that behavior is?! Holding grudges like that is only going to bring more misery!"
"Seeing me in pain, discomfort, or being stupid was funny to them," Luffy apparently didn't care, "Why shouldn't I feel the same way from seeing them like that?"
"That's not how a captain should be, Luffy," Brook broke in, dismayed by his attitude.
"I can't believe you'd be so vindictive!" Chopper slammed his fist against a tree, rattling it to the extent that thin branches started snapping off of it. "I knew you'd struggle with having to face the others and think about firing them, but this?! How is being deceitful okay with you?!"
"Deceitful?" Luffy hissed, "You want to talk deceitful, just ask the others!"
"You're a hypocrite!" Chopper retorted, "You say you don't hate them, but you're being so spiteful, hoping you'll feel validated! You said that we can't be angry at them forever, even if we have the right to!"
"I'm not being angry," Luffy tried justifying the way he felt in the moment, but his friend wouldn't have any of it.
"No, just ungrateful," Chopper sniffed, "Ungrateful to the guys who bled and pushed their limits for you. I know they lied, but they never wanted to see you hurt and sad. Not like you were. …After taking a break, I thought there was a chance we'd go back to normal. That you'd forgive them."
"I still can," Even though the captain pointed that out, his cohort went back to fuming.
"No!" The doctor roared, "You don't get to make your crew feel small after they felt terrible for betraying you and say that you forgive them for that! That's not what being a friend is!"
"They didn't just lie to a friend, Chopper!" Luffy declared, "They lied to me, the captain! About the Jolly Roger being right where it was! And they've been humiliating me! I wouldn't be surprised if they were talking behind my back about how dumb I was right now!"
Brook shifted his vision back and forth between the two, suddenly interjecting: "The serum administered to you by Henley should've been gone by now, right?"
"It is!" Luffy snapped, "I mean, most of it was…"
"Oh, screw this!" Chopper decided not to stick around any longer.
"Where are you going?" Luffy wondered.
"I can't stand to look at you right now!" Chopper responded, "Until you're back to being the Luffy I know, don't come back to the ship!"
"Okay, fine!" Luffy spat, "Just make yourself useful and watch the others!"
"Fine!" Chopper walked away, "It beats having to talk to you, you… You…! Rubber bully!"
"Okay, blue nose-it-all!"
"That's enough, captain," Brook shook his head, disappointed in Luffy. "You're supposed to be better than that."
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not like most captains, Brook," Luffy glared at the ground, only softening when his ears picked up Chopper's faint crying. "I… I'm not okay."
"No, you're not," Brook sighed.
"I know he didn't mean anything by that…" Luffy felt nothing but shame after all the shouting, "And I never meant to say all those things…"
"I have a request, captain," Brook spoke without turning around to face Luffy, "Check on yourself before you come back. I don't want a repeat of last week."
"Please don't let Nami and the others leave," Luffy begged, "Not while I'm gone."
"I won't," Brook was prepared to leave, following the young reindeer back.
"I don't have any right to wear this," Luffy took off the straw hat on his head, stretching his arm out to Chopper.
"H-Huh?" Chopper sniffled, watching the captain stretch his neck out, bringing his head over to him.
"I'm sorry, Chopper," He apologized and requested, "Can you… make sure Nami gets this?"
"O-Okay," Chopper wiped his tears and accepted the hat, "I'm sorry, too."
Luffy smiled at the little guy before retracting his elongated body parts, catching a glimpse of Chopper's small smile.
"How do you get exhausted by an entire day of little to no action?" Chopper briefly questioned as he left with Brook.
"Don't underestimate how much things can change," The musician could only answer.
Seeing them move out of the jungle, Luffy started to frown.
"They're right…" He mumbled, "I'm supposed to be better than that. Forcing them to apologize more is just dumb."
All the teenager could do right now was lose himself in the jungle, hoping he could find himself and feel whole again. The days were going to be long, he could tell.
"Alright… When I first met Zoro…"
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It's been two days since the Straw Hats docked at Wonderland Island. Two days without incident, a miracle to some members.
With Luffy off the ship again, some of them almost expected to fall apart then and there, but they didn't. The reassurance that he'd be back eased the anxiety a little.
Most of the crew threw themselves into their hobbies like usual, but there was a more subdued air around them. They shared the same living space on the Sunny, and they still interacted with each other around mealtime, nighttime, or when they needed someone for a task, but they all isolated themselves.
Since that meeting, no one got in each other's way, but Brook has been trying to talk everyone into seeking Luffy out and asking him to let them stay. No one listened, mainly because they didn't want to disobey Luffy again, otherwise the tensions would get worse.
Right now, on this day, there was a sparring match involving the Wonderland Trio on the beach. Henley mediated the match between Flora and Alice, the former using a bamboo sword as the latter used only her fists.
Along with Flora's clothes, she also had a grey gardening apron depicting a sky with a sun, and a plant in a pot with three leaves of an aloe vera on the right. She even had a black bag for her sword on her back.
"Take this!" Every time Alice threw a punch at her, Flora would block it with her weapon, demonstrating good hand-eye coordination while maintaining a defense.
"Good work," Henley complimented his girlfriend, "Now's the time to get back into the swing of things. Try and take Alice down with just your sword. If you fall three times, the workout ends. None of us will fault you for being unable to win right now."
"Trust me, I'll win," Flora gripped her wooden sword and held it horizontally behind her head.
"Not if I beat you first," Alice adjusted the padding on her face, getting into position.
"Try not to bruise each other too much," Henley remarked, thankful to have created a remedy for such a thing. "And… fight!"
"Jab!" Alice threw a left jab that her sparring partner blocked with the sword. She followed with a right one, then left, and she rinsed and repeated to unleash a flurry of them.
Flora blocked every single one, but she was feeling the pressure that went into them.
"Cross!" The blonde woman sent her right fist forward, seeing Flora sidestep and raise her sword up.
"Stigma Oberhau!" The plump woman brought the sword down, but it was stopped by Alice blocking it with her left hand, throwing her right into her belly.
"Hook!" With a right hook, Flora was knocked down to the ground.
"That's one," Henley acknowledged with a little sigh.
"Don't make some noise at my expense…" Alice almost grumbled, watching Flora bend a knee.
"YAH!" She brought the sword up from her left side, attempting to clip the blonde's face to disorient her, but she backed off and pelted her plump belly with three punches, causing her to step back in discomfort.
"Come on, Flora!" Alice encouraged her friend, "Up and at 'em! Even a scrawny weakling of a thief can get by you!"
"That's not a nice thing to say," Sanji was disheartened by her casual insulting of Nami, "She doesn't even know you."
"Forget it," Nami uttered, "She can spit on me or push me in the dirt for all I care. There's only one thing I want from all this."
"Yeah…" Sanji knew what she meant, hoping for the same thing, even if the chances were subatomic. "If you have anything you want to say to him, now's your only chance."
"It's better that I don't," The orange-haired woman sighed, "I can't keep calling myself a good crewmember after damaging Luffy."
"Alright, I admit it," Sanji decided not to light a new cigarette, beginning to get serious. "You were needlessly harsh at times. When you got what you wanted, you were spoiled at best, self-serving at worst."
"Since when did you join the Put Nami Down Club?"
"Please let me talk, Nami," The cook politely implored, "You think you're not the best crewmate, but in case you forgot, I didn't treat Luffy any better than you did. I'm the one who should leave for instigating this mindset to lie to him."
"Sanji…" Nami frowned.
"I'd imagine it'll be hard to find someone who can cook as well as me, but as long as you are still with Luffy, that's good enough for me."
"Please don't tell me you're going to do something like that," Nami begged, "You're wanted here, too."
"I sometimes wonder about that," Sanji chuckled, "I'll be wanted anywhere else, but not with Luffy. Funny, huh?"
"Your poster's photograph will probably give you a chance to slip away," Nami developed some mirth after saying that.
"Heh, I guess so," Sanji took it in stride.
"Mr. Zoro, please!" Brook implored as the living swordsman walked out of the aquarium as the undead swordsman followed him, "Luffy will listen to you! You're one of the closest to him!"
"Not happening," Zoro denied, "I can't change his mind on this."
"I'm not asking you to do that!" Brook threw an arm up, "He isn't himself! Just encourage him and alleviate his stress is all I'm asking!"
"This again?" The navigator exhaled with slight frustration, having put up with Brook trying to talk everyone into seeking out Luffy over the course of the next two days.
"Ms. Nami, perhaps you will be willing to go to Luffy, this time," The musician switched gears on his idea, "He responds better to you, anyway."
"I thought we talked about this," She was getting exhausted, "The answer is still no. I'll screw it up again."
"Need I remind you the last time you claimed that, you saved him from himself?" Brook shook his head, "I wish you could do that again."
"When Luffy's in a bad mood, he stays that way for a while," Nami added further, "We've all seen it."
"But it's different! Chopper noticed nothing was right during all this, as did Zoro. Why isn't anyone doing anything?"
"I'm going out for a walk," Zoro informed everyone, wanting to leave.
"Fine," Sanji spat, "At least bring some ugly beast back with you, Moss-head."
"Don't worry, candy-ass," Zoro rolled his eyes, "Once I see an animal that reminds me of your mother, I'll get it."
Sanji jumped at him with a scream and tried his hardest to jab his legs into him, but his rival used his sheaths to stop the attacks, getting off without another word.
"It's sad," Brook uttered, "Desiring independence so we won't feel hurt. It's only though solitude that we realize how much we need each other."
"Look, I want to go to Luffy," Nami admitted, "But if I say the wrong thing, he'll kick me and the others out right there."
"That's crazy to say, Nami," The cook pulled a cigarette out, ready to light it. "He won't get rid of you."
"All the same, I'm not going to sweet talk him," The navigator aimed her gaze beyond the Wonderland Trio's activity. "I'm just… not comfortable with how this could go."
As Sanji felt the rush of nicotine course in him, a feeling of resentment swelled in him. He wasn't sure why, but he wanted to redirect his anger with Zoro on the next person who even decided to speak to him. Maybe even tear their throat out.
"What do I do with this, Sanji?" Nami's voice brought the man back and instantly negated the rage building in him.
"Nami, I…" He sadly frowned, kicking himself for how out of control his emotions had gotten. "I don't know what to say but sorry and whatnot, if you care about someone, you won't stay mad at them forever."
"Sanji?" Nami didn't know where that came from, but she felt better from hearing that. While Brook said something along those lines once, it was like she had forgotten for an unknown reason.
"I'm so sorry," The cook whispered, "But I need to step off for a while, too. I don't feel well."
"Wait, where are you going?" Brook called.
"All I can tell you is this," Sanji made a despondent face, "If you feel some regret, do something to make it right. We might not have much time together."
He ran off like a devil was chasing him. The idea of even considering hurting Nami bothered him that much, he decided it was best to get away.
"What a strange thing," Brook's voice only indicated how puzzled he was, "Why did he run?"
"I don't know, but I'm going to see him," Nami spoke up, "Luffy, I mean."
"Y-You are?" The musician stuttered.
"I've been thinking about what you and Chopper were saying," She took a breath to pause before talking again, "I know this isn't right, but I didn't want to get in Luffy's way."
"You won't when you talk to him. I'm sure on that."
"Something doesn't feel right…" Nami suspected, "I'm probably reading too much into this, but since we got here, I felt like we were being watched."
"Is that so?" Brook rubbed his chin in thought, "I knew things were escalating, but who else knows our location?"
'Sanji running off like that was unusual,' Nami contemplated, 'But that can't be the cause of it. It's gone from Luffy's system, right?'
Watching Henley call a knockdown on Alice, she started to question him on his knowledge. She knew Luffy spoke with him a few days ago. Is it possible that Luffy left because of him?
The orange-haired woman furrowed her brow, recognizing that whatever goodwill they had between them could get ruptured if she didn't handle this delicately. He wasn't trying to do harm, even if his actions were the cause.
"Stamm Chop!" A horizontal swing from Flora's bamboo sword allowed the owner to knock Alice down for the third time, ending the match between them.
"You got me…" The semi-athletic blonde groaned, feeling the sensation of that hit.
"I'm still pretty good," The brown-haired woman helped her friend up, "But I've got a long way to go."
"Let's call it quits," Henley approached the women, "I've got to track down Jack and search for answers."
"It'd be easier if you let me go into town in a disguise," Flora hummed.
"She's got a point," Alice agreed, "You're a public enemy."
"You need to go back to your mother, Alice," Henley warned, "We can't have her and the police come down on us. And Flora, if Jack did it, I won't put you in more danger."
"Henley," Nami called him out.
"Y-Yes?" The shorter man stammered, "Is something up?"
"I've got somewhere to be," She decided to settle one thing at a time, "But I want to talk with you later, okay?"
"Okay," The small group dispersed, going about their business.
'Nami…' Brook kept his thoughts to himself, 'Whatever I feel I should add may fall of deaf ears. I hope you realize, someday, that you are worthy of a deep, personal happiness. Don't put yourself through more misery.'
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On the coast…
"And here we are," Jack dragged a cage filled with crabs up to the coast, "Some fresh crabs for the chef."
The rotund man was alone on the beach, so getting to him alone was easy for Henley. He blasted a stream of cobwebs from his wrists to cover his face and wrap him in a big cocoon.
"MMMMUT MTHE?!" Jack's surprised was muffled, soon feeling himself getting tugged into the bushes.
"Okay, Jack, you're going to tell me everything," Henley placed him against a tree, using his foot's tarsals to cut the web around his ears and mouth. "Why did you poison Flora?"
"Henley, what the hell are you doing?" Jack struggled to snap himself free, "Did you just say I poisoned Flora?"
"I'm feeling 60 percent positive you did that," Henley's extra eyes opened up as he loomed over him, "Want to give me a reason why it's not you?"
"Kid, you know me," Jack scoffed, "It's not who I am."
"Well, I don't know who you are!" The hybrid's spider legs broke a few chunks of wood off the tree behind Jack, ripping some pieces off of it. "For all I know, you saw an opportunity to get rid of me!"
"To what end? Angering the few people who publicly care about you? Getting some stupid payback?"
"If it weren't for me, you'd still have your job as a Marine."
"I'd still be half proud of myself," Jack said, "It's hard to be fully proud when you have to overlook the crimes of the so-called righteous."
"So, you wanted to make yourself look good?" Henley pondered.
"Can't look good if you let yourself go," Jack smirked, "Look at me. I played the part of the distrusting ex-Marine, like you wanted me to. You know why."
"I don't need any more reminders on why," Henley stopped him from saying what appeared to be unnecessary information.
"Yeah," Jack frowned, though he was blinded. "Listen, Henley, you need to leave this island. Get out of the Grand Line."
"So, they people know my past?" Henley ripped off the makeshift blindfold and lifted Jack up to his level, "Tell me everything."
"All they released was information on the incident at Nihilis Orcus," He explained, "It claimed you released several dangerous criminals and played a part in slaying my fellow men."
"And what about Saint Squallace's family?"
"No information was released about him or his family. He probably didn't want his name to be seen on paper."
"Or mention he abandoned his own family to the Buster Call," Henley snarled, "Or mention the torture every decent being received in that hellhole."
"Sadly, you're blamed for all of that," Jack's face was expressed with sympathy for him, "And it's only a matter of time until an investigation reveals everything else."
"I'll be hunted down until I die," The hybrid let go of his 'captive,' reverting to his normal self. "What else is new?"
"Did you cure Flora of that affliction?"
"Yes, right on time," Henley sighed, "Now, I have to leave her and Alice again so they don't know my secret."
"Therefore, so should I," Jack concurred, "Even if you saved my life, I was supposed to die. They all but wrote me off as such."
"I'm sorry for getting you involved in my mess," Henley apologized, tearing the webs apart with ease.
"Believe me, it wasn't fun pretending to be a colossal jackass," Jack added, "I've said a lot of nasty things about you. I don't even know what came over me."
"What do you mean?"
"For some reason, I felt so much anger in me," Jack told him, "It would swell anytime I talked about you. I guess I have some pent up frustration, but after saying things about you for three years... It really feels wrong, you know?"
"Emotions that feel wrong…" Henley frowned, "Go figure."
"Hey, kid?" The large man stood up from the ground, "You could always tell the girls and go off somewhere with them. They're your companions."
"That wouldn't be smart," The red-haired chemist shook his head, "If I'm a fugitive, anyone affiliated with me is also a criminal. You know that."
"Then travel with those Straw Hat Pirates," Jack shrugged.
"I did, in fact. They're not bad, but I wouldn't fit in."
"Who knows?" Jack started to think to himself on the subject, "Just seeing a few of them in town, they're a far cry from any pirate I know. Then again, so was that Fire Fist guy."
"I thought I told you to never mention his name again!" Henley suddenly snapped.
"Jeez, sorry," Jack went back to the beach to get the crabs he caught, "Didn't know that was still a sore subject. Well, see you around."
"He's a cold-blooded killer," Henley spoke, despite recognizing the circumstances as he saw them as strange. "Killers mean nothing to me."
While he mulled on that, the scene that he remembered was one Portgas D. Ace, standing above a dead man with fire on his clothes. Seeing that would make anyone think he killed him. But was what he saw really the truth?
'Forget it,' Henley sadly rubbed his face to put it to rest, 'All that remains is to disappear.'
'Or you could end it all…'
"HUH?!" Henley jumped up and looked around him, wondering where he heard that.
'I thought I…' He grew a little more paranoid, retreating to the jungle so no one would spot him.
"No one would be hurt if I disappeared," The hybrid pondered, "No one."
The laughter of a World Noble echoed in the air around him, stopping him in his tracks.
[BGM: Suspicion/Ginen, One Piece Movie 5: The Cursed Holy Sword]
"Oh no…!" Henley whispered, "He's found me!"
"Ah, my property!" A black-haired man with a tan skin tone called out. He dressed like typical Celestial Dragons, being one himself. His hairstyle had a long strand shoot out as though it was a weevil's snout. And his face showed some facial hair.
SAINT SQUALLACE. WORLD NOBLE.
"Y-You…!" Henley choked, "Why now?!"
"You can't run forever!" The Celestial Dragon cackled, "I'll be sure to make good servants out of your girls, too!"
"STAY AWAY FROM THEM, YOU BASTARD!" With a roar, Henley leaped forward to tackle him… right into a tree.
"GUH!" The impact made him drop to the ground, as he heard the laughter from his dreams.
"You can't save them," Squallace's voice echoed in Henley's head, "As long as you live, they will die. And their blood will be all on you."
Henley slowly picked himself up as he clutched his head, either from hitting his head or from hearing the hallucination in his head. He knew it wasn't real, but he had charged it in anger.
"It's not just Jack's life I'm risking by being alive…" He whispered, accepting how mad he's going because of voices he's heard. "The girls could die, too. Everyone on Wonderland Island could…"
Troubled, Henley stood next to a tree to ponder what he should do, unaware that another presence was watching him on the island…
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Nami took a few steps on some stones, crossing the river bank to the other side. She looked high and low for a certain rubber boy, who has managed to keep himself from being found.
"He's definitely there," She muttered, "It's the only thing that makes sense."
A little more walking led Nami to the giant tree in the island's center. As she suspected, Luffy was right there, only he was sleeping.
"There he is…"
"N-No…" Luffy stirred before snapping awake, "No, Ace!"
"Luffy?!" Nami was clearly startled by that, "Luffy, are you okay?"
"Nami…!" Luffy panted, having sweated during his nightmare. "O-Oh, yeah… I'll be fine."
The navigator sadly looked at him unconvinced, coming all this way to check on him.
"I know you wanted me and the others to stay at the ship," She made that clear first, "But I needed to see you. I'm worried about you."
"Why would you be worried about me?" Luffy rubbed his eyes with a yawn.
"You're my captain. I can't help myself."
"I guess not… But I still need to think on some things."
"How's that going so far, if you don't mind me asking?"
"It's complicated. Nothing appears to make sense."
"Anything can make sense," The old hermit stated, walking over to the pair. "You just have to be led in the right direction."
"Who are you?" Luffy asked.
"My name is Raphael," The long-bearded man introduced himself, "I'm one of many who needs your help. But first, I must help you."
For the two pirates, this man who appeared out of the blue was odd. But little did they know, his appearance was going to be yet another change to their lives…
TO BE CONTINUED…
