One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Two-
"He did it! He did it—but got zapped! He did it!" Usopp wailed as I pushed right past him. "Skylar, wait!" he frantically shouted, quickly grabbing hold of my arm and jerking me back before I could get far.
"Let go!" I cried, harshly yanking on my arm. "I have to make sure he's alright!" I stressed, staring back with tearful eyes as I desperately tried to pry my arm from the sharpshooter's grip.
"You'll get yourself killed out there with all that lightning!" he frowned, tightening his hold the minute he felt it start to loosen.
"I don't care!" I shook my head.
"Oh no, the vine!" Robin's startled gasp quickly drew our attention toward the beanstalk that continued to stand tall, acting as if it had never been cut to begin with.
"Wha..." I mumbled in disbelief at the sight.
"The vine's not falling! But...he cut it!" Usopp screamed as he started to panic. "What is that thing made of? It looks like a plant, but it's solid as a rock!"
"No! I saw him cut it—it should be falling by now!" I cried in distress, grabbing my hair and painfully pulling on it.
"Pathetic! This is what you outsiders get for butting in!" Wyper snarled.
"Wyper, what are you doing?" Aisa worriedly asked when the man suddenly stood.
"Quiet!" Wyper snapped. "We Shandorians are the descendants of Calgara, not that kid in the straw hat!" he proclaimed, body uneasily swaying from side to side as if he could barely hold himself up. "If anyone is going to ring that bell—it should rightfully be us!" he scowled.
"Don't listen to him, Robin, Skylar! He's too banged up to stop us—besides, Nami and Luffy are counting on us!' Usopp assured us. "Our only priority right now is knocking that thing down" he said, suddenly gaining a boost in confidence. "Speaking of which, Zoro's already cut through half of the steam—it probably wouldn't take much to cut through the rest of it!" he encouraged, pushing the goggles on top of his head down and over his eyes.
"Look at you, growing a spine suddenly..." I sniffed, weakly laughing as he proudly puffed out his chest.
"My awesome Dance of the Exploding Star should do the trick! After just one little hit, even a gentle breeze will knock that thing over!" he boasted, pulling out his slingshot. "Once again, it's up to me—the last line of defense of our merry band! Robin, Skylar, leave all the dangerous stuff to me!" he proclaimed, demanding to take control of the situation all on his own. "You both tend to our fallen comrades!" he suggested.
"They look like an Oakley Mohican Cake" Robin deadpanned as we looked down at Chopper and Pierre.
"Nice comparison" I snorted, wiping at my watery eyes as I gave another sniff.
"Onward!" Usopp laughed as he rushed towards the vine.
"Sometimes I worry about him..." I softly sighed. "But it's nice to see him be so brave every now and then" I gently smiled, knowing that it probably was difficult for the sharpshooter to build up such confidence and bravery. I couldn't blame him for his skittish nature—there was something jarring about the abrupt shift from the calm and almost peaceful waters of the East Blue to the hectic sea of the Grand Line. It was no secret that the East Blue was the weakest of the four seas, filled to the brim with nothing more than ordinary people and low-rate pirates who kept mainly to their own lane, far different from those that inhabited the Grand Line. There was something understandable about the sharpshooter's fear.
"About that bell" Robin said, turning to Wyper who seemed to be looking the other way. "Four hundred years ago, an explorer from my world said he stumbled upon the City of Gold—people laughed at him and called him a liar. But he has a descendant today who still believes the stories and spent years searching the Blue Sea for any evidence of the City of Gold" she explained, giving mention to Cricket. "If that golden bell can be rung, everyone will know the City of Gold is in the sky and not a myth—there's a reason Luffy's up there, now do you understand?" she asked.
"There is always a method to his madness" I grinned as Usopp continued to shoot at the vine in an attempt to make it fall.
"Noble, isn't it? Trying to vindicate a man he never met" Robin smiled. "He's had chances to escape, but he stuck around to see this thing through—that guy's nuts" she chuckled.
"Yeah, but aren't we just as nuts for still continuing to follow him?" I teasingly laughed.
"What…what is the name of this explorer's descendant?" Wyper shakily asked.
"Montblanc Cricket—why?" Robin asked, curiously tilting her head.
"The name of his ancestor who came here, please tell me—was it Noland?" the Shandorian asked, lips quivering as tears were already building up and streaming down his face. His body trembling with anticipation as he waited for her to answer.
"How...?" Robin mumbled.
"How did you know that?" I blinked, a bit surprised to know that the man was aware of Noland despite how long ago it had been since that man had last stepped foot on this very island.
"Wyper...?" Aisa quietly questioned as the man suddenly patted the top of her head. "What's going on? Why are you crying?" she worriedly asked, watching as the warrior silently made his way past us and over toward the beanstalk just as a loud crash of thunder shook the ground.
"What the heck was that?!" Usopp fearfully screamed as he scampered back and away from the beanstalk the minute he saw the streak of lightning that had followed the clap of thunder.
"Wyper!" Aisa tearfully cried.
"That fool!" Gan Fall frowned, watching as the warrior ran toward the vine without a second thought nor a care in the world as he avoided the streaks of lightning that violently rained down around him. "A Reject Dial...?" he muttered right as an explosion suddenly sounded out and caused the vine to finally start making its descent.
"Guys, we got to run away!" Usopp fearfully screamed as he came running toward us. "Well, Nami, Luffy, good luck—we're counting on you! If we let this place be destroyed, we'll never get to ring that bell and Cricket will never hear it! He helped us so we can get here!" he happily grinned. "Ring that bell and ring it loud! Jump to Eneru's ship and stop that guy—do it! Everything is up to you guys now, got it?!" he cheered.
"Do it!" Aisa shouted.
"Kick his ass!" I cheerfully laughed, hands cupping my mouth as if to help amplify my voice before I flinched when more strikes of lightning started to rain down followed by the deafening roar of thunder.
"Luffy! Nami!" Usopp cried. "He's destroying the cloud cover over the ruins!" he screamed in realization, voice just barely loud enough to be heard over the thunder.
"He plans to destroy the ground itself!" Gan Fall gasped.
"But Wyper's lying on the ground down there!" Aisa sobbed.
"So is Zoro!" I choked, heart painfully twisting up with worry at the realization.
"That bastard!" Usopp cried in both frustration and fear as he grabbed his head in distress.
"The ruins!" Robin gasped as most of the ruins were slowly being destroyed by the bolts of lightning raining down.
"It won't work, Eneru...this city will never fall to you..." Wyper grunted as he struggled to pick himself back up.
"Wyper!" Aisa gasped as he shakily stood.
"The land of Shandora was home to a proud race of warriors..." he groaned, lightly swaying on his feet as if he was having a hard time just staying upright. "This ancient city preserves and protects their memory, what's more, their memory protects this city! That mighty power will never fall to you, no matter how much forest you burn—this land won't fall!" he boldly proclaimed.
"Ah! No, Wyper!" Aisa sobbed as she tried to run toward the man, only to be yanked back by Robin.
"It's too dangerous!" she argued, keeping a tight hold on the little girl's arm in an attempt to prevent her from running headfirst into danger.
"Let me go! Wyper!" Asia sobbed before quickly covering her eyes at the bright flash of lightning that suddenly struck the ground—the force of its impact strong enough to shake the ground and send many of us tumbling or flying back. "Wyper!" she gasped in horror the minute she saw the man's body standing there, perfectly erect as smoke slowly began to rise from his burnt flesh. "Wyper!" she wailed.
"Where's Zoro?" I muttered, gaze frantically flickering about in search of the swordsman's unconscious body amongst the clouds.
"Get out of here! The beanstalk's coming down—come on, this way! Let's move it! Move it!" Usopp urged as he frantically motioned for us to follow him.
"Go! Straw Hat!" Wyper suddenly shouted as we quickly scampered off to a far enough distance that was safely away from the falling vine, some of us needing to be dragged despite our displeasure in having to leave two of our comrades behind. Only just now were we reminded of the ball of thunder clouds which were still slowly coming down and drawing ever closer as sparks of electricity now seeped through it and zapped at anything and everything close by...
But, in a sudden flash, it exploded as the clouds that were once inside of it disappeared and left behind nothing more than the bright and warm light of the returning sun.
"Yeah! It's him—Luffy!" Usopp cheered the second he caught sight of a twinkle in the sky.
"Now ring it, Straw Hat! Light the fire of Shandora!" Wyper shouted at the top of his lungs, urging the rubber man to ring the bell.
"Go Luffy! Go Luffy!" Usopp continued to cheer, waving a set of flags he had suddenly pulled out of somewhere.
"Let me hear it, Straw Hat, the sound of the island..." Gan Fall breathlessly breathed as Usopp continued to cheer, not stopping even when a bolt of stray lightning shot up from the ground and branched out just as Luffy finally rang the bell—the sound now ringing loud and clear as he did so. It was at that exact moment that both Chopper and Sanji finally started to stir as they slowly sat up.
"That bonehead! He did it!" Usopp loudly sniffed.
"He sure did" I widely grinned.
"Unbelievably beautiful..." Robin breathed out as the bell continued to ring—its beautiful chime echoing all throughout the land as it did so.
"That sound is amazing" Chopper brightened. "What is it?" he curiously asked.
"It's come as I've always known it would—destiny" Gan Fall breathed out in relief.
"Ah, this is the ringing that Nami heard, now I get it" Sanji sighed in contentment as he leaned back and listened to the ringing of the bell.
"It's such a lovely sound..." I smiled, eyes fluttering shut as I quietly enjoyed the way it echoed throughout the air—flawlessly intermingling with the sounds of Usopp's joyful cheers.
It wasn't long before we finally started to move, now going off in search of our friends who had either fallen or we had been separated from as Aisa followed closely behind us. I stopped when she suddenly did as well, peering back at her for but a moment before deciding to leave her be as I faced forward once more and continued on after the others.
A/N: Enjoy
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