CHAPTER 91 FREEFALL 

I woke up again to a giant party. Thrown on the Jaya land there were Skypieans and Jayans all around. Dancing and partying around a bonfire. I was on the sidelines stuck with the med bay pansies. 

Zoro and Sanji next to me they caught me up on what happened. Luffy won the fight of course. Lightning couldn't do much to rubber. Enel escaped. But the people were free. I was pretty sure they would end up making Gan Fall their god again. 

Luffy was bandaged up pretty bad but somehow eating all the food. Usopp was telling the Skypiens of his prowess during the fight. Chopper was tending to other wounded that somehow kept rolling in. Robin and Nami sat by us watching the festivities. 

It was a nice moment. I was beat up worse than any time I could remember. But it was a good feeling. I'd proven I could actually take a blow. I didn't have to escape the world every time it got hard. My plan had been to attack and shoot one of my water/ice bullets at Enem. Piercing his body, but in the moment I forgot. Luckily it turned out well in the end.

The night passed eventually and by the next morning Luffy was shaking me awake. 

"Weston," he whispered. "Weston!" He yelled. 

"What?!" I yelled back. 

"Shut up! You're going to wake up everyone!" He yelled. 

"You started it! You shut up!" 

"Both of you shut up!" Nami yelled. More Straw Hats around us began to stir. 

"Ow jackass! You elbowed my eye!" Usopp yelled. 

"Breakfast?" Chopper mumbled as he got up. 

"Treasure," Luffy hissed. That shut us up. A wide smile split his face. "I found a bunch of it."

Nami and I shot up as one. Usopp and Chopper too. We followed Luffy away from the sleeping Jayans and Skypieans. 

"Where is the treasure?" Nami asked. Her voice made a caching sound somehow. 

"In there," Luffy said, pointing at the giant snake he had been trapped inside. 

I remembered then. The snake had been alive since the island was the city of gold. So big it had swallowed a lot of treasures. I also remembered we didn't have to hide stealing the treasure either. The Skypieans and Jayans cared more about the Earth island than gold. 

But it was more fun to steal it. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's rob them blind," I said. On unsteady feet I was stumbling forward and then running as my weakened body got used to it. We were giggling and laughing as we ran into the open maw of the sleeping snake. 

There was a small building inside the beast that must have been a treasure room. In a maelstrom of thievery we were grabbing handfuls and running it out of the snake. There was something special about stealing gold. Jewels, necklaces, crowns, scepters and everything imaginable was made from gold. 

Wearing gold encrusted everything, my arms were filled with it as I threw pearls on the deck of the Going Merry only to run back for another load. We finished up and once we got everything we were waking the others up. 

"Let's get out of here!" Luffy said. "Before they catch on."

"You know where we have to go?" I asked. 

"One of the Skypieans told me yesterday," Nami said. 

"What about you?" I asked Cricket. The big man had partied with the rest of them. A smile on his face from ear to ear. 

"I will be staying here," he admitted. "I want to hear more about what they knew about my ancestor. Thank you, Straw Hats. You've helped me fulfill a lifelong dream. Someday I'll go back with plenty of proof to clear my ancestors name."

"Not surprising," I said. Shaking his hand the others said their goodbyes. "Where's my Jitte?" I remembered as we cast off

"Over there. Along with that Reject Dial," Robin said. 

"Hey, Usopp, did you get a bunch of dials?" I asked. 

"I did. Traded them for a bunch of rubber bands," he said with a laugh. 

"Got another Reject Dial?" I asked. 

"A couple."

"Let me steal one from you, alright?" I asked as we packed up the ship. He parted with one and I had two in my status screen. My arm still hurt from using one use. But it would be good to have two just in case. One for each arm…or legs. I wondered if I could kick and the recoil would make me jump way up high. 

"Goodbye sky island!" Luffy yelled. "Thanks for all the treasure!"

His voice echoed in the empty forest and we cast off. Ready for our next adventure. 

—-

"It's such a beautiful thing," I said. Staring at the open treasure chest, for once it glittered with gold and diamonds. 

"It really is," Nami said. Wiping a tear from her eyes. "How much do you think it's worth?"

"2, 300,000,000 berries?" I guessed. I had no idea. But I seemed to remember it being about that when they turned the treasure in. 

"And my cut?" She asked mischievously. 

"Well you won our bet. So 10,000,000," I said. 

"I did win our bet. Didn't I?" She asked. "I really flew the ship to Sky Island."

"You did. You're the best navigator in the world," I said. Kissing her on the cheek I shut the treasure chest and locked it. Storing the key where she couldn't find it. "Meeting time."

"Yeah yeah," she mumbled. Sad to see the treasure disappear. We walked into the kitchen area. The others were already sitting around it as Sanji set plates out. 

"Okay, meeting time, Straw Hats," I said. 

"Ugh I hate meetings," Luffy said. 

"There's meat involved, hence the name. Meating," I reminded. He smiled big as he tore into his chicken leg. "Luffy, you write down the minutes."

"The what?" He said through a mouthful of food. 

"Exactly," I said. "First item of business. Profit. We are looking at a good 200,000,000 berrie from our…salvage efforts on Skypiea." Cheers went around. People clanked mugs together as they drank. 

"I would like to be able to tell you all your individual shares of the booty, but we have to talk about something serious," I said. That quieted them as they stopped celebrating to look at me. "The Going Merry is dying."

There were surprised exclamations from everyone, but mainly Usopp and Luffy. "What?! You can't know that!" Usopp yelled. 

"I do," I said sadly. "When we fell from sky island. The keel was damaged."

"But the balloon octopus slowed us down," Luffy said. The way to leave the island was for the Skypieans to call a large octopus that filled up with hot air like a balloon. It latched onto the ship and floated us down to the Grand Line. But about 50 feet above the water it deflated and we dropped to the water. 

"It did. But ships aren't made to fall like that," I said. "I went underneath the ship to check, and there is a damaged section. I sealed off the leaking but this is not something that can be repaired."

"That's not true. There are shipwrights out there. They would actually know what they're doing," Usopp said. Almost frantic about it. 

"I know how much the ship means to you all. Especially you, Usopp. Your friend gave it to us. Allowing us to get this far. The next island will have shipwrights. But you can't fix a keel."

"They have to be able to," Usopp said. 

"The keel is the most important part of a ship," I told him. "When you make a ship you start with the keel. A long piece of lumber that you build the ship around. What decides how a ship will turn out is the keel. It is the heart. The Going Merry's heart is damaged. And no matter how much we want her to heal. I don't think she can." 

I looked around. Trying to relay how serious my words were. "The Going Merry is as much of a part of the crew as any one of us. She is our home and companion. She has been with us since the beginning."

"But…" I said, trying to be as delicate as possible. "She is also small. Us guys have been sharing rooms for a while. There are 8 of us on a ship that was meant for 7. We still need an actual shipwright and musician to join the crew. The Merry will be beyond capacity soon enough. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but we have outgrown the Merry."

"How can you say that?!" Usopp said angrily. Standing up there were tears in his eyes. "She can keep going."

"She can," I said. "But not as our ship." I was trying to be as blunt as possible. I didn't want him trying to quit the crew at the next island. "We need a new ship commissioned. One custom to us and our needs. And we can use a lot of the Going Merry to make it. Allowing her spirit to live on and help us reach our final goal. One Piece."

The outrage was slowly disappearing but I could see that Usopp was still hurt. "I wish I was wrong. And maybe I am. But we all need to accept that it is a very high possibility. We have a lot of money coming in. This is our chance to say goodbye to the Merry on our terms. Allow her to continue on in the only way she is capable of. And have a ship made that will be able to traverse the rest of the Grand Line. Because I hate to say it. We haven't seen anything yet."

Usopp looked up. His tears drying. "Like what?" He asked. 

I thought for a minute. "Fishman Island. We will need to go to the bottom of the ocean to get there. The water pressure there is immense. After that it only gets worse. There are burning islands. Ice islands. Islands where lightning rains down all the time. Whirlpools. Water cyclones. Sea kings as big as islands. And of course much much stronger marines. Marines that have the government's tax money to make the best and fastest ships. Then there are other pirate crews. There is Whitebeard and his massive ship the Moby Dick. We all hear about the last pirate king and his crew. But you need to know there was another member of his crew you've never heard of. His ship."

"What about it?" Luffy asked, actually intrigued. 

"His ship was made out of a wood taken from a rare tree called Treasure Tree Adam. A giant tree that is known as the strongest wood in the world. To get to the end of the Grand Line. We will need something equivalent. Something that can stand everything that is thrown at it."

"The Going Merry wants to get us there. And it has given us it's all to bring us this far. Don't think of it as us abandoning her. But changing how we can continue to bring her spirit with us."

I could tell everyone was slowly accepting the fact. I decided it was time to move on. "The next island the Log Pose will take us to is Water Seven. Water Seven is a special island. Not only was the man who built Gold Roger's ship from there. But it is known for its shipwrights. If anyone can help the Going Merry it will be there. I know what I've said. But we have a lot of money. I think we can all agree we would be willing to give it all to save the Merry. But if it is impossible we need to look at having a new ship built. I don't know what that would cost. Could be all the money. If so I am refraining from dishing out shares until then."

"Onto less serious matters," I said. "It has been brought to my attention that someone has been continuing their night snacking. I don't want to point fingers…" Everyone looked at Luffy whose gaze was pointing to the ceiling as he tried to act innocent. "But we have made a Seastone handle attachment to the fridge. If the culprit happens to have devil fruit powers they will have trouble opening it."

"That's not fair!" Luffy said outraged. 

"Why would it matter to you?" I asked. He looked away again. "Night shifts at the helm have been updated to incorporate Robin in the rotation. You can see the updated schedule by the door. Any other issues let me know."