One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter Two Hundred and Sixteen-
"Hey, what was all that noise about earlier?" I inquired the second I walked out on deck after finishing my letter and putting it somewhere safe until I had the time to mail it. Aside from Zoro, I couldn't see another living soul anywhere as I curiously looked around.
"Nothing important, you don't need to worry about" Zoro dismissively waved as I made my way over to him. "Where'd you go anyways? You kind of just disappeared on me there" he questioned, raising a quizzical eyebrow.
"Not really? I told you I was going to go write a letter" I answered.
"A letter? To your brothers?" he asked.
"No, to Santa Claus, I thought I'd get my Christmas list out of the way early this year" I sarcastically responded. "Yes, of course, to my brothers—who else would I be writing a letter to?" I rolled my eyes, causing him to chuckle. "So," I started, gaze wandering the deck once more, "is Sanji back yet?" I curiously asked.
"No, he's not" Zoro answered before frowning as he narrowed his eyes in slight jealousy. "Why do you want to know anyway?"
"Because I'm madly in love with him and wish to confess my undying love for him right here and now—what do you think, dummy?" I rolled my eyes before clearing my throat. "I just assumed he was back due to all that commotion from earlier" I explained.
"Well, he's not" Zoro repeated, expressioning lightening up as he relaxed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to head back to sleeping" he yawned.
"Really?" I pouted as I crossed my arms. "And here I thought I could spend some quality time with my man" I dramatically sighed and turned before yelping in surprise as I was suddenly pulled back and down onto the swordsman's lap.
"If you want to spend time together, then why not just take a nap with me?" he sleepily mumbled, pecking my cheek and snuggling close to me.
"Well...I guess a nap together doesn't sound that terrible..." I softly murmured, a small smile tugging at my lips as I nuzzled my face into his neck and quietly hummed in contentment as I closed my eyes.
-Later-
"Pardon me" sluggishly blinking my eyes open, I loudly yawned as I rubbed my sleepy eyes. Humming, I blearily looked around for the source of the voice that had woken me up before finally, my gaze landed on the slightly blurred figure of a man with a rather long nose.
"Usopp...?" I quietly questioned, brows furrowing in slight confusion as to why he was suddenly back here before quickly shaking my head as my vision became clearer and I was finally able to notice that the man before me looked quite different from the sharpshooter. For one, his nose was a lot more squared while his build was much bigger. Wiggling out of Zoro's grip, I ignored his displeased grunt as I curiously approached the strange man.
"My goodness, I know they told me their ship needed repairs, but I didn't think it would be in shambles..." the man murmured as he examined Merry's rough condition.
"Um...excuse me...?" I questioned as I gently tapped the man's shoulder, causing him to turn around. "Uh...not to sound rude, but who exactly are you and why are you on our ship?" I asked, fingers twitching as my hand inched just a bit closer toward my swords even though I didn't want to jump to any conclusions nor did I really want to get violent. But there weren't really that many reasonable explanations as to why a stranger would walk aboard a pirate ship.
"Oh, pardon the intrusion, my name's Kaku" the man introduced as he tipped his hat. "I'm one of the shipwrights on this island, your friends had asked me to come and check out your guys' ship" he explained as I nodded, immediately relaxing a little at this new information.
"Is that so? Well, I'm glad to know you're not some intruder trying to rob us or anything" I smiled, softly chuckling as I quietly watched him return to examine the ship.
"We should start by replacing this mast..." Kaku mumbled to himself, already taking notes of what repairs needed to be done in order to get Merry back in shape.
"Hey, I see you! Don't move—you hear me?" Zoro frowned, now fully awake as he finally spotted the stranger on the ship.
"Hey now, calm down—he's not here to cause any harm" I quickly assured the swordsman as I did my best to prevent him from drawing any of his swords and picking a fight with the shipwright. "There's no need to get violent."
"Oh, pardon, I didn't intend to disturb your nap" Kaku apologized. Once everything was explained and Zoro settled down, the shipwright quickly returned to his work and went back to assessing Merry's damages. Zoro and I eventually left him to his work, yet we still stayed close enough to keep a close eye on him as if worried that he might cause even more damage to the Merry while looking her over. Just because he was a shipwright didn't mean he wasn't still a stranger.
"What do you think you're doing tearing apart our ship?!" Zoro suddenly snapped the second he heard the man tearing up a part of the floorboards down below the deck.
"Woke you up again, didn't I?" Kaku questioned. "Don't worry, I'll put things back together once I check under the floorboards" he assured us both.
Though it took a while, he eventually finished and relayed to us his findings. His final assessment of the ship left Zoro and me tense as we quietly digested the man's words. Neither of us really acknowledged when he finally left, barely even finding it in us to respond to his farewells as he took off.
"Usopp's going to be heartbroken..." I softly whispered, the first one to break the uncomfortable silence between us as I gently ran my fingertips along the smooth surface of Merry's railing.
"Merry, tell me, is what he said true...? You'll never sail again...?" Zoro mumbled, gently taking my hand and giving it a gentle squeeze as he looked at the figurehead as if it would give him the answers he sought. Slowly, we eventually returned to how we had been before Kaku had shown up—seated on the floor of the deck and cuddled up to one another. The only difference this time was that the swordsman was the only one sleeping while I held his head close to my chest and looked out to the sea in an attempt to help calm my frayed nerves from the troubling news we had just received...
Around the time my eyes finally began to droop, my ears perked up to the sudden sound of Sanji and Chopper's return which caused me to flick Zoro's head. He stirred before sleepily lifting his head and glaring just a little. His irritation was short-lived though the moment he saw the two.
"What? Is that true?" Sanji asked, startled by the sudden news that our ship was so badly damaged that she couldn't be fixed.
"Well, that's what the shipwright said" Zoro said, repeating what we had been told by Kaku after his assessment of the ship.
"And I doubt he would have a reason to lie to us" I nodded.
"The ship…" Sanji trailed off as he looked around the deck...he looked as if it just pained him to even think about verbally repeating what we had told him.
"It can't be fixed?" Chopper whimpered. "Even if we have the money, then…then what's going to happen to the Merry?!" he shakily asked.
"Beats me" Zoro shrugged. "Honestly, it really depends on how Luffy and the others react to hearing the assessment" he heavily sighed, fully aware that Merry's fate was now in the captain's hands. "Either way, I'm sure they'll get it sorted out at the shipyard" he assured in some vague attempt at being positive.
"He's right, it all comes down to Luffy on what happens" I nodded. "We'll either get a new ship or continue sailing with this one until we find a shipwright willing to fix her no matter what" I knew the last part of that sentence sounded too hopeful, if a professional shipwright says she can't be fixed then I doubt any other shipwright would say otherwise. From the sounds of it, it seems she would need to be practically torn apart and put back together in order to be fixed.
"It just seems too extreme, I mean, look at her" Sanji said, motioning around us. "Same old Merry that she's always been—we've traveled together on this ship all the way from the East Blue to this place, why now?" he asked.
"You just answered your own question—human beings become stronger, hardship after hardship" Zoro said. "But ships are different, their wounds just pile up."
"It's so hard to accept...and what is Usopp going to think when he hears about all this?" Sanji frowned.
"I don't want to leave her! I love Merry!" Chopper cried as I gently picked him up and held him.
"Shh, I know" I softly shushed him. "We all do" I assured him, gently stroking his back as I tried my best to comfort the crying reindeer that now clung to the front of my shirt.
"She's right, we all do love her, but her wounds are too deep—there's nothing we can do" Zoro sighed.
"The Merry's in trouble and Robin's still missing, I'm worried about both of them" Sanji frowned.
"Seems like everything's just going wrong today..." I sadly mumbled, my mood dampening even further once he told us that one of our crewmates was now missing.
"Hey, everyone!" we suddenly heard Nami shout as she came running toward the ship.
"Look, it's Nami, and she's alone" Chopper pointed out as we looked over the railing toward her.
"You're right, that's weird—I wonder what happened to Luffy and Usopp" I raised an eyebrow.
"Hi, Nami! Is everything alright?!" Sanji shouted as he wildly waved at the woman currently heading our way.
"We need to wait here until Robin comes back" Nami said, mainly speaking to herself as she paced the deck. Currently, she and I were now the only ones left on the ship seeing how the others had left the moment she finished telling us what had happened with her, Luffy, and Usopp at the shipyard after exchanging the gold. "If I march in with the others right now, I'll just be in the way...it'll be too scary..." she quietly muttered, already trying to reason with herself why she had chosen to stay behind. "Thanks for staying with me by the way" she suddenly said, tightly gripping the gun in her hand close to her chest as she looked at me.
"It's no problem..." I muttered, shrugging as I silently stared at the gun in her hand from my spot seated up on the railing of the ship. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the only reason I had stayed behind was not to keep her company but because of Zoro...he sure could be terrifying when he wanted to be. Though I guess I could understand why he wouldn't be keen on having me tag along to what was essentially the hideout of a bunch of ruffians.
"For now, the best thing we can do is stay here, guard the money, and protect the Merry" Nami reasoned. "Don't let us down, guys" she suddenly huffed as she looked out toward the direction the men had disappeared off in when they had left.
"Yep, we're counting on you all" I smiled as I tilted my head back, lightly swinging my legs as I looked up at the sky.
"Alright, guys! It's about time to kick their asses—all of them!" Nami suddenly cheered. Chuckling, I couldn't help but eventually join in on her cheering even though it was obvious that the others probably wouldn't be able to hear us.
-Later-
The second the men returned, Usopp was quickly rushed to the kitchen so that Chopper could have enough room to treat his injuries while the rest of us were left outside to wait in anticipation for him to wake up.
"Hey! Usopp's finally awake, you guys!" Chopper exclaimed as he hurriedly ran out onto the deck to deliver the good news.
"Alright, good to hear" Luffy brightened.
"That's one less thing to worry about" Nami sighed in relief.
"Yeah" I nodded in agreement, just as relieved as she was to know that the sharpshooter was now okay, giving us one less thing to really worry about.
"Hey, Usopp" Luffy greeted the second we entered the kitchen.
"I'm so happy to see that you're alright" I smiled, quietly taking in just how heavily bandaged the sharpshooter was.
"You know, I ought to punch you for scaring us like that" Nami scolded.
"Yeah, no kidding, though it looks like you've taken enough punches already if you asked me" Sanji sighed in agreement. "What were you thinking taking those guys on alone?" he frowned.
"You can't just go off and fight whoever you want" Zoro chastised.
"Oh, that's a good one coming from you..." Sanji grumbled, causing Luffy and I to burst out into a small fit of laughter.
"This wouldn't have happened if I was strong like you guys" Usopp frowned as tears suddenly started to well up in his eyes. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault—I'm so ashamed of myself!" he sobbed as he wrapped his arms tightly around Zoro's legs. I couldn't help but giggle as I watched how the swordsman quickly tried to remove the crying pirate from him.
"I get it, I know you're sorry! But you don't have to get all touchy-feely on me, okay?!" Zoro frowned, uncomfortable with the sharpshooter's decision to cry on him instead of someone else.
"All our savings...all the trouble we've been through...what about the Merry...?" Usopp sadly asked, causing the air to immediately grow thick with tension as everyone quickly avoided eye contact with the depressed teen.
A/N: Enjoy
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