2 02 - Ziggy
"Eeeeeek!!! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!!" Rebecca screamed in fear.
"Outsider…?" the pirate-looking guy asked himself.
"Are you an outsider? A pirate?" The guy zoomed in on Rebecca.
"Eeek!" Rebecca jumped back, her hand gripping her pistol.
"Who are you? I thought there were only old people here," Rebecca asked.
"He doesn't look like a guest either. Maybe an outsider or a pirate?" Happy observed.
"Are you a pirate or not?" the shady guy asked again.
"We are not pirates. We are adventurers. We don't want any problems. We'll go back," Rebecca cautiously replied.
"A female adventurer and a talking cat," the shady guy pondered.
"A cat!! Ooohh!!! Can I eat it?" the shady guy picked up Happy and inspected it.
"No, don't eat me."
"Okay, if you say so," he put Happy down.
'What's wrong with him?' Rebecca thought.
Then the shady guy menacingly glared at Rebecca and walked towards her.
"Wh… what?" Rebecca winced, intruding on her personal space.
"What are you so angry about? It's okay… Just calm down. That's a good boy. 'kay?" Rebecca tried to persuade him.
"Do you want to become my friend and become a pirate with me?" the shady guy asked.
""What!!?""
"Let's become friends and become pirates," the shady guy said.
"No freaking way!" Rebecca shouted and tried to punch him in the face.
But he dodged all her punches.
"My grandpa told me to make lots of friends."
"No way, I don't even know you. Don't ask people you just met to be friends, idiot," Rebecca shouted while continuously trying to punch him.
"Why not? Then how will I make friends?" he asked.
"By talking with them and getting to know each other," Rebecca calmed down and stopped her punches.
"Is that so?"
"Yes. So who are you? Where did you come from? You fell on top of that kitty," she asked.
"My name is Ziggy, and I live here. I was training on top of that mountain. Then I slept, I think I rolled and fell from there," Ziggy explained.
"You are a resident of Granbell? Did any of them tell us about you? And how are you okay with falling from such a height?" she questioned.
"Who knows," he shrugged. "This height is nothing. You should've seen it when my grandpa dropped me from the sky. Man, that was painful. I couldn't move for a month."
"Are you sure he is your grandpa?" she sweatdropped.
"We are not related. He found me somewhere and took me in."
"That's kidnapping," Happy said, and Rebecca nodded.
Growl Ziggy's stomach grumbled.
"I am hungry. Did you guys eat anything? Let's go back to the village. I have to ask Annie to cook me something big," Ziggy said, jumping and landing on a tree. He started jumping from branch to branch towards the village.
'He's like a monkey,' Rebecca and Happy thought.
"Wait for us," Rebecca and Happy ran after him.
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"So, these are Annie the cook, John the tailor, Mithra the barmaid, Joseph Joseph the farmer, and Michael, my caretaker when I was a kid. They're all my friends," Ziggy introduced the present residents of Granbell enthusiastically.
All of them were at Granbell Inn, with Ziggy running around and showing everything to Rebecca and Happy. He was happy because he had made a new friend from outside the island.
"Come on, since Ziggy is here and we have our first guest in years, let's have a party," Michael said.
"Partyyyyy…" Ziggy shouted ecstatically.
"Aye," the residents agreed.
Annie and Mithra had already prepared all the food and drinks and started to serve. Ziggy started to sing something incomprehensible, and none of the audience understood what he was singing. The residents silenced for a few seconds before starting to eat the food, completely ignoring the thing Ziggy called music.
"What is he singing?" Rebecca asked Happy while munching on some snacks.
"I can't understand a single word, Rebecca. I think that guy is so happy that he invented some new language or something. Even the villagers aren't minding him," Happy sweatdropped.
"I AM SO HAPPY THAT I GOT A NEW FRIEND, GRANDPAAAA…."
*Thud*
Ziggy shouted happily and suddenly fainted face-first onto the floor.
"Oh no, what happened to him?" Rebecca worriedly asked and checked him.
"He's fine; I am also a doctor. He was so ecstatic that he just fainted. He will wake up in under an hour, probably because of you two. It's the first time he's meeting someone from outside the island," Michael explained while checking on Ziggy.
"What a strange guy," Rebecca exclaimed.
"So, Rebecca and Happy, how long are you planning on staying on this island? I have a request to ask," Michael suddenly turned serious.
"Is there something wrong? We just want to restock, explore the island, and then leave," Rebecca frowned.
"My request is..."
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"Grandpa!!!" Ziggy suddenly woke up.
When he looked around, he found himself alone. All the food and drinks were gone, and the residents and two guests had disappeared. The place was empty.
"Where is everyone? Where did they go? How long have I been sleeping?" Ziggy worriedly looked around.
Even the streets were deserted, and the village appeared abandoned. Ziggy couldn't find anyone, and his anxiety heightened.
"Did they all leave me without saying anything, just like Grandpa?" Ziggy asked himself quietly.
*BOOOM!*
The sound of an explosion jolted Ziggy from his distress.
"The explosion sounded from the middle of the village. Everyone, please be safe. I'll save you," Ziggy exclaimed as he began to run towards the source of the explosion.
His body started to glow green, and he levitated. Multicoloured silhouettes of himself appeared in the direction he was running, and Ziggy blasted off at an incredible speed.
When he arrived, he saw a huge monster that looked like a 10ft cyclops, wielding a wooden club that was half its size, destroying buildings. Most of the villagers lay unconscious. Ziggy spotted Rebecca and Happy, unconscious in a prison box.
"What did you do, monster?" Ziggy screamed as he zoomed in on the Cyclops, ready to punch.
But before Ziggy could deliver the blow, the cyclops twisted its body faster and knocked him into a few buildings.
"Cla cla cla la…. I am the Human Hunter Polyphemus. Where did you come from, little boy? I am taking this girl for my dinner, and the kitty is for some extra flavour. The old people are not up to my taste, and devil fruit users taste like shit, so I have to kill you too," Castellan bellowed.
*Boom!*
Ziggy exploded from the rubble and landed in front of Polyphemus. His body was glowing green, and the ground beneath him started to crack.
"Let them go. I will not let you harm them," Ziggy coldly replied.
"You're too late, boy. I'm taking this girl and cat. The others are probably all dead. Cla cla cla la…." Castellan mocked Ziggy.
"What? They're dead? You're lying. No, they can't be dead. They're my friends," Ziggy broke down. He fell to his knees, and the pressure and glow from his body stopped.
"Cla cla cla la…. Now die, you little shit," Castellan prepared to bash Ziggy's skull in with his club.
"Zi…gy…mm…ve…" Ziggy's voice trailed off.
Castellan smashed Ziggy's head.
"Cla cla cla la…. Little girl, you woke up. It's too late; he is dead. Look at the state of your saviour," the cyclops mocked the barely conscious Rebecca.
"Nooo… Ziggy…." Rebecca broke down crying. "How did all this happen? We were all having a good time just a moment ago. Now everyone is dead."
*Wooooomm!* A multicoloured wave of green, red, and violet erupted from where Ziggy was supposed to be dead and washed over the island. The whole island, including the village, glitched for a second, but no one noticed.
"What… you're not dead? Impossible!" Castellan flinched at the wave and took a step back.
"You're dead… You kidnapped my new friends and killed my old friends… You are dead alright," Ziggy's voice boomed from the rubble.
As the dust cleared away, Ziggy was on his knees, holding Castellan's club with his left arm above his head. An ethereal glow of green, red, and violet formed around him.
Ziggy then stood up effortlessly, holding the club and throwing it to the side, causing Castellan to lose his balance. Ziggy jumped towards the Cyclops, preparing for a punch.
"Gravity Fist!"
The green glow focused on Ziggy's right hand as he delivered an uppercut to Castellan, sending him flying into the sky. Ziggy then jumped onto a nearby building and ran vertically up it, reaching the top and positioning himself above Castellan.
"Gravity Fist Frenzy!"
Ziggy unleashed a barrage of punches on the falling Castellan, increasing his momentum.
Boom! Castellan fell to the ground like a shooting star, knocked out.
Crack! The ground beneath Castellan collapsed, causing everything around him to fall as well. As the prison cage holding Happy and Rebecca began to fall, Ziggy caught it, causing it and its contents to levitate. The ground around them crumbled into the growing chasm.
"Where is your ship, Rebecca? We have to leave now," Ziggy demanded. His eyes were partially covered by his hair.
"It's in the direction between the forest and the village wall," Rebecca answered, still stunned by the fight.
"Okay, so pointing gravity North by Northwest," Ziggy murmured.
They started flying towards the direction of Rebecca's ship.
"What's happening? We are falling sideways!" Rebecca screamed.
After a few seconds, they arrived at the location where Rebecca's small boat was docked.
"Is that it?" Ziggy asked.
"Yeah, that's our ship," Rebecca confirmed.
After reaching the location, Ziggy put down the prison cage and destroyed a side of the cage with just a gravity-enhanced punch. Rebecca, holding the still-unconscious Happy, exited the cage.
After boarding the ship, Ziggy looked at the now-destroyed Granbell Island.
"Hey, Ziggy, are you okay?" Rebecca asked after placing Happy in his bed.
"No, they were like my family. Now all of them are dead. That bastard Cyclops killed them all, and he somehow destroyed the village even after I defeated him. Even though I said I want to leave the island to have an adventure and make friends, I wasn't planning on doing that anytime soon. I don't want to leave them alone. After my grandpa stopped visiting me, I promised myself that I would not leave them alone. But I couldn't save them, Rebecca..." Ziggy broke down crying and hugged Rebecca.
"Ziggy, something was wrong with everything. The monster suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and we were in that cage. It all happened in an instant."
"And there is something you should see," Rebecca took a letter from her pocket and gave it to Ziggy.
"What are you saying? It doesn't make any sense. And what is this?"
Ziggy opened the wax-sealed letter. On it, 'To Ziggy from Michael' was written.
"From Michael?" Ziggy looked at Rebecca, confused.
"Yeah, after you passed out, Michael requested something. It was to take you with us on your adventure and give this letter to you when that happens," Rebecca explained.
"What??" Ziggy was still confused. He started reading the letter.
~Dear Ziggy,
Stop crying. Didn't your grandpa say that fairies don't visit crybaby?
And sorry for causing all your sadness.
It was the right time for the plan. I was planning on sending you out with a reliable friend on your adventure, and Rebecca and Happy arrived. The Cyclops Castellan and the destruction of the village were all me. You see, I ate the Vision Vision Fruit and became the Illusion Human. I can create phantoms or illusions that can be interacted with by others.
I restocked your ship with the necessities for a few weeks.
I also arranged some parting gifts for you and your crewmates. They are under the steering wheel.
Ziggy, it was all for you... everything was for you from the beginning...
You'll soon understand...
Goodbye, Ziggy... I hope you forgive me...
Your friend Michael. ~
Ziggy started crying again but suddenly wiped it all.
"Ziggy, you should see this. Something is happening to Granbell Island," Rebecca pointed to the island.
They didn't start sailing, but their ship started moving away from the island, and the village started to fade like mist. After a few seconds, the island was fully visible to them.
The Granbell Island in its true form was even smaller than it was previously, and there was a small wooden house in the middle of the island and a small hillside perfect for stargazing. At that spot, someone was standing there looking at them.
"Goodbye, Ziggy… You were a good friend and a great son," Michael said quietly. Even though Ziggy and Rebecca were at a distance, they heard him too.
Then Michael also faded away, revealing a gravestone engraved with "Here lies Michael. A great friend."
