One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Six-
"I didn't know Aqua Laguna would be like that!" Nami shivered. "I can't stop shaking!" she whimpered.
"It was quite the experience" I nodded in agreement after finally giving up on helping the swordsman.
"If it was that bad every year, we'd be sunk—I'm just surprised as you folks are, this ain't normal at all" Paulie huffed.
"You pirates are one step shy of crazy" Kokoro said. "You're lucky to be alive right now" she remarked.
"When did you get here?" I tilted my head.
"Oh, hey, Monster Granny" Luffy waved the minute he saw the old woman. "I didn't know you were here too" he said.
"Of course, I am! I may be drunk, but I'd have to be stupid to stay at sea during this storm" Kokoro said.
"You were awesome Mr. Pirate—your arms were like bong! Bong!" Chimney laughed as she excitedly jumped around.
"Yeah, I know" Luffy widely smiled as I watched Zoro finally pry Chopper off of his face.
"I was going to die!" Zoro snapped. "Little turd, put my face in that death grip and pass out like that!" he grumbled when he saw that Chopper had passed out due to shock.
"Hey, Zoro, what were you doing down there when the wave hit?" Luffy curiously asked. "Couldn't you get away?" he asked.
"Oh...um...yeah…you know" Zoro embarrassingly looked off to the side, avoiding all eye contact with our captain as I snickered.
"Zoro got stuck in a chimney" Chopper and I chirped, my hands immediately going up in defense the minute the swordsman started to choke the reindeer and angrily growl at me.
"Don't worry, I'll get you back later" he threatened which caused me to squeal.
"Zoro got stuck in a chimney?!" Luffy laughed as he started to clap his hands together. "Zoro, you dope—I couldn't be that lame even if I tried!" he snickered.
"Don't forget, you did the same thing twice!" Nami snapped as she snatched ahold of the rubber man's cheek. "You're both dopes, okay!" she huffed.
"Wait, where's Sanji and Uso—where's Sanji?" Luffy asked as he quickly caught himself before he could say Usopp's name.
"Oh yeah, there's a lot of stuff I need to tell you—you too, Zoro" Nami said which caught the swordsman's attention as he stopped choking Chopper before looking towards me when he saw that I was slowly starting to scoot away from him.
"Where do you think you're going?" he glared.
"N-nowhere! Let's listen to what Nami has to say!" I nervously laughed as I turned his head towards the ginger haired woman and motioned for her to continue—to distract the swordsman from his anger for just a little while.
"So, let me get this straight, you're saying that Robin sacrificed herself to protect us?" Zoro questioned as Nami finished.
"That's right" Nami nodded.
"The cook and Usopp are on the train with her, huh? Well, what should we do, captain?" Zoro asked as we all turned our attention towards Luffy.
"Only one thing to do" Luffy grinned. "We set off and rescue them right away!" he proclaimed.
"Great idea, captain" I smiled.
"I had a feeling you would say that" Zoro grinned as he stood up.
"Let's go! We're on our way, Robin!" Luffy cheered. "Hey, help us out, rope guy! We need a boat—actually, we need a Sea Train, you have another one of those?" he asked as he looked towards the blond-haired man.
"There is no other Sea Train, the Puffing Tom is a one of a kind—the man who made that train is a legend" Paulie told us. "It's a miracle it got finished at all, so sorry, I can't pull another Sea Train out of my ass" he said.
"That's quite a predicament" I said while watching as Luffy's determined face didn't falter even a little at this troubling news.
"Okay, then lend us a ship!" Luffy demanded. "The strongest and fastest one you guys got!"
"Dammit! Would you give it a rest already?!" Paulie snapped. "Are you stupid? You saw what just happened—you barely survived that wave on land and you want to go out to sea!" he scowled.
"I don't care how good the ship is, you wouldn't last five minutes!" someone in the crowd of shipwrights shouted.
"No kidding!"
"You idiot!"
"Even during a normal Aqua Laguna, no ship has ever made it through the storm, and this year it's anything but normal" Paulie explained. "Just look at what happened to the backstreets, this is the first time the waves have ever done damage like that—Water Seven was built to last, if it starts shaking then we damn well better listen" he huffed. "I'm telling you, even if you went out there in our biggest galleon, you'd be smashed to smithereens! I'm not letting you sail out there if I know you won't make it back alive, wait until morning. We'll lend you a ship as soon as the storm passes.
"The rest of you, head to the evacuation shelter" he ordered as he motioned for the men to start making their way towards the evacuation center now that there wasn't a reason to stay out any longer. "We're done searching for missing people, we can't stand around like idiots waiting for a wave to hit us."
"Right!" the men nodded.
"Hold on!" Nami frowned which caught everyone's attention. "If we wait until after the storm settles, we won't make it in time to save Robin, will we?" she asked. "I heard about Enies Lobby long before we came here—when you said it was a government island, it made me remember something. It's not just a base, it's also where the Gates of Justice is located, isn't it? Well, I'm not mistaken, am I?" she asked.
"Gates of Justice?" Zoro questioned as I clenched my fist.
"She's right, that's exactly where they're located" I muttered.
"Enies Lobby is known as a Judicial Island, but that's a lie, the court they have there is only for show" Nami said. "The truth is, if you've been taken there then you're already considered guilty—when you arrive, the government walks you through an empty courtroom leading to a pair of cold, steel doors that tower above the entire island" she explained. "Those doors are known as the Gates of Justice, the criminals who walk through them must abandon all hope once they reach the other side, they'll never see the light of day ever again. Once you set sail beyond those doors, there are only two destinations you can go, neither of which you are ever likely to leave. One is Navy Headquarters where the strongest military powers in the world gather in the name of justice—"
"The other one is Impel Down" I interrupted. "An underwater prison filled with torture chambers and execution blocks—no matter how vicious they may be, the criminals imprison there can only wait for death" I said.
"In other words, going to Enies Lobby is no different than a death sentence" Nami nodded as she picked back up. "There's no trial, no justice, and no hope of escape—am I right?" she asked as she looked around at everyone. "Robin has a bounty on her head, no matter where they take her, she'll face death or worse. Every second we spend here talking, she gets one step closer to the Gates of Justice, don't you dare tell us to wait until tomorrow!" she scowled.
"If you know that much already then I only got one thing to say, even if the sea was calm and you were able to set sail, that's the last place you should ever go" Paulie frowned. "Don't forget, you people are wanted criminals just the same as your friend" I couldn't help but scoff, he was right that we all were criminals. But, only they would suffer the consequences as I would be forcefully dragged back home to the grasps of a furious father. "Just like you said, Enies Lobby is the front door to the World Government's own personal playground. They've drawn battle lines around that place, that said, taking a fight to that place is like declaring war on the entire Navy!" he exclaimed.
"Hey, I know how you must feel, but Paulie's right" one of the other shipwrights agreed.
"You can't leave during Aqua Laguna anyways, you'll be dead before you even get there!"
"There's no point in throwing your lives away over there!"
"Luffy?" Nami questioned.
"What should we do, captain?" I asked as I crossed my arms.
"Fine then, we'll steal a ship!" Luffy huffed just as a huge wave splashed down on the shipwrights. "Our crewmate is counting on us, don't try to get in our way—we're leaving now!" he firmly stated.
"Whoa! Even the waves got mad!" Chimney gawked.
"Guess the weather wasn't approving of their negative attitude" I hummed.
"Whoa! Is he going to fight us?" one of the men nervously asked.
"That sure was scary!"
"Fine then, you want a fight? You got it!" Paulie growled as he stretched out a piece of rope and each of us got into a fighting stance.
"All of you, stop it!" Kokoro frowned.
"Kokoro?" Nami questioned.
"Stop being such a damn fool, Straw Hat" Kokoro huffed. "Like it or not, Paulie's right on this one" she said, already choosing to side with the blond.
"Shut up, Granny! It's none of your business!" Luffy snapped.
"You sure about that, boy?" Kokoro asked which caused me to raise an eyebrow. "Either way, these folks are just trying to stop you from killing yourself—the point is, no matter how mad you are, no ship can handle Aqua Laguna" she said. "Only a Sea Train made by a legendary man stands a chance."
"I know that, but I don't have any choice since the only Sea Train in the world has left town already!" Luffy argued.
"If you're prepared to die, that's fine, just come along with me—we'll brave the storm on my Sea Train" Kokoro grinned.
"Your Sea Train?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow as the woman only smiled and motioned for us all to follow.
-Later-
"Whoa! A secret base!" Chimney excitedly gasped.
"It's been more than eight years since anyone's set foot in here and nobody has touched the Sea Train for more than twelve" Kokoro explained.
"Let's go, Chopper!" Luffy eagerly motioned as he rushed down the stairs of the secret base and ahead of us all.
"Right!" Chopper nodded as he happily followed after our captain.
"I'm warning you, the thing might not run anymore" Kokoro warned.
"Then why show it to us?" I questioned.
"What?! You better be kidding me!" Luffy frowned.
"Now, now, settle down, boys" Kokoro softly chuckled. "You can run as fast as you like, but you're not getting inside without a key" she said as we all followed behind the two that had raced ahead before coming to a stop when we spotted that the wooden door at the bottom of the steps was already open. "Huh? Now that's weird, it's open" the old woman owlishly blinked.
"Whoa! Awesome!" Luffy gawked the minute he spotted the Sea Train. "Check out the face!" he grinned.
"It's so cool!" Chopper awed.
"With that face, it looks kind of like a shark" I remarked, tilting my head as I curiously examined the train.
"Unlike the Puffing Tom, this one here's a crazy train" Kokoro said. "Its name is Rocket Man, comes with no guarantee, so board at your own risk" she playfully warned...at least I think that was a playful warning—hard to tell with the smile on her face and the tinge of pink on her cheeks due to how drunk she was.
"Rocket Man!" Luffy excitedly smiled as his eyes now sparkled.
"Sounds fast!" Chopper smiled, his eyes now sparkling as well. I suddenly yelped the minute I felt the force of someone's hand smacking against my ass which sent me stumbling forward as my hands flew behind me and covered my clothed bottom.
"W-what?! Was that for earlier?!" I embarrassingly cried out as everyone directed their attention towards us, now curious to know what the sudden racket I was making was about as Zoro continued to just stand there with a neutral expression like he didn't do anything wrong. Kokoro laughed as she stared at my stained cheeks while the others tilted their heads and look at one another before shrugging their shoulders and excitedly turning their attention back towards the train.
"No" Zoro shook his head as his lips suddenly tugged upwards into a smirk. "But, don't worry, I'll get you back" I only shivered upon hearing the mischief in his voice.
A/N: Enjoy
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