Chapter XLIV: A Strained Voice Manifests

A thick fog encompassed the forest clearing, making it difficult to see much of anything in the dreary dark. To those who relied heavily on their sight to survey their surroundings, such as snipers for instance, these conditions turned even a quick trip to pee into a perilous journey fraught with danger.

At least, that's what said sniper argued when he went to wake his captain.

"You're saying I should come with you so you don't get blindsided?" Luffy clarified, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"That's right," Usopp confirmed.

"Oh, so you're scared of the dark. Ok then," Luffy deadpanned as he got up from the ground.

"Don't say it like that!" Usopp complained. "It's a precaution! Who knows what kind of scary creatures lurk in the dead of night?"

"You mean like the wolves that we shared our booze with?"

Usopp opened his mouth to argue further, but decided to quit while he was ahead and simply follow after Luffy, who had started walking passed the trees already.

"You know, it's not the animals I'd be worried about," Luffy said suddenly as they faced opposite directions and started emptying their bladders.

"What do you mean?" Usopp asked. "What else would attack us? Man eating plants?"

"Or maybe something a little less natural?" Luffy suggested with a grin. "Or as they say...supernatural."

Usopp paled. "Y-you mean like g-ghosts?"

"Or zombies."

"Zombies!?"

"Or talking skeletons."

"Don't even joke about that!" Usopp whispered loudly, looking around frantically. "I'm perfectly fine with not encountering anything of an undead nature, thank you very much!"

"Don't get your hopes up. By the way, do you hear that?"

"Hear wha-" Usopp became silent as he heard what Luffy was talking about. It was coming from the direction of the Merry, and it almost sounded like the banging of a...hammer?

Luffy's brow furrowed as he reached out with his observation haki. Immediately his eyes widened. "That can't be right…" he muttered in amazement.

"What is it? You sense something?" Usopp asked fearfully.

"It feels like...you?"

"What? But I'm right here. Are you sure that's right?"

"Not really. Because it also feels like me. Also Zoro, Nami, and Sanji. I even feel traces of Chopper and Robin."

Usopp was growing more confused by the second. "So whatever this thing is, it can mimic our auras?" Luffy was silent for a moment before speaking.

"I think we should go see what it is," he said. Usopp nodded hesitantly. If this thing was on the Merry, then they probably shouldn't just leave it be. As they drew closer to the ship, they were able to make out a figure through the fog. Usopp was growing more pale by the second, while Luffy was simply in awe. He thought he knew who this was, but he was growing more sure by the second.

"Captain," came a juvenile voice from the ship which seemed to resonate through the fog.

"G-G-Gh-Gho-" Usopp stuttered, unable to form the word.

"Merry," Luffy breathed, causing Usopp to nearly forget his fear and turn to Luffy in concern.

"Merry? What about Merr-"

Usopp was interrupted as Luffy grabbed hold of his arm and jumped across the ocean cloud and onto the deck of the ship. Usopp, on full alert now, turned warily towards the mysterious figure, mallet in hand, that was now facing them, while Luffy just continued to stare in reverence.

The figure's face suddenly spread into a wide smile. It seemed to be as delighted to see them as a ghostlike figure could possibly be. "Captain Luffy! Usopp!" It's childlike voice shouted in glee.

"Who are you? How do you know our names?" Usopp asked, voice laced with a curiosity that overpowered his usual apprehension.

The small figure's face lit up with a mischievous countenance. "Guess!" the child challenged.

Only then did Usopp start to take in the child's appearance. It was that of a young girl, one with white shoulder length hair. Her face shone with a childlike innocence, but one that belied the infinite wisdom that was reflected in her deep brown eyes, hidden beneath the surface. It was as if she had felt all the pain the world had to offer but still had the heart to keep going.

"Merry..." Usopp whispered, his voice caught in his throat. It defied all reason. There was no explanation as to how this girl could be their ship, and yet...he just knew.

Luffy swallowed thickly. His observation haki was being barraged by the very essence of his crew. He could sense a myriad of qualities in Merry's aura which he could easily identify the sources of. From his own unyielding determination, to Zoro's undying loyalty, Nami's playful mischievousness, Usopp's natural curiosity, Sanji's fierce protectiveness, Chopper's optimistic enthusiasm, and Robin's sharp intelligence. They all blended together so naturally it was almost beautiful, and he could feel tears coming to his eyes. He had never had the chance of observe Merry's aura before. In fact, he wasn't even completely sure a ship would have one. But now that he could sense it for himself, he knew that it was something he would never forget. It was surreal.

Merry laughed. "You guessed right! It's me," she said.

"Wait, so you're a girl?" Usopp asked randomly, causing Luffy to break out of his daze and snicker at the timing of the question.

Merry scratched her head. "Well...yea? You guys always refer to me as 'she,' so I'm a girl!" she declared as if it was a simple concept.

"Makes sense to me," Luffy agreed.

"Well...ok then," Usopp said, not quite understanding how that worked but readily accepting. "So basically you appeared to repair yourself? Do you do this often?" he asked. There was a hint of guilt in his voice, and Luffy suddenly paled.

Merry laughed uneasily. "No, this is the first time," she admitted.

"Merry," Luffy spoke up. "Are you going to be ok?" Usopp looked at him in confusion.

Merry looked down at her feet, reluctant to answer. Finally, she spoke. "I'm just a caravel. The knockup stream was too much," she said quietly. Luffy gritted his teeth in grief upon hearing the answer as Usopp looked back and forth between the two in worry.

"Hey, what do you mean it's too much?" he asked. "No, I understand. We've been pushing you too hard, right? Are you saying the repairs won't hold? Because if so, tell us! I promise we'll get you to a professional shipwright as soon as we can!"

Merry met Usopp's eyes and shook her head sadly. Usopp's widened. "You mean…"

Luffy closed his eyes. How had it come to this again? He had tried to be careful. He had done his absolute best to stop their ship from being damaged, and up until the knockup stream, he would have sworn blind that he had succeeded. Were there some obstacles that Merry simply couldn't overcome? And in the previous timeline, had she powered through all of those injuries despite the fact that the knockup stream alone had been too strenuous for her?

"I'm sorry, Merry," he whispered. "I tried…" he trailed off. Merry shook her head.

"Don't blame yourself, Captain," she said. "You did your best, even from the very beginning."

Usopp looked toward his captain, thinking back to all the times Luffy had defended their ship with an uncharacteristic perfectionism that bordered on obsession. "Luffy, did you...know?" he asked.

"Deep down, I did," Luffy said truthfully. "Merry was built in the East Blue. She wasn't designed to endure the Grand Line."

"But just look at us!" Usopp said defensively. "Almost all of us are from East Blue, and we made it just fine!" he protested.

"But as much as she's our comrade, Merry isn't human," Luffy reminded him. "Our injuries will heal, but hers will just pile up." Merry nodded soberly. There was an oppressive silence for a while before she spoke up again.

"You're going to need to find a new ship eventually," she said. Usopp's eyes widened again.

"What? No! We can't just abandon you, Merry! There had to be another way! We can-"

"No, Usopp," Merry said, her voice uncharacteristically stern. "You have to promise me you'll move on. I want to go on more adventures with you all, but I know my limits, and my time is running out. You have to let me go. I…" she paused, and her voice grew quiet again. "I don't want you all to sink with me."

Usopp looked at her in defeat. "Promise me," she repeated.

"Ok," he said reluctantly. "I promise."

With that, Merry gave them one last heartfelt smile, and then disappeared before their eyes.

When the Strawhats awoke the next morning, Luffy gathered everyone's attention, saying there was something he needed to tell them all.

"Does this have something to do with your trip to the altar last night?" Robin asked knowingly.

"Oh, you were awake?" Luffy asked.

"I'm a light sleeper," she answered.

"Yeah, it does," Luffy confirmed, before taking a deep breath. "It's about the Going Merry." Nami, Sanji, Chopper, and Robin listened curiously, while Usopp stared at the ground, and Zoro closed his eyes, already knowing what this was about. Luffy went on to explain the situation and what had happened during the night. Any skepticism that they had seen the spirit of their ship was forgotten in light of the revelation that Merry was dying. Even Nami knew they wouldn't joke about something like that.

"So, there's nothing else we can do?" Nami asked in a subdued voice.

Luffy shook his head. "I don't think so. Let's not worry about this right now. There's nothing we can do until we get back to the Blue Sea. We'll figure something out then."

Nami gave a subdued nod.

About an hour later, the Strawhats were ready to start their journey. This was initiated by an argument between Luffy and Zoro in regards to which way would go.

"What are you doing Luffy?" Zoro asked, annoyance evident in his tone. The City of Gold is in the skull's right eye. That means we have to go to the right, which is this way," he said, holding out his right arm.

Luffy stared at him incredulously. "What kind of idiot are you!? Left and right is different depending on which way you're facing! You've always sucked at navigation, so just leave this to me. We have to go south, which is the direction that feels the warmest! That's this way," Luffy said, unwittingly pointing to the rising sun.

"Excuse me, if I may interject," Robin interrupted, as Nami was busy banging her head against a tree. "Captain-san is correct in stating that left and right is relative to where one stands, but orienting yourself based on which way feels warmest is not an accurate method of navigation. The east only feels warmer because the sun is rising. So south would be that way," she said, pointing to Luffy's right hand side.

"Hmm, I don't really get it, but ok! Let's go!" As he was walking, he picked up a small branch from the underbrush and started using it as a walking stick. Chopper looked on in interest.

"Luffy, that's a nice stick!"

"Hmm? Oh yeah. I couldn't find one in Alabasta, but this place is full of them. Try finding one."

As Chopper set out to do just that, Luffy chuckled. "That reminds me, I wonder how Vivi and Seal are doing."

Elsewhere

"Vivi-sama…?" Igaram's slightly confused voice shook the Alabastian princess out of her thoughts. "Would you happen to know why Seal has taken to carrying a stick around with him in the palace?"

At Vivi's surprised expression, Igaram grew more confused. "Is something wrong?"

"He...actually found one?" Vivi mumbled. "The vegetation here has been steadily increasing again…"

At Igaram's questioning look, she shook her head in fond exasperation. "You're better off not knowing."

"My name is Kotori!"

"My name is Hotori!"

"We are God's elite enforcers-"

"-here to pass judgement upon you-"

"-as well as gain vengeance-"

"for our fallen brother!"

"Prepare yourselves!" the two priest lookalikes shouted at once.

The Strawhats stared in silence at the duo who were so out of their depth that even Chopper was looking at them as if they were idiots.

"Well then!" Luffy's mock authoritative voice spoke up. "Since this isn't even remotely fair, I guess we're going with Battle Formation SH2!"

Nami groaned as she realized that Luffy was probably going to make some kind of training exercise out of this. As the crew huddled together, Kotori and Hotori looked on in incredulity.

They were playing rocks paper scissors.

"Wait, how is this a battle formation!?" Kotori asked.

"You're just playing a children's game!" Hotori shouted.

"Hey you!" Luffy shouted, already out of the game. "Don't underestimate Battle Formation SH2!"

"No, feel free to underestimate it," Nami scoffed. "He only calls it that so people will think we have multiple battle formations. When it reality, we're just deciding who's going to fight."

Luffy gave her a hurt look. "Don't say that Nami!" he whined. "Our battle formations will fall into place once we get one or two more crew members!"

Nami rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Meanwhile, Hotori and Kotori were astonished at the insolent Blue Sea dwellers who were treating them like a mere nuisance. Before they could collect themselves though, the Strawhats finished their game, Nami and Usopp being the winners.

"You know, I can't help but think this was rigged somehow!" Usopp pointed out.

"He's right. What are the chances that the two weakest crew members would have to deal with those idiots?" Nami asked, jerking her thumb at the sputtering duo of enforcers.

"Oh come on! How could I rig rocks paper scissors anyway?" Luffy asked. "If you want to blame someone, blame the lost samurai."

Nami and Usopp simultaneously turned towards Zoro, who grimaced in annoyance. "Not me!" he sputtered.

"Oh dear, that wall just came crashing down," Robin commented. Chopper looked up at her in question, not following the present conversation at all.

"What wall?" he asked innocently.

"The fourth one," Sanji muttered.

I still don't get it, Chopper thought.

Hotori and Kotori, having had enough and enraged by the earlier insult, lunged at Nami, who yelped and dove out of the way. Sanji took a step forward, seething, but was held back by Zoro.

"Don't Cook, they need the experience. Even our training won't be enough if they don't fight any real battles."

"Battle my ass! They tried to gang up on her!" Sanji shouted. "If Nami-san gets hurt, I'll blame you, shitty swordsman!"

"If either of them get hurt, blame me," Luffy interrupted. "But they won't."

Meanwhile, Nami was having trouble forming a lightning cloud while trying to fend off her assailant's attacks. Usopp had been quick to take one of them after their initial assault, and was now using hit and run tactics against a disorganized Hotori (or Kotori, really, who knew?). But strangely, though almost all of his attacks were hitting dead on, some of them were being harmlessly stopped by the enforcer's hand as if their kinetic energy had suddenly vanished. At the same time, Nami was fending off attacks with her staff, and although she parried with a grace that belied her lack of confidence and constant shrieks, each block she was forced to make interrupted her efforts to form a cloud overhead.

The entire crew had been warned about the strange devices that the priest had worn on his hands by Sanji. Robin had speculated that it was a prevalent form of combat in Skypiea, so both Nami and Usopp were wary of getting too close.

"You can't dodge forever!" Kotori taunted as he lunged for Nami again. Nami was forced to block his blow with her clima tact, but to her surprise, it wasn't a normal blow. When the enforcer's open palm met her staff, a metallic clang was heard, and a sharp pain travelled up her arm from the force that would have resulted in a grievous wound had it landed. Kotori's eyes widened as the recoil left him off balance. The axe dial couldn't cut it? What's that thing made of!?

Nami, wincing in pain but not to be deterred, quickly capitalized on the opportunity, twirling her staff and swinging it directly at his head. Upon impact, the staff released a force far greater than the blow itself would bestow, and Kotori was blown off his feet by the gust of wind, only to be stopped by a tree. He rose to his feet in a daze, and when he touched his head, he felt a warm red liquid. Angered, he prepared to use his flame dial to roast Nami from a distance, but could only stare in shock as she disappeared from before his eyes with another twirl of her staff. Looking around frantically, he could find no trace of her. Unnoticed by the duo, the cloud overhead now began rapidly increasing in size.

"Stand still you little coward!" Hotori's high pitched and frustrated voice rang out. Once he realized he couldn't get clear shot to his torso or head, Usopp had started aiming for his legs. As a result, Hotori was now limping heavily due to his knees having taken damage. As it was, he could barely position himself well enough to block with the impact dial, much less land a hit with it on the constantly retreating sniper, who by the way, was much faster than he looked. An opportunity prevented itself when Usopp backed into a tree. Kotori, not one to waste it, lunged at Usopp, although noticeably slower now, with impact dial at the ready. Usopp, thinking fast, aimed another shot at his head, forcing Hotori to abort his assault in favor of blocking once again with the dial, and thereby missing Usopp, who ducked out of the way and rolled before gaining more distance. The sniper's eyes bulged as he surveyed the damage done to the tree he had backed into by the dial. The trunk had been blown apart, causing the tree to topple over. He had been right to be cautious and not get hit by that.

Hotori, realizing he had to switch tactics, used his other dial, the breath dial. A hissing sound was heard, and Usopp's eyes widened as he realized that some form of gas was being released into the area. Although it was clear, his keen sense of smell was able to pick up on it. But this guy's dials were the shock wave one and the breath one. Could he use flames as well? He had to assume at least one of them could, otherwise the gas would be pointless.

It was then that he noticed Hotori's eyes drifting to the side to meet Kotori's, and inwardly cursed. The other enforcer, forgetting about his fruitless search for Nami at the moment, instead aimed his open palm at Usopp, who realized he had to get out of the gas now. Knowing they wouldn't set themselves on fire, he ran towards the two enforcers.

He wasn't quite fast enough.

As it happened, Nami was.

Usopp only had time to register the strong gust that blew passed him, not strong enough to lift him off his feet, but enough for its purposes. He let out a relieved breath as the subtle smell of gas faded, and rolled out of the way of the oncoming flame, making a mental note to thank Nami for the save once this was over. Ignoring the explosion of flame that, while close, didn't reach him, he let an uncharacteristic smirk manifest on his face. This fight was almost over. Casting a subtle glance upwards, he noted that the lightning cloud overhead still wasn't ready due to the constant interruptions. He also made a note to find a way for Nami to multitask with the clima tact.

"What was that? Your aim is terrible," he said to the shocked duo. "Stop trying to hit me and hit me! I'll send it back to you twice as strong!"

"Funny how you're talking trash when you're about to die!" Kotori shouted. In their anger, the two enforcers foolishly obliged Usopp's request, readying another combination attack. Usopp silently prayed to whatever god was listening other than Enel that Nami had gotten the message he'd been trying to convey. His trust was rewarded when, after the gas was released, he felt another strong breeze, this time blowing in the opposite direction, back towards Hotori and Kotori. The two must have noticed, because their eyes widened comically as they realized what was happening.

"The cloud overhead was formed by the humidity in the area," Usopp said with a smirk. "As a result, the air is much dryer. They say those who play with fire get burned," he said, aiming his slingshot at the enforcers and letting his exploding star fly. It detonated inside the small area of gas, resulting in an explosion twice as big as the previous one, which swallowed the two enforcers whole. "Luckily for me, I'm not playing."

As he turned around and walked away, he felt something that felt a lot like Nami's staff impact lightly with his head. As he rubbed the aching bump, Nami materialized in front of him.

"You sure seemed confident that the explosion wouldn't hit me, especially for someone who didn't know where I was!" Nami yelled, glaring halfheartedly.

"Well, I trusted that you would get out of the way in time since you were the one directing the gas!" Usopp defended.

"Whatever," Nami said, though Usopp thought he saw a ghost of a smile on her face. "Just remember you owe me one," Nami huffed.

Usopp sighed. "Yea, ok…" Suddenly, his head perked up and his eyes widened. Nami only had time to wonder why he had grown pale before he raised his slingshot and fired a pellet over her shoulder. Nami turned around in time to see Kotori (or Hotori, really, who knew?) clutching his face in pain as he fell over just short of reaching her. They both leapt back instinctively, noting that the enforcer, while covered in third degree burns, hadn't taken nearly as much damage as he should have.

Nami, getting over the fact that she probably would have died had Usopp been any slower, raised her staff to the sky.

"Looks like I'll get to use this after all. Thunderbolt tempo!"

The massive bolt of lightning reached the ground where their opponent was struggling to get up faster than one could say "overkill."

Needless to say, he didn't get up again after that.

"Damn, that was close," Usopp said. "He must have used that weapon he had to absorb the force of the explosion and most of the flames."

Nami nodded, a little shakily, then smiled lightly. "Thanks, Usopp."

Suddenly they heard clapping, and turned to see Luffy and the rest of the crew making their way towards them.

"See? Not a scratch," Luffy said, a little too smugly, only to be kicked in the face by Sanji.

"That was too many close calls. What would you have done if they weren't fast enough?" the chef grumbled.

"I would have intervened, obviously. But I didn't need to," Luffy argued, before turning to Usopp. "Hey, let's go loot them. Those weapons they were using looked useful." Getting an enthusiastic nod from Usopp, the group took the dials from the two unconscious enforcers.

"Hotori and Kotori have been defeated," Enel said in a bored tone, much to the surprise of his servants.

"First one of the priests and now this?" one spoke up. "Will you intervene, God?"

"Now why would I do that? The survival game has already begun. If my forces can't even handle a group of Blue Sea dwellers, they don't deserve to come with me to the dream land." He smirked. "Of course, that's not to say I'll stand idly by. I am a player in this game as well." And with that, Enel disappeared in a bright flash.