Legal notice: All original settings, characters, and plot belongs to Eiichiro Oda. I did not receive any revenue for writing this fan fiction. Enjoy Chapter 44!
Magina's question of disbelief made him smile. She didn't really believe him. This was the only option forward that the siren had. If she stayed paralyzed, then she would be vulnerable. It was obvious to him that if she could no longer see the enemy then she would be able to fight. It was an extreme way to train, but Zoro was planning on being nearby. There'd be no issue.
She sighed and shook her head, "Sanji is going to throw a fit."
"Let him," Zoro grumbled, "he wouldn't be able to think of anything better."
She smothered her laughter of agreement and gave him a teasing grin.
"I think he'd argue with you about how practical your idea is too."
Zoro growled as they jumped from the ship. A set of stairs descended into a long trench. This entrance screamed that it was a trap. A noisy gulp interrupted his thoughts. He turned his head to look at her profile out of the corner of his eye. Magina already looked pale. He sighed.
"You don't think it's a good suggestion either."
The siren paused and swallowed nervously. "I didn't say that. I just… I don't know if I can really fight blinded."
Zoro squeezed her arm. She stopped walking and faced him.
"The reason I thought of a blindfold was the incident on the ship. You rely too much on your sight normally. And your sense of sight informs your superstitions."
Magina took an angry breath, so he continued quickly.
"You were able to strike that invisible asshole when you couldn't see him. You'll be able to fight against enemies that you can't see. It's better than being frozen in fear."
The siren considered his point for a while. "It'll be worth the training experience. Fine. I'll try it. But I was never 'frozen in fear'."
She turned around and handed him the bandana. He securely tied it so that it covered her eyes. Zoro smirked at her fake bravado.
"Sure, you weren't. I guess that I held another superstitious siren on deck then?" he teased.
Zoro grinned as he easily avoided the swat she swung in his direction. That was, until she overbalanced and started wind-milling her arms. He automatically reached out to catch her. A fall from the top of the stairs could seriously injure her. The siren righted herself at the last moment, and slapped him playfully.
"That's for teasing me."
He chuckled. "Fair enough. Need an arm down these steps?"
Magina shook her head. Zoro shrugged. He should have known that she would never ask for help. They caught up to the others. The Love Cook's face turned a vivid purple as soon as they came into view. Sanji glared at him.
"Was this your idea, marimo?" he demanded.
Zoro folded his arms. "Are you accusing me of something specific, Dart-brow?"
The cook fumed. The cigarette smoke hung heavily around Sanji's head as he puffed angrily.
"What are you trying to pull, Broccoli-head?! We don't have time to play around and you're blindfolding Magina-san? This is not the place for your perverted fantasies!"
Zoro growled warningly. He was about to kick the cook's ass when the siren stepped forward. She put a gentle hand on his arm. He ground his teeth but kept quiet.
"Magina! You're wearing Zoro's bandana! But aren't you wearing it wrong?" Luffy asked.
"This is a new training technique that Zoro thought up for me," Magina replied with an easy smile.
"Oh! Like this afternoon when you pulled Usopp out of the aquarium? You had your eyes closed then too. It was so cool!" Luffy said excitedly.
The siren nodded. "Exactly. The bandana prevents me from cheating."
Sanji's accusations died with Magina's obvious acceptance of the piece of cloth, though Robin chuckled knowingly. They stepped off the staircase and entered a trench. There were high walls on either side. Even though the sky was overcast, Zoro could see white objects reflecting dully on the pathway. The ground was littered with old skeleton remains. The brittle bones crunched underneath their feet as they continued forward. Magina was pale again. She must have realized what they were walking over.
"I wonder if that staircase led us down into hell," Robin remarked casually.
The siren shivered besides him. He was about to rebuke the historian for her choice of words when he was interrupted by two barks and a yip. Everyone turned towards the noise. A creature right out of mythology stared back at them.
Sanji crossed his arms. "Isn't that supposed to be Cerberus? He should have stayed down in hell."
"He looks like he wants to pick a fight," Franky observed.
Zoro rumbled, "That'll be his last mistake."
The siren tensed besides him. She clutched her daggers tightly, poised to strike.
Robin smiled, "He's cute."
It was obvious that the creature understood them. It whined in confusion and then it braced itself to attack. Luffy had a different idea.
"I'm going to tame it!"
Zoro sighed silently. The siren was on edge still. She tensed the moment the large dog bit down on Luffy's head. Magina was going to have to learn to relax. Otherwise, she was going to burn herself out. Luffy threw the dog to the ground. The siren started forward, but Zoro took her by the waist and swung her out of the way. Luffy had control of the situation. He was close enough to hear her startled gasp and the quiet panting when he finally let go.
"You're too anxious, siren. If you don't pay more attention to your surroundings, I'll have to step in again. Wouldn't you hate that?" Zoro leaned in and murmured in her ear.
Magina chuckled weakly. "Maybe I like that you're close by."
Zoro grinned. "That may be true, but if you're not training then that dart-brow cook will call me a pervert."
Luffy clambered up on the beast and happily led the way into a fog covered wood. There were no markers to indicate which direction they were headed. He wasn't the only one who was turned around. Even the siren was strangely silent.
"This fog is difficult to see through. We have no idea if we're going straight or if we're going around in circles. Maybe you should have stayed behind, marimo. It's got to be your fault that we're lost!" Sanji accused.
He growled in response. He wasn't even leading the way! "Hey, watch it!"
"But really, it's impossible to tell where we're heading. This fog is something else," Franky commented.
"We're mostly headed in the right direction," Magina chimed in.
"Oh, Fisher Girl! How do you know? Your eyes are covered. If you really can tell then that's a pretty SU-PER useful ability," Franky commented.
"Magina is really cool!" Luffy interrupted. "She can fish with her eyes closed too! Our special songs tell her where we are. Are they close, Magina?"
The siren shook her head. "I can only tell that we're walking in the correct direction."
The conversation died down and they traveled in silence. Zoro suddenly heard a familiar sound. Someone was pouring a drink into a cup or a bowl. He wasn't the only one to hear it. They turned and stared at a tree with an old man's face and a stitched unicorn pouring drinks. The creatures gaped and tried to run away. Franky and Luffy chased them down. He kept nearby since his captain was nothing but predictable.
"Will you join my crew—"
"Cut it out, already!" he and Sanji yelled in tandem.
They walked a few more yards before Sanji sighed heavily in exasperation. He didn't always agree with the cook, but this time was one of the few exceptions that he agreed with Sanji whole-heartedly.
"Luffy, can you stop inviting these weirdos already? You already invited a racoon-dog and a robot to join the crew."
Franky broke in angrily. "I'm not a robot! I'm a cyborg! A cyborg!"
Sanji scoffed. "You're already mostly machine."
Zoro kept his peace. He glanced at the siren. She seemed calmer. She no longer started at every rustle of the wind through the trees and her hands didn't clench the hilts of her daggers. Those two idiots weren't done arguing.
"At my core, I am still human!" Franky argued.
"No, at your core, you're nothing but a pervert!" Sanji retorted.
Zoro held back his snicker when the shipwright changed attitudes.
"Ah, well, as long as you understand. Thank you for—"
Sanji quickly interrupted Franky. "No! That wasn't a compliment!"
Meanwhile, Robin had been quietly observing Cerberus. He wasn't surprised when she started talking.
"That unicorn and that odd tree from before…"
"What? Is there something bothering you?" he asked.
"Well, it seems like all the creatures that we've seen so far have a couple traits in common. Namely, they all have a number located somewhere on their bodies and they all bear the same stitching pattern," Robin pointed out while she rubbed the beast's head.
Zoro looked at Cerberus' flank. He noticed the stitching before and now he saw the large numbers emblazoned there. "You're right. I wonder if that means that there's someone in charge of them."
Robin nodded. "That thought had crossed my mind as well."
They continued in silence until Luffy couldn't take it anymore. His captain started singing loudly, some nonsense words about fun exploring was or some shit like that. He wasn't really paying attention until Magina stiffened besides him. Almost at the exact same time, another strange chant echoed in the woods.
"Negative. Negative. Negative."
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Magina couldn't explain how she knew that they were no longer alone in the woods. Maybe the air chilled right before the chanting started. Or it could have been that she suddenly got a creepy feeling. The chanting that started a moment later did not ease her concerns. She hauled in a much-needed calming breath and tried to concentrate. The mantra grew louder. Magina turned her head from side to side, trying to figure out what was happening.
"Look! The ghost is multiplying as it's dancing! Cool! I'm going to catch it!" Luffy announced.
That explained why the chant intensified. That still didn't tell her how many ghosts were present now. The air as he jumped. His grunt had an edge of disappointment to it. He must not have caught anything.
Franky had another idea, "Well, then, let's try this. Fresh Fire!"
The crackle of flames split the night. The ghosts laughed. He also must have failed. Shortly after, she heard Franky sink to his knees. The words that he spoke next didn't sound like the shipwright at all.
"I'm such a loser this week. I fail at everything I do. Nothing I try works. I don't even want to live. I can hear the whole world laughing at me…" Franky said in a tremulous voice.
Sanji tried talking to him. "You're that depressed?"
Magina frowned. What was going on? She wished that she knew his song better, but it hadn't been nearly long enough for her to pick up on what he was feeling yet. Something had to be wrong. She concentrated on what little she knew of the shipwright's song. It was strange. The strains that she normally caught sounded more upbeat than what she heard now. A darkness seemed to permeate his song.
Luffy didn't wait long. "Yosh! I'm going to catch one!"
She figured it out just as he leapt forward. She had to warn him!
"Ah, Luffy! Don't touch it, otherwise…"
Magina couldn't see if he touched one or not, but she heard the instant his song changed. Luffy fell to his knees. His song, once carefree and excited, changed immediately. She braced her legs to keep herself from collapsing with him. Negative energy saturated Luffy. It nearly overwhelmed her. Why was this feeling so darkly intense?
"I suck. If I happen to be reborn, I deserve to come back as a clam."
"What are you two doing?" Sanji demanded.
Magina panted unevenly. "Those ghosts… they have a strange power. Luffy's fighting spirit dimmed instantly when the spirt touched him. I don't know Franky's song that well, so I wasn't able to warn Luffy in time."
Robin sounded interested. "Fascinating. The ghosts have somehow weakened their will. I wonder how we can fight something like that?"
Zoro snorted derisively. "It affected them because they haven't trained their spirits enough. If they were always calm and collected, they wouldn't be in this state now."
As soon as the swordsman sank to his knees, Magina collapsed. The black despair enveloping Zoro surrounded her and left her helpless. She didn't have enough energy to speak. She couldn't even breathe normally! The bleak feelings swamped over her. All her senses disappeared, just as dark as Zoro's mental state. The next thing she knew, someone was kneeling besides her, patting her back gently and encouraging her to breathe.
"Deep breaths, Magina," Robin said.
Magina hauled in a lungful of air. A sturdy presence knelt on her other side.
"What happened?" Zoro asked gruffly.
Magina could almost feel Robin shaking her head in confusion. "She dropped at the same time as when that ghost touched you. I'm guessing yours as well as Luffy's distress overtook her. Is that close, Magina?"
She gasped out a reply. "Yeah, I think that's what happened."
Zoro's concern pierced her briefly. "That doesn't happen to you normally."
Magina took a deep breath and got to her feet. She wavered slightly but Zoro's hand was ready at her elbow.
"You should ride with us, Magina. The break will allow you to catch your breath," Robin insisted.
She heard the slight frown in the historian's voice. Magina decided not to argue. If she was being as honest as a straight cast, her head spun, and her breathing was tight. A tiny break was what she needed. She sat next to Sanji on the great beast. They were well on their way again when her nakama's moods changed abruptly.
"No! I've changed my mind! I definitely don't want them as pets!"
Luffy's anger made her wince as her head started throbbing. The fury in his song was very intense. Magina was only grateful that she didn't hear Franky's song quite as clearly, otherwise the pain would be worse.
"Those spirits have to have a weakness of some kind! Once I discover what it is, I'm going to destroy them!" he shouted.
Next to her, Sanji couldn't stop laughing. Magina was tempted to remove Zoro's bandana… just for a moment. It sounded like he was embarrassed. She didn't get to see the warrior like that very often. She tried to use her fingers to pull the cloth down, only Zoro's sharp voice stopped her.
"Don't, siren! You're training!"
Sanji laughed harder. "Don't take it personally, Magina-san. Moss-Head just doesn't want to show you his uncool side. He put on quite the show for us. Oh, but you didn't see it, did you? Well, he was saying that Franky and Luffy were undisciplined and if they were always calm and collected like him that they wouldn't be affected so much. Well, then a little ghost flew straight through him and…"
"Shut up, already, you damn Love Cook!" Zoro shouted.
"Sorry," his tone quieted for a moment before he started teasing again, "'Sorry I was ever born!'"
Magina heard the swordsman's stifled growl and his mumbled words, "Why you…"
Robin was busy thinking and analyzing. She finally took a breath, the prelude to her observations. Magina listened in rapt attention.
"It seems like there are two main enemies. One has a physical body with numbers tattooed somewhere on their bodies. They seem to be stitched together and they may be under someone's command. Enemy two is a specter. It has no physical body and if they touch you, they break your spirit. Knowledge on how to defeat these enemies is unknown."
"We should assume that those ghosts are here to keep tabs on us. They're probably tracking our movements."
She shivered. If that was true, then they watched the crew for a while. Her biggest questions were who was controlling the ghosts and how could they defeat them? The air currents shifted. Magina knew that they were traveling through a forest before. The multitude of tress made her feel like the air was pressing in around them. They were no longer in a forest, but a wide-open space.
"The trees are gone. Where are we now?" she asked.
"It's a cemetery! It has great atmosphere. Hey, let's eat lunch now!" Luffy said excitedly.
Magina almost leapt off the beast's back and ran back to the forest.
"We can't eat lunch in a graveyard! It'll ruin the flavors! Plus, we're in a hurry!" Sanji yelled.
"No! I want to eat here!" Luffy argued staunchly.
"L-Luffy. You should listen t-to him. Eating in a cemetery could c-curse you," she tried to warn him.
Zoro's presence hovered near her leg. Luffy laughed nearby.
"Your voice is all funny again, Magina. You don't need to be afraid. Everyone will keep you safe from curses! And I'm hungry now, so we have to eat!" Luffy insisted stubbornly.
"I am not afraid! Cemeteries are creepy! You never know what might be alive out there!"
"There shouldn't be anything alive here, Fisher Girl," Franky said. "What sort of horror stories did people tell you when you were growing up?"
She was about to argue when she heard something. It was like dirt was being pushed aside or something trying to break out from the ground. She shook, her teeth clattering in her mouth. A rusty groan emerged nearby. Zoro took her hand. His warm, quiet strength kept her from screaming.
"Steady, siren. Concentrate," he murmured to her in a low tone.
She took a calming breath even as Luffy said, "Yosh. Here you go. Stay down there."
Magina jumped down and got her daggers ready. More presences popped up and they were looking for a fight.
"As if!" one cried.
"All right, guys. Let's do this!"
Magina got into position next to Zoro. She twirled her daggers, dispatching enemies on one side while the swordsman covered the other. The Straw Hats unleashed their power in one combo move. Whoever these enemies were, they didn't stand a chance.
"600 Million Beli Jackpot!"
Hi all! I hope that everyone enjoyed Chapter 44! In the next chapter, the rest of the crew will learn more about the island Thriller Bark and the man who controls it all. See you in chapter 45!