One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter One Hundred and Six-
"This is bad! I change my mind—I want to go back!" Usopp frightfully cried.
"Sorry, Usopp, it's too late for that—you know who's already excited" Zoro said, wrapping a comforting arm around my trembling form.
"Our fates were already decided the minute that rubbery idiot decided he wanted to go into the sky" I shivered, fear quick to grab hold of me as the weight of what was about to happen finally settled in.
"Let's go to the sky!" Luffy cheered, either ignorant or just choosing to blatantly ignore the sudden shift in mood in some of the others who now started to tremble with regret and fear. I flinched when a Sea King suddenly burst out of the water—its large, slim body pitifully squirming against the current of the whirlpool before finally, it crashed back into the water in defeat. Upon seeing this, Nami, Chopper, and Usopp's jaws dropped as they watched how the large predator disappeared into the center of the whirlpool.
"It's time for us to go" Masira waved as he, his brother, and their crew released our ship from theirs. "The rest is up to you now, good luck."
"Bye, guys, and thanks a lot for everything!" Luffy cheerfully waved back.
"Don't go!" Usopp whimpered, now clinging to Chopper as they began to cry.
"No one said anything about diving headfirst into a giant whirlpool!" Nami screamed as a shiver racked up my spine. Upon seeing just how close we were getting to the whirlpool, I felt my hand reach out and automatically grabbed a handful of Zoro's shirt. Balling it up inside my fist, I attempted to ground myself yet the trembling persisted.
"It's going to be alright..." he muttered, soothingly rubbing small circles against my back as he cooed gentle words of comfort into my ear.
"These lies are not comforting" I whined after a while.
"Well, what else am I supposed to say?" he softly frowned before blushing when I tilted my head back and stared up at him. Upon seeing his reddened cheeks as he embarrassingly darted his gaze elsewhere, I softly smiled with a breathless laugh. Despite my stomach currently doing summersaults and my legs feeling like nothing more than jelly, I couldn't help but feel somewhat calm at the moment the longer I stared up at him. "Well?" he asked after a moment of silence.
"Oh no! We're being sucked in!" Chopper loudly cried out.
"Don't be so unreasonable, Luffy! Let's go back while we still have time—don't you understand this Sky Island stuff is just a bunch of make-believe? It's not worth getting us killed!" Usopp cried.
"It's all make-believe? Is that what you think?" Luffy asked with a sudden seriousness to him that would send shivers down anyone's spine.
"Usopp's right, I think it's a really bad idea" Nami nodded, tears now streaming down her face.
"It may be a stupid dream, but I have to try" Luffy said, turning to face the two with wide, glossy eyes that currently sparkled with eager excitement. "It could be our greatest adventure!"
"So bright..." I squinted, my smile growing at the sight of just how ecstatic our captain was. If it wasn't for the fact that there was a high chance of failure, I probably would have basked in his excitement along with him...but then again, heights have never really been my thing outside of certain circumstances.
"No, it's too late!" Nami wailed.
"Instead of wasting your time bickering, you all might want to look" Zoro frowned, pointing ahead of us.
"What do you mean?" Usopp asked.
"It's sucking us in" the swordsman bluntly responded, bringing notice to the fact that the ship was now being sucked straight down toward the center of the whirlpool.
"Hurry, Nami—let me protect you!" Sanji eagerly shouted over the sounds of fearful screams.
Then suddenly, everything stopped as an eerie silence settled over us.
No more harsh waves lapping at the ship's bottom nor raging whirlpools sucking us in. Instead, it was just a calm sea that now surrounded us.
"What happened? It disappeared" Sanji owlishly blinked as he looked around confused.
"What's going on?" Luffy asked.
"Wait a…I don't get it—where did it go?" Usopp frowned.
"Did...did we just imagine it all?" I asked, cautiously looking around at the calm sea, unable to find any real sign that the whirlpool had ever existed in the first place.
"No, we all felt and saw it just a moment ago, so we couldn't have imagined it" Zoro shook his head.
"I feel it..." Nami shakily said, eyes wide as she stared down at the floorboards. "The whirlpool sunk underneath the surface..." she murmured.
"You don't mean…" Usopp's face paled.
"I didn't know whirlpools could do that" I frowned.
"Hold it right there!" a new voice suddenly shouted.
"Hey...um...Zoro? Look" Luffy pointed toward four men piled on top of a raft made from large, bulky logs.
"Who are they?" I asked, squinting my eyes in an attempt to get a better look at the strangers that were now sailing toward us.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Straw Hat Luffy" a rugged-looking man grinned.
"It's him, it's that Mock Town guy" Nami pointed out.
"What guy?" Sanji asked.
"You all know him?" I raised an eyebrow as Nami made a "kind of" motion with her hand.
"I've come all this way to collect your 100,000,000 bounty, so don't be shy!" the man laughed.
"Were those youngsters expecting some company?" Shoujou asked.
"I don't know, brother" Masira shrugged.
"Huh? Why is it getting dark out here?" the man frowned as the bright and sunny sky was quickly covered up by thick, dark clouds.
"100,000,000? What are you talking about?" Luffy asked.
"Don't play dumb with me, kid! It says right here—Monkey D. Luffy wanted for 100,000,000 and Pirate Hunter Zoro for 60,000,000 belis!" the man huffed as he pulled out what looked like two wanted posters.
"It's true, he's got a different poster for each of you" Usopp confirmed, looking through some binoculars so that he could get a closer look at the sheets of paper in the man's hands. "Hey, Zoro, congratulation on your new bounty!" he complimented.
"That's wonderful—you two are really making a name for yourselves" I chirped, happily clapping my hands which caused the swordsman's lips to tug upwards into a wide grin.
"Wait a minute, Usopp" Sanji quickly scrambled over to the sharpshooter. "Come on, do you see one for me?" he asked.
"Uh...no" Usopp shook his head, adjusting the binoculars in his hands as he gave another look at the two posters.
"Look closer" Sanji pushed, throwing an arm around the sharpshooter's shoulders while giving a strained smile.
"Nothing" Usopp shook his head once again.
"It looks like their bounties must have gone way up after the Alabasta incident, by a hundred million" Nami concluded.
"I would say so seeing how they basically took down two very important people that the government had been keeping an eye on" I nodded.
"This is great—hear that? My bounty went up big time!" Luffy grinned.
"60,000,000's not too bad either" Zoro chuckled.
"It's not a good thing!" Nami snapped.
"To them it is and that's all that matters" I softly laughed, patting her shoulder as I looked at the two men that were currently swelling with pride.
"Make sure to keep your eyes open, Going Merry crew!" Shoujou suddenly called out. "It's here! I hope you're ready for it—brace yourselves!" he warned.
"Everyone, hold on or get inside!" Sanji ordered as we now scrambled to grab hold of something that would keep us grounded. My hands found themselves wrapping tightly around one of the railings as I sat down on the floor. Not trusting myself to stay put in a standing position the minute the Knock Up Stream erupted.
"Oh no—the ship! It's being lifted up!" Usopp screamed as the water underneath us started to swell, slowly rising up into a small hill that lifted the ship. I could feel it underneath us, my heartbeat quickened as I held my breath until finally, there was an explosion like that of a gunshot that painfully echoed through the air. I tightened my grip on the railing, my heart now leaping into my throat and choking any sounds I could make as the water underneath us burst upward, taking the ship with it. Closing my eyes, I thought I heard the men on the raft scream in startled surprise as there were harshly blown back. "What is happening?" the sharpshooter cried out.
"We're sailing up a huge pillar of water!" Sanji gaped in disbelief as I shakily sucked in large amounts of air and opened my eyes. Hesitantly did I lift my gaze away from the safety of the floorboards and as I looked in front of us, I felt my breath catch in my throat once more at the sight. It looked and felt both terrifying and thrilling at the same time as if the adrenaline pumping through my veins right now didn't know whether it wanted to be because of the fear of failure and death or the excitement of doing something so crazy like visiting an island in the sky.
"This is awesome!" Luffy laughed, his smile practically infectious as I felt my own lips tug upwards while I nervously laughed. Cautiously, I lifted my body. Stumbling for a second as my shaky legs attempted to give out before finally, I stood upright where I was then immediately greeted by the full force of harsh winds and specks of water raining down on us from the pillar.
"I don't know if I want to scream or cheer..." I shakily breathed out.
"Why not do both?" Luffy grinned as he looked back at me.
"How are we doing this?" Usopp cried.
"Wind..." was the only answer Nami could provide.
"Alright, I can't believe it's finally happening!" Luffy grinned. "Let's go to Skypiea!" he cheered.
"Hold on, it's not going to be that easy—look!" Sanji pointed.
"Oh, what now?" Usopp warily asked, looking as if he didn't really want to know the answer.
"What's wrong? Did we forget about something?" Luffy curiously questioned.
"God, I hope not..." I muttered, already praying for my poor heart at the possibility that we had forgotten something crucial.
"The holds are starting to float" Sanji calmly stated.
"Huh?" Nami quickly whirled around to look and see if what the cook was saying was true.
"If we don't stop it, we're going to fall into the ocean" Sanji warned, sending a shiver down my spine.
"Yeah, we need to do something" I said, quick to agree with the blond.
"What do you expect us to do about it? We're having a hard enough time holding on as it is or haven't you noticed?" Usopp huffed.
"Oh no! What is that?!" Chopper cried out when he saw that something was starting to come out of the pillar of water.
"The Sea King?" Zoro questioned as we watched how the giant sea predator from before suddenly shot out of the pillar of water and rocketed back down toward the sea thanks to gravity.
"Is that the one from before?" Chopper asked.
"I believe so" I nodded.
"See, it's only a matter of time before the same thing happens to the Merry" Sanji pointed out,
"I know, but what can we do? We don't have a whole lot of options when it comes to Mother Nature—we're at her mercy" Zoro argued.
A/N: Enjoy
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