Takuya took Robin's hand and leaped off the deck, pulling her into the sea.
From the Going Merry, Sanji saw it happen—a flash of movement, a splash, two bodies disappearing beneath the waves. His heart stopped.
"ROBIN CHWAAAN!" He didn't think. He didn't plan. He kicked off the railing and dove into the water, jacket and all, his lungs burning before he even hit the surface.
He swam down, down, toward the sinking wreck. His eyes adjusted to the dim blue light. And then he saw them.
Takuya had Robin cradled against his chest, one arm around her back, the other cupping the back of her head. Her lips were pressed to his. They were kissing. Underwater. And she wasn't drowning.
Sanji froze, suspended in the salt water, bubbles escaping his mouth.
Takuya's eyes flicked open. He saw Sanji. And he smiled—a slow, mocking smile—without breaking the kiss.
Robin felt something strange on her neck. Small slits, barely noticeable, fluttering gently. Gills. He had given her gills. She hadn't felt him do it.
But she noticed now—because she was a woman who had spent over twenty years relying only on herself. Her awareness was sharp, honed by decades of betrayal and survival. She felt every change in her body, every shift in her surroundings.
The kiss had been a distraction. But it had also been real. She pulled back slightly, her eyes searching for his. Then she touched her neck and understood.
She didn't say anything. She just nodded and moved toward the wreck, her new gills pulling oxygen from the water, her body moving with an ease that should have been impossible before, while Takuya was holding one of her hands to make sure she didn't drown.
Takuya turned to Sanji, gave a lazy two-fingered salute, and followed Robin.
Sanji remained frozen, his lungs screaming for air. He kicked upward and broke the surface, gasping.
On the deck of the Going Merry, Zoro was wrestling with Luffy.
"LET GO! I'M GOING TO HELP THEM!" Luffy screamed, his arms stretching toward the water.
"You'll drown, you idiot!" Zoro shoved him into a barrel and hammered the lid shut. "Stay in there and breathe through the wood! That's the only way you're getting underwater without dying!"
Luffy banged on the inside of the barrel. "LET ME OUT! I WANT TO SEE THE SKY SHIP!"
"You'll see it when we salvage it!" Zoro kicked the barrel toward the railing. "Now shut up and breathe!"
Usopp was still hyperventilating. Chopper was hiding behind the mast. The ship's bell rang softly in the chaos.
Underwater, Sanji had dived again. He watched from a distance as Takuya and Robin explored the wreck. Takuya pointed at carvings, at faded letters, at a chest half-buried in the sand. Robin nodded, her eyes bright with discovery. They moved together like they had done this a hundred times.
Sanji's chest ached—and not just from holding his breath.
'Why am I so angry?' He watched Robin brush her fingers against Takuya's arm. 'She's his wife now. They're married. She chose him. What right do I have to be angry about a kiss?'
He thought about the photos. The wager. The way Takuya always seemed to be one step ahead, always smiling, always winning.
'He's playing me. Every time. He knows exactly what buttons to press. And I keep falling for it. I jump into the water like a lovesick fool, and he just grins.'
Sanji's fists clenched underwater.
'Why do I care so much? She's happy. She's safe. Isn't that what I wanted?'
A bubble escaped his lips. He was running out of air. But something else was shifting inside him—something small, like a crack in a wall.
'Maybe... maybe I've been reacting instead of thinking. Maybe I need to stop letting him get under my skin.'
He kicked upward, broke the surface, and climbed back onto the Merry. He didn't say a word. He just stood at the railing, dripping wet, staring at the water.
Zoro glanced at him. "You look like someone stole your recipe book."
Sanji didn't answer. He lit a cigarette with shaking hands and took a long drag.
'I'll still follow. I'll still try to stop him. But I won't let him see me break again.'
It wasn't much. But it was a start.
The underwater salvage took over an hour. Takuya and Robin moved through the skeletal remains of the 'Saint Briss', her hull cracked open like a broken ribcage. Sunlight filtered through the blue water, illuminating clouds of silt that swirled with every movement.
Robin's new gills worked perfectly. She still touched her neck occasionally, marveling at the small slits that pulled oxygen from the sea like a fish. Takuya swam ahead, pulling open a rusted chest with one hand.
Inside: tarnished silverware, a captain's log so waterlogged the ink had bled into nothing, and a single gold coin. Robin pocketed the coin. The log was useless.
They found a navigation room. The charts had dissolved into pulp, but a brass instrument—some kind of altimeter, marked with symbols Robin didn't recognize—remained intact. She tucked it into her satchel.
In what had been the cargo hold, they discovered barrels. Most were empty, their contents long since rotted or eaten. But one barrel, sealed with wax, still held its treasure: dried provisions that crumbled at a touch, and a bundle of old parchment wrapped in oilskin.
Robin carefully unrolled the parchment inside the waterproof wrap. The ink was faded but legible. A map. Not of the sea—of the sky. Currents drawn in dotted lines, a massive upward arrow labeled Corriente Ascendente, and at the top, a crude drawing of clouds with the word 'Skypiea' scrawled beneath.
Takuya pointed at the map, then at the altimeter, then gave Robin a look. She nodded. 'This is real.'
They searched the rest of the wreck. More trash: broken crockery, a skeleton still wearing a moldering coat, a chest of copper coins turned green by saltwater. Useless. But also a second gold coin, a spyglass with a cracked lens, and a small wooden carving of a bird with its head permanently turned south.
Robin recognized the bird. "South Bird," she mouthed. Takuya raised an eyebrow but took the carving.
They surfaced near the Dune Serpent, where Mira lowered a rope ladder. Vivi helped Robin climb aboard. Nami stood at the railing, arms crossed, still radiating that quiet, unexplained irritation.
"What did you find?" Nami asked, her tone clipped.
Robin held up the oilskin map. "A way to the sky. And a reason to visit Jaya."
While Sanji was still catching his breath on the Merry's deck, a massive splash erupted from the other side of the ship.
"LUFFY!"
Zoro's shout came too late. The captain had somehow squirmed out of the barrel—Zoro swore the wood had stretched—and launched himself over the railing like a rubber missile.
"SKY SHIP! I'M COMING!" Luffy screamed as he arced through the air.
He hit the water with a comical ploop and immediately began sinking. His rubber body was useless against the sea. His arms flailed, his legs kicked, but he only went down faster, bubbles streaming from his nose and mouth.
"GUBUBUBUBU!"
Usopp ran to the railing. "He can't swim! He's a Devil Fruit user! Why does he keep forgetting that?!"
Chopper transformed into his jumping point and leaped into the water, paddling furiously. "I'll save him! Hold on, Luffy!"
Under the surface, Luffy's eyes were wide open. He wasn't panicking—he was looking. Through the blue haze, he saw two figures far below: Takuya and Robin, moving gracefully around the wreck.
"GUBU!" He pointed. "THEY'RE DOWN THERE! GUBUBU!"
Chopper reached him and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him up. But Luffy resisted, stretching his free arm toward the wreck.
"LET GO! I WANT TO SEE THE SHIP!"
"YOU CAN'T BREATHE!" Chopper screamed bubbles.
Then Chopper froze. His own lungs were burning. His legs were kicking, but his body felt heavy—wrong. He looked at his hooves, then at the surface far above.
'Wait. I'm a Devil Fruit user too. I can't swim either. WHAT AM I DOING?!'
His eyes went wide with panic. "GUBUBUBU! I'M ALSO DROWNING! SOMEBODY HELP!"
On the deck of the Merry, Zoro's eyes twitched. He watched Chopper flail next to Luffy, both of them sinking slowly, two Devil Fruit users in a death spiral of stupidity.
"Are you kidding me?" Zoro growled. "The reindeer jumped in to save the rubber idiot, and he forgot he can't swim either?"
Usopp was already hyperventilating, his face pale green. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! THE CAPTAIN IS DROWNING! THE DOCTOR IS DROWNING! THE SHIP IS NEXT! THE SKY IS FALLING! CHICKENS ARE GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"
"USOPP, SHUT UP!" Zoro's voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
Usopp's mouth snapped shut. He made a small squeaking noise and hid behind the mast.
Zoro cursed, stripped off his haramaki, and dove in. He grabbed Luffy by the back of his vest with one hand and snagged Chopper by his antler with the other. He hauled both of them upward to the surface, swimming with pure muscle and fury.
Luffy's legs kicked uselessly, still trying to go down. "PUT ME BACK! I WANT TO EXPLORE!"
"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT!" Zoro's voice was muffled underwater.
Chopper was crying bubbles. "I'M SORRY! I FORGOT I COULDN'T SWIM! I'M A TERRIBLE DOCTOR!"
"SHUT UP TOO!" Zoro roared through clenched teeth.
They broke the surface. Chopper scrambled onto the rope ladder, sobbing. Zoro shoved Luffy toward the ladder. Luffy grabbed it but didn't climb—he just hung there, dripping, staring at the water with the most pathetic, wounded expression.
"Takuya and Robin are down there," he said, completely serious, his lower lip jutting out like a child who had just watched another kid get ice cream while he got broccoli. "They're having fun without me. And Robin's a Devil Fruit user too. That's not fair."
His voice was small. Whiny. The voice of someone who had been told "no" one too many times.
"That's because they can breathe underwater, you moron!" Usopp shouted from above, regaining his voice now that the immediate danger was past. "You can't! It's a basic concept! Water plus Devil Fruit equals drowning! Every child knows this!"
Zoro hauled himself onto the deck, dripping and furious. His eye twitched. His jaw was clenched so tight it looked like it might crack. He grabbed Luffy by the collar and yanked him up the ladder, then shoved him onto the deck.
"That's because that bastard Takuya can do shit you can't!" Zoro snapped, his voice rough with exhaustion and frustration. "He can give people gills! He can breathe underwater himself! You're just rubber, Luffy! Rubber doesn't have gills! Rubber sinks! Now shut up and stay on the ship before I tie you to the mast!"
Luffy opened his mouth to argue.
Zoro's hand went to his sword.
"One more word, Captain, and I'm throwing you in the brig. And I'll tell Nami you tried to drown yourself again."
Luffy's mouth snapped shut. His eyes went wide. He thought about Nami's fist. He thought about the brig. He thought about the lecture.
"...Fine," he mumbled, slumping onto the deck. He crossed his arms and pouted at the water, defeated. "But I still think it's not fair."
Zoro turned away, muttering curses under his breath. "I need a drink. No. I need a whole barrel."
Sanji, still smoking at the railing, watched the scene with exhausted eyes. Even in the middle of his own emotional crisis—the photos, the wager, the kiss underwater—Luffy's stupidity was a constant. A stupid, reliable, exhausting constant.
He took a long drag and let the smoke curl into the air.
"At least someone on this crew has fewer brain cells than me," he muttered. Then he frowned. That wasn't a compliment.
"He's going to give me an ulcer," Sanji muttered, but the words lacked their usual fire. His voice was quieter, more tired. The image of Robin kissing Takuya underwater was still burned into his mind, but the sharp edge of jealousy had dulled into something heavier—confusion, exhaustion, and the faintest crack of self-awareness.
Zoro came back onto the deck with changed clothes, hair dripping wet and thoroughly annoyed. "Next time, I'm letting him sink. Maybe he'll learn."
"HE WON'T," everyone else chorused.
Luffy finally calmed down, shaking himself like a wet dog. Water sprayed everywhere. "Okay, okay. I'll wait. But when we get to the sky island, I'm exploring EVERYTHING."
He sat down on the goat figurehead, legs dangling, and stared at the water with the intense focus of a child watching a candy store through a window. His earlier whining was gone, replaced by the stubborn patience of someone who knew he'd get his turn eventually.
Zoro wrung out his bandana. "I need another drink."
Sanji flicked ash into the sea. "You and me both."
He didn't look at the water again. He didn't want to see if Takuya and Robin had surfaced. Instead, he stared at the horizon, his thoughts a tangled knot. 'She's happy. He's not hurting her. So why can't I just let it go?'
He didn't have an answer. But for the first time, he was asking the question.
A/N: If my story made you smile even once, that's a win for me. That's what I want to live for—brightening dull days and reminding people that joy still exists.
My dream is to make a difference in someone's life through my stories, to someday reach a legendary level of storytelling, and spread as much happiness I can in this world, before I take my leave from this world.
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