Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece; that belongs to Eiichiro Oda. I did not make Pokémon, that was done by Game Freak.

A/N: Yeah, I killed myself. Now I have to write Pokémon dealing with grief. Some deal with it better than others. One might want to consider a specific Pokémon type though. Just for future consideration of course.

Thank you, Daemon, for being a soundboard for ideas and providing your own! I'm ever grateful.

Terra (Turtwig) Darcy (Riolu) Nico (Starly) Niran (Ponyta) Zhaleh (Vaporeon) Gira (Giratina)

There are no warnings for this chapter.

Chapter 5: Flight and Fight

Hastily reformed in a different dimension, five Pokémon stare at the corpse in front of them.

Despite all wishes, all pinches, all desperate denials and begs to the contrary; there is no change to the reality that lays plainly in front of them. Their trainer is dead. Humans like her can't survive a lightning bolt to the head.

A trembling gateway to a world devoid of Pokémon aside from the lone Turtwig, Terra, asks for his best friend's condition. None of them has the heart to actually say she's dead.

Darcy turns and punches the floating rock closest to him, smashing it into smaller pieces of floating rock. Hot tears stream down his face as he does so. Nico tries to go over but he flings one of the smaller rocks at her. Giratina shields her from harm and keeps the raging Riolu from making a mistake he would regret.

Zhaleh shifts in place before he goes over to the body. It doesn't even look damaged, aside from the charred chunk of hair on the side of her head in addition to the vivid red lines that look like ferns crawling down half her face and down her neck to her collar bone.

Her eye still looks okay. He can almost feel a difference between them, but his sensory doesn't go deep enough to truly feel it. The switch happened fast enough so that the lightning stopped there before it could damage any of the organs in her chest. But he could feel the liquid around her brain.

Or at least, what's left of her brain.

He swishes the liquid inside of the skull around, getting a better feel for the damage. It's intact, badly charred with some pieces irreparably damaged. But, the people of this world are so much stronger. Maybe… Maybe they have people who can heal injuries like this.

He spins around to ask Giratina but they're already looking at him with loss in his red eyes. "Only two people have ever reanimated the dead in this world. One can revive the body with another's soul, another's shadow. The other made a dead body remember who she once was." They whisper, too low for Terra to hear. They frown before tilting their head consideringly. "Perhaps… Perhaps I can do the job of the first. The second is supposed to become the Straw Hat's doctor. We'll need to stay with them."

"Stay with dem?!" Darcy screams, distracted from his quest to either break his fists or everything within his reach, whatever came first. "It's deir fault! If we never met dem, Aliahra-" He chokes on the name.

'Darcy, how is Aliahra?' Terra asks directly. They all stare at the gateway. Darcy turns away and sits at the edge of the platform that floats over a bottomless void.

Niran walks over to the gateway, steels himself, and jumps in. It works as intended, and Terra is spat back out to see Aliahra with his own eyes. It's impossible to tell if it's the paralysis status condition or just the image that stops him in his tracks.

He joins the deniers and walks over to where Darcy sits. The blue and black bipedal Jackel-pup sobs into his battle brother's earthen shell. Terra gently pulls him away from the edge, just in case.

"You okay, Darcy? Do you need to talk?" The turtle asks, the only sound in this desolate plane.

"Ah'm not okay." That is all he replies. They let him cry in silence. Their own tears mirror his.

Niran grew to level 15. Niran wants to learn Flame Charge, what do you want to forget?

'Oh, the last hour would be nice.' Niran bitterly hisses in his brain, but now is not the time. 'Damnit, Tail Whip. Like hell am I going to just cutely wag my tail at anyone!' He wishes he was bigger so he could just pick up and carry his companions all to the ship already. Frankly, he's tempted to try and run actual circles around them to make them hurry up.

Anger is a great fuel, and he's got great proof of its effectiveness considering he's currently running on just that emotion alone. Best to bury the sadness he does feel for now since everyone else needs him to run away. Too bad that isn't his ability, although he technically needs to stay with the Straw Hats since they're his only way off this island and maybe get Aliahra back.

Niran has forgotten Tail Whip and learnt Flame Charge. The Marines are going to send out five Nameless Marines. Do you want to switch Pokémon or Keep Battling?

'KEEP BATTLING! Oh for Heatran's sake you are a broken record.' He mentally complains but physically groans, gaining some worried glances from the people Aliahra had trusted.

He had let them touch his mane without getting burned yesterday. He had nuzzled into Zoro's chest with a bone-deep desire for contact this morning. Aliahra trusted them so he decided to trust them too. Niran doesn't like thinking, his thoughts never seem to be fast enough to keep up with his body and impulses. Aliahra and Gira thought the Straw Hat Pirates would keep them all safe in this crabtastic world.

They hadn't, but it's all his fault. His body had moved too fast for his mind again. She had said Luffy wasn't meant to die.

The nameless marines fall easily enough. Levels ranging from two to seven, barely stronger than the civilians. The four of them together can knock them all out in one turn, drawing in more experience for him and gaining money they can't find anywhere anyway.

She'd mentioned being a team, he'd said about covering each other's backs. Going up on that execution platform alone… he killed her. It's all his fault…

In the rain, his fire-based attacks are weakened. His embers practically sputter out before they can even hit his targets. The chance of burns is too small to even really try. Flame Charge at least actually hits with some force and boosts his speed with each use. Although the STAB and rain cancel each other out.

There's a bang from a gun and while Niran sees the metal ball, he doesn't avoid it. What does a Fire Pokémon have to fear from a tiny metal ball? Fire resists Steel.

The broken whinny of pain and the stumble as the bullet rams into his shoulder prove why he should in the future. His higher body temperature melts the bullet so it pours out with his blood, but the injury persists. He can feel a bruising in his bones near the area of impact. Just standing on it hurts.

Niran could faintly hear Giratina, their anger just burning under the surface but managing to hold the bulk of it back. They say it was a slip of inattention, that it won't happen again. Niran's heart convulses for a second in his chest, breath catching in his throat.

Sanji scoops the Ponyta up as Luffy's fist pistols into the shooter's face.

"I'm fine!" Niran groans and kicks out, hooves unable to touch the ground. "I can still fight! I'm good at that, please." He hadn't meant to plead, but he can't take that back now.

Sanji shakes his head, adjusting his hold. "They shot you in the shoulder. You won't be able to walk, let alone fight."

Niran stiffens and starts falling limp. Sanji's right. Even kicking the air sent lances of pain through his shoulder. Trying to run on it… it is an unconventional speed drop, to say the least.

'Damn it. No, damn it, I am not the weak one! I'm not!' The tears turn to steam not long after touching his coat. Long subdued insecurities rise up in him once again. 'I know I can be easily replaced. Bug and Grass had Nico, and Ice and Steel have Darcy. All I had was Aliahra's old love for my species that let me on the team. But I proved myself! I-I'm not weak, I'm useful. I'm not-.'

He couldn't even think of the term dead weight.

You are useful, Niran. In double battles, you were the best partner for both Terra and Zhaleh. Gira says.

'Yeah, well. It's not like those are possible anymore.' Niran bitterly remarks.

For now yes. They sound too calm for his taste. How could they be so calm? With everything that's happened and is happening? But not forever. It will take me a while. But I can gain enough control of that world to gradually increase our numbers in it.

In the meantime, you are already proving your use. Look at what you did in the rain! You are disadvantaged but you are still kicking all those marines' arses. Nico cheers. Besides, after Zhaleh, you are our strongest right now. And you'll continue being our strongest even after Terra and I evolve.

'But not when Darcy does.' He reminds her. He doesn't bring up how that'll change after their final evolutions either. He's going to be the last to evolve, and he'll be a liability for a long time before that.

Ha! Like dat can 'appen now. Darcy snorts. I evolve due to max friendship and levelling up during the day.

But you haven't evolved already. You levelled up during the day but didn't evolve. Terra questions.

They all freeze. There are only two possibilities as to why. Either Darcy doesn't love Aliahra, or his evolution method has changed. Considering the rampage he went on, and their own feelings they knew he had to share, the latter seems to be the reason.

But Darcy doesn't like having everyone's stares directed at him and replaces Niran so their Fire-type can rest easier and get something that at least resembles treatment. Zhaleh rinses the melted metal completely out of Niran's shoulder and Terra offers some leaves to hinder the blood loss. They lay him on his side so there's pressure on the wound even though it makes the Ponyta whimper.

That dealt with, the Vaporeon heads to the gateway to relieve Darcy either after he gets too injured to continue or it turns out Foresight won't let him hurt Smoker.

The Marines have sent out Captain Smoker.

Captain Smoker Lv 25

Darcy is only level fourteen due to the boosted experience of being a traded Pokémon. Yet he still has the second-best chance of defeating this opponent. All assuming Foresight would actually work on him as it would any evasive or Ghost-type Pokémon.

Luffy is the closest in level at level 19, and Zoro and Sanji are not far behind at level 17. But Zoro stayed behind to take care of a female swordsman that Darcy could have easily beaten himself. They are about the same level after all. Except Luffy dragged Darcy along and it's Zoro that's gone right now. It's a three on one battle, and the one has the best chance of winning.

Although, if this works it may just be salvageable.

"Foresight," (39/40) he whispers. Smoker ignores him to attack Luffy, and Sanji's kick flies through him. Smoke comes from fire, smokescreen is a Fire-type move. Flying is probably what fire melded with to make smoke. He doesn't know typing as Aliahra did. But he's only got two offensive attacks, and Quick Attack is not that powerful regardless of the type match-up. It doesn't matter right now.

Sanji goes flying into the side of a building, smoke following to keep him trapped and out of the way. Luffy is pinned to the ground, Smoker's weapon jamming into him. As he goes on to explain how Sea Stone can harm Devil Fruit users.

He aims for once. Targetting a specific spot instead of just trying to hit his opponent. If he can at least disarm him… "Drain Punch!" (7/10). His fist rams into the marine captain's forearm. It's not enough to disarm him but it does dislodge the oversized jitte from Luffy's throat.

The attack doesn't deal much damage, but it does hurt him. Darcy hit the Smoke Logia.

Said Smoke Logia looks at the bipedal jackal-pup in shock. He is distracted enough that Darcy can use a Quick Attack (29/30) to his hand and try to wrestle the jitte out of his hand. He's flung off and he rolls down the street. A good chunk of his health is gone. It isn't a very effective attack, meant only to dislodge him, but there's a notable strength difference. Sanji escapes his smokey prison in the distraction and returns to the battle. Luffy strikes through smoke but manages to stand up.

"Sanji, his weapon can hurt Devil Fruit users! If we disarm him, he can't hurt Luffy." He doesn't add that maybe they can then use it against Smoker, but the realisation blooms in Sanji anyway. At least he has brains.

As a chef, Sanji will never use his hands in a fight. Gira informs him. Although Luffy once used a pipe to fight when he was younger.

He nods, accepting the information. If only he had a move that could steal a person's held item. He hates to think it, but Nami would have been useful here. Another problem with the situation is that Smoker knows their plan, but Darcy can't disarm him by himself anyway. This latter fact doesn't stop Smoker from actually trying to knock him out now. No longer is he writing him off due to his size and appearance. He is the only one who has hit him, twice in fact.

The fight continues, Detect finally gets some use since his and an unknowing Luffy's job is to keep Smoker's attention while Sanji tries to take the jitte. He whittles away at his health in the meantime, Drain Punch has gotten a base power boost after they arrived in this world and Giratina affected them with future generation mechanics.

But soon he's out of Power Points anyway and drawing up the energy to even attempt those moves makes him feel almost violently sick. He no longer can he steal some health to keep him in the fight. Sanji is thrown down the street, further than the Riolu was sent earlier, to try and get him out of the fight. Luffy is pinned by the jitte again, this time against a wall. His Quick Attack can't free him, and Smoker stands on him, keeping his limbs pinned with wisps of solid enough smoke.

Before Zhaleh could come and take his place, the fight is declared over by the sudden arrival of a Monkey D. Dragon. His level? It's three question marks.

He is… over level 100. Giratina gasps in fear and awe.

If the literal Devil of his people is almost afraid of someone, you'd be damned right that Darcy would have been shaking in his fur. He can't help but emote a wave of his own fear. It's mostly absorbed by Smoker, escalating his own fear at being faced with the World's Most Wanted Criminal. A little bit of it reaches Luffy and his father, causing both to look at him.

Luffy thrashes even harder. Supported by a minor second wind but there's not much he can do while under the Sea Stone's influence. Dragon tries to smile peacefully at him, though it's not very effective. His smile is kind of creepy actually, very unlike his son's. It's only the feelings of Protectiveness and Pride directed at Luffy, along with the shared last name, that calm him down.

Sanji and Zoro both return in time to see Smoker blown off their captain and the Riolu, a platoon of marines tumbling through the air like a collection of tumbleweed from Zoro's direction. The swordsman picks up the Riolu and Sanji latches onto a part of Luffy, dragging him along while the marines are distracted.

"Who was that?" Luffy asks, finally getting his feet under him.

Darcy whirls to face him from his perch laying over Zoro's shoulder, keeping an eye on the enemy, blatant shock covering his face. "Dat was Monkey D. Dragon. He seemed quite protective and proud of ya, so Ah thought he was your dad?"

Sanji and Zoro join his shock, though it gets directed at Luffy too when he says, "Wait, I have a dad?!" Darcy just facepalms at this point. It seems the Straw Hat Captain doesn't have brains or at least being made of rubber has seriously impacted his mental capabilities. That theory actually makes a sad sort of sense the more he thinks about it. Enough to make him hope he was an idiot before eating the Devil Fruit at least.

Dragon said he will give us a tailwind. Let Nico out, she can take the most advantage of it. Gira tells him. Darcy wants to do the exact opposite of what they say. Just because they don't have a trainer anymore doesn't mean Giratina can just come and take her place. But their advice is actually reasonable. He hates that it is. Stupid logic, he didn't have to listen to it back in Sinnoh.

Zoro gets a bit of a shock as the Riolu shrinks and fluffs out into a Starly. Darcy is manoeuvred by Zhaleh into Gira's side. The renegade Pokémon curls around him and the already resting Niran and Terra, carefully twisting so the large spikes on the side of their Origin forme don't harm any of them. The fierce protectiveness, combined with their obsessive nature, is a very reassuring emotion to feel. Especially considering the main emotion that's saturating the very air.

Everyone's sadness compounds on him again. Trying to hold back the answering waves of his own sadness almost hurts.

We can handle it. Let us feel your emotions, Darcy. Giratina whispers near his ear. Determination tinged with reassurance smoothing his rough emotional state.

He cries himself to sleep. Half hugging Giratina around a part of their neck.

Aliahra had said that Gira would be getting a cuddle pile as soon as they could give them one.

A Starly can't carry three people. It's not even the difficulty of holding the unwieldy shapes, it's the weight. She could carry one of them the full distance, but it wouldn't do anything anyway. She's only just faster than Sanji after all. At least while she still has the speed EVs.

The tailwind gives them the same speed boost. She can't see how she's supposed to be the one to get the most benefit from it. The ship comes into view, the unnatural wind trying to fill its sails, but only she can see how to angle them better to fully take advantage of it. She can see it now.

Luffy's arms stretch out to grab everyone, she avoids the telegraphed motion. She can fly over the water using her own wings, thank you very much. Sanji and Zoro scream as they're dragged with Luffy to crash land on the Going Merry. Laughing feels wrong, so she stops almost as soon as she starts.

The rope holding their ship to the shore is dropped, or maybe it snaps, she isn't looking. The ropes attached to the sails confuse her. She knows the angle it needs to be, but she doesn't see how to move the sails.

She lands on Nami's shoulder. "Do we need speed or will adjusting the sails seven degrees take us far away from our destination?"

She blinks, looks in consideration, but nods. The boys are commanded to adjust the sails and the tailwind is fully caught by the sails. Merry's almost dragged across the waves from the force. Nami sends her to be the lookout as they sail away from port renowned.

"No one is following us. The storm is covering our escape." She looks ahead and spots the lighthouse next to the canal up Reverse Mountain. Water rising like that is only strange since no one is making it do it, just nature.

Sanji then comes out onto the deck with an empty barrel. She flies down to land on the barrel. The others all seem to know what it means but she's in the dark here. She looks up at Sanji. "What's this for?"

"We're making a pledge to achieve our dreams before we head to the Grand Line, my dove." He grins at her before putting his foot on the barrel, she hops onto it so there's space for the others. Sanji doesn't seem to mind his leg being used as a perch for her. "I'm going to find the All Blue."

Luffy races forward and places his foot on the barrel too. "I'm going to become King of the Pirates."

Zoro strides forwards and places his foot deliberately. "I'm going to become the World's Greatest Swordsman."

Nami places her foot on the barrel and smiles. "I'm going to draw a map of the whole world."

Usopp shakes as he places his foot on the barrel, but his voice is confident. "I'm going to be a Brave Warrior of the Seas."

Aliahra is dead. Niran, Darcy, and Terra are asleep. Zhaleh and Gira can't make a pledge over a barrel in the Distortion World and the Straw Hats are looking at her. There's a space in between all their feet for her to fit in. They want them. Even though they don't know what's happened. They don't even really know them, do they? Like she doesn't know them that well.

She sits in the space provided. "We're going to have a home again and no one will be able to take it from us."

They smile at her, and when none of the others come forward, they raise their feet. She flies off the barrel.

They bring their feet down together. Smashing the barrel to smithereens, even though her talons don't deal much damage by themselves. "To the Grand Line!" they call together.

After a bit more work on traversing through the storm, Nami calls for a meeting inside when they can spot the lighthouse too.

She tells them about Reverse Mountain. The currents of all four Blues converge on the winter island to somehow make canals that go up the mountain. Sort of like a reverse waterfall. Zhaleh is sounding very offended by the mention, although even his rage is dulled down. Merely a reaction instead of actual anger.

When Zoro says about going in through the Calm Belt, she also doesn't understand the problem. But realisation dawns on her pretty quickly. After all, if it were that easy to get in and out of the Grand Line, Logue town wouldn't be considered the final stop in the East Blue.

"The seas parallel to the Grand Line are filled with Sea King lairs." Nami states, "We'd be dead as soon as we enter that place."

The sound of the storm outside lessens, and not in the way it would if it were truly dying down. They're probably right next to it now. The absence of rocking under everyone's feet is also a warning about their current location.

"We're in one of the Calm Belts now, aren't we?" Nico sighs. They all rush to double-check that they had entered the Calm Belt. They are. The storm is a wall of rain and turbulent waves behind them. With less outright resistance, they glide through the still sea, but the resistance like friction from the water slowly brings them to a stop.

Nico sighs as Nami yells at everyone to turn the ship around. "One, two, three." She isn't expecting a towering forest of Sea Kings to spring out of the water, the Going Merry balancing unnoticed on one of their noses. Still, she sighs instead of screaming with the rest of the crew. Honestly, she is just too drained to have the exuberance to scream like the Pirate Crew she's with. "There it is." She's starting to notice this world works on some unspoken law of anything that can happen will happen in the most dramatic way it possibly can.

It is referred to as Murphy's Law. Never challenge the universe, Nico. It will find some way to bite back. When everyone is awake, I will tell you all about it. Gira whispers. But for now, get back inside the ship. We do not know if our presence will aggravate them.

Internally swearing, she flies back inside the ship before she can even check their levels. It hurts to do so, especially as some person – she can't bring herself to check who it is – falls off the ship. It's a painful minute of waiting but suddenly the ship lurches. If Nico hadn't dug her talons into the bolted table's edge, she would have been flung into a wall.

The sound of the storm re-emerges and Sanji descends back inside where she is to man the rudder. A bit of tension leaves him as he sees she is still around and looks alright. "We're back in the storm, my dove. You can return to keeping an eye out if you want." She nods and follows his suggestion. With all she can do amounting to just watching, she's starting to feel a little useless.

Nami is handling the winds perfectly for the moment, they're heading back to the lighthouse and the canal beside it. However, they look slightly off. The rain must be hindering their view.

Let me, I can deal with the currents. I also want to see if I can muster a Surf under the ship, get gravity to help us a bit maybe. Zhaleh pipes up. She'd almost forgotten that he is awake too. She offers no resistance, and he rushes over to the prow of the ship. When she's returned to the Distortion World, she flies over to land on Giratina's crown.

They snort at her as she fluffs up, trying to dry her drenched feathers.

"Must you drench me as well?" They ask. Their voice is tired, defeated. There is no amusement in their voice, even if their words are trying to suggest otherwise.

"Yes." She tries as chipperly as possible. That is to say, none at all.

"Why?" They ask.

She smiles at them and sits down just behind their crown, resting her head on it like a pillow. She doesn't sleep since she refuses to leave Zhaleh to handle this all on his own. Finally, she speaks. "Because I'm not scared of you." They stiffen. "This is how I show my love. By teasing you, and everyone else. I trust you, Gira."

A shadowy tendril tipped by a glowing red claw rises up to gently pat her. For a bold Pokémon, Giratina can be overly cautious sometimes. But she doesn't mind.

It's kind of cute after all. That is, the Devil being so careful with a bunch of baby Pokémon.

He jumps up onto Luffy's special seat. Kind of hard to believe that earlier today he'd been getting belly rubs and Aliahra had been declaring they're all going to get cuddle hours. It feels almost forever ago.

She'll never get to hug any of them.

He cuts the thought off and focuses on the environment. It isn't the time to crash yet, even though he wants nothing more than to do so. So close to the ocean surface, getting pelted by rain and sea spray, Zhaleh has never felt so connected to his element. Feeling down into the currents below him is hard, but he can read the surface well enough to supplement it.

Vaporeons can naturally control water without it being an attack. Surf can be a non-damaging move for transportation outside of battle. Well, they're not in a battle anyway. Nami shouts out as she realises that they're on course to ram into the side of the canal.

The ocean beneath the Going Merry surges up. They rest on the crest of a small tsunami. The only reason it is small is that they are already too close to the shore. Most of it slams against the shore below them, but the part that Zhaleh gave most of his attention to, the giant wave they are all riding on, continues up the mountain.

It doesn't last long, but he gets it to deposit them in the best current to get them to the top without damaging the ship. Exhaustion rams into him hard enough to almost make him slip into the water. A rubber arm stretches out and catches him before he actually can. It pulls him back onto the deck and into a familiar rubbery chest.

"That was awesome, Zhaleh!" Luffy laughs. His eyes are sparkling.

"Keep a hold on him, Luffy," Nami shouts. "I think Zhaleh put us on a current that'll just take us to the top, no problem. I want you both at the prow just in case something happens though."

Luffy chorus's his agreement, Zhaleh can barely manage a flick of his tail. Maybe he should have flicked his ear instead, lot less effort but they're vibrating like crazy from the storm anyway. It wouldn't have been noticed.

The storm clouds are just ahead of them. Probably full of electric charge. Zhaleh's mouth feels dry, his breath picks up, and he huddles closer to the rubber man, almost trying to push himself into his insulating chest. Only Terra and Gira resist Electric attacks, but they can't exactly come out right now. He and Nico are both weak to Electic, and yet they're the only ones who can be out.

A hand scratches behind his ear and he croons at the touch. Only his control over water is preventing the tears from leaking out of him. While it is harder to dehydrate him, it's a serious problem for him, considering his biology.

They pass by the clouds easily enough. They don't actually touch the mountain or the canal, but it feels too close for comfort. A dull rumble of lighting in the distance sparks enough adrenaline to give a full-body shudder.

He's the strongest of his team right now, and yet he'd be helpless in the face of another lightning bolt.

Rubber arms tighten around him. But he isn't really the strongest, is he? The Straw Hats are their allies, possibly their friends. One day, they will be a part of his team, his family. There's no reason he can't lean on them a bit now. Just this once.

Luffy returns them to his special seat, the Vaporeon still huddled into his chest. They reach the top of the mountain; the cheerful shouts and a careful push have Zhaleh look out across the Grand Line from their vantage point atop Reverse Mountain.

It's beautiful. Nico whispers.

'Yeah,' Zhaleh thinks back, 'it is.'

The ocean is so chaotic. They know they miss nearly everything about it during their short time at the top of the world but what they see is a lot. Various strange and normal storms rage, some spiralling out of nothing and others vanishing without a trace. In some places, the ocean bends around itself in ways it never should have been able to naturally. It surges without obeying any logic Zhaleh knew it nominally should follow. It's exhilarating to watch.

But what makes it weirder, is the calm parts. The parts humans would typically call beautiful, unappreciative of the inherent danger that the ocean is. Not to say the calm parts aren't beautiful. There's a different danger, a different beauty. One of possibilities. One of the unknowns. One of the things that once were, things that are, and things that could be.

He loves it even more than he should fear it.

Zhaleh forgets the dark for a bit and looks out at the silver lining. He almost can't wait to challenge this ocean. He wants to conquer it. He's the only Water-type Pokémon in this world. The first it has ever seen. The possibilities seem endless. He really wants to explore them all.

The clouds roll back in as they descend. He turns to face Luffy. "So, what does being the Pirate King even mean? Would you rule all of that?" There's an instant look of distaste at that idea.

"The Pirate King is the freest man alive. They get to have the best adventures and have all the meat they want." Luffy nods solemnly. Strangely enough, the comment about meat doesn't detract from the grandeur of the idea.

"Nico wants to have a safe home. To be strong enough to keep it. I'd like that too, but…" He pauses, he… doesn't really know what he wants. He wasn't even capable of proper thoughts before Gira adjusted everyone's minds so they could think like humans. So they could be properly connected to Aliahra's mind. The only thing he really wanted to do before was travel with Aliahra and the team, defeating everything in their way.

Luffy pats the dorsal fin on his head, not his favourite spot but he lets it slide this once. "Shishishi, it's alright if you don't know your dream yet. You'll get one soon enough." The grin isn't at its full brightness, but it's comforting all the same. "I look forward to finding out all of your dreams."

"Yeah, thank you, Captain." Zhaleh almost whispers, Luffy clearly catches it though, and he's practically beaming right now. Zhaleh quickly closes his eyes, mildly worrying that the brightness may accidentally damage his eyes. He's already got a headache, no need to make it worse.

Sanji comes up behind them and draws their attention, he's removed his suit jacket but there is still a fresh bloodstain on his shirt. "What condition are you all in? I know Niran was shot, but it looked like the bullet melted out of him?"

Nami and Usopp look over in shock. Luffy's hand trails over the shoulder where Niran had been shot on Zhaleh. The Vaporeon averts their eyes. "Not… good."

That is probably a big understatement. After all, one of them is dead, another's dealing with an injury they have never dealt with in their world before, another has barely held on against part of a lightning bolt and is trying to sleep the paralysis off, and one is going through more emotional turmoil than he's ever experienced before. Not all of it his own.

That's not even saying anything about the ones who are conscious.

Sanji nods, not realising the full extent. "We'll definitely be needing to find out how to heal you."

Realisation seems to dawn on Luffy. "Oh, so we're going to need a doctor!" There is something about him that makes Zhaleh not react to the unusual display of intelligence. But he can't not warn them.

"That may not work," he says. "For us at least."

Plausible deniability. But really, he's lying by omission pretty hard right now. Although Gira seems to have some sort of plan. Zhaleh can only hope it does work. But he isn't holding his breath.

A loud cry, packed with emotions he can really relate to right now, burst through the air. A dark shape rises out of the ocean, blocking the bottom of the canal. They'll crash.

Ah, so that is Laboon. Island Whales really are quite large. That is all Giratina has to say about the matter. Sometimes, Zhaleh gets irritated at them. That emotion is a lot stronger right now. He may as well call it anger.

Coming up Next: Sizable Problems

Or as Gira likes to call it, temporary setbacks. Also, they would like to set up some insurance please, so that this doesn't happen again. The please is just formality, they're not actually being polite. It will happen or else.

Also, totally not me killing myself off and pushing five kids onto Giratina and seeing how the Renegade reacts. Nope, I totally don't like seeing scary, terrifying things being forced to take care of small, fragile (relatively), cute little things. :)