One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter Ninety-Eight-
"Where I come from, this is a famous story—it's a fairytale supposedly based on the life of Noland who lived in the North Blue a long time ago" Sanji explained.
"This is a story of ancient origins, the events in here expired more than four hundred years ago" Nami began to read as she opened the book. "There once was a man by the name Montblanc Noland who lived in the North Blue countryside, who was an explorer that always regaled the crowds with stories of his incredible exploits. But nobody knew whether or not to take Noland's tall tales seriously. One day, upon returning from yet another adventure, he reported to his king all that he had seen. "I saw a City of Gold on an island on the great sea!" declared Noland, and the courageous king decided that he must have this treasure for his kingdom.
"The king set out with Noland and two thousand of his finest soldiers, along the way they endure treacherous storms and battled many ferocious creatures. At the end of their journey only the king, Noland, and one hundred soldiers survived to set foot on the island that housed the City of Gold, and all they found for their troubles was a normal island covered with an ordinary jungle. And so, upon their return, Noland was sentenced to death for the crime of lying to his king. His last words were as follows, "I can only assume that the City of Gold sunk into the sea," the king and his court were dumbfounded. Nobody believed in Noland anymore and the last of his days were spent in shame and ridicule before his sentence of death was carried out before a cheering crowd" she finished.
"It says here the book is based on the true story of Noland the Liar" she noted.
"Sounds like the kind of story Sora would probably like" I softly smiled, peering down at the book before raising a questioning eyebrow the second my attention drifted toward Luffy who was currently bent over and intently staring down at the sea.
"At last, the liar died before he could prove himself to the people" Nami suddenly and dramatically sighed as she shut the book. "All he ever really wanted to do was live the life of an adventurer."
"That last part is not in the book! Don't try and tack on your own sentimental nonsense!" Usopp frowned.
"I don't know, it didn't sound half bad to me" I snorted.
"Help!" Luffy suddenly cried followed by the deafening sound of a splash.
"Did he just fall in the water?" Nami gaped as Usopp shot off toward our fallen captain.
"The idiot knows he can't swim, right?" I frowned. "What was he even doing that close to the water in the first place?
"What's going on?" Usopp frantically asked before skidding to a halt when a man suddenly emerged from the water.
"Who the hell are you?" he gruffly asked, eyebrows knitted together in a harsh glare. "You've got a lot of nerve relaxing at someone's house without their permission—this is my land and I suggest you leave" he grunted.
"Hurry, Usopp—move! Go and fish Luffy out of the sea!" Sanji ordered as he ran straight at the man.
"Got it!" the sharpshooter nodded, diving into the water as I mulled over what the man had said earlier.
"What are you thinking about over there?" Nami mumbled as she stuck close to Chopper and me.
"It's what that man said—he called this place his land..." I murmured in thought. "Does that mean he's the man we're looking for? Montblanc Cricket?" I asked, seeing no other explanation as to who this strange man was.
"That seems plausible" she nodded after mulling over my words for a second.
"I know why you're here—you're after my gold!" Cricket accused as he kicked his foot out toward Sanji who easily dodged it. This continued for a while with the man trying to hit the blond who only continued to dodge until he was eventually forced to start blocking the other's attack.
"Sanji!" Chopper worriedly cried when a gun was suddenly added into the fight and pointed straight at the blonde's face.
"Sanji, no!" Nami whimpered.
"H-hey!" I flinched as my breath instantly became caught within my throat as my chest now tightened to a painful degree. My ears rang with the sound of gunfire that now bounced relentlessly deep within the confines of my skull, dredging up haunted memories of long ago that made my stomach churn and my mouth salivate with sick. I felt as if I was on the verge of a panic attack only to be harshly dragged back into reality and grounded with a sharp gasp when my blurry vision finally focused and realized that the blond was unharmed after having bent himself over backward and low to the ground to avoid the bullet.
"Don't worry, this guy is a terrible shot" Sanji grounded out as he straightened his back. "Hey! Cut it out!" he snapped as he jumped back and out of the way when the man continued to shoot at him, clearly intent on using up the rest of the bullets in the chamber of his gun.
"Dammit! Never underestimate your foe!" Zoro scowled as he drew one of his swords. "Out of the way, I'll handle this" he grunted as he rushed the two. But before he could get close enough to actually land a hit, Cricket suddenly stopped firing altogether—the gun in his hand dropping to the ground as his body stumbled and tilted back until he fell flat on his back.
"You really need to learn to be more careful" Usopp softly scolded as he and Luffy finally emerged from the water.
"I thought I saw bubbles in the water..." Luffy weakly coughed. "So I looked closer, and then a chestnut appeared, but it wasn't a chestnut—it was a guy and he pulled me in" he explained before gasping the second he spotted the passed-out man. "What's wrong with him?" no one had an answer to his question as we warily looked at one another before eventually coming to the agreement to move the man from the ground and back into his house. Setting him down on his bed, we all took a step back and allowed Chopper to get to work caring for him.
"I need more cold towels and open up those windows" he instructed.
"What's the Caisson Disease?" Zoro suddenly asked, recalling the words Chopper had spoken earlier after assessing what exactly was wrong with the man.
"Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard of it before" I nodded as I passed the towels in my arms over to the reindeer. My knowledge of medical care and the like was heavily limited to the basics and nothing more. I knew the standard kinds of illnesses that would cause you to fall sick such as colds and infectious fevers and so on due to how ill Sora and I would constantly fall in our youth which always lead to us having to doctor ourselves and each other. Sora especially had a bad habit of being so easily prone to illness when we were younger, always bedridden for long periods of time with no one but Cloud and me to look after him with a few expectations here and there...
"So this guy is sick, huh?" Luffy questioned.
"Yeah, Caisson Disease is an illness that sometimes affects divers—though it's called a disease, it isn't actually a chronic condition" Chopper nodded. "It's caused by a lack of decompression when surfacing from the seabed" he explained as more towels were brought over to him by Sanji. "The nitrogen in the blood releases too quickly and causes gas bubbles to form in the circulatory system and when those gas bubbles expand they can cause some considerable damage to the muscles and joints, causing a serious decrease in blood flow."
"So it's a mystery disease" Luffy deducted.
"He just finished explaining what the disease was" I said, watching as the captain owlishly blinked and blankly stared right back at me. "Yep, it's a mystery disease" I tiredly sighed as he gave a firm nod.
"Right, think you can help him, Chopper?" he asked as he looked back at the doctor.
"I'm not sure" the reindeer confessed. "My guess is that he kept diving every day without allowing time for his body to recover and it finally caught up with him—that's why he passed out during the fight" he concluded.
"But why in the world would he do that?" Nami asked.
"Maybe he was searching for something or he just really enjoyed the view of the sea life below" I suggested, turning my head to look at her before something suddenly caught my attention on the wall behind us. It was nothing more than a simple picture frame dangling from a string off a nail.
"I don't know the exact reason, but he was taking a huge risk" Chopper sighed as I tilted my head and squinted my eyes as if to make sure I was seeing things right the longer I stared at the portrait on the wall. "In some cases, Caisson Disease can cause death, so he's lucky to be alive" the doctor continued.
"Hey, old-timer, are you alright?!" the loud voices of Masira and Shoujou suddenly reached our ears as the front door burst open.
"They've come to kill us!" Usopp fearfully cried as he and Chopper started to scream, now frantically running around the small home.
"What good is running in circles going to do you?" I sweat dropped.
"What in the world are you people doing here?" Shoujou asked.
"And just what are you doing to our friend?" Masira frowned.
"We're trying to help, so I suggest you better lend us a hand or find someone else to bother!" Luffy huffed.
"Don't antagonize them, Luffy! You know what they're capable of and now there are two of those savages to deal with!" Usopp whimpered.
"They're savages!" Chopper echoed just as Masira and Shoujou burst out into tears.
"Everyone! Close the windows and run away!" the sharpshooter screamed, mistaking the two's tears for anger.
"Thanks, you guys!" Masira and Shoujou suddenly cried, causing the two that were running around to skid to a halt and fall right over.
"What did they say?" Usopp asked, taken aback with shock. Once everything was settled, it was agreed that some of the crew would stay inside to watch over Cricket while the rest went outside to peacefully speak with the two primates so as not to disturb the sleeping man inside.
"So you guys live on this island too?" Luffy questioned, tilting his head.
"Yep" Masira nodded. "This old-timer's house is the official headquarters of the Saruyama Alliance of Jaya" he revealed.
"We call this home, but we spend most of our time on our ships" Shoujou explained. "We're more comfortable at sea because this place is too small for us."
"I'd say" I said, taking in just how massive they both really were compared to the rest of us.
"You guys are too big for your own good" Luffy grinned. "It's all how you look at it, I guess—to a giant, you'd still look like nothing more than a ball of earwax" he chuckled, causing the two to burst out into a fit of laughter.
"Well, those three sure are getting along well, aren't they?" Usopp grumbled.
"Yeah, seems like they have a lot in common" Zoro agreed.
"Well, Luffy does have that friendly air about him" I hummed as I leaned back against the house, arms crossed behind my back. "It makes sense that he could befriend those two despite the trouble they caused us not that long ago" I said, causing the two to nod in agreement
"I'm pretty impressed you managed to get Masira here off your ship, it's quite a feat for someone as small as you to overpower him" Shoujou remarked.
"It wasn't really that hard" Luffy admitted.
"What's that?" Shoujou blinked.
"I'm sure you could kick his ass" Luffy grinned.
"Luffy, he's waking up!" Chopper suddenly called out as he came rushing out of the house.
"He's awake!" the rubber man brightened as he raced off toward the house right when Shoujou kicked Masira and sent the monkey flying.
"He's right, I can kick Masira's ass..." the orangutan mumbled in disbelief before following the rest of us inside.
"Hey, Chestnut Head, I've got a question for you" Luffy said as he plopped himself down at the man's bedside.
"I'm sorry I attacked you, I thought you were nothing more than another group of bandits who've come to steal my gold" Cricket grunted in apology, a billow of smoke trailing up from the cigarette in his hand.
"Should you really be smoking after just waking up...?" I muttered to myself while sweat dropping.
"Did someone say something about gold?" Nami brightened.
A/N: Enjoy
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