-ONE WEEK PRIOR-
"The Thousand Sunny is directly beneath us, Captain."
"Excellent," drawled Shiki at the report from one of his navigators, turning his gaze to the screen. "Feh. A bunch of rookies from the East Blue, of all places, becoming the most infamous crew in the world? The Navy has definitely gone to the dogs." A malevolent grin spread over his face. "But all of that's about to change. It's time—hmm?"
Shiki frowned at the image of Straw Hat Luffy on the viewscreen, which was eagerly waving up at him. For a moment, he considered this sight, and then with a flick of his wrist lowered the island ship enough that he was within the range of their snail. It was only just that he, of all pirates, gave condemned men a final meal before their execution, no?
"Yes?" he drawled.
"A cyclone is coming. Turn your ship ninety degrees to port," a female voice ordered.
Shiki blinked in surprise, then turned his gaze down to the navigation pit below him. "Navigator?" he asked.
"No, sir, our readings detect no such thing," one researcher said apologetically.
"The readings on the barometer are normal as well," another said, donning a smug expression. "I'm afraid their navigator is grossly mistaken."
"You actually think that's even possible?" a lazy yet threatening voice grunted in response. "You morons don't have a witch reading the air. But hey, if you want to die, we won't stop you. Have fun with that."
"Sir, they're turning their ship to nine o'clock!" another of the meteorologists called out.
"A-AND I SEE WHY! SIR, WE'VE GOT INCOMING!" one of the soldiers on deck cried out in terror.
"IT'S COMING IN FAST!"
Shiki turned his eyes to the front of his ship, and he gaped in surprise. "A beehive wig?!"
"THAT'S A WATERSPOUT!" Dr. Indigo snapped, slapping his captain upside the head.
-o-
"They've gone out of my range," Soundbite informed us, his gaze on the floating island-battleship above us.
"But they are turning to follow us, so at least they're not that stupid," Nami sighed in relief.
"I'd hope not, especially considering what they're sailing on!" Merry called down as she wrestled with Sunny's helm.
Usopp's reaction to that little tidbit was fairly representative. "Wait, that thing's actually a ship!?" he yelped in shock.
"Oh, yeah, nothing like Thriller Bark!" Merry confirmed. "The core might have once been an island, but it's all ship now. And she is old, proud, and powerful. Really, really powerful." Then she winced. "And really loud, too. She really likes being in charge and making sure everyone knows it, apparently."
I frowned thoughtfully while I wrestled with a particularly stubborn line. "And… does that tell you anything about who's running it?"
Merry tilted her head to the side with an uncertain frown. "Mmrgh… maybe, maybe not… A ship's attitude speaks to itself, its builder and its original crew, with influences from all who come after, but…" She shook her head remorsefully. "Sorry, she's too far to ask, and even then, somebody as grand and proud as that won't consider talking to a caravel or a barque like Big Bro. That's all I got."
"So, be wary if they don't just fly off," Sanji summarized, snorting derisively. "Which, considering the last guy we met who had a flying ship, is pretty obvious."
"That's for later if we don't sink to the damn ocean floor! For now, cyclone at 3 o'clock!" Nami roared at us over the now-howling winds.
"CYCLONE AT 3, AYE!" Merry barked in response, hastily yanking the wheel. "SOMEONE GET A HOLD OF THE MAINSAIL, WOULD YOU!?"
"I'LL GET RIGHT—ARGH!—ON IT!" I yelped, grabbing the line in question. Said line immediately tried to tug me off my feet, and I threw a pleading look around. "COULD I GET SOME HELP HERE?" Then, my gaze sharpened as I realized a very important discrepancy. "AND WHERE THE HELL'S PERONA!?"
"With you in spirit~," her astral form sang as it floated past, upside down without a care in the world, tongue stuck out in a way that would have been cute if I wasn't fighting for my life at the moment. "Isn't that enough?"
"I would prefer to have you in BODY!" The last word was emphasized both on account of my spiking temper and the pulley that suddenly tore itself free, so I had to duck…
THWACK!
"AGH!"
Though Mikey was less lucky. Still, better a Dugong overboard than a man or hammer.
"And what good would that do, exactly?" Perona asked, half her attention on her fingernails. "My seafaring amounts to the unnatural calm of the Florian Triangle and the rigging and sails of Thriller Bark, and I never handled that. You can rage at me all you want, but if I actually tried to help you, I'd just be getting in the way. So of course you forgive me, riiight?" She capped it all off with a bat of her eyelashes.
"Does this answer your question?" I snarled, working a hand free to shoot her a specific gesture. The quarrel might have gone on longer had Nami's voice not cracked through.
"Cross, less argument, more movement! And Perona!" She swung around and snarled, paralyzing the smirking spectre. "If you don't have anything good to do while we're in a storm like this, stay out of the way!"
Perona huffed, but returned to silently floating above our heads, while I returned to manning the line, Mikey giving me a hand—er, flipper with it once he got back.
Despite how routine it had become for our crew to go to war against the elements of the Grand Line, combating the ocean's spontaneous meteorological blitz never became any less demanding; lesser crews would have sunk within moments, and I suspect that even some of the more experienced pros in the ocean would have had trouble.
But with the combined might of our camaraderie and Nami's nigh-upon divine instinct for all things meteorological, we managed to pull through.
Once the storm passed, we were all left exhausted and sprawled bonelessly across the deck. But we were alive, and that was what mattered. Though there was something else…
Namely, the island is still hanging impossibly high above our heads. "They're still not coming back down?" Luffy said, his head tilted in confusion.
"Maybe they realized Soundbite was down here and didn't want anything to do with him," Usopp snidely suggested.
"LICK MY SLIMY ASS!"
"That's… actually probably not that far off," Conis pointed out.
Slowly, Soundbite turned his eyestalks on her, visibly twitching. "Et tu, boom babe?!"
"Well, you do have an incredibly large range for eavesdropping," the Skypiean hastily explained. "And while we might be used to it and others ignore it, maybe whoever's up there just appreciates their privacy?"
"Privacy, SHMIVA—eh? UH-OH, MAN—! OVER… uh…" Soundbite's exclamation trailed off into a shocked gurgle. "C-CORRECTION! INCOMING!"
All eyes turned upward, and then the majority of our jaws fell in the opposite direction. There was indeed a man coming down, but it looked far too controlled to be free-fall.
"He's flying?!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Devil Fruit," several people said, though that didn't diminish the shock or awe.
As the man came closer, his form became clearer, and he was one of the more eccentric characters we'd met on the Grand Line thus far: his messy golden hair extended down to his knees and parted around what looked like part of a steering wheel lodged in his skull, and he had swords for legs from the knees down. He was also grinning and smoking a cigar, easily the most mundane parts of his appearance.
Of course, that wasn't what had jaws dropping all around deck. This close, it was very clear that his descent was controlled, and the moment that he landed on the pavilion's roof…
"PA-DA-DA-DAAAA!"
A brass fanfare blared out from Soundbite's direction, prompting just about the entire crew to jump out of their skins. The unknown pirate, for his part, briefly looked surprised, and then, out of the crazy blue hell, he began dancing, of all things.
… and then Franky and Chopper (in Heavy Point) jumped onto the pavilion and began dancing right beside him, because why the hell not.
Quite frankly, I wasn't sure how to react as the music played and two of our crew commenced a dance number alongside this stranger that fell from the sky, moving in perfect sync and stepping down flawlessly from their impromptu stage, continuing the dance until the soundtrack finished off and they ended with mirroring poses.
After a moment, the applause started.
"So this is what it's like to be on the outside of that…" I muttered to Robin.
"Then I suppose I won't have need to hold back the next time you pull such a stunt, hm?" she hummed 'innocently'.
I had a retort for that, I honestly did, but a sudden interruption made sure it would stay unsaid. "JIIHAHAHAHAHA!" the strange pirate laughed joyfully as he hopped down onto the deck, a strong hint of Jamaica in his voice.
"Jiihahaha… that was impressive. How did you know that song, little snail?"
Soundbite shrugged, still grinning ear to ear. "NO CLUE! I hear a lot, and when you touched down, something just clicked. IT JUST FELT RIGHT!"
"Happens more often than you'd think… for better or, more often, worse," I sighed mournfully.
"JIIHAHAHAHA!" he laughed again. "I knew I was getting into something when I decided to come meet the famous Straw Hat Pirates in person, but I never expected that."
He paused, looked over the crew, and opened his mouth to speak again.
"I want his legs."
Then all eyes turned toward Leo, who clapped a flipper to his mouth, apparently not meaning to say that out loud.
"I love this day. Does anyone else love this day?" Mikey breathed reverentially, his muzzle stuck in a positively shit-eating grin.
"Yuuup~!" Donny and Raphey both sighed rapturously.
"Jihahahahaha," the man chuckled, extending his legs forward to give a better view of the double-edged swords. "You've got a good eye, dugong. Oto and Kogarashi are famous blades that have fought well with me for decades. I used to wield them normally, but you can't be an old pirate without sacrificing a few things along the way. Ahh, but don't be fooled!" The man's grin widened proudly. "Just because I'm wielding them in a non-traditional manner doesn't mean I can't use them in the proper fashion! Observe!"
Putting up his fists in a boxing stance, the man lifted one sword-foot and let loose a few side kicks. Kicks that blurred from sight, and were accompanied by a metallic whistling sound. Eyes widened or sparkled all around at the sight.
But he wasn't done yet. Bringing his sword foot down again, the man lifted the other and then spun a roundhouse kick… and then ended up spinning on his sword tip, shaving grass from the deck and leaving him dizzy, wobbling, and then on the deck once he stopped.
I couldn't help but chuckle as I held out a hand to the old man. "I'd make a crack about sea legs, but I'm guessing it'd be in bad taste?"
"Jihaha!" our guest laughed, taking my hand to pull himself up, clapping me on the shoulder as he went. "You're about twenty years too late, my friend. But you do have the gist of it: when you're capable of traversing the heavens like me, it can be a bit of a chore to get used to being back on the ground. Ah, but anyway, getting back on task!"
He stood tall and raised his head proudly. "I obviously know who all of you are, so allow me to introduce myself. Captain Shiki 'The Golden Lion', a fellow pirate! Now, then, first things first! I believe the one who warned my crew and I about that cyclone was your crew's navigator, Nami, yes? Which one of you lovely ladies might that be?"
"That would be me," Nami said, raising her hand.
"Ah. So I have you to thank, baby doll," he drawled.
The air around our navigator immediately rumbled and began to smell of ozone.
"Watch it, old man," Nami warned him in an irritated tone. A good chunk of the guys standing behind her immediately started chopping their hands across their throats. Shiki chuckled again, raising his hands in mock surrender.
"Too far?" Everyone not in Nami's line of view nodded frantically. "Well, either way, thank you for the warning."
Nami narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but she let her clouds fade back to white with a dismissive grunt.
"Ah, moving on, could we address the elephant in the room?" Vivi asked.
"Hello, Funkfreed," half the crew deadpanned politely. Yeah, we'd worn that phrase out damn quick.
"I WAS TALKING ABOUT THE FLYING ISLAND-SHIP!" Vivi snapped, jabbing her finger at the structure in question.
The elephant-sword dropped his head mock-mournfully. "Nobody ever wants to talk to Funkfreed…"
"Can't imagine why! Hwee hwee hwe—!" THWACK! "YIPE!"
"Ah, well, you see—GAH!" Shiki reeled in surprise as he looked up, and the reason became clear when Perona, already floating between the wheel-headed man and his flying ship, flew down a bit.
The ghostly goth glanced up from her pointless nail filing, apathy written all over her face. "Can I help you?"
"M-M-My fairy godmother?!" he exclaimed.
An awkward silence fell in which some of the crew visibly considered dope-slapping the older pirate. I should know, I was one of them.
"…No," Perona said blandly, before disappearing back into the crow's nest.
"Damn, that would have been convenient," the lion-man snapped his fingers with a tsk.
"…Aaaanyway," Carue coughed into his wing. "Didn't we alweady say it was fwying because of a Devil Fwuit?"
"A-Ah, yes. The Float-Float Fruit, to be precise," Shiki explained, his composure returning as he stepped towards a barbell that Zoro had discarded on the deck. "I can manipulate the gravity of any object I touch, no matter how large or small. I'll give you an example."
He touched the weight, straightened, and then gestured.
Living on the Grand Line, you see a lot of things flying through the air, typically because of some storm or other, tossing everything not tied down this way and that. But usually, a fifty-pound barbell wasn't on that list of items, and it most definitely never just floated through the air like some sort of soap bubble!
"Wow," Conis breathed in awe, pushing at the barbell with a finger and causing it to spin lazily before looking up at the ship. "And you can levitate something that big… constantly?"
"Not even that hard, angel!" Shiki replied. "I don't need to 'levitate it' at all! Once I tell something to float, it keeps floating until I tell it to stop! Doesn't matter if it's a pebble or a mountain; if I'm involved, it doesn't fall without my permission!"
"Th-That, that's really…" Usopp gagged in shock.
"That's how those kinds of Paramecia work," I spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "From what I can tell, with any fruit that deals with manipulating things, they only wear off when the user wills it or gets knocked out. Though…" I turned back to Shiki. "To manipulate that much mass is impressive. I'm guessing that required a lot of practice to pull off."
"Naturally," Shiki responded with a grin. "But I'm no rookie pirate, Jeremiah Cross. I may have spent the last two decades in hiding since my last grand hurrah, but I've been on these seas since the days of the late King of the Pirates. Why…" His grin widened to display incredible pride. "I'll have you know I even traded blows with Roger more than once!"
My eyes shot wide in shock. "Holy—seriously!?"
"Ooooh yes!" Shiki nodded. "If you think Whitebeard was the only one to come out of that era, you're nuts. Now, granted, I didn't exactly come out of it—" He tapped one of his 'legs' in the lawn. "Unscathed, but I still got out, and in the pirate world, that's good enough for me!" He then glanced at the rest of the crew. "You may now lavish me with praise if you so wish."
The Kiddie Trio and TDWS promptly complied. "SO COOL!" Heck, most of the crew looked decidedly impressed with the man.
"My, to think we would encounter such a famous pirate…" Robin muttered in awe.
"You've heard of him?" I inquired with a cocked eyebrow.
Robin's response was to give me a flat look. "Unfortunately, no. I was… otherwise occupied twenty years ago, as you'll recall." I hastily glanced away with a sheepish cough. "And meanwhile, I believe I should be saying the same to you, no?"
"Ehh…" I tapped my temple, but I quickly had to admit defeat. "I… think I remember something about him? Maybe? The best I've got is that he's telling the truth about knowing Roger. He wasn't… front and center, if you get my point?"
"Either way, it takes a special kind of strength to lose a leg and keep going strong, let alone two legs," Sanji said, looking with grim admiration at the stumps where the swords were lodged. "Though I guess it's not that big of a deal if he can fly."
"Um…" Conis spoke up tentatively, raising a hand. "If you met the Roger Pirates… is there any chance you might have met my mother, Serra?"
The cheering stopped, and Shiki's face snapped into a more serious expression the next moment, all of his attention upon Conis.
"S-Sorry, it's just…" Under Shiki's intense gaze, our gunner nervously glanced aside. "I don't remember that much of her, and I only just learned that she was a member of his crew, so… I-if you know anything, would you… well, mind…"
For a long moment, Shiki was silent, and then he looked away with a heavy, smoke-filled sigh.
"…Roger had no shortage of respect from me, but I was not friends with the man," Shiki said, raising a hand to his skull beside the steering wheel. "This was the result of my last clash with him."
An uncomfortable silence fell, but a smirk grew on Shiki's face. "That said, even with the abnormal being normal on this ocean, it's hard to forget a Sky Island native. The finer details escape me, but I distinctly remember how she fought. She was a pillar of strength, she possessed a bottomless stockpile of artifices to employ, and she never backed down…" The lion-man winced and rubbed her jaw. "And now that I think about it, she had freakish good aim with a bottle of rum, too."
Conis rubbed the back of her head, and a few others on the crew snickered, but she smiled gratefully. "Thank you, sir."
Shiki raised his chin with a wide grin that had a hint of… something in it? I 'unno. "Happy to help! Anything for a child of Roger's crew!" he boasted.
"Well, in that case, how about something for the kit of a pet of a member of Roger's crew, eh?" Su piped up in her characteristically impish tone, most of us bracing for snark. "If you can make anything fly, think you could take Carue for a spin? Ya know, make him into a real duck? Tseeheeheeheehee!"
"Ah, shaddap, Su," Carue squawked, rolling his eyes. Then, with a frown, he looked back at Shiki. "Though aye wouldn't say 'no'…"
"Jiihahaha! No can do, it doesn't work on animals!" Shiki replied, waving his hand. "I can make myself float, but that's about it."
"That's awesome!" Luffy gasped, eyes sparkling. And then they lit up in an entirely different light. "Oh, oh! I know, make me fly! I wanna fly!"
"Yeah! Yeah!" Usopp and Chopper eagerly agreed.
Shiki belted out a deep belly-laugh. "Sorry, my friends, but that includes humans."
"Oh." Luffy's expression promptly dropped into a sulky pout. "In that case, that's lame."
"Boo, boo," Usopp and Chopper chorused in agreement.
"Sorry to disappoint," Shiki said, taking a seat at the pavilion. "But there are sights in my hideout that I think you'd enjoy." His smile faded, and he looked to Luffy. "I might offer to take you there as a sign of my gratitude, but I feel as though it may be better served another way. From what I've heard on your show, you all are from the East Blue, yes? I hate to inform you of this, but recent scuttlebutt suggests that the Navy is mobilizing to address a mysterious threat in your native ocean. It sounds like your homes are in deep trouble."
And that killed the mood right dead.
"We're aware," I nodded solemnly. "We had just decided to set a course back there when you came along."
"'Zat so?" the pirate said, raising a brow. "So close to the halfway point, and you're turning back now?"
Luffy lowered his hat over his eyes and smiled in the way he only did when he was about to say something wise.
"The adventure and the One Piece aren't going anywhere," he said confidently. "We made it this far once; we can do it again. It's not like we can just keep going when we know that our homes are in danger like that."
"…Quite impressive," Shiki said quietly, getting to his… er, supports. Then he raised his head with his grin as strong as ever. "That settles it, then! You saved my home, and so it is only right that I return the favour!" The man tapped one of his blades in the grass. "I'll use my Float powers to take you there. It'll be easy, I've been using the trick to avoid the Marines even before I went into hiding. And it'll be faster than whatever plan you had."
"Seriously? Awesome!" Luffy pumped his fists with a cheer, an emotion that was shared throughout our crew.
Shiki chuckled at our rejoicing, and I noticed some of the crew stiffen a bit at the twinkle of mischief that entered his eyes. And for good reason, seeing as I myself took a reflexive step back. "That said, I do have one condition for doing this. And before you say anything!" A raised hand, and our objections died in our throats. "I honestly doubt you'll mind."
He turned toward me, his grin growing. "I've been out of the world's spotlight for almost twenty years now. Two whole decades! And in my eyes that… is just not right. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to speak to the world! Anonymously, sadly, I'm not quite ready for the Marines to come after me yet, and I don't want them to know where my base is, but…" Shiki let out a despondent sigh. "I just want to say something, after these many long years. Is there any way that could be possible?"
I blinked in surprise… and then my partner and I slowly adopted our trademark Marines-are-about-to-have-a-bad-day grins. "I think," I chuckled, patting a hand on the weapon of mass anarchy hanging at my side. "That can be arranged."
"THEN WE HAVE AN ACCORD!" Shiki bellowed in a most grandiose tone, sweeping a hand skyward. "LET US BE OFF!"
And with that, the Thousand Sunny creaked and shuddered, and then with one almighty lurch the ship went still. Utterly, impossibly still, outside the services of a drydock. Immediately, everyone dashed to the side, myself included, and stared down at the blue sea. The blue sea that we were rapidly rising from, as Sunny flew in a manner that not even Merry had managed to achieve.
I stared down at the sea falling away below us in awe for a second longer before shooting a grin at my partner-in-shell.
"Soundbite, old buddy," I said with an eager grin. "I think that we're in for one of our most glorious adventures yet!"
-o-
"Don don don don! Don don don don!"
"Guuuugh…"
One of the four strongest pirates alive groaned piteously, sitting up despite the Sea King rampaging in his skull. "How the hell does that big-mouth brat always manage to time his show when I'm most hungover?!"
"Because you're always hungover, Captain," Beckmann deadpanned.
Shanks blinked dumbly. "I am not!" he protested after a moment.
"Right, sorry. You're only usually hungover," Benn revised, still dry as dust.
"Damn straight, now someone pick that up!" Red-Haired Shanks ordered. "And get me some vodka!"
"You sure you wanna do that, cap'n?" Yasopp called. Behind him, Roo took aim at their snail with a well-aimed Sea King bone. "Every time you drink while Cross is talking, you just spit it back up three seconds later!"
Shanks' ever so mature response was to transfer the weight of the bottle to his jaw so he could perform the ever-important task of flipping his sniper off and keep drinking. One of the first tricks he'd learned after becoming handicapped, and he hadn't once regretted it.
When they dislodged the snail, the song that came across the connection was an upbeat tune with thumping percussion, blaring horns, and an odd sound like a guitar. Lyrics emerged after a few seconds.
"SONO CHI NO SADAME!…JOOOOOOO-JO!"
"…' The fate of that blood'? Is this some kind of epic ballad or something?" Yasopp wondered.
"Couldn't be," Rockstar shook his head. "No way that someone named 'Jojo' could be that impressive."
"And that was Sono Chi no Sadame, by… well, someone you'll all never meet anyway," came Cross's voice. "I'll talk more about that another time; for now…" The anarchist's expression slowly twisted into an absolutely vicious grin. "Welcome back to the SBS."
'Oh crap' was the reaction of most of the Red-Haired Pirates. Their captain, meanwhile…
"PFFFT! GAH, DAMMIT!" Shanks roared indignantly, vodka dripping from his chin. "THAT'S IT! WHEN LUFFY HOPS THE LINE, I'M GOING TO BE THERE TO MEET HIM JUST SO THAT I CAN GIVE THAT BRAT A PIECE OF MY MIND! AND A PIECE OF MY FOOT UP HIS—!"
"HA!"
A sudden bark of laughter cut through Shanks' rage.
"YOU THOUGHT IT WAS CROSS WHO STARTED THE SBS!" the trademark bevy of voices cackled. "BUT IT WAS ME, DIO—er, SOUNDBITE!"
"YOU SLIMY LITTLE SON OF A… pffhehehe. Alright, fine, that was a good one," Cross admitted.
"…Oh yeah. Come hellfire or high tide, we're meeting them when they surface in the New World, and I am going to have words with the Voices of Anarchy," Shanks glowered, sitting back down and chugging the bottle.
"Does it technically count if it was in his voice?" Benn asked, frowning.
Shanks twitched at the thought before snapping his fingers at Rockstar. "The Wano Reserve we filched off of one of Kaido's boats. Now."
The rookie got up and began sorting through the bottles that littered the beach, grumbling all the while. When he walked by Roo, though, he stopped and shot the other pirate a curious look. "Hey, mind if I ask you something? Besides that first question, I mean."
"Spoilsport…" Roo grumbled into his fresh hunk of meat. "But yeah, go ahead."
"How come the captain's always like… well…" Rockstar nodded his head at Shanks. "I mean, he's one of the Four freaking Emperors! I'm not saying he should be another monster like the fatass or the beast, but—!"
"Why ain't he more respectable like the old man?" Roo finished, smirking. "Easy, really. Think about it: The Cap'n is one of the most powerful, most infamous pirates in the whole wide world. One of the four people in the world that the World Government absolutely, totally, completely can't control. One of the closest things they have to equals. And he acts like…"
Roo flailed his hands about, trying to find the words, prompting Rockstar to nod in understanding.
"Well, you know what he acts like. And you know what he told me, a few years back? 'Every second, someone like me is the worst nightmare of the World Government, the Elder Bastards die a little bit more inside'."
"…holy hell, that's brilliant," Rockstar breathed in awe.
THWACK!
Then he winced when an empty vodka bottle thumped against his head. "I HEARD YOU, AND I'M STILL WAITING FOR MY SAKE!"
"Also, the captain's still a natural stinking drunk!" Roo cackled.
THUNK!
"YEOW!" the fatso yelped as a rifle stock slammed over his skull.
"Shut up so we can listen to the rookie," Benn ordered.
"And he's a raging jackass…" Roo muttered.
THUNK!
"GAH, RIGHT ON THE OTHER LUMP!"
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, today is a rather special day on the SBS, as we happen to have a guest here!" Cross informed the world in his usual animated tone. "They're going anonymous for the time being, but they're doing a huge favour for us, and all they asked for was an interview on here, so let's get started!"
"Hello, people of the world. It's quite a pleasure to speak to all of you, one that I've wanted for quite a long time now," came the dual voices that Soundbite used for anonymity. "I'm keeping most of myself to myself for now, but it should go without saying that I am a pirate. A captain of a fine crew that has every intention of shaking up the world."
"Well, that doesn't narrow it down very much; that could be any of those starry-eyed rookies," someone piped up.
"So, getting right into the interview, we've got our questions lined up. Primero: What makes you special enough to be able to shake up the world that much?" Cross inquired.
"Weeeell," the guest speaker drawled with a wide grin. A grin that made Shanks sit up and take notice. "I have spent several years mastering my Devil Fruit powers, which are by themselves enough that I hardly need to try against most opponents. Ah, but I am not complacent; I am a master swordsman as well, and my blades are of the highest quality. I am confident that between these two masteries, no adversary in my path will be a threat."
"Well, while I'm sure that your skills in both those areas are impressive, you'll forgive me if I have my doubts about the idea of one pirate crew taking on the Marine organization… well, one crew that's not ours, anyway!"
"Careful, Jeremiah Cross. Don't get too big a head."
"Yeah, but think about how useless the Marines will feel the next time they take a swing at us and miss when we're showing that kind of attitude!" Cross shamelessly chortled. "Anyway, let's see, next question… what's your philosophy, what keeps you going through everything the sea spits out at you?"
"My philosophy?" the interviewee grunted, the snail's teeth gnashing in a way that indicated chewing on a cigar, as Boss had often shown. "Well… in difficult times, I have two sayings that I always come back to. First, you can't rush perfection; I'm as strong as I am because I took the time to refine my skills. And as much as I love massive payoffs, I've learned again and again that they take endless preparation to pull them off. Be it weeks, months, or even years, it can be hard to put in the necessary time and effort without leaping for the payoff at the first chance you get. But it's worth it. It is always worth it."
"Admirable. Most folks don't have that kind of self-control. And the second?"
"Second is that you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. It may sound a bit mercenary, but if you want to reach for the top? You won't make it there without a great deal of agony. Whether the pain comes from simple adversity, a failed experiment in growing stronger, or plain old misfortune, patience is not the only price that you must pay for success. Sometimes things turn out ugly even when you get the result you wanted. Again, though, I find that it is always worth it."
"Definitely an admirable worldview, and one we're all familiar with. I'm impressed."
"Oh, stop, you're making me blush!"
"Huh, sounds like Luffy and his crew have run into a pretty impressive pirate!" someone piped up.
"Yeah…" Shanks rubbed his chin, a troubled frown on his face. "But for some reason, he's also pretty familiar…"
That sobered up the rest of the Red-Haired Pirates real quick.
"And on this crew…" another grunt slowly clarified. "That's… usually a bad sign, ain't it?"
"Yeah, but… c'mon, it can't always be that bad, right?" someone else asked.
"Mmph… maybe…" Shanks grunted noncommittally.
"Well, moving on to more material things, I must say your swords are most impressive!"
"Ha! Your crew just won't get off my back about them, eh? Don't you already have plenty of impressive blades?"
"Yeah, but except for Funkfreed, they're all katana. I don't even know what yours are. HEY, ZORO, BLADE ID!"
"Skillful to Great Grade, now claim it and let me train!" the 'rookie' crew's first mate shouted back.
"Not what I—ugh, never mind…" Cross grunted with a roll of his eyes. "But anyway, yeah, a new pair of Greats is impressive. Especially seeing as I've never seen a matched set before."
"Yes, well—!"
"BUT IT LOOKS LIKE THIS ISN'T ONE OF THOSE TIMES!" Shanks barked, shooting to his feet and dashing over to the snail so he could hastily punch in the SBS's number. "Damn it damn it damn i—!"
"How bad, Shanks?!" Yasopp inquired nervously.
"'Raging bastard who gave Roger and Garp the fights of their lives' bad!" Shanks growled. "The only cigar-smoking asshole I remember to wield both an impressive Devil Fruit and a matched pair of Graded Swords—!"
"Shiki the Golden Lion?!" Benn roared incredulously. Then he ground the heel of his palm into his forehead. "Luffy, how could you possibly be that unlucky—?"
THWACK!
Roo cackled as he smashed the remains of his Sea King ribs over his superior's head. "HA! Payback, asshole! Ah, but no, I do realize that this is serious, so—!"
SMASH!
Roo fell silent as he, Yasopp, and Benn looked back up at Shanks, who had just crushed the bottle he was holding with widened eyes. His mouth moved wordlessly, those capable of reading lips seeing the words 'wanted to for a long time now' form before Shanks redoubled his attempts to type in his protégé's number… which really only impeded him, fingers stabbing into all the buttons but the right ones.
"—and so I've wielded these blades ever since, and they've never let me down."
"Huh. Quite the story, but I shouldn't be surprised considering how Zoro got his swords."
"GUESS IT'S JUST A thing for the BEST—Dot dot dot dot!—SWORDSMEN! Ooh, a call-in!"
"Thank goodness," Shanks breathed in relief.
"Heh, maybe someone looking for advice from a professional pirate?"
"And just what are you implying with that, hmm?" Cross scoffed in good humour before picking up. "Alright, caller, who here do you want to talk to?"
"SHIKI, YOU GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THEM RIGHT THE HELL NOW!" Shanks roared at the top of his lungs. "IF YOU TOUCH EVEN A HAIR ON LUFFY'S HEAD, I SWEAR I WILL—!"
"The world, Jeremiah Cross," came a voice that was decidedly not Shanks.
"GAAAH!" the Emperor raged, slamming the receiver down hard enough to almost knock out the poor snail. "ONE FREAKING SECOND TOO LATE!"
"I will get straight to the point: I am Vice Admiral Tsuru of Marine Headquarters, and I would like to borrow the services of your SBS to send forth a warning regarding a significant threat that the Navy has been made aware of within the past two days. Will you permit this?"
"NO!" the Red-Haired Pirates bellowed as one.
"Eh… I'll allow it," the snail uttered with a shrug. "Just keep it clean. I'm the only one allowed to spew propaganda around here."
Shanks threw his hand up in frustration, spinning around and stomping away. "THE ONE TIME WE WANT HIM TO BE AN IRREVERENT ASSHOLE!"
"Captain, we can call in once he's—" one of the grunts began.
"No, don't bother," Shanks sighed, pulling up another bottle. "I really shouldn't be directly interfering in Luffy's journey. Besides, it's not like the Straw Hats haven't taken on impossible odds before."
Toning out the broadcast of the snail, Shanks took a long drink and then wiped off his mouth, before blinking at the nervous and slightly incredulous looks his crew was giving him.
"So… we wait?" Yasopp asked.
"We wait," Shanks nodded. "We'll see if the Golden Lion has bitten off more than he can chew by challenging them. And if he hasn't?"
Without warning, the better part of the crew nearly fainted as a blast of Haki billowed out from Shanks, his glare on the no-longer-conscious snail.
"Then he'll wish that he had."
-ONE MINUTE EARLIER-
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku."
Said man and Garp both turned to face their old friend, the speaker, who had just entered the room with a sterner look on her face than usual, a snail in her hand. Sengoku took a moment to sigh in discontent at her impersonal address before responding. "Yes, Vice Admiral Tsuru?"
"Will you permit me to call in to the SBS?" The elderly Vice-Admiral pointed at the snail the other two Marines were listening to. "I would like to use Jeremiah Cross's range to spread the warning about Shiki. And to potentially warn them about the threat to their lives as well; the better prepared they are, the bigger the strip they might take out of Shiki's hide."
The Fleet Admiral's growing scowl faded into surprise. He went back to frowning a moment later, but nodded. "Do it. The brat's show can finally do something good."
Tsuru nodded, dialling the number carefully.
"—JUST A thing for the BEST—Dot dot dot dot!—SWORDSMEN! Ooh, a call-in!"
"Heh, maybe someone looking for advice from a professional pirate?"
"And just what are you implying with that, hmm?" Cross scoffed in good humour before picking up. "Alright, caller, who here do you want to talk to?"
"The world, Jeremiah Cross," Tsuru stated in a no-nonsense voice. "I will get straight to the point: I am Vice Admiral Tsuru of Marine Headquarters, and I would like to borrow the services of your SBS to send forth a warning regarding a significant threat that the Navy has been made aware of within the past two days. Will you permit this?"
"Eh… I'll allow it," Cross said nonchalantly. "Just keep it clean. I'm the only one allowed to spew propaganda around here. Mind giving me a second here?"
"Sure, sure, go right ahead."
"You were saying?"
"Thank you," Tsuru said neutrally. "People of the world, I am here to make two warnings of the utmost importance: first, to all peoples living in the East Blue, we advise you to exercise the most extreme amount of caution possible. Over the course of the past month, several islands have been razed in totality, and all living creatures on said islands have been slaughtered with extreme prejudice. The most recent attacks have annihilated civilian settlements and left no survivors. Recent evidence also suggests that there is a hostile force directing these attacks, so all civilians are urged to report any suspicious activity they notice to their local Marines immediately and without fail. That is all."
"Geez…" Cross shook his head, a scowl on his face. "Well, that's just horrible in all kinds of ways. And the other thing?"
"The second warning, perhaps even more critical, concerns the whole world. One of the most infamous pirates in history has resumed activity: Shiki the Golden Lion. He is one of the most dangerous men alive, a ruthless warmonger, one of the greatest rivals of the late Gold Roger, and the only man to ever escape from Impel Down. He is empowered by the Float-Float Fruit, enabling him to levitate himself as well as anything he touches other than animals. And we have reason to believe that he… is…"
Tsuru trailed off, about to say 'responsible for the attacks in the East Blue', but she sighed and grimaced as she registered that the snail's expression had gradually become more and more horrified over the course of her words.
"…he's standing right next to you, Jeremiah Cross, isn't he?" she groaned, kneading her brow.
"Guilty as charged, Wrinkles~" sang the no-longer blurred voice, which had just taken on a new undertone of malice.
"YOU! GUM-GUM—WAAAAAAA!" came Luffy's sudden bellow, followed by an equally sudden scream of surprise that was echoed by the rest of his crew.
"DAMMIT, LUFFY!" Garp roared. "HOW DID YOU LET YOURSELF GET TAKEN IN BY SHIKI?!"
Sengoku, for his part, just had his forehead slumped on his table. It almost sounded like he was sobbing in exasperation as the one good, if reluctant, hope he had of the situation resolving itself without issue evaporated.
-ONE MINUTE EARLIER-
"Eh, I'll allow it," Cross shrugged indifferently. "Just keep it clean. I'm the only one allowed to spew propaganda around here." He then shot an apologetic look at the crew's guest. "Mind giving me a second here?"
"Sure, sure, go right ahead," Shiki waved him off airily before wandering away. His grin then widened as the Straw Hat's captain came up to him with an inquisitive look. "Can I help you?"
"Well," Luffy scratched the back of his head with uncharacteristic hesitation. "I know you said that wheel messed with your head, and that you weren't really friends, but… uh… do you… Remember anything about Roger at all? What he was like and stuff?"
The guest captain's mood swiftly sobered up, and he glanced away. "…he was a great man. Strong, stalwart. Truly a pirate to be admired in every way."
"So cool!" Luffy grinned ecstatically.
Shiki bowed his head as his expression slowly darkened. "…he was also a damned fool, who refused to grasp the world when he had it in the palm of his hand."
"Huh?!" the rubber-man boggled at Shiki for a second before frowning and bringing a hand to his head in thought. "Wait… why does that sound…?"
"What the—? HEY, GUYS!" Usopp suddenly shouted, snapping Luffy out of his thoughts as he garnered everyone's attention. "TH-THERE'S… THERE ARE ISLANDS UP AHEAD!"
"At almost four thousand meters in the air and without a Cumulo Regalis in sight?! You're kidding!" Nami said incredulously, joining the rest of the crew at the Sunny's sides, Perona shadowing her in her astral form, having vehemently denied any idea of getting anywhere near a several-thousand-meter drop in person.
But no matter how impossible it should have been, none could deny the facts: That the Straw Hat's ship was floating straight towards an archipelago of totally normal islands, bearing a variety of climates and ecosystems… save that they were floating in the sky. And not a single Cumulo Regalis around.
"Woooah…" Usopp and Chopper breathed, gape-mouthed, in awe.
"I don't believe my eyes!" Brook exclaimed in shock. "My non-existent eyes! YOHOHO! SKULL JOKE!"
"I'm gonna go and get a Vision Dial! Otherwise, the guys back on the Fleet'll never believe this!" Raphey barked excitedly, Rip Tide-ing into the Sunny.
"What is this place?" Luffy asked, voice uncharacteristically soft and quiet.
The shadows upon Shiki's face grew deeper and darker, even as his grin grew wider. "That, my fellow pirate, would be the Hidden Land in the Clouds known as Merveille. My glorious hideout."
"Huh?!" Luffy and his crew all snapped their heads around to stare at the wheel-headed man in confusion. "But you said you were taking us to the East—!"
Shiki suddenly snapped his hand up, silencing everyone and allowing them to hear what was being said by their tactician's snail.
"The second warning," Vice Admiral Tsuru declared solemnly, "Perhaps even more critical, concerns the world as a whole. One of the most infamous pirates in history has resumed activity: Shiki the Golden Lion."
Some of the crew stiffened, but most barely reacted; they were some of the most infamous pirates in history, after all. Yet for some reason, Luffy in particular had a frown on his face. Shiki, for his part, just kept grinning and looking ahead. And as the Vice Admiral spoke, listing the other pirates' characteristics, Shiki's grin grew ever wider while Luffy's frown deepened into an out-and-out scowl, until finally…
"…he's standing right next to you, Jeremiah Cross, isn't he?" Tsuru groaned.
Shiki shot a vicious leer at the source of the Marine's voice. "Guilty as charged, Wrinkles~"
"YOU!" Luffy suddenly roared at the top of his lungs, his face etched into a rictus of fury as he snapped his arm way back. "GUM-GUM—WAAAAAAA!" The attack, before it could be launched, was transformed into a panicked cry when the Thousand Sunny suddenly rocketed straight into the airborne archipelago, throwing the Straw Hats clean off their feet.
Once they adjusted to the momentum, the stronger members of the crew got to their feet, looking around to spot their apparent latest threat…
"I find myself curious, Straw Hat!"
And led everyone in glaring up at the mast upon which Shiki had perched himself, visibly basking in his own superiority with an arrogant leer on his face.
"You somehow suspected me when you had no right to!" the Golden Lion chuckled darkly. "How did that happen?"
"I remembered you from Shanks' stories!" Luffy snarled viciously, dropping into a fight-ready position. "And he said that you were the most evil, hateful bastard of a tyrant that he ever met!"
"Sticks and stones, my boy!" Shiki guffawed. "The words of none will ever hurt me! Not yours, not your third mate's, and certainly not that Red-Haired brat's either! JIHAHAHA!"
"BUT MY PIPE SURE AS HELL WILL!" the rubber-man roared, brandishing said implement—
"LUFFY, NO!"
—only to stumble when Cross hastily grabbed his captain's arm. "Cross, what—!?"
"I want to knock his block off as much as you do, but if you neutralize his powers for even a second, we're gonna hit the ocean like it was pavement!" Cross explained in a panic.
"Listen to the boy, Straw Hat!" Shiki called down, accompanied by a belly-deep laugh. "I'm not quite done with you yet; it'd be inconvenient to have to pick your remains up off the seafloor!"
"I THOUGHT I DITCHED THAT GAG IN SKYPIEA! I'M NINETEEN!"
"And look at how much I care!" Shiki boisterously replied, throwing his arms out wide. "And while I'm at it, let me humbly welcome you all to the Island of Merveille, as my honoured guests! I am quite certain that you will find it to be a most wonderful home for adventurers such as yourselves… once you've settled in."
"You…" Luffy growled from the pit of his stomach.
"Oh, fret not, I won't be in your hair much longer!" Shiki waved his hand dismissively. "I'll just take what I decided to acquire while I was among you and be on my way! First off!" He shot his hand down towards the crew—
"GWAH!"
And suddenly jerked Cross clean off the deck by the strap of his transceiver's bag, the Third Mate yelping in surprise. Cross wasn't hanging for long, however, for as soon as Shiki had a good grip on the transceiver within, he cut the strap with a swing of his leg, letting him drop back down to the deck.
"This most interesting of gadgets, which I will make far better use of than you ever could," Shiki sneered as he spun the transceiver upon his finger, before shooting a titanically evil eye down at the Straw Hats. "And for the second… MY NEW NAVIGATOR!" Without warning, the gold-maned captain shot forward and pounced on Nami.
The navigator tried to snap out her Clima-Tact, but before she could even twitch, Shiki snapped his arm forward, and an autonomous rope shot flew out of his sleeve. The living binding wound itself around Nami, both pinning her arms to her chest so she couldn't grab her weapon and gagging her screams of protest as the larger man slung her over his shoulder like a sack of flour.
The Golden Lion took a victorious tug from his cigar, floating himself and his captive skywards with a victorious leer on his face. "And with that," he gloated. "I shall be taking my leave."
"LIKE HELL ARE YOU GETTING AWAY WITH NAMI-SWAN! SKY WALK!" Sanji roared, leaping up and running on the air toward Shiki as though he were climbing stairs.
"TIDAL SWIM!" concurred the dugongs sans Raphey, swimming through the air after Sanji, weapons at ready. Shiki turned back towards them, his eyes widening in surprise. Then he chuckled.
"So you can fly as well? Impressive. But unfortunately, you're a few decades too young to try challenging me!"
With that, Shiki tossed his captive up into the air, where she came to a rest about five hundred feet above. The four aerial fighters didn't respond; they braced themselves in the air and then pushed off one last time at Shiki. And then, when they were close enough, Shiki flipped himself upside down and began spinning like a top. A razor-edged top.
Sanji, gritting his teeth, immediately went high. With a cry of "Nori Arts!", the dugongs swayed under the blades, at which point Shiki stopped spinning and brought his knees down on Donny and Leo, sending them falling back to the deck, dazed.
That didn't stop either Sanji or Mikey, who pushed off again to try to sandwich Shiki between them. Shiki didn't move, and for a moment it looked like they might actually get them. But at the last minute, he soared up and between them, leaving Sanji, unable to react in time, to kick Mikey square in the nose.
"Oh shit!" Sanji yelped as Mikey soared towards the ground to join his fellow dugongs.
"JIHAHAHAHAHA!"
Flames roared in Sanji's eyes as he spun around and shot a glare at Shiki. "You think this is funny, shit-lion?"
Shiki straightened, wiping a tear from his eye. "You kicked your own crewmate in the snout! Of course, that's funny! And you must've seen the look on his face." Shiki grinned wider and then burst out laughing again. "Jihahahaha—whoa!"
That exclamation was due to a flying shard of razor air nearly taking his head off; as it is, he had enough time to hastily swoop over it, which was where Sanji met him, leg cocked back.
"Eat this!" the cook declared. "Mouton!"
The kick lashed out, and Shiki simply floated above it, legs drawn in. And given the nature of the Mouton, Sanji was left horribly exposed when Shiki began stabbing with his sword legs as fast as he could. Especially since Sanji didn't—couldn't—bring his hands up, for fear of getting them slashed up.
And so, when Sanji, too, came crashing out of the sky, he looked like he'd gone charging through a patch of sawgrass.
"Well, that was fun," Shiki chuckled as he buffed his nails on his jacket, offhandedly floating up to grab Nami again. "But! As I was saying earlier… goodbye." And with that, the Golden Lion snapped his fingers dismissively.
And to everyone's horror, gravity reasserted itself upon the Thousand Sunny, sending the Straw Hats careening down towards the ocean far below.
"YOU SON OF A—!" Luffy roared, reeling up to shoot his arm at Shiki even as he free-fell.
"WELCOME TO MERVEILLE!" Shiki cackled back. "MIND THE DROP!" He punctuated the last word with a sweep of his hand.
Luffy hesitated slightly at the action before stiffening in both shock and horror as he became acutely aware of the fact that the Thousand Sunny, his own ship, was swinging around towards him and his crew! "LOOK OUT!" The rubber-man shot his arms out and tried to grab as many of his crewmates as he could, but he only managed to grasp Cross and Boss before the Sunny's keel slammed into the whole crew at once with the force of a battering ram, a Sea King, and a Sea Train all rolled into one. More than enough force to send the Straw Hats flying to the far ends of the archipelago in several discrete clumps. The Sunny getting tossed onto another island with as much care as a broken toy merely added insult to injury.
As his captive began flailing and screaming muffled obscenities at him, Shiki turned his focus from the distant Straw Hats and to his ill-acquired transceiver. "In case you all didn't get the memo," Shiki leered at the world. "The Straw Hat Broadcasting Station is now signing off. Permanently. JIHAHAHA!" And with a final cackle, he slammed the mic down and shut the world off.
Slowly, the Golden Lion's laughter subsided into a contented sigh. He patted his latest acquisitions, prompting one of them to shout more muffled obscenities into her gag. "Ahhh, this has been a good day… I guess there's only one question left now, hm?" At those words, Shiki's mood pulled a 180 in the form of a frigid glare directed over his shoulder.
More precisely, directed at the astral form of Perona, half-formed Negative Hollows flanking a raised hand, just waiting for the order. And as much as she wanted to, she couldn't give that order. For she'd seen that glare before, so many times before, and it sent shivers through her entire body.
She'd seen it in the eyes of Moria… and she knew what awaited her if she tried to defy him.
And so, it was with a final apologetic look at Nami that Perona bowed her head in submission and let her Hollows fade away.
Shiki's demeanour became 'pleasant' once more. "That's what I thought. Now keep up. I wouldn't want you to miss out on the tour." He turned his gaze to the murderous woman over his shoulder, completely unfazed by her rage. "After all… It's the last home you'll ever know."
If Nami was angry before, those words caused her eyes, visible only to Perona, to shine with pure, venomous hatred. And it was at that moment that the ghost-girl knew, without a single doubt, that Shiki the Golden Lion had just made a fatal mistake.
Maybe even literally.