CHAPTER 95 DEATH OF A CREWMAN

"I hoped you'd be here," I told the Going Merry as I moved to the upper deck. Turning the helm to point to the ship the others were on it wasn't long until they were cheering as they saw the Merry. 

"How is the Merry here?!" Usopp asked as he jumped down 

"No idea," I said. "She was just out there on the water."

"I knew you'd survive," Luffy said as he jumped down. Doing a belly flop onto the deck he hugged the Merry as the last crew member was reunited. 

"Nami! I need you!" I said, panicking. 

Nami ran up worried. "It's just a rock!" She yelled as she took control of the rudder. Turning the helm expertly as she weaved us through. She started yelling out orders and people got to work. 

"There are so many marines," Robin couldn't help but say. All around us was a line of at least 50 marine ships. They were all continuously firing upon Enies Lobby where the buster call had been pushed. I didn't understand why no one questioned that they were attacking their own base, but it was working out for us. 

"How are we going to get past them?" Robin asked. 

"With the best crew on the seas," I said. "You lucked out joining us." I laughed and was off doing something else Nami ordered. We closed in on the ships surrounding us. Usopp fired our own cannon, somehow hitting one marine ship so bad it caused it to teeter over and knock out another. 

"I am the king of snipers!" He yelled as we sailed right past where the 2 ships had been. 

Other ships began to close in on us, but they were so much larger the smaller cavalier ship zipped right past them. Up close their cannons were basically useless. Zoro, Sanji, Luffy, and I jumped to the close ships steering them away or knocking out fighters as they tried to fire upon us with muskets. 

And then we were past them. A few turned around to fire upon us, but the ship had been gutted. We were at a bare minimum of weight. By the time the marines did turn around we were out of cannon range. They turned back around and continued firing upon their own. 

We worked tirelessly to get away. After an hour the marine ships and Enies Lobby were far out of sight as we looped to reconnect to the floating railroad that would guide us back to Water Seven. 

"That was awesome!" Usopp said. "We really did it!"

"We did," I said, enjoying their cheers and excitement. "Nice job everyone. Especially you, Robin. You even had me convinced you were working for CP9. And now I have my very own Buster call."

"You should have left that," Robin said. Her eyes fearful of the golden snail. 

"Why would I do that?" I asked, caressing the denden mushi. "My mission is finally complete!" I yelled excitedly. "I've been working for months. All for this day. Infiltrating the Straw Hats, making them trust me. All to lead to this. My very own buster call!" I let out my best evil laugh. "My ancient ninja order will be pleased."

I looked to the others. They had scared and confused looks on their faces. I kept a straight face for as long as I could. Then burst out laughing. "Oh my god. You're so gullible," I said throwing the denden mushi overboard. The golden snail began swimming away as it got in the water. My eyes bulged, I thought the thing was dead. 

"I'm going to kill you," Nami growled. 

"I was just joking," I said, turning around. They all had angry looks on their faces. 

"Wait, so there isn't an ancient ninja order?" Luffy asked like he just learned unicorns weren't real. 

"Maybe," I said. "I have no idea."

"You Straw Hats sure are funny," Franky said. The man with a wave of blue hair was in a Speedo and Hawaiian shirt. I thought I read somewhere that Oda based him off Americans, and I couldn't be prouder to be represented by the android. 

"It's a laugh a minute," I said. "Now, was I wrong in hearing that this guy's crew stole a bunch of our money?"

"No," Usopp said. "They did."

"Oh right," Franky said. "Hahaha," he laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. "I spent it."

"What?! 200,000,000 berrie?!" Usopp yelled angrily. The Franky crew had stolen it from him, and Usopp blamed himself. "How?!"

"There is a special wood," Franky explained. "A once in a lifetime wood. It is called Treasure Tree Adam." Some of the crew looked to me, recognizing the name. "The strongest wood in the world. The same wood the pirate king's ship was made of. When I got your money an auction was going off for enough to build a boat. The first time in years. I spent all your money on the wood."

"Why?!" Usopp asked, not putting it together. 

"To build the greatest ship the world has ever seen!" Franky said. "My master, Tom, built the pirate king's ship. I hoped to surpass him someday with my own ship. In honor of him."

"Tom would be proud," I said, walking up to Franky. "Especially if you built the ship for the next pirate king." 

The crew was quiet. Usopp was slowly understanding. "But the Merry, she's fine. She got here. Those shipwrights said she couldn't make it to the next island, but she's here. She did it. Maybe they were wrong."

"They weren't," I said. "The Going Merry knew we needed her. Do you think we could have gotten around that blockade without her? She is on her last leg. And will only fall apart when she knows we are safe."

"How?" Usopp asked through tears. "How can you know this?"

"I know because I can feel it, Usopp. You can too. She is weak." I moved over to the railing. Running my hand along it. And somehow I could feel it. Maybe it was my recent Haki training. Maybe because the boat was telling me. But there was barely a flicker of strength in the wood. She was using everything she had. 

The crew was quiet. "You see that, Merry?" I asked. Pointing out to sea was another ship. "That's Icebergs and Franky's people. You can stop holding on now. They'll take us the rest of the way." I was surprised that there were some tears in my eyes. Feeling the weak Haki from the ship was affecting me.

The ship drew closer and as we heard voices yelling for us the ship cracked like an egg. Split down the middle she burst at the keel. 

"No!" Usopp yelled. But I wasn't in the mood to fight. I grabbed Luffy and Robin and we were soon crowded on the long boat. The ship was slowly sinking as I lit a torch and handed it to Luffy. 

He let out a long sigh. Keeping his breath calm as he began to speak to the boat. 

"Merry, I know we haven't been the best crew. But you were always there for us. You are the only reason we could get this far. But the bottom of the ocean is dark and scary. We want to see you off here."

He bowed toward the Merry. "Thank you for bringing us this far." He threw the torch into the bowels of the ship. It began to spread quickly. We watched it burn. 

As the deck became inflamed a weak feminine voice rang out. "I'm sorry I couldn't hold on," the voice said. I wiped my eyes. The tears coming unbidden. "I wanted to go just a little further. On one more adventure with all of you."

"Why!" Luffy yelled. Tears in most everyone's eyes. "We broke you all the time. Usopp tried fixing you but he didn't know what he was doing. We flew you to sky island and dropped you from it. Why would you put up with that?!"

"Because…I was happy," the voice said weakly. "Thank you for taking care of me." 

The voice didn't speak anymore as the fire spread. Drying my eyes I stepped off the longboat. Walking to the front of the ship I punched off the sheep's head figurehead at the front. 

"Thank you, Merry," I said with a bow. "We will reach the end of the line. Since not all of you can make it. We will just take one piece."

I walked back to the longboat. Storing the figurehead we waited until the ship burned all the way. The charred remains falling to the ocean as we waited for our ride. 

"I'll make your ship," Franky said, drawing our eyes. "I have never heard the spirit of a ship. I've always heard about it. They are from legend. Only the best crews are graced to hear the voice of one. I would be honored to make you a ship that is capable of reaching the end of the Grand Line. A ship to put all others to shame."

I nodded. Not willing to break out of our own reverie of the Merry we stayed quiet. Preparing for our next adventure.