So the last episode of the anime that I watched while writing this finally ended the big flashback thingy (which was getting slightly annoying because the crew wasn't in it), and somehow Wano wormed its way into this chapter as a celebration.
But not to worry for those who haven't reached that point, it doesn't say anything important about the arc, so you can proceed without fear.
To the guest who reviewed: You have no idea how happy I was to read what you think of my story, but thank you thank you thank you! These relationships are going to get even better (in my view), so I hope you'll like what's coming!
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, so anything that you see in this fic and that you can recognise as belonging to One Piece is not mine. If I did own it, I wouldn't have to write fanfiction. Duh. Also, I don't own the picture.
Part One - Dive|rgence
FOURTEEN
Only my body fears the death that comes for me
But the beast of the death that comes for those who
hold my hand and
carry me
when I'm too
(tired-)
It swallows me whole
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
"So ship is for something at least the size of the Merry, and boat is more for something smaller?" Sanji asks to be sure as he carefully lays the biscuits for another layer of the tiramisu he's preparing.
"Yup." Elynna confirms, coating another ladyfinger in coffee before passing it to the cook -and swiping another for herself.
"Wait, isn't it sheep?" Usopp stops with a confused frown in the fabrication of yet another kind of ammunition that looks more and more like what one would use for paintball.
The only female of the group sighs dramatically.
"Hawk, I know you love the Merry, but you don't have to bring it into every conversation."
The sharpshooter blushes, and ominously waves his test tube of pepper and old egg towards her.
"Watch it, I'm armed."
"Yeah, me too." Elynna answers, unfazed, with a jab of her finger towards the cook standing at her side.
Sanji glares dutifully.
Usopp gulps, and decides that revenge is a dish best served cold.
Sanji looks back at Elynna, glare turning into a curious smile.
"How did you come up with all of those?" He asks with a wave of his long, stained fingers towards the sheet of paper Nami gave him a few days before with strange phrases he could not understand, asking him to learn them as soon as possible.
"We didn't. Well, for most of them. Rain added a few when she was drunk. It's an actual dialect some people speak on my island. We're almost entirely cut off from the world, so the World Government doesn't have much influence on our life."
(Not that it makes the world any better, since human beings are still living in it.)
"How do you even manage to remember all these weird words, Sanji…" Usopp grumbles as he slumps over the table.
It took him two hours to actually hear the difference between a 'r' and a 'l', let alone learn the words and the grammar that makes no kind of sense whatsoever.
Elynna pats his hand, and internally wonders if Sanji's ability has anything to do with the fact that in the anime he uses at least three languages, considering that a lot of his moves are based on French words.
"Don't worry, it's just that he's good with languages, like you're good at shooting and making gadgets."
His answering groan still sounds pretty disheartened, so she smirks, and switches tactics.
There's always someone lower than oneself, after all.
"You should probably learn to distinguish left and right in English soon, though. Otherwise, you'll end up like Fang."
There's a moment of silence.
Sanji coughs something that sounds a hell of a lot like 'oh god, not another one', but when she glances up at him he's still completely focused on finishing the last layer of cream of his dessert.
"Elynna."
"Yes, Hawk?"
"If such a nightmare ever comes true, please have the generosity to end me."
The other two snicker.
"Sure. Preferred method?"
"... Seriously?"
"What? I mean, if you want something difficult to find like being impaled by a stake of gold, I'll have to ask for a bonus."
"Because you want to be paid?!" Usopp sputters.
"Well, yeah. You're a good friend, so killing you will be painful even if you're the one asking for it. I need something in compensation."
The curly-haired boy places a hand against his heart with a face that suggests she already impaled him with said golden stake.
"How dare you! My life is priceless, I'll have you know! I take offence, you heartless demon!"
And then he kicks her chair from under her ass.
Her reflexes are good enough by now that she doesn't hurt herself in her fall, and instead does her best imitation of what she imagines a laughing demon sounds like.
"Hey, we're reaching Loguet- What are you doing?" Zoro interrupts himself as he walks in on the scene.
Elynna somehow manages to keep a straight face while thinking that he looks disturbed enough to have walked in on them having a threesome.
She wants a medal for that.
"Well-" Sanji begins in what is probably a prime example of favouritisim towards Elynna that even Elynna herself wouldn't attempt.
"You know what? I don't want to know. Just get ready, we'll reach the harbour in a few minutes."
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Biting her lips, Elynna looks at the plan of the town, then at the crowded main street stretching in front of her as far as her eyes can see, and back at the plan.
"Well, I'm gonna go buy some equipment and ingredients!" Usopp announces, eyes already rooting through the shops lining both sides of the street.
"I'll go restock our reserves. This town looks like it might have some nice products." Sanji hums to himself.
They all ignore the 'and nice women' that follows.
"I'll go see the execution stand!"
Elynna purses her lips, still staring at the map in an effort to memorise as many of the street names as possible.
She doesn't feel comfortable with everyone going their own way -and especially for the ones more prone to bouts of stupidity- considering where they are.
"Don't forget what I told you yesterday, guys…" She warns.
Even as she does, she's pretty sure that some of her crewmates have probably not bothered to actually think through what she told them the night before about how she has never read about any incidents happening here in the newspapers despite so many pirates passing through Loguetown, meaning that there's a big chance that the Marines here are stronger than the ones they've fought before.
Or it makes them excited rather than anxious.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go already…" Zoro huffs, snatching her wrist to drag her after him.
"Have a nice date!" Nami laughs with a wave of her arm.
"Shut up, you witch!" He barks back.
"Thanks, darling." Elynna waves back nonchalantly, and then yelps when the swordsman slaps her upside the head.
"Stop saying nonsense."
Her pout stretches into a smile of muted amusement.
"Fine, fine." She walks faster to catch up to him. "How much money do you have?"
"100,000."
"Is it enough?" She asks with a tilt of her head, having no idea how much a sword can cost, especially in this world where they were much more common.
"No clue." He shrugs. "I didn't buy any of mine. You?"
"600,000."
He splutters.
"Where did you get that?"
"Hmm, I got 400,000 from Zeff-san. Since we repaid our debt by taking out Krieg and his men, he gave me a part of the money I earned. And Rain lended me the rest."
"Tch, what's with that favouritism? She told me if I took any money from her it would be with an interest rate of 300%, so even 100,000 felt like I was signing a slave contract."
She whistles.
"You two really don't get along."
"No, you think-"
A commotion a few steps away stops them in their tracks, and she sighs when he -stupidly- decides to walk closer to the circle of people on the other side of the street, before she reluctantly follows him.
The crowd is surrounding two tall guys who can't possibly look more like thugs if they try, and a slightly smaller girl with a bob of dark blue hair and a long bundle clutched in her arm.
When the former go from hovering threateningly over the latter to taking out their weapons, Elynna feels Zoro lean forward, both hands already wrapped around the sheath and hilt of his katana.
And then he stops and straightens up again.
When she looks back, the two bullies are already on the ground, weapons sliced in pieces and long, shallow, but probably burning cuts drawn over their skin.
Neither of the bullies stick around to see the girl who inflicted those wounds somehow trip over nothing and crash against the cobblestones of the wide street, her glasses flying through the air to land at her and Zoro's feet, intact.
Since the swordsman is still in the middle of staring at the girl with the vague interest of someone who knows a lot more about swordsmanship than a beginner like Elynna, she crouches down to pick up the glasses, calling out to the fumbling girl, who feels her way up to them, finally looking up.
"Thank you very much, miss! I thought I lost them for good!"
"Well, it came pretty close. You were lucky they didn't break on impact…"
She trails off, and shuts her mouth to switch into a polite smile, suddenly unsure whether her phrasing was too rude.
She's spending too much time around her crew if she can't slip back into her public persona easily anymore.
Blurring the line further would make her a bit too much like her Captain in terms of problem-inducing behaviour, because sassing strangers the same way she does her crewmates isn't really the way to go when navigating the Grand Line.
(And unlike Sea King, she doesn't have the strength to back up that kind of attitude.)
"You're right! Looks like I made a good investment!" The clumsy girl smiles brightly, looking quite satisfied with herself.
But Elynna isn't listening to her anymore.
Because when she takes a glance at Zoro next to her, he's still staring at the girl.
Except his skin is abnormally pale, and he looks like someone just ripped a hole open under his feet.
(or maybe inside of him)
She's also pretty sure he's not breathing.
(He looks like what she thinks she looked like when she sat in a little boat in the middle of a sea,
listening to someone talk when she shouldn't be able to understand his words, when he shouldn't be able to smile that widely, when he shouldn't be alive for her to touch, when she shouldn't even be there with him-)
She takes a step closer to Zoro just in case he loses his balance, and smiles tightly at the girl who is still rambling about this and that in excitement, standing way too close to them at the moment.
"I'm really sorry, Miss, but I'm afraid me and my friend have to get going if we want to buy everything we need, since we're just here for a few hours."
"Oh, of course, I'm sorry to have held you back!" The swordswoman bows sheepishly in apology.
Elynna nods, grabs one of her crewmate's arms, and promptly walks away.
He follows in silence, and with one hand clasped around his wrist she can feel his hand shake like they never have in battle.
Except maybe the one against Hawk-Eye, but that was more a swordsmanship equivalent of a one-sided beating than an actual fight.
Eventually she speaks up, because she knows that if Luffy stayed silent in that little boat, it would have taken much more than a few hours for her to stop trying to convince herself that everything was just a nightmare.
"Well, if we need any more money and don't want to get into debt for the rest of our lives, we can always bring Sea King to the Marine base of the town."
For a moment, he stares at her blankly.
And then smirks to mirror her own expression.
"Think that if we bring Usopp they'll give us a bonus?"
Her crooked grin widens, and her dark eyes sparkle with full-blown laughter, shoulders relaxing as she lets go of his arm with the certainty that he's not going to lose his footing anymore.
"Fang, you're a genius."
He bumps his arm against hers instead of saying thanks, and she returns the gesture instead of teasing him about how the stoic type is sexy but can really use some more communication.
She understands anyway.
(more than she would like)
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
They eventually find an arms shop, and Zoro nods at her to look around for something she likes ("It doesn't always work, but instinct is usually the best way to go when you choose a weapon.") while he talks to the shop owner.
She slowly walks along the walls, eyes skimming through the weapons hanging from the walls or put away in shelves while she keeps an ear out for the conversation going on behind herr, trying hard to hold in her laughter at the abrupt change in behaviour of the weapon seller, who either isn't used to swindling his customers, or is just that bad of an actor.
She considers stepping in, because Zoro seems entirely oblivious to the fact that the owner is basically trying to rob him of his katana, but then she reminds herself of how the swordsman feels about his blades, and shrugs it off.
And when the girl from earlier magically appears to ruin the shop owner's chance (not that he had much of it in the first place), Elynna remains where she is, since her crewmate looks more annoyed than lost at having to see the girl for the second time of his life, let alone in the same day.
"Ah! You're the guy whose girlfriend helped me earl-"
Zoro's jaw ticks in annoyance, and Elynna can't keep a few sniggers from slipping out, earning herself a glare that promises a painful fate in their next sparring match.
She doesn't care.
This is just too damn funny.
"She's not my girlfriend, damnit." Her crewmate growls, visibly reminded of Buggy's three subordinates who generously rowed for the both of them.
And that elderly couple who ranted about their youth when they stumbled upon Elynna throwing innuendo after innuendo at Zoro -while running away from him.
And that guy who got annoyed by her failed attempts to convince the swordsman that no, he wasn't supposed to turn right, and told him to listen to your girlfriend for once, since even women can say smart things sometimes. She still can't say who glared at him the hardest between her and Zoro.
And-
"Yeah, why can't people just accept the possibility of friendship between a girl and a guy?" She calls out, voice still full of laughter.
The short-haired girl blushes furiously at her blunder.
"Shut up, Elynna. You always make things worse."
The owner, still annoyed, throws a katana almost as long as the girl is tall to her, and somehow she ends up tripping her way towards a line of exposed swords on the other side of the room from where Elynna is standing.
Still holding the long knife she gingerly picked up, the First Mate raises an unimpressed brow -although throwing something that heavy to a person that clumsy probably wasn't the best idea to begin with.
"And you! The barrels over there are full of swords worth around 50,000 berries, so just pick two and bring 'em over here."
"What's he so angry for…" Zoro mutters as he stops behind her, looking over her shoulder and down at the weapon she's inspecting.
The curve of the blade's spine is prolonged by that of the hilt, and overall it must be at least forty centimeters long. It's heavier than the knife strapped to her hip, but sits comfortably in her hand.
Silently, Zoro reaches up to take the second, identical blade. She takes it with her free hand, and he reaches out around her to correct the grip of her left hand, the calluses of his palms sliding roughly against her skin.
"Those are probably for chopping."
"Oh man, you sure know how to talk to a girl. You have no idea how much I've missed lopping off people's limbs." She mutters in return, making him scoff in amusement.
(Since she came into this world she's gotten involved in fights with both Marines and other pirates, not to mention that one time Sea King somehow dragged them in the middle of a gang fight
she's seen skulls exploding into gore, various body parts being cleaved off their original place, and a man's guts unraveling from his open stomach.
She doesn't know if it's the movies she watched or if she's just that heartless, but the sight did next to nothing to her
didn't cut her sleep short or make her puke afterwards like Hawk.
-Fang's blood splattered on his body rather than inside it is the only sight that she still can't get out of her head-
Still, the smell of blood and fear, the screams of pain that makes anyone sound like an abandoned child, they stick to her skin long after the fight is finished, clutching at her through showers and changes of clothes until it feels like she is the one who reeks and screeches everytime she turns around or blink and finds them just there
But it's not because the idea of someone who isn't an absolute piece of trash being in pain occasionally makes her stomach wants to rip itself out of her through her spine and her skin, makes her heart weep blood
-because the tears are locked too tightly-
that she's going to let people have a go at her life when it's either she dies or they die.
She's not nice or numb enough -yet- for that shit.)
"I knew you were lying the whole time." He quips, and she thanks everything that is holy that he's not close enough to feel her stiffen.
"That's a good choice, Miss."
She looks to her left, where the shop owner is standing.
"Those are called kukri. I have others in my shop, but these were made in the East Blue island they originally come from, so they're of higher quality. The hilt is made with bone, and as you can see, there's a notch close to it. Some say it's for symbolic reasons, since it's also used in ceremonies, but it has its practical uses, like keeping blood from dripping onto the hilt and making your grip slippery, or catching another blade." Then he narrows his eyes at her, apparently remembering who she came in with -which should be obvious considering how close Zoro is standing next to her. "How much money do you have?"
She stares at him thoughtfully.
She has other things she wants to buy, and if he sells relatively low-quality swords at 50,000...
"400,000 berries."
"I can sell both of those for 200,000 each."
"Isn't that a bit high? You said earlier that you could sell 'decent' swords for half that price. How about you add the sharpening tools and the accessories for the same price?" She offers with a nod towards the two scabbards of black leather still hanging from the wall."
The middle-aged man considers it for a moment, and then shrugs.
"Very well."
She follows him to the counter, while Zoro goes to choose his two katana.
"So you have three swords, then? If you don't mind me saying this, that reminds me of a bounty hunter who uses three swords."
"A bounty hunter, you say?"
"His name is Roronoa Zoro. Do you know him?"
"I've heard his name quite a bit, yeah." Zoro answers, and Elynna just has to wonder whether the girl is really that oblivious, or if the only one in the shop who can hear the rumbles of amusement in the swordsman's deep voice is herself.
"To think that he uses swords just as a way to make money... It's simply unforgivable! Why is it that evil is so strong in this day and age? Most of the famous swordsmen are either pirates or bounty hunters, and the best blades of the world are in their hands. The swords are crying, you know?"
… That's sad and all, but no one asked for her life story.
She splashes her rising annoyance with the amusement from earlier, entertained smirk gone as she represses a roll of her eyes instead.
She has a strong dislike for the word 'evil'.
(It's too easy to use
too tempting
and makes it easier to feel than to think.)
So the discovery of the Sandai Kitetsu turns out to be a welcome distraction.
One that ends up distracting her a bit too much when Zoro decides to gamble his fucking arm to find out how much a cursed sword likes him.
She gapes at him and the blade spinning in the air along with the other people in the shop.
He's not going to lose, she's never seen him with only one arm.
She knows that.
He's not going to lose.
He can't lose.
He can't lose he can't lose he can't lose he can't-
The sword sinks into the floorboards.
She breathes in too much and too fast, coughing, and then swipes her own purchases off the counter with a surprised glance towards where she was sure she left the imprint of her fingers.
On the way out, she points an accusatory (shaking-) finger at her crewmate while the shop owner disappears in the backroom.
"You. If you're going to be badass, do it without giving me a heart attack."
"Sorry." He smirks, entirely unapologetic. "But now you know that you can trust my luck a bit more."
"Excuse me, I'm a proud pessimist. I don't trust anyone's luck. Just be happy that I trusted you enough to not tackle you to the floor."
Though what kept her rooted to her spot was more her fear than her trust, but he doesn't need to know that.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
It takes all of two minutes before Elynna has to duck into the smaller streets until she finds an empty alleyway.
Fuck, she thinks as she crouches down in an alley she doesn't quite know the location of in an attempt to catch her breath, wiping away the sweat that has gathered on her face.
She didn't realise it when she left the arms shop and parted ways with Zoro, but it was the first time she went anywhere without at least one member of the crew since before they recruited the swordsman.
Or blackmailed him into joining, depending on the point of view.
She's never felt comfortable in a crowd, especially without someone she knows by her side. And her definition of a crowd is pretty low, considering that she comes from a relatively small town, smaller than Loguetown and its crowd.
But these days, it feels a bit too much like all those people around her are trying to take all of the oxygen and leaving none for her.
It's not particularly strange, considering her initial dislike, the fact that she has spent most of her time in the last months on a boat with less than ten people (and the possibility to dive into the sea when she's feeling antsy, which she can't do right now), and that half of the times where she ended up in a crowded place was during a fight.
Still, she can't quite believe that a crowd of all things puts her on the verge of falling inside her own mind, even though she's barely fazed anymore when someone tries to fucking gut her.
(Habituation is a powerful thing.
The first time,
she panicked
real, cold terror that fell hard in her chest and her stomach like weights of burning lead.
She doesn't even know if she screamed, because she was deaf to everything but the whistling of the blade slashing through the air
eyes blind to anything but the bandit in front of her, everything so slow she could see all the details of his face and every inch the blade moved forward.
But the weights buried her downdowndown
And she couldn't move.
Couldn't breathe.
Could only wait for someone to save her or kill her.
She's not ashamed of it.
No one in their sane mind could expect her to react in any other way,
to react like she learned to,
like Fang forced her to learn
because freezing is worse than fighting or even fleeing
so he made it so she would evade instead.)
Once the world stops spinning, she pushes on her shaky legs and gets up, roaming about to try and find her way back to less empty streets where she's more likely to find her crewmates, until she stops when she spots a sign towards a shop for dancing equipment.
Curious about what this world has to offer, she follows the direction given by the sign with a shrug.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
The shop is small and cluttered (perhaps because it's small), almost smothering Elynna with the wide pieces of fabric hanging from the walls and the high ceiling, everything an explosion of colours and patterns.
"Feel free to push things aside, dear. You might miss something otherwise. I tried to organise this mess, but eventually realised that I didn't have enough space to make separate sections." A woman with sunny hair and kind eyes chuckles as she pours herself a cup of tea and sits down behind the counter.
Elynna nods in thanks with a politely amused smile, and dives into the merchandise.
She finds dance outfits of very different styles, some of which she doesn't recognise. Most can be used for normal practice, while others are more fit for a high-end show, and come with all the accessories and tools one might need.
Grabbing some simple black leggings and gym shorts, since she only has one pair as of now, she walks around some more to admire the high-quality fabrics and the tiaras so thin they probably look like lace in one's hair. But she frowns when her eyes skim through the various fans exposed in a corner to protect them from sunlight and moonlight.
Two of them stick out like a sore thumb, making her turn towards the woman curiously.
"Um, Excuse me? Those fans…"
"Oh, the fans. Well, my husband would be a better person to ask your questions to. He should be back soon from the dance school he teaches at. Those are his grandmother's, you see-"
"I'm home, darling."
"Welcome home! We were just talking about you!"
The man seems significantly older than his wife with his salt-and-pepper hair and his short, pointed beard, but there is a pep in his step that simultaneously makes him look twenty years younger than he probably is.
"You were? I'm flattered." He quips amusedly, turning his green eyes that look very pale against his brown skin towards Elynna.
They sparkle in understanding as they stop on the two fans in question.
Setting a brown leather satchel down, he makes his way towards where she is standing, grabbing a small step ladder on the way to unhook the pair of fans, before holding them out for Elynna to take a closer look.
Unlike the extravagant colours or discrete but minute details painted on the other paper fans, the sticks and ribs of these are entirely made of steel, and covered by a mount of black laquered paper painted with curved strokes of silvery paint that cover more and more of the paper the furthest it is from its base, until the edge of the paper just looks like pure silver.
But when Elynna orients the fan differently, that upper portion of the leaves glints differently than the paint under the warm light of the shop.
It's metal.
And it looks sharp enough to slit someone's throat.
"This… is a weapon?"
The man grins down at her with a kind of mischievous pride.
"Precisely. This is called a tessen, and was made by my grandmother on my mother's side, who comes from the Land of Wano."
Elynna frowns for a moment, sifting through the memories of all the important places her sister rambled about.
"I don't think I've ever heard of it."
"Oh, I wouldn't expect you to. It's in the second half of the Grand Line, and has a long history of keeping its borders closed to foreigners. But my grandfather somehow survived a shipwreck and was taken in by an old couple, and eventually met my mother. He was a very good navigator, so when she accepted to try and leave the island with him, she became one of the few people who ever managed to actually leave Wano alive."
She hums, and thinks that this sounds a lot like what little she knows of Japan's modern history.
"And are fans often used as a weapon in Wano?"
His smile widens.
"No. But they are often used by both men and women when dancing and during ceremonies. My grandmother's mother was a professional dancer who was often hired by very powerful individuals, and as a woman with no family who lived alone in a country where women are held in contempt, she was very worried for her safety, but could not find any man willing to teach her self-defense. So she invented her own self-defense fighting style and made it look like dancing to be able to practice in peace. She passed on that practice to my grandmother, who then added tessen to it. My father never got around to learning it, though. He has two left feet, you could say." He chuckles.
"They sound like impressive women." Elynna whispers, eyes lowering to stare at the heavy fans in her hands.
Green eyes crinkle, and his laughter becomes a louder, full-bellied one.
"That they were! Though it pains me to say, my grandmother died before I was old enough to receive her teachings. Unless she or her mother taught other people in Wano, their martial art died with her." He pauses for a moment, staring at her until she stares back, and grins. "Would you like to buy those fans?"
She's probably gaping, but doesn't really care to look more elegant at the moment, too busy being stumped by the question that she didn't expect at all.
She has already bought the kukri knives, but…
"I thought you would be more likely to pick a long-distance weapon."
She remembers how Dracule Mihawk redirected bullets with nothing more than a flick of his sword and a sword with strength only is not a strong sword.
Her eyes roam through the shop unseeingly as her brain speeds throught thoughts and ideas and memories of all the martial arts and fighting scenes she saw in movies and anime, discarding them and piecing them together in turn before she looks back at the man, who is still waiting for her answer.
"Would you sell them? Those are family heirlooms, right?" She asks slowly, still thinking about how she can make everything in her head reality, and who she should ask for help to do that.
(Because she isn't a genius, isn't good enough to become that strong on her own, or much more slowly,
so other people are her best resource.)
The shop owner nods in appreciation at her question.
"It's considerate of you to ask, but no. My grandmother's fans are red, because she couldn't be bothered to hide the blood she ended up shedding."
Her lips twitch at that.
She really would have liked to meet that woman.
"The tessen my wife exhibits occasionally in our shop are those I made myself based on the instructions left by my grandmother. I don't sell them to just anyone, especially since our customers rarely come looking for weapons, but I think my grandmother would've liked you, so I have no problem selling them to you."
She feels her cheeks flush, taken aback by the sudden praise, and mumbles something that she hopes sounds close enough to 'thanks' as she follows the man to the counter with her purchases.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
"I've been looking for you for a while, Luffy…" The woman tilts her head with a smile that is half-amused and half-threatening. "Don't tell me you've forgotten my face?"
Luffy feels his face screw up strangely as he rummages through his memories.
Nope.
The only pretty girls he remembers are Makino and Nami. The weird lady looks more like Makino, but Makino would never smile like that.
(That smile looks much better on Ann
-though she usually smiles at him like that when he's done something stupid and she wants him to know that there will be payback.)
"Nah. Don't remember you. Who are you?"
He feels even more confused once she starts saying something about how he hit her in the face.
"-but you see, I love strong men, and I'll make you mine at last, Luffy."
"Remember, Captain. When it comes to sex, whether you decide to have it with a total stranger or someone you know, it doesn't matter how much they tell you you're beautiful, or that they love you, or that you'll like it. If you don't want to do something, then you don't. And if they don't get the point and still try to do it, you're allowed to throw them through the window if that's what it takes. Okay?"
"... You already said that twice, Ann."
"Well at least now I know you were listening the first two times."
He sticks out his tongue at the weird woman.
"Shut up, you're annoying. I don't want to belong to anyone! And just who the heck are you?!"
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
With a frown, Sanji leans on the side when he feels Usopp -who is carrying the head of the elephant tuna he managed to buy- stop dead in his tracks.
He feels his face fall into what probably looks like a weird expression in his attempt to express his delight at seeing Nami standing on Usopp's right and his exasperation at the sight of the green-haired swordsman coming out of another street.
"Oh, hey." Usopp raises a hand at them.
"Where's Lynna?" Nami asks as the swordsman reaches their little group.
"If you left her alone I'll kick your ass, you third-rate swordsman." Sanji follows up.
"As if you could, you stupid love cook. And she's the one who left me alone once she bought what she needed. She's probably back on the ship already."
He doesn't need to say why. By now they all know that their First Mate doesn't like crowds, and that she's more the type to get in, buy what she needs and get out rather than wander around.
"And Luffy?" Usopp speaks up.
He sounds a bit more apprehensive suddenly, and no one tries to reassure him, because… well, it's Luffy.
("I don't think we'll ever be able to go anywhere without him getting into a mess at least once." Elynna once said after they left (read: ran away from) an island where their Captain roped them all into an eating contest, which he won, except that wasn't exactly the restaurant owner's desired outcome, and the man just happened to be affiliated to a group of bandits.
So far, the First Mate's words, which they all dismissed as her usual pessimism at the time, have proved to be dismally correct.)
"Didn't he say he wanted to check out the execution stand?"
"Uh? But the execution stand is right here. We're in the town square."
"... Guys."
"Yeah?"
"Isn't it him who's on the execution stand right now?"
The echo of a voice reaches them.
"Now then, we shall flashily commence your public execution!"
"For fuck's sake-" Zoro growls.
Nami facepalms.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
"So this is the rubber brat's ship. Well, it's much bigger than last time, but it's too bad that he's probably about to be executed by Captain Buggy right now. He has about one in a million chances to escape. But just in case it happens…"
Mohji smirks, and scratches a match against its box.
"His ship will be burned down. By us, that is!"
He laughs loudly, followed by his lion.
It's probably why neither of them realise that someone else is standing on Richie's back until sharp metal kisses the throat of Buggy's First Mate, the cold of it seeping into his skin.
He freezes.
"So. Where's that execution you were boasting about taking place?" A voice murmurs behind him.
It's young, soft, and neutral enough that he can't tell if it comes from a male or a female.
But the only thing he cares about at the moment is that whoever it is, their hand isn't trembling, the blade still poised a breath away from his skin -just close enough to feel the edge of it lean into his skin with every swallow.
Their knees are encasing his hips with enough strength to bruise his bones, the person's other arm wrapped around him to trap both of his arms against his sides.
Even if he could attempt anything, they would slit his throat before he could actually do it.
Richie won't budge unless he gives him an order, which he won't be able to do either.
Crap.
They totally forgot to account for the possibility that there are other crew members than Roronoa Zoro.
He laughs nervously.
"Well, you see-" He licks his lips "The plan was supposed to be flashy, so the Captain wanted to execute him properl-"
Pain explodes at the back of his skull like one of his Captain's cannonballs.
And then he blacks out.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
"Okay." Nami exhales harshly, before pointing at both Zoro and Sanji.
She leans in to whisper her instructions, and switches to English just in case Marines are already around.
Considering the noise their Captain makes on top of how loud Buggy already is, it's more than likely.
"You get Luffy." She says, because she doesn't know how to say 'absolute dumbass I'm going to kill if he doesn't die today' in English -she'll have to ask Lynna that one. "Usopp and I get the ship."
"What? Why?!" Usopp asks loudly, though he still follows obediently after her.
"Because there's a tempest coming, and with all those pirates, Marines are probably going to go to the harbour to intercept the Merry, since pirates normally come here just before the Grand Line. What are we going to do if our ship is washed away or blown up when we need i- Hey, wait for me!"
"You run faster!"
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
She doesn't know how long she runs.
Doesn't know when it starts raining, or when the streets become empty except for her.
Doesn't know when a few tears start slipping down her cheeks.
(or maybe it's just the rain-)
She just knows the map in her head and her heart beating with the same desperate strength her feet are hitting the cobblestones with.
"I'm the man who will become the Pirate King!"
She slips on the wet stones, falls, and rolls across the street that leads into the town square.
"Fuck!" She chokes, and it's a sob shaking with fear rather than a scream trembling with anger.
(Fear has always come more easily than anger to her,
has always made her freeze rather than move-
It's the first time the body of this world betrays her.
-as if contaminated by her fatalism and her habit to give up rather than try-
But she can't not try this
Because Sea King is the one who holds them together, and if he leaves
-dies-
she'll be all alone.
Because she loves him.
Because her existence in itself is a proof that she can't trust the story she knows, can't trust the story in which he's still alive-)
"Stop the execution!"
Sanji and Zoro speaking together is enough of a miracle to jolt her into tripping to her feet, and she wipes the dirty water from her face.
The rain beats against her face, whipping away all the thoughts that aren't in the here and the now.
And she starts running again.
(Her death has never really scared her.
She might not care enough to save strangers or the rest of the world
But if there's anything she can do to save someone she loves,
then she'll give anything and everything.
Even if it twists her into something she's not
even if it consumes her.
So the terror
-the terror that is freezing her insides and jamming all her muscles with screams while her blood tries to outrun her veins-
will just have to shut the fuck up and let her be the selfish bitch she is,
who can't bear to be the one left behind.)
"Ann! Zoro!" Luffy calls out.
"Guys!" She shouts hoarsely as she nears her crewmates.
"Usopp! Sanji!"
A man who looks like a sitck-thin and much less terrifying version of the Joker runs at her.
She catches his sword-wielding right hand with her own, foot sliding against the ground to slam her heel against his shin, spins until she's facing away from him, and smashes her left elbow in his face.
Zoro and Sanji look back at her.
"Nami!"
"Get me up there!"
The swordsman nods, and beside him Sanji grunts as he steps forward to keep the Buggy Pirates away from them.
Zoro stabs a woman through her shoulder but doesn't take back his katana, grabbing Elynna around the waist instead.
He spins, and throws her high in the air.
"Sorry, but it looks like I'm dead." Luffy grins.
Buggy slashes his sword downwards with a gleeful smile.
Her heart feels like it's free falling and already smashed against the ground all at the same time.
(She's too late-)
Then lightning strikes, and Buggy is set on fire.
Oh, shi-
She hastily twists in the hair so that her feet are first rather than her hands.
Her shoes slam against the older man's side, and she bends backwards to slap his sword away just in case before she pushes him off the execution stand.
And then she starts to fall, and realises that she didn't quite plan for that part.
But she didn't need to, because an arm suddenly tightens around her waist, and the loud gasp she was holding in her ribcage after burning herself against Buggy's sword is knocked out of her.
Luffy's overheated skin doesn't help, but at least there are clothes between her skin and his, so she holds her breath and bites her lips into a bloody mess until they touch the ground and she can get away from him.
Everyone gapes.
Their Captain laughs.
"Lucky me! I survived!"
"Hey… Do you believe in God?" Sanji mumbles, cigarette falling from his mouth as he stares down at him and blinks, like he's not quite sure what he's seeing is real.
Zoro sighs.
"Shut up… and run." Elynna croaks out from a throat scraped raw by fear as she stumbles to her feet.
Luffy laughs again.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
"Roronoa Zoro!"
Elynna bats her raindrops-laced eyelashes in an attempt to see clearer, but she doesn't need her sight to know who is calling out to the swordsman.
She sounds pissed off.
"To think you were Roronoa Zoro! And a pirate, at that! You were toying with me all along!"
"You bastard! What did you do to the lady?!" Sanji roars loudly enough that she can hear him through the rain on the other side of their group.
"Never thought she was a Marine." Zoro huffs next to her, ignoring the blonde cook as he unsheathes a katana and clasps the hilt of another. "You guys go on ahead."
"Okay." Luffy nods.
"Hey! Are you listening to me?! If you hurt her-"
"Hermes, shut up and run."
She rushes past the clashing duo, but abruptly stops a few seconds later to turn around.
"Hey, Fang! You're supposed to follow this street to the harbour! Just run straight, you know!"
"Shut up and go!"
She already can't see Sanji or Luffy anymore when she starts running again.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
When she finally catches up to her Captain, Sanji has apparently gone ahead to the ship, and a man is sitting on Luffy's back and pressing his face against the ground.
He grabs the handle of a weapon protuding from his back, and somehow, she just-
Knows.
This weapon touching Luffy would be bad.
So she runs faster, lets her feet slide against the slippery stones, and lands on her back next to her flailing Captain just in time to catch the tip of the weapon.
The pain of her harsh contact with the ground doesn't register in her mind at that moment, because her breath is knocked out by something… else.
(The world is muted like she's under anaesthesia
and at the same time something crashes over her with enough noise to send her mind spinning
spinning through the whispers and the already fading images and the sensations that bubble upupup from somewhere so deep inside it doesn't even feel like hers-)
It all comes to a slow, tranquil halt on the shores of her lips, too natural to be anything else than her voice, and yet more foreign than it has ever felt up till now.
"Seastone."
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Smoker stares down at the girl, almost gulping down his cigars in shock.
Not because of her sudden appearance, although he did fail to hear her due to the sound of the rain.
No.
It's because the name of a rare mineral just came out of the mouth of a newbie pirate from the East Blue, the weakest of the four seas where the Marine Headquarters didn't deem it necessary for them to send supplies of said mineral, except in the one town of Loguetown where pirates coming is about as inevitable as seagulls.
The girl has no business knowing about seastone, and the way her dark, unreadable gaze is dilated with something and wavering between staring at him and through him makes a chill slither around his spine.
It's not fear.
More like...
Unease.
"Ann? Are you okay?!" The straw-hatted brat calls out, bringing him back to the situation at hand.
Huffing out some more smoke, the Marine Captain secures a stronger grip on his jutte, wrenching it out of the girl's grip to slam it against the brat's back.
"Looks like your luck ran out, boy."
Another hand settles next to his on the bandaged hilt to stop him.
"Or perhaps not?" A cavernous voice quips from behind him.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Somehow, they all manage to get onto the ship alive and relatively unharmed, and the tempest gets them away in no time -and just the right direction.
Elynna can feel her mind start to lag behind reality, and her body stays standing more because her bones feel like rusty cogs than because she feels actually awake.
A large, warm hand lands on her shoulder, and she nonchalantly rises up to grip the wrist, body reeling to go into fighting mode, because they're still fighting to get to their Captain-
Until she realises that this hand is about as familiar as her own.
"-ynna?"
Uh.
She frowns, and sluggishly blinks away the rain in her eyes.
How long has she been standing here?
"Elynna?"
Slowly, she looks up to see Zoro frowning down at her, and realises that she's still holding on to his wrist.
The rain slaps her face, and the sea roars into her ears, the cold dunking her face back into reality.
One by one, she forces the jammed bones of her fingers to let go.
"Yahoo! It's like the ship is about to flip over!" Luffy yells from somewhere in front of them, cutting into the silence that was about to lead to questions Elynna doesn't know how -or doesn't want- to answer.
She gives Zoro a smile as fleeting as the drops of water around them, and goes to join the others, hoping that everything they exsude will be enough to fill the (silent and deaddeaddead) emptiness spreading inside of her.
"Ah!" Nami looks back, tucking wet strands of hair behind her ear as she spots her roommate joining them. "Lynna, Zoro! See that light over there?"
"You mean the lighthouse?" Zoro calls out over the rain battering the deck.
"Yeah! It's called the light of guidance. The entrance to the Grand Line is just up ahead of that light. So," she grins widely, "what shall we do?"
Luffy grins even wider.
Zoro smirks.
Usopp raises a trembling hand.
"Uh, guys? Shouldn't we wait for the storm to subside or someth-"
"This calls for a celebration!" Sanji announces as he joins them outside with a barrel, cutting off the sharpshooter who groans in resignation.
After setting the barrel on the deck, the cook lets his foot rest on top of it with a thump.
"To find the All Blue!"
The others exchange a glance, and are quick to join in.
"To become the Pirate King!"
"To become the greatest swordsman!"
"To draw a map of the world!"
"Ugh, fine! T-to become a brave warrior of the seas!"
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
There's a moment of silence, and then they turn to their First Mate, still standing there and staring at them with eyes as dark as the stormy sky around them.
"Come on, Lynna, come here!" Nami calls out with a laugh, the rain slapping her face more exhilarating than annoying at the moment.
(because there's something fizzling inside
like the first rays of the sun at dawn
like whispers of something that won't always be good but will be great-)
The shorter girl steps closer to rest her foot between Zoro's and Usopp's.
"Hey, what's your dream anyway?" Usopp suddenly asks with an owlish blink of his eyes, and the others imitate him, realising that Elynna never talked about something like that.
"... To die not too painfully?"
Zoro slaps her upside the head without even looking at her.
"Ow."
"Stop saying nonsense, you're ruining the moment here!" Usopp barks at her.
"Fine, fine." She huffs, and shapes her face into something solemn.
Then she opens her mouth, and once she closes it they all raise their foot simultaneously to break the barrel.
"Off to Grand Line we go!"
It takes a few seconds for Usopp to realise something.
He whirls around with an accusatory finger pointed at the dark-haired girl, who is already making her way towards the girls' cabin.
"Hey! We didn't understand what you were saying, come back here! What even was that language?! I want an explanation!"
"Nope, it's a secret!" She denies with a finger across her smirk. "Besides, I burned my hand earlier, so I have to take care of it. Call me if there's any problem!"
Nami watches her, listening only distractedly to Usopp's enraged rambling.
Something… Something is off.
Elynna is behaving normally, but there's too much space, too much silence, too much lag in her reactions. She's speaking just a bit more slowly, like her tongue or her brain is trapped in something, and her smirk came just a bit too late after her words.
The navigator gulps.
It's almost painful with how dry her throat suddenly is.
Because Lynna's eyes looked like they did in Giu-
She clamps her teeth down on the thought, and rubs harshly at her drenched face.
(No.
No, because in Giuren she didn't talk, didn't smile,
-didn't even seem to know how to do either of those-
didn't look at her, at any of them
and when she did for the first time, it was like she didn't know who they were
Giuren was much, much worse,
and if it happens again, it will be a thousand times more heartbreaking, because Nami has had the time to learn to love her a thousand times more.)
She looks back at the light of guidance.
From the way Sanji and Zoro yelled at Luffy when they got to the ship, she can guess that he almost did die -and in a stupidly Luffy way at that.
Someone like Elynna can't just brush it off like they did.
(Because no matter the fact that the lines of her face are flat more often than not,
no matter the fact that her words sound like insults or too distant from people and events to actually feel anything for them,
Nami knows that someone who doesn't care wouldn't stare at all the wounds and the tears of her crew members with so much focus and hands so warm
that someone like Lynna, who dislikes being responsible for others so much, who is so afraid to let down people and their expectations, wouldn't try so hard to be the best First Mate they can without caring, even if it's just a little bit-
No.
Lynna loves them.
Perhaps even a bit too much, because sometimes Nami can feel the piece of her heart that Lynna put in her hand, knows that they all have one
and she wonders if her best friend left enough in her own chest to live for herself.)
Feeling something boring in her back, she looks over her shoulder to find Luffy and Zoro staring at her.
Eyes flitting across the deck, she finds Sanji and Usopp busying themselves with slight frowns of worry, clearly having felt that something isn't quite right even though they don't exactly know what.
She looks back at the two other boys, and shakes her head firmly.
She'll leave her roommate alone for now, because maybe she really is tired from the morning they just had.
But if she's not back in an hour, then problem or no problem, she'll just have to deal with Nami barging in on her.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Hand taken care of as well as she can, Elynna closes the door of the bathroom and goes to plop herself down on the only chair in the room after setting it near the window.
She opens the porthole, and rests her arms on the sill, letting the rain and the wind batter her.
It leaves her skin cold and prickling, but at least it grounds her.
Somewhat.
(-but her mind is sliding,
deep,
and deeper
too deep for the pressure her armour can bear)
Buggy's sword flashes through her mind, and she allows her brain to run wild (crazy-) with all the scenarios where the lightning doesn't come and she's still too late.
(They all end with her knees on the cold, wet stones and her screams shredding her apart in the silence.)
She chuckles, but the sound barely deserves that name, and there's none of the amusement it should have.
Her Captain really has a strange mix of good and bad luck.
Buggy and then that Marine guy almost got him twice in less than an hour, but somehow he got away.
"What reason do you have to prevent a man from setting sail?"
She knows the man whose face is painted with slicing lines of red and whose smile seems to laugh at the world's ignorance.
She knows him, because her little sister was so hyped when she discovered who Luffy's father and grandfather are that she recounted that particular episode to Elynna at least five times -and showed it to her at least twice.
She presses her lips together.
(She wishes
that someone was there for her too
that someone could be there for her
wishes she could complain to her parents about how much she admires them for raising her and her sister, because her Captain driving her fucking crazy-
wishes her sister was here to go ballistic when meeting her favourite imaginary friends and show Elynna the bright side that she can never wholly focus on,
-or maybe she would be having her own existential crisis, but at least it would force her to keep her shit together and act like the big sister she always failed to be for once-
wishes her cousin was here to show her more of his acrobatic stunts and train with her, because she's too stupid and too afraid to come up with his ideas
wishes her best female friend was here to kick her ass at swimming, give her the crushing bear hugs no one else seems starved enough to eat up, and complain about that dress that is super cute but no shop sells it for someone as tall and muscled as the local swimming champ
wishes her ex-boyfriend-slash-best-male-friend was here to drag her to the salsa and flamenco competitions he so loves, to sleep next to her and help her ride out the nightmares of fingers around her neck and too much blood on Zoro's chest for her to heal him -and all the sounds of bones crunching together she accumulated within her fists
But wishing never brings anything
she stopped wishing for anything -for anything that matters- when she was a child and realised
that she would never have what it takes to make her wishes reality
and that the world would never be kind enough to grant it to her
even out of pity.)
She chuckles again, because it's just so stupidly hilarious that a pessimist, a fatalist like her, who prefers to believe in the worst-case scenario, then possibly have a nice surprise and spare herself some sorrow-
It's hilarious that someone like her is still hoping to ever go back home, to ever go back to those who also have her heart but aren't on this ship, when really she has no fucking idea of what the hell she's doing-
She forces out another chuckle.
Her voice cracks.
(it's a sob)
"To find home."
Her dream is something misty and distant that is always miles ahead of her and unreachable.
(It's a dream because she won't be able to fulfill it
and she'll always wake up with her hands empty
Because she's not like them, doesn't belong here, with her weakness and her cowardice and her exhaustion-)
She's tired of holding on, but she doesn't remember the last time she let go.
(-doesn't remember the last time she really cried
doesn't remember how she did it-)
And any of her crew mates might just walk in because there's a problem.
No one needs a First Mate who crumples and undoes herself when she's needed whole -or at least functional.
So she sits, alone under the dark, roiling clouds and the bolts of thunder that shine too little, alone above the sea that is too busy howling at the sky and gobbling up the falling sheets of rain to reflect the lightning.
Alone with the grief that she allows to explode inside of her into shrapnels that rip her apart in silence.
And she endures.
Rides it out.
Lets her body shake and collapse along with the pain and the screams inside.
Allows the tears to stream down her face and be drowned in the rain as she muffles the noises that she can't repress in the muzzle of her knees.
It could be worse.
You could have no one and nothing, and yet still be alive.
Just endure.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
...
Sorry, guys, but Elynna has basically been repressing any thought about never seeing people from the other world since the beginning, and at some point it was going to slap her in the face.
But on a more positive note, she now has weapons, and when she'll learn to handle them she's gonna be… *sighs dreamily*
Did the war fan idea come to me when watching The Avatar (or more like The Queen Suki)? Most certainly. Here are some links if you want to have a better idea of what a kukri looks like because my description sucks (P.S.: Helmeppo also has kukri when we see him again after Enies Lobby... which I had completely forgotten about until I randomly thought about that episode), and a link to some diagrams of a folding fan in case you're a bit confused (like I was):
https:slashslashdot en . wikipedia wiki/Kukri
https:slashslash www dot pinterest dot fr slash pin slash 275634439666372556/
On that note, thank you as usual to everyone who reads, to all those who take the time to leave a comment, and I wish you all the best!
Last good news: for at least the next month I should be able to do a chapter per week!