Chapter 3

After I had fielded a shower of questions about what Fencer was and why she could talk, we got back to sailing. The rainstorm still hadn't let up, but that didn't stop anyone from performing their duties. Usopp was manning the whipstaff, Zoro the rigging. When the wind stopped moving in the right direction, he joined Luffy, Sanji, and I in rowing.

Less than an hour later, Nami assembled us in the cabin for an update.

"Alright, listen everybody," she said. "I've studied this map and given it some thought, and I'm certain that the only way into the Grand Line is up a mountain."

"But…h-how is that possible?" Usopp asked as he tried to get the whipstaff to budge.

"Why are you questioning what is and isn't possible when you've got a rubber man and a living skeleton on your crew?" I countered. "You picked an odd place to draw the line."

"Yeah, I'm a talking ferret with fire powers," Fencer added. "You really need to keep an open mind."

Nami then continued her explanation of how sailing up Reverse Mountain worked. I tried listening, but this stuff had always flown over my head when I'd watched the show; I didn't really care how the water flowed up the mountain, so I never really paid attention. And lo and behold, it was still flying over my head now.

"And you're sure this is actually possible?" Zoro asked, still skeptical.

"Quiet, Moss-head. If Nami thinks it's possible, then it's possible," Sanji growled.

As the crew discussed how dangerous this route would be, Usopp continued to work the whipstaff in the back of the cabin, but he was making little progress.

"Hey, could someone help me with the rudder? The damn thing's stuck."

"Sure, but first—" I walked over to Luffy, seeing that no one else was getting back to work. "Hey, Luffy, why don't you go out on the deck and keep an eye out for Reverse Mountain?"

"What's that?"

Seriously? I was surprised he hadn't been listening, since I was pretty sure he'd listened in canon. "It's this big, wide, red mountain that's so tall it reaches the clouds, and it's got a canal running up it. Can you let us know if you see it?"

"Uh… Okay."

With that, he went out on deck to keep watch, leaving Usopp and me to try our luck with the rudder. The rest of the crew just milled about, passing the time in their own ways. Sanji went to the kitchen, Zoro just napped, and Fencer used my ribcage like a jungle gym. Nami, however, seemed to have something else in mind.

"Hey, could you come with me?" she asked me. Considering I was already busy helping Usopp, I thought this would be the perfect time for the crew to start getting used to Skeleton Buddy. I made him appear so he could go with her.

Nami looked like she was about to protest, so I just told her, "There's no reason to complain. He's identical to me in every possible way. He acts like me, thinks like me, and knows everything I know. We're completely in sync."

"Yeah, so don't judge me," Skeleton Buddy said, adding his own two cents. "Clones are people too."

Although she didn't seem satisfied, she ultimately decided to just roll with it. She led Skeleton Buddy into the map room for a little more privacy. Once they were there, SB got the conversation started.

"So, what's up?" he asked.

"What are you after?"

"Eh?"

"You heard me," she said. "Why did you really join this crew? And don't give me that 'spending time with friends' excuse, I know you just made that up."

"How would you know that?"

"You paused before you announced your goal," she replied without missing a beat. "I've met plenty of wannabe con artists, and they all hesitate before they lie."

'Okay, think fast,' SB thought frantically. 'What do I tell her? I think my only options are to A. make up another excuse or B. have her be the first person I tell about Declan being from another world.'

After a couple more seconds, he made his choice.

"I guess I can tell you why Declan really joined the crew," he said. "He's been wanting to tell you guys, for the record. He just didn't know how to break it to you."

"Well, I'm listening,"

"Okay. You've heard of famous books like A Boy and His Dog and Watership Down, right?" he asked.

"What does that have to do with you joining our crew?" Nami asked.

"Just bear with me," SB said. "Now, imagine that there are planets or dimensions or universes or whatever where the characters and events from those stories are real. You still with me?" he asked.

She sighed and nodded somewhat impatiently.

"Well, Declan is from a place where there's this manga called One Piece, and it's a story about a boy named Luffy and his crew and all their adventures. One day, Declan woke up to find he'd been transported to a world where the story was real, and he decided he wanted to join Luffy's crew because that would kick ass," he finished.

Nami looked taken aback, although she quickly regained her composure. With a deep breath, she spat, "I thought I made it clear I didn't want any more lies!"

"Alright then," SB said, understanding her frustration. "Would you believe me if I told you something about you that I shouldn't know?"

She crossed her arms but said nothing.

"Your adoptive mother's name was Bell-Mere," SB said. Nami stood frozen, staring in disbelief. He kept going. "You care so much about that tangerine garden on deck because it was hers. You love money so much because you grew up poor. Your adopted sister—"

"Alright!" Nami said loudly, looking a little shaken by how much the skeleton knew. "This is fucked up, but I believe you."

"Now that you know the truth about Declan, do you think you can trust us a little more?" SB asked, a bit of hopefulness slipping into his question. "I—and by extension, Declan—want to tell the rest of the crew about this soon."

"I… I don't know. I need some time to think about this," Nami said, walking out of the room. SB sighed and followed her out.

When Nami returned, I made Skeleton Buddy disappear, absorbing his memories. Moving past the surprise that he'd told Nami my origins, I prepared myself to deliver some more bad news.

"What?! We're in the Calm Belt?!" Nami shrieked. "Everyone, grab an oar and start rowing!"

"Why the rush?" Zoro asked.

"Talk later, row now!"

Sanji, Zoro, Luffy, and I grabbed the oars as she commanded. As we started rowing, I realized I had a chance to answer Zoro's question, since we were sitting together.

"Sea kings live in the Calm Belt, Zoro," I said tersely. "Lots and lots of sea kings."

Our swordsman turned a little pale at that. We rowed for a few minutes before the ship jerked up as if we had hit a speed bump. Obviously, it wasn't a speed bump.

The creature that surfaced beside us wasn't a sea king; it was far too small, although it still dwarfed the Merry. It was blue with a white underbelly and burnt-orange trim. It had a frill like a cobra, with a long neck and a head that vaguely resembled a crocodile's. And while at first it seemed to have a somewhat serpentine build, it reared up out of the water enough for us to see its forelimbs.

This thing looked just like a lagiacrus from Monster Hunter. What the hell? First, there's Fencer, who's from a trading card game, and now there's a monster from a video game? What kind of version of One Piece did I land in?

"Holy cra—" Usopp shouted, but the leviathan gently clamped its forelegs down on the railing, stretched its long neck so that its face was right in front of him, and growled, shutting him up quickly.

"He says, shut up," Fencer said.

"You understand it?" Nami asked, bewildered.

"Well, yeah. I'm an animal too, remember? He's got a weird accent, but I understood him."

The lagiacrus now had his attention on Fencer, apparently having heard her say she understood him. He let out some more growls and a roar that was loud but unaggressive. Fencer nodded as he went on.

"Okay, he said he wandered into this area by mistake, and now he's trying to sneak out before any of the big guys spot him," she translated.

"Never thought we'd be having a conversation with a sea king," Zoro said under his breath. If he was surprised, then he was hiding it well.

"Trust me, Zoro, this isn't a sea king," I told him, amused by his mix-up.

The chat between the fire ferret and the leviathan continued for another minute or so.

"We made a deal," Fencer said finally. "He said he'll tow us out of the Calm Belt, but we owe him a favor later. By the way, I don't think we caught your name." She turned back to the lagiacrus. He made another vocalization, to which she nodded.

Luffy stretched out his arms, wrapping them around two of the sea monster's back spikes, while Zoro and I held onto him to make sure he didn't get pulled overboard. Within minutes, we were out of the Calm Belt and back into the storm we'd been stuck in earlier. With a triumphant roar, the lagiacrus stopped towing us and departed. We waved goodbye to our gigantic new friend and got back to sailing, hoping whatever favor we owed him wouldn't be a life-threatening one.

"Hey, what did he say his name was?" I asked Fencer, surprised I hadn't wondered sooner.

"Greg," said Fencer.

'Weird name for a monster,' I thought to myself.

Suddenly, from the crow's nest, we heard Luffy shout, "Hey, I see that mountain thingy Declan was talking about!"

And there it was: the Red Line. It was quite a sight, the looming crimson titan with its curious upward-flowing streams. The geography of One Piece's universe had always confused me, but this was still amazing—oh, who was I kidding? I didn't actually care that much. To me, it was just a big, red mountain and not much else. Everybody else, however, was mesmerized.

"Guys, we need to turn to starboard!" yelled our captain. "We're still a little off!"

Usopp and I snapped out of our daze and made for the whipstaff. We pulled and pulled, until suddenly, it broke with a gut-wrenching snap.

"Now what do we do?" I yelled, despite knowing what would come next. I just wanted to add a little drama.

"GUM-GUM BALLOON!" Luffy shouted, having now set himself between the ship and the rock face. His inflation technique cushioned the impact against the wall. allowing our ship to slide by.

Seconds later, we were zooming up the mountain.

"This is so cool!" I couldn't help but shout, abandoning my ambivalence for a moment to take in the view. Everyone else clearly agreed. Soon we were past the clouds, and then we were on the top of the mountain. And just as soon as we reached the top, we started hurtling downwards again.

"Hell yeah!" Fencer yelled over the rushing winds. "I feel so alive right now!"

Luffy, Usopp, and I whooped in agreement. Zoro and Sanji were just smiling. Nami looked a little distracted. I wondered if the news Skeleton Buddy had given her was still weighing on her mind. It was then that I noticed something, a sound I could just barely hear over the roaring wind. It sounded like music.

"What the hell is that?!"

"What the hell is what?!" Sanji asked.

"That music! I can't be the only one hearing it!" After a moment, I realized I recognized this music. It was the stuff that had played during this scene in the anime.

"That's the background music!" Zoro said by way of explanation.

"Where's it coming from?!" I asked.

"No one really knows!" answered Usopp. Suddenly, I heard another strange noise.

Woooohhhh

"What the hell was that?" Fencer asked.

"No idea," Zoro said.

I knew what it was, but I decided to dick around with the crew first.

"I think it's the song of a whale, guys," I said.

The reaction from the crew was as follows:

"You're crazy!"

"No way!"

"Are you stupid?!"

"I'm serious!" Time for the part where I really messed with them. "I would know what a whale's song sounds like because I… have been to an aquarium."

"Are you kidding me?!" the whole crew shouted.

Nami marched over to me, grabbed my shoulder tightly, and pulled me close. "What's really making that noise, Mr. I-know-everything?"

Looks like revealing the truth about myself hadn't lowered her hostility after all.

I got serious. "I really wasn't joking. That noise really is being made by—"

BWOOOOOH!

"—by a whale. You'll see I'm right in about ten seconds."

I pointed to the bow of the ship. There was a large dark mass in our path, partially obscured by the rain and fog.

"Is that a mountain up ahead?!" Usopp shouted in fear.

"It's not a mountain, it's a whale!" I said.

Damn. I knew from watching the anime that the whale made the ship look small by comparison, but this was something else.

As the crew looked on in awe at the great beast before us, I had just one thing to say:

"Told you so!"

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. It belongs to Eiichiro Oda. Fencing Fire Ferret belongs to Konami. Lagiacrus belongs to Capcom.

This is how you give a disclaimer, right?