One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter One Hundred and Forty-
Heaving a tired sigh, I suddenly found my mind running wild with thoughts—thoughts that just kept going back to the inevitable fight that was most likely taking place between Eneru and Luffy right now. A fight between a man made of lightning and a man whose body was nothing but rubber...I felt my lips twitch the longer I thought about such a bizarre pairing until finally, I snorted.
Eneru was certainly going to have his work cut out for him now that his little lightning tricks would prove to be useless against someone like Luffy.
"What's so funny?" Robin curiously asked with a raised brow, looking at me in silent amusement as she watched how I turned my head the other way as if attempting to hide the ever-growing smile on my face the longer I thought about Luffy and Eneru's fight.
"It's nothing, just thinking" I sighed once I had finally gathered myself. "Perhaps we should get a move on—I doubt it's safe to just sit here and wait" I suggested, pressing my hand against the broken wall behind us to help support my body as I slowly stood on shaky legs. Robin only nodded as she took the hand I held out for her. "The sky's getting dark..." I muttered as I pulled her up off the ground, gaze drifting upward as I only just now took notice of the gray clouds that now blocked out the sun.
"Indeed, it is" Robin nodded as we set to work in moving the others to some place safer.
"Shit!" I jumped at the loud clap of thunder and flash of lightning as my gaze nervously darted toward the sky.
"Not a fan of thunder, I see" Robin softly remarked from beside me, taking note of my startled and wary expression as I slowly turned back.
"No...not in particular..." it was an embarrassing thing to admit as I usually hid my discomfort of such storms from the others. It was difficult to hear the clapping of thunder without being reminded of such unsavory memories. Memories of a large home whose rooms were weighed down with the sickening feeling of dread and fear...memories of sharp voices followed by shattering glass and infuriated screams that only grew louder with every flash of lightning...
Shaking my head, I continued helping Robin in moving the others...although there wasn't really much I could do outside of making sure that none of the bodies fell off the disembodied feet that helped carry them along the beanstalk all in one go. Effortlessly moving them without any difficulties.
"A ship?" Robin suddenly inquired as the dark clouds finally began to clear and reveal to us a ship leisurely sailing through the sky.
"Uh...why is there a ship in the sky?" I frowned, staring up in slight awe at how something so massive was able to stay afloat in the air with such ease.
"It's him, Eneru..." Robin mumbled before shaking her head as she motioned for us to get back to work. It was hard work helping one another along the beanstalk, carefully having to watch our steps as we relied on one another to keep our balance. My muscles wept in agony at the strenuous activity of having to climb the giant stalk, screaming in protest at having to be put to work so soon after the electrifying shock they had suffered not long ago. Heaving a sharp breath, I grabbed Robin's hands and allowed her to pull me up the rest of the way into the clouds above. Leaning against her while simultaneously propping her up, we silently followed closely beside the others. Once we were certain we were safe and high enough, we stopped and stared—our gazes once more drawn toward the dark sky as if waiting for a sign that it was all about to come to either a head or an end.
"Robin! Skylar!" Luffy's laughter is what made us look down as we curiously watched him race up the beanstalk—one of his arms dragging behind him and looking to be encased inside a golden ball twice his size.
"Luffy?" I raised an eyebrow.
"What are you doing?!" Aisa screamed, tightly clinging to the rubber man's back as if frightened that if she loosened her grip for just a moment then she'd fall.
"Watch after these two for me!" and just like that, an unconscious Pierre and the child that had been clinging to him were thrown at us without a second thought and a half-assed warning. Robin reacted quickly as she caught the two with her Devil Fruit powers before I had a chance to move. "Stop!" our captain angrily snapped just as he started to slide back down the beanstalk before aggressively pushing forward and against gravity as a whole.
"Luffy?" Robin questioned, setting Pierre and Aisa safely on the ground as I bent down and looked the two over—mainly the unconscious bird since the little girl seemed relatively fine at a glance.
"Ah! You grew extra hands!" Aisa screamed in horror, not having expected the woman to suddenly sprout extra limbs to catch her and the bird.
"What do you have on your arm?" Robin curiously inquired, ignoring the young girl's reasonable freakout.
"Looks like a ball of gold" I said, stating the obvious answer as I watched how the captain's arm was painfully weighed down by the golden ball that so desperately wanted to let gravity take both it and him back down to the ground below.
"Robin! Skylar! The golden bell is on top of this vine—right?" Luffy suddenly asked. "And Eneru is trying to get his hands on it, isn't he?"
"That's right" Robin nodded.
"That's what it seems like" I said, recalling just what the blond had said before he attempted to strike Robin down.
"If the Gold Belfry really does exist, then the bell would be there—but he's already…" Robin trailed off as she watched how our captain only seemed to climb further up the beanstalk, not really bothering to stop and listen to what else she had to say. "Luffy?!" she called after him, only to be ignored as he scampered up the rest of the way until he was no longer in sight. "Gone just like that" she sighed.
"He's certainly in a hurry" I softly chuckled. "Wonder what he has planned" I pondered, knowing that there had to be some idea in that head of his to make him want to get up there as fast as he could.
"So, young lady" Robin said, turning to Aisa who had finally calmed down and was no longer freaking out over the fact that Robin could sprout multiple limbs. "Have you seen our navigator? A ginger-haired woman?" she asked.
"You mean Nami?" Aisa questioned. "She's on the ship" she answered, pointing toward the ship passing overhead.
"You mean she's really up there with Eneru?" I frowned having thought that the ginger would have made her escape by now—I had my doubts that she went with Eneru because she wanted to, figuring that her actions were nothing more than an act of self-preservation. To know that she was still with him worried me quite a bit. "Oh, I hope she's doing alright..." I muttered, nervously biting the inside of my cheek.
"I only hear one voice coming from the sky..." Aisa sadly muttered, loudly sniffing as her gaze became downcast. Her sadness was short-lived though as the sound of a roaring engine followed by Nami, Usopp, and Sanji coming toward us cut through the air and interrupted whatever terrible thoughts she had.
"Oh! Robin! Skylar!" Usopp shouted the minute he spotted us.
"There's Navigator, along with Long-Nose and the Cook too" Robin smiled upon seeing the three as I felt myself sigh in relief.
"Hey! Glad to see you're alright!" I waved at the three, widely smiling as I listened to Aisa laugh with joy upon seeing the ginger alive and well.
"Aisa! Thank goodness—you alright?" Nami asked as she brought the waver to a complete stop.
"Nami!" Aisa happily squealed, flinging herself toward the navigator and wrapping her up into a tight hug.
"Huh? Zoro? Chopper? Weird old guy and the Guerrilla?!" Usopp owlishly blinked the minute he saw the unconscious four that were laid out on the ground nearby. "Oh! Everybody's been taken down—if only I had been here!" he dramatically wailed as he stomped his foot in despair.
"I don't think much would have changed if you had been here" I sweat dropped. "But it's the thought that counts I guess" I sighed, giving his back a comforting pat.
"Wait, Aisa—where's Luffy?" Nami asked when she finally realized that the rubber man was nowhere to be seen. "Wasn't he with you?" she frowned.
"Luffy climbed up the vine to rescue you, but since everyone's here, Luffy has to face Eneru by himself!" Aisa worriedly explained.
"We missed him, didn't we?" Nami sighed, shoulders slumping at the realization that she had been just a minute too late in catching up with the captain.
"Yep, just now" I nodded.
"I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen" Robin said.
"Dammit, Luffy! He knows we're short on time—we got to go now!" Usopp shouted, distressed by the fact that we had to prolong our escape and now wait for our captain.
"Go on without me, I'll take the waver and find him!" Nami ordered, motioning for us to go on ahead as she revved up the engine of the waver. "Just try to get to the Merry somehow!" she instructed before flinching when lightning suddenly started to crash down all around us—violently striking the trees and sending them tumbling down in a fiery blaze. Screams of startled fright were quick to erupt from us as a large lightning bolt struck the ground beside us, the force of the hit enough to throw us back and send us tumbling to the ground.
"Man, those lightning bolts are huge!" Usopp gaped as we groaned and shakily stood back up. "We're going to end up sky dust if we stay here!" he cried out in realization, already starting to panic.
"Soon everything will be ablaze if we don't hurry" I said, eyes frantically looking around at the trees that were burning brightly from where they had been struck. It was clear that it wouldn't be long before this whole island was set ablaze and when that happened, there was no guarantee we'd be able to make our way through it and to the ship...wherever that currently was.
"Guys, go now! Once I find Luffy, we'll be right behind you!" Nami ordered as she started up her waver once more.
"Uh...yeah, right—I gotcha" Usopp quickly nodded as the navigator finally shot up the vine. "Hurry, Robin! Skylar! We got to find a way to carry these guys to the ship!" he ordered as he motioned for us to start helping him in carrying those who were unconscious.
"Wyper?!" Aisa gasped when she noticed that the Shandorian had awoken and was now struggling to sit up.
"Zoro?" I perked up, head swiveling in his direction the minute I heard him cough and groan as he too started to sit up.
"Swordsman?" Robin questioned.
"Hey, you alright?" I asked, quick to make my way over toward the moss-haired man.
"Weird old guy?" Usopp sighed in relief the minute he noticed that Gan Fall was starting to stir as well. "Oh good, you're awake now—there's not a moment to lose, do you think you can walk?" he quickly asked.
"Hey, you okay? Do you think you can move?" I worriedly asked, quick to drop to my knees and grab the swordsman's face. Carefully turning it every which way, I found myself searching for any serious head wounds or bumps just to make sure he was alright.
"Yeah, I'm fine" he softly smiled in assurance before suddenly frowning as he hit me on top of the head. "Don't do something so stupid and reckless like that again! I don't care if it was for a good reason or not—you scared me half to death!" he angrily snapped as if remembering that he was angry with me for my reckless behavior earlier.
"Ow! Well damn, I'm sorry!" I winced, rubbing my head before grinning as I blushed a little when he suddenly leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss over the area he had struck as if silently attempting to make it feel better.
"I'm being serious though, you really scared me..." I felt him murmur against the top of my head, causing me to quietly huff.
"I guess I can try to be more responsible" I said, not really promising anything yet still saying what he wanted to hear. I understood where he was coming from...yet I knew it'd be impossible to control that impulsive nature of mine completely, especially when it comes to his and the other's safety.
"So Eneru has begun" Gan Fall remarked as he looked around at the damage that had been done to the Upper Yard. Looking around as well, I quickly took note of how Sanji, Chopper, and Pierre were all still unconscious.
"We all must hurry now, there's truly nothing more we can do here" Robin said, motioning for us to get moving as she saw no reason for us to stay here any longer.
"Wyper?" Aisa quietly questioned as she looked up at the man who stood there silently and seemed to be taking in the damage that had been dealt to the surrounding forest.
"Aw crap! He's not holding back—we've got to move!" Usopp screamed, quickly scooping up Sanji when the lightning and thunder seemed to suddenly get worse.
"Wyper?" Aisa questioned once again, now grabbing hold of the man's hand and tugging on it as if attempting to get him to start moving. "Wyper, come on—we'll die if we don't leave now!" she desperately cried when she saw he still wasn't moving. "Please, Wyper!" she begged.
"Hey, she's right—we got to get moving" I said, noticing how the man only stood there—a distant look in his eyes as if he was lost completely in his thoughts.
"He's far above now" Robin suddenly remarked as she peered up and followed the path the ship was taking. "It's only a matter of time before his ship reaches the top of the vine."
"I don't get it, what is it that Eneru wants up there?" Gan Fall asked, not quite understanding what was so important about the top of the vine.
"I believe that he is trying to get to the Golden Bell" Robin answered.
"A bell?" the old man questioned, confused as to why Eneru would go through all this trouble just to get some bell.
"A golden bell?" Wyper echoed, blinking as he turned to the woman. "Tell me, that's what you said, isn't it?" he asked as we moved further inland before taking a seat around those who were still unconscious once we were certain we were far enough away from the flurry of lightning strikes. There was a certain kind of urgency to his tone as he pressed the woman the further elaborate on what she said.
"Wyper...?" Aisa softly questioned.
"Yes" Robin nodded.
"Who's talking about a golden bell?" Usopp frowned.
"Just before you were struck by that lightning bolt, you were speaking of a golden bell which Eneru desires" Wyper recalled. "Now that we know what Eneru's going for, you have to tell me where it is" he almost seemed to demand, sounding just a bit desperate for the archeologist to tell him where the Golden Bell was.
"Hold on! Can we just think about this for one second, guys?!" Usopp shouted as he interrupted the conversation between the two. "You saw that thunderbolt—we're as good as dead if we don't get out of here!" he scowled, not understanding why we weren't making a run for it and instead were just sitting here like ducks.
"It's up the beanstalk, somewhere near the top" Robin said, ignoring the sharpshooter and providing the Shandorian with his answer.
"That's where Luffy and the others currently are" I said, head tilting back just a little so that I could stare up toward the top of the vine that was hidden out of view by the clouds.
"You sure? How do you know this?" Wyper asked, urging the woman to continue—to give him the information that he so desperately needed at this exact moment.
"Wait, we promised Nami that we'd wait back on the ship! She's going to be back with Luffy anytime soon, I'm sure!" Usopp tried to reason with us.
"The coward's right this time" Aisa agreed.
"She pegged you good, Usopp" I snorted.
"The Ruins of Shandora are in the layer directly beneath us" Robin told him. "The giant beanstalk pierces through the very center of the city."
A/N: Enjoy
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