7 Wonders

Since entering the lift, Monica had not stopped gawking in wonder even once. It had been such a long time since she had seen anything besides the monotonous horrors inside of the mansion of her past owners, so long in fact that she couldn't even remember what the outside world had looked like.

Hence, her gawking as she witnessed one wonder of incredible beauty after the other. The view from the lift, stretching out over the Grandline as far as the eyes could see, had simply been breath taking. In all honesty, Monica had difficulties finding the right words to describe how beautiful that view had been.

Once they had reached the bottom of the Redline, as Mr. Mime had told her, she was once again stunned into wonder at the size of the mountain they had descended from just minutes ago. The Redline was so large it blew her away.

She even tried to catch a glimpse of the top of the Redline from her place at its foot but all she managed to spot were idly drifting clouds, covering Mary Geoise.

Mr. Mime had then told her that the Redline she saw right now was only a small fragment of the whole thing. Apparently the Redline parted the whole known world into two halves, going around the globe once. At first, she thought he was joking but after a few seconds of silence on his part she had been unable to even comprehend the size of the Redline if Mr. Mime actually was telling the truth.

'Maybe one day I'll be able to see the whole Redline…?' Right then and there she had wondered in the safe confines of her young mind, while her eyes still rested upon the gigantic mountain range tinged in red.

Her thoughts had been interrupted though when Mr. Mime had begun walking away from the Redline and the lift, straight towards the many ships parked at its base, probably should any of the Tenryuubito ever wish to venture out into the mortal world.

By the looks of it, Mr. Mime hadn't really had any preferences when it came to the ships and instead pick the nearest one out of convenience.

Once again, she had been told to close her eyes, though this time she remained seated on his shoulder the whole time, which confused her a little, and yet she complied with his request.

Upon closing her eyes, Monica had felt his hand upon her back, and before she could question him why he was doing so, she felt some kind of abrupt pressure press her into his steadying hand, nearly causing her to open her eyes on reflex, if she hadn't reminded herself to keep them closed until Mr. Mime said otherwise.

With her eyes closed, Monica was reliant on her other senses, and from the sounds and voices she picked up, she was rather happy she had been told to close her eyes, just like back then up on top of the Redline.

Screams of pain, surprise and fear echoed out in rapid succession, until only silence remained once again the next second, with nothing but the sound of the waves softly crashing against the Redline as priming coat.

Once Mr. Mime began walking again, she picked up the sounds of his shoes walking over wood, followed by the rushed footsteps of the other escapees behind him, and wondered if they had already boarded one of the ships, when she was abruptly lifted down from her place on his shoulder and sat down upon the floor.

"Alrighty munchkin, you can look now." Mr. Mime's pleasant voice said, prompting her to do just that, briefly adjusting to the soft light of the very early morning hours, until she could see clearly again and was proven right in her thoughts to be on the ship already.

"Do me the favour and stay put right here for a while, alright?" Mr. Mime asked her and she nodded in reply, not really bothered by his request, and so she watched him walk over towards the rest of the waiting and slightly confused group of former slaves.

While she listened into their conversation a little bit, her eyes roamed over the ship she was now upon with rapt attention.

It was gigantic! Honestly, she began to wonder if everything in this world was of such enormous size or if she simply was too small, hence her impression of all the huge things around her…

A thought that would require further investigation in due time, but first she would have to figure out how this ship she was on now actually worked! After all, the only time she had seen water was whenever she would wash herself or other things up in the manor, but had never seen water in such enormous quantities before as the ocean laid out before her!

Was the ocean water maybe even drinkable? That would mean nobody would ever have to go without water! What a marvellous thought that was to her! After all, she had experienced that particular feeling before hand and it was not pleasant…

Though, after her thoughts took another avenue of questions she had no answers to, she chided herself a little and returned her attention back to the ship and how it could possibly move.

Meanwhile, the group of former slaves had been told what to do and bustled up into those long wooden thingies that were put upon the ship along its length, piercing up into the sky quite a few metres.

Soon enough, she witnessed white, billowing fabric thingies fall down from those long wooden poles, while Mr. Mime loosened the ropes that secured the ship to the port, until she saw and felt in astonishment the ship actually move forwards!

And then she suddenly understood after watching the fabric thingies bulge. It was the wind that moved them forwards! How incredible! How ingenious! Truly, she couldn't believe what else she would be seeing in the coming days of her freedom…

With a smile on her face, Monica watched how the ship glided through the growing waves, the water spraying aside in a sprinkle of many colours until she even spotted a few fishes hopp besides the ships front!

With wide eyes she followed them and their every movement, completely taken of guard though when Mr. Mime picked her up onto his shoulder, pressed a piece of buttered bread into her hands and went over towards the front of the ship.

Watching the fishes, Dolphins they were called as Mr. Mime told her, gushing at the taste of the exquisite food inside her mouth, she could not fathom her current situation. What a marvellous day this had been, and it had only just started! What else would be waiting for her in the coming days? She became giddy only thinking about it!