Chapter 21: CH-21 - GOING MERRY
CHAPTER WORDS -4837
"____" are used for text
*____* are used for either background noise or time-skips
[____] are used to switch between POV
'____' are used for thoughts
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AN:-SO, I HAVE DECIDED TO START A YOUTUBE CHANNEL THAT FOCUSES ON CONTENT SUCH AS WHAT-IFS. A STORY WHERE A SITUATION COULD HAVE HAPPENED DIFFERENTLY, AND HOW THE ENTIRE STORY IS GONNA CHANGE BASED ON THAT CHANGE. I WILL DISCUSS THIS MORE LATER ON, SO ANYWAYS, HOPE YOU LIKE CHAPTER 21.
[PREVIOUSLY ON GAMER PIECE]
....Fucking Enel and his fetish to use His observation Haki to spy on conversations. I can guess what happened. it seems that Zephyr got blown away by the Knock up and somehow arrived at Skypiea, and during the regular checkup of Enel let Zephyr catch on to someone on the island, and he might have come here to check it out, coincidently with us-
ain't no way this is all coincidence. this is planned-this is all Planned.
MR - NOTHING-, YOU SON OF A BITCH-
[FLASHBACK]
[3RD POV]
"So Zephyr, you wanna take the case—"
"Why me?" Zephyr looks at Sengoku in confusion. Why is he being selected to chase some newbie pirate, even though the pirate is related to Garp himself? Hell, why can't Garp go and chase the Straw Hats?
Oh right.
"Why can't I go instead of him—" Garp speaks up, wanting to chase after his grandson and give him the "Fist of Love," but Sengoku just glares at him.
"You have a personal stake in this. What kind of guarantee do I have that you will successfully capture YOUR grandson? Your OWN son is the leader of the most dangerous organization ever. It's always your family." Garp grumbles in annoyance, knowing that he cannot refute what Sengoku said. His family is the reason he's in this situation anyway.
"But that doesn't explain why you want ME to capture his grandson. I am retired—hell, I shouldn't even be in this room right now, I'm an instructor. I left active duty the moment I stepped down as an Admiral. Why do you want me to come back into action?" Zephyr looks at Sengoku, and Sengoku knows that he has to tell the truth, but he wants to delay it as much as possible.
"Well, the kid has the letter 'D' in his name, and from what Smoker told us, he can increase the size of his hand, which will make it 'cool' for you to battle him with your mechanical arm, and he is most likely to have Conqueror's Haki due to his relation with—"
"Cut the crap and tell me the REAL reason, or else I'm leaving." Zephyr gets up, ready to leave, before Sengoku sighs in defeat and makes him sit back in the chair. Garp sighs too, knowing what Sengoku is going to say, although he doesn't care much about it.
"...Shiki is acting up." Zephyr raises his eyebrows, confused as to why this even matters.
"Shiki, as in Shiki the Golden Lion?" Why is Shiki so dangerous that Sengoku would want him back in duty? It doesn't make sense. Shiki was the first person in history to escape Impel Down. He did it by cutting off his own leg, showing just what kind of person he is—a committed and determined one. The fact that he disappeared and there was no word of him for the past 20 years is a cause for concern, but Zephyr knows something is wrong when Sengoku wants to bring him back to active duty.
"Yeah, according to the report given to us by Cipher Pol 1, who have been looking for clues on Shiki for the past 20 years, they recently found something before they were... killed." Sengoku finishes with a grim note, causing Zephyr to raise an eyebrow behind his glasses. So CP1, the spies for the World Government, had been keeping an eye on Shiki and his whereabouts?
"Okay, and what have we got?" Although Zephyr knows that he shouldn't care much about the current situation since he's retired from active duty and is an instructor now, he has a feeling that Sengoku will succeed in convincing him, so he decides to listen to the report.
"Here, read it." Zephyr shows a face laced with annoyance. He hates reading. He sighs and picks up the file that Sengoku tosses him. A file around 10 pages thick, and he starts reading the information inside.
As he continues reading, his eyes widen in surprise, having trouble believing the report. How is this even possible? And—
"See? Told you he'd be surprised." Sengoku makes a joking comment to Garp, causing Zephyr to look at the two with a flat face, seeing Garp remove 1 million Berries from his jacket and pass it to Sengoku. They made a bet that he'd be surprised?
"...Are you serious about this?" While Zephyr wants to sigh in annoyance at seeing these two friends being themselves, he has to come to the matter at hand. If what the report mentions is true, the Marines—
no, the world is in danger.
"Yeah, we don't know the entire process behind it, but from the report, Shiki has recruited some scientists to create some kind of chemical drug that can make mutated monsters. These mutated monsters have powers similar to Devil Fruits. A fly that can ignite its claws? A duck that can use lightning? Somehow, someway, Shiki is creating animals that are able to use 'special' abilities." Zephyr grimaces, understanding the severity of the situation. He realizes WHY Sengoku wants him back on active duty, since he needs manpower to deal with this situation and Shiki.
Sengoku and Garp aren't as powerful as they were when they captured Shiki, and they don't even have any solid intel on Shiki himself, just that he lives on a floating archipelago named Merveille. It shifts from time to time, so there's no proper place to send spies, and even if spies successfully reach the island, they're almost always killed due to the swarm of strong monsters. All the data in the report had been collected by various CP1 members sent over the decades in search of Shiki.
"...I get what you're trying to say, but I'm rusty—" Zephyr sighs, trying to give an excuse to not return to active duty, but Sengoku shuts him down with the true reason why Zephyr is being sent on the mission to capture the Straw Hats.
"That's why I'm sending you to capture the Straw Hat Pirates. It'll help you warm up and get ready for the 'real' threat." Zephyr sighs again, knowing that there's no chance of rejecting this now. While he might not follow the Marines 100% due to their 'questionable' decisions, he still believes Sengoku and knows just how much of a threat this situation would become IF—
no, WHEN Shiki reemerges into the world.
"Oi, my grandson is not a training dummy—"
"SHUT UP, IDIOT! YOU'RE THE REASON HE'S BECOMING A TRAINING DUMMY!" Sengoku rams his fist straight into Garp's head, sending it crashing onto the desk and breaking it. Zephyr just sweat-drops, knowing that this is something that happens regularly.(AN:—I noticed that this dynamic is similar to how Team 7 from Naruto works, lol)
[FLASHBACK END]
[1ST POV]
I try to think of a plan, but I need to account for everyone currently in Upper Yard (including Aisa) except the Ordeals and Enel—
Why the hell is Zephyr even after us? What did we do to him for him to come at us? I just can't understand. Hell, why the hell is a non-canon character 'canon'? There have been many debates and discussions about Zephyr being canon, but not even Oda has revealed the answer. But him being canon means—
Every Marine is at least stronger than their 'canonical' counterpart, as movie characters are generally portrayed stronger than what the anime/manga shows. For example, Luffy being able to beat Shiki—
Wait, this means Shiki is also going to play a role, and since the movie universe is canon, the events of Strong World are going to take place in just a couple of months. While I didn't account much for Zephyr even after knowing that the movies are canon because he is a villain that appears after the timeskip, not before—
Damn it, revelations upon revelations are coming, on top of figuring out a way to escape this situation. There might be a chance we won't escape, since now that Zephyr is canon, and I am able to somewhat sense his strength, I know one thing—
He is strong. This dude was strong enough to duke it out with Kizaru, the fastest character in the series, except maybe Luffy and Roux. His movement speed allows him to easily catch up to us. While I can 'teleport' others into this dimension and run away like that, there is one thing stopping me—
The quests. The quests that give me humongous EXP are all within my grasp, just a little push, and I can level up at least two times. Not only that, but the Skills Book I can get from the quests is super useful. Damn it, it's like some bad plot device where the MC makes stupid decisions because the plot demands it, similarly to me.
I want the rewards, so escaping immediately is not an option. I could complete the quests in an instant using my ID and then escape, but it will take time, since the Ordeals might have already readied themselves against my 'ability.' I can't catch them off guard anymore. Plus, there's still Enel, who is near the Giant Jack, floating toward the moon. Catching up to him is going to be difficult, and even then, he isn't going down without a fight, even if I include Luffy in the battle.
The maximum time I estimate Zephyr reaching us is 2 minutes, at most. In 2 minutes, we have to defeat the ordeals, defeat Enel, get some gold from the Snake and the Golden Bell, ring the Golden Bell, regroup with everyone, and then escape—
"I need some coffee." I look around, noticing that I'm alone at the altar. So, I walk toward the edge, summon Merry in the water, climb aboard, and go to the kitchen to make some coffee to get some caffeine. After making it, I sit and drink without thinking much, before looking at the walls of the room.
'Merry has been upgraded a little bit. I just need to make sure her keel isn't broken.' While upgrading the ship in Jaya, I went underwater to check if the keel, which is the backbone of the ship, was damaged, and thankfully it wasn't. Meaning, it was the drop from Skypiea that cracked the keel in the original timeline. I need to make sure that doesn't happen this time around.
We can buy some Adam Wood with Franky's help and upgrade the Going Merry with it. For that, gold is important since we are in dire need of funds. We can make the ship as big as we want by buying more Adam Wood than in canon, but for that, Merry needs to be perfectly intact.
"Hey Merry, I know you're alive, come on, let's sit together." I look around the room, trying to see where Merry is going to come out from, but after waiting for a minute, I realize she isn't coming out. I sigh, partially expecting that. I want to meet her, the Klabautermann—whatever. The spirit form of Merry. I want to meet her.
"C'mon, Merry. I know I haven't been on this ship much, but I do know the adventures you guys had before me. Let's just talk." I pat the spot next to me, inviting her once again, and after waiting for another minute, I give up and sigh, drinking the rest of my coffee.
I start thinking about what to do—
"H-Hey." I hear a voice, and I excitedly turn to see a silhouette standing in the doorway, with its head covered by the frame. This silhouette resembles a ghostly humanoid child wearing a sailor's raincoat and a pair of shoes, carrying a small wooden hammer. The way she is positioned reminds me of how Chopper hides himself.
"Hey, how are you, Merry!" I give the biggest smile I can, genuinely excited to see her for the first time in this life. I remember how sad I was when she died during Enies Lobby. She grabs her raincoat and shakes a little, and I decide to use Observe on her.
Ship of the Straw Hats
Going Merry
Species: Klabautermann
Lv: 68
HP: 4000/4500
STR: 200
VIT (HP): 229
DEX (AGI): ???
INT: 76
WIS: 56
LUK: 25
The Going Merry is the ship that the Straw Hats ride for their journey. She was made as a vessel for Kaya but was eventually gifted to the Straw Hat Pirates. She likes the Straw Hats and wants to take them wherever they wish to go, but she is scared that since she is a caravel, she won't be able to reach Laugh Tale for Luffy's sake.
Emotions: Nervous, Happy, Excited.
'It seems that Observe also shows species now.' I smile, reading her summary and how she wants to bring Luffy to the end of his journey. This makes me even more determined—I'm going to get as much Adam Wood as possible to make Merry the biggest.
"Come on, sit with me." I tap the spot next to me, and after a couple of seconds, she walks over and hops onto the seat, sitting and looking up at me, in what I recognize as a nervous expression. I grin, understanding why she's nervous. I stay quiet, looking ahead and letting her settle at her own pace.
"H-How do you know about m-me?" she asks, her tone more confident than when she first came in, but still carrying nervousness. I look at her and smile as warmly as possible, answering her question.
"Well, I guessed it. You are the spirit of the ship, and Klabautermann are spirits of ships loved dearly by their crew members. The love is so great that it forms a will of its own, wanting to help its residents as much as possible." She looks surprised? I can't tell since she's covering half of her face with the raincoat. After a couple of seconds, I notice she's not nervous anymore—she's happy and excited.
"Hey, tell me more about yourself." I look at her for a couple of seconds, and it seems she misunderstood my intentions, as she reaches her hand to the top of her coat and pulls it back, revealing her entire face to me. She looks like a little kid, around 10-12 years old, with goat-like hair and ears in the air.
A human form of the Going Merry, actually.
"Now that I've shown you my face, tell me everything about you." She smiles—no, grins at me—a grin similar to Luffy's. My own smile appears, but I look at her in confusion.
"You already know my life, so why—"
"The entire backstory. Don't you dare leave a single detail. I want to know everyone's life, and you know it. So, tell me everyone's." She glares at me…similar to Nami? It seems Merry has some of our personalities. I chuckle, finding this amusing.
"Okay, sure, why not?" With that, I decide to entertain Merry for the time being, deciding to think about what to do with Zephyr later, since I have way more time than I need.
I talk to her about what I have 'found' from Luffy's life, Zoro's life, Nami's life, Usopp's life, Chopper's life, and Robin's life. I repeat my 'backstory' that I shared earlier, but this time I add random details like me pranking a couple of people, making Merry laugh at my 'pranks.'
As for Bentham, it was surprising for me to learn about his backstory. When I asked him, it shocked me to know that he also had a hard childhood. Since childhood, he loved dancing and wearing women's clothing. His mother worked in prostitution, and wanting a girl, she dressed Bentham in feminine clothes. This made Bentham realize he liked cross-dressing because it expressed who he was inside.
He didn't have any friends because his mother was a prostitute and he cross-dressed. Hell, he was ostracized for it. But his mother told him not to care about what others thought. Unfortunately, she died after contracting a disease in her line of work. At her funeral, Bentham found a Devil Fruit near the tree where his mother was buried. He believed it was her last gift to him and ate the fruit, gaining the power of the Mane-Mane no Mi.
He really liked this power, and through ups and downs, he eventually became a pirate hunter and was recruited into Baroque Works. There, he tried to make friends, but people still ostracized him. His first real friends were his subordinates and the Straw Hats.
"So, you thought of a plan for this Zephyr dude?" Merry looks up at me while resting her head on my lap, and I'm petting her fluffy hair. I shrug, explaining that I haven't. She grins, getting up from my lap and giving me a thumbs-up, similar to Usopp.
"You'll figure it out!" After that, she giggles and—
Vanishes into thin air. Huh, that's cool, I guess.
I sigh, happy that I was able to interact with Merry. But now, back to thinking about the main matter—how to deal with the Ordeals, Enel, get the gold, ring the bell, and escape, all within 2 minutes. If I could drag them into this timeless I.D.—
Wait—
I grin, a brilliant, but absolutely crazy idea forming in my mind. If this works—and I have to make sure it does—then I might have a solution to all our problems.
After properly thinking this plan through and making countless contingencies in case it fails, I get up and walk toward the storeroom to get something. I walk up to Chopper's desk, and under the wraps, I pick up four Rumble Balls. I put them in my inventory and walk out of the ship, telling Merry that I will be back in a second and storing her in my inventory.
i go to settings, and check the Party Function. in that, i see an option that i wanted, [FORCE PARTY DOMAIN]. a function where you can force other people to be your teammates in your Domain, AKA my I.D. i grin, ready to have my plan be successful and-
'Break.' I come out just as Zoro clashes swords with Ohm. I look up to see Sanji jumping toward Shura, while Luffy leaps toward Gedatsu. I activate my skills, gaining a 130% boost, along with Martial Reinforcement, and jump toward Zoro, who turns to look at me in surprise. Before he can say anything, I grab him and 'teleport' him.
I immediately reappear and grab onto Luffy, who luckily has just punched Gedatsu in the face. I teleport with him, appearing again and shooting my hand toward Sanji. Shura, seeing his two comrades disappear, flies away with his animal, and—
"Flame Dial!" The bird opens its mouth, and—
"UFFF." I close its mouth with my Mana Rope, extending to tie it up. Another rope is tied to Sanji's leg, and with them, I disappear. I appear near Robin, Chopper, and Wyper, summoning more ropes and tying them up, dragging them with me to my I.D.
"Wha—" Everyone is confused about what's going on since, similarly to how it appears when I use I.D. in the real world, I 'disappear' again, reappearing this time with Aisa, who is struggling in my arms, trying to escape.
"Ais—"
"No time. Chopper, tag Luffy. Luffy, Wyper, come with me. Robin, loot these bastards after they are defeated, and you three, finish them off quickly. Zephyr is coming to this island." I start running toward the Giant Jack, placing Aisa over my neck, making her grab my hair for support. No one knows what's going on, but Luffy stretches his hand toward Chopper and switches places, while Wyper, seeing Aisa on my shoulder, runs toward me, not understanding why she is here.
"I—I am sorry!" Aisa screams while grabbing onto my shoulder, but I pay her no mind. Luffy and Wyper catch up to me, and I decide to explain what's going on in one swift motion.
"Enel is running away. He is near the Giant Jack, but I don't know the exact location. Aisa, tell me where he is." She looks down, completely off-guard by what I am asking, Wyper looks at me like I am crazy.
"why is Aisa here-"
"Our dear Mantra User over here sneaked up the Upper Yard after ditching the scouts. she was following us for quite some time, also sensing Enel's getaway." When I interacted with her using my Haki, I noticed that her range was a lot higher than mine without the Map Boost ( that is what I am calling it as it is a boost by interacting with the Map) and it was somehow interacting with Enel's Range.
"I-I-" she stammers while trying to hide her face from Wyper's angry stare. I look over, realizing that it will take quite some time. As we get further away from the gang and their opponents, the boost I got from One Man Army reduces to just 30%, counting us three.
"What is this place?" Aisa finally speaks up, confused on why she cannot sense anything except the group and their enemies. even Wyper looks over to me, wanting to know the same thing. The place is eerily quiet.
"this is your diamond-thingy right?" I look over to Luffy, and I am amused that he reduced the dimension to diamond. But, I nod. Knowing that some composition is needed for the other two, I decided to give a short explanation. and with the way their face is while looking at me, they are in disbelief.
"We have reached the Giant Jack!" Wyper points towards the biggest bean of the tree- no, a beanstalk that anyone has ever seen. and seeing this in front, It is big. Luffy Climbed this is much more of an impressive feat than i imagined. but now-
"we gotta climb it!" all of us speed up, Wyper and Luffy going ahead of me and jumping at the visible foot of the Giant Jack, Jumping upon it and starting to run. I jumped too, Aisa grabbing my hair screaming in fright. my leg connects the wood, and i immediately realize i am gonna slip, so i put my second leg and jump forward, landing a little higher and continuing on.
While Luffy can run up the giant Jack due to his speed, and Wyper can ride up using his Leg Waver, I have to continuously Jump forward to get a grip. This is way worse than me since I have to focus on each step while jumping. If I slip even for a second, I will fall back to the group, and as I go up and up, the distance I am going to fall increases.
Aisa grabs my neck, her balance slipping, it causes me momentary distraction, causing me to slip and-
'5 Points to STR'
STR: 120.9 (93)
I jumped once more, thankfully landing properly on the beanstalk and jumping once more. Not only has my jumping strength increased so I could cover more distances, my Skill <BALANCE> is clutching up. When I reach a height, my body automatically balances itself in a way that allows me to jump higher than before.
Luffy and Wyper are way ahead of me, So i look over to where I last Sensed Enel (When I Picked Up Aisa). Thankfully, I already explained what the plan is, and while Wyper AND Luffy aren't happy, I ignore their protests of fighting Enel for various reasons.
We just don't have enough time. we finally reach the clouds that Giant Jack rips through, after going into it, we reach the God's Shrine, where PRevious 'Gods' from Skypia used to live, before Enel took over the place and became GOD.
"Hey Rai, when are we gonna-" Luffy slows his pace, and by some miracle, he slides down and comes next to me. i interrupt him before he can continue, continuing to climb the gaint jack as we are almost to the location,as according to my memory and calculations, he should be-
I send out a Mana Rope, tying it around Luffy, Wyper and Aisa.
"NOW!" I Jump a little backwards, and in the same second, I come out of my I.D., appearing near the Arc Maxim, sending a rope towards it. Luffy, reacting quickly, sends his arm to hold onto the railings, he uses his other arm to grab onto me and yanks me with him.
I active my Observation Haki while Letting it interact with My Map, Making my senses explode once more, but i use all of my focus on the presence i feel standing in the ship-
"LUFFY, COVER US!" Luffy reacts immediately, inhaling air into his body while extending an arm around me and retracting it, making me near him and shielding Me, Aisa and Wyper-
"El Thor" a column of lightning falls on us from the Sky, enveloping all of us in its radiance. The pressure of the attack almost pushes Luffy downwards, but he grits it through, with both my Mana Rope and His arm holding him from getting pushed below.
After the attack subsides, Another Mana Rope swings up from the big ball of human flesh, grabbing onto the Rails of Arc Maxim, and The arm starts retracting, with Luffy Exhaling the air he inhaled. all of us crash-land to the Ship. but I immediately got up, knowing it wasn't over yet. in front of us, standing the so- called GOD of Skypiea, Enel.
Enel is a pale-skinned man with a well-toned yet somewhat wiry build, standing very tall at 266cm. He has platinum blond hair that is set in a large perm, albeit always tucked under a close-fitting, white skullcap. His eyebrows are contrastively black, rather thick, and top grayish-blue eyes with prominent bottom lashes. His nose is slim with a marked, flat bridge that has several lines run horizontally across it.Enel's earlobes stretch all the way to his chest-
"LUFFY, GRAB THIS MOTHERFUCKER-" I Scream as loud as possible, and from behind me, Luffy's arm stretches. Enel, who looks to be in stress, raises his hand with his staff and beats the two drums on his back, generating electricity and molding it into a serpentine dragon.
"60,000,000 V Jamboule" He fires the Lightning dragon straight at us, but Luffy's extending hand intercepts it-
and passes straight through it, giving us the satisfaction to see Enel's most iconic face, before he is grabbed. With my Mana Rope still holding onto Luffy, i 'disappear' along with Luffy and Enel, leaving the Ship barren with only two people in, Wyper and Aisa, who have no clue what is going on.
Me, Luffy, And Enel all appear in the sky, and our descent towards the ground starts. The Ship is nowhere in sight, I scream at Luffy.
"LEAVE HIM!" Luffy looks at me, and after a second where he seems to be debating, his hold on Enel leaves, and I immediately click on party function and send an invitation to Enel and then escape us from this dungeon, though I make sure to not collapse it.
Since we are in the air , even in the real world, we continue falling. but Luffy stretches his hand to the Arc Maxim and grabs its railings, making us collide with its wood.
Luffy stretches Me and Him above the deck. where Aisa and Wyper come and check on us.
"Did it work?" Luffy asks while panting, kinda rattled by falling to the ground.
"It did." I checked my party Function, and as I wanted, there was a name on it.
Enel - Lv110
HP:- 9,000
I Grin, now. he is gonna be my slave-
the Ship starts shaking, and i realize that the ship-
is falling to the ground.
"AHHHH!!!" Aisa screams, holding onto Wyper for dear Life, i immediately Summon all of us into a Timeless I.D., different to the one i Sent Enel too.
"WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO!!" Luffy screams in fright, and i realize something very important that very second when Luffy asked this question.
'I-I Didn't think of us falling to the ground.'
THE END
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AN:- SO, THE FIRST WHAT-IF TOPIC WOULD BE "WHAT-IF ROBIN JOINED THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY?". THIS THOUGHT HAS BEEN ON MY MIND SINCE I DISCOVERED THAT DRAGON MADE THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY WHAT IT IS DUE TO THE OHARA INCIDENT. SO, I THINK THIS WOULD BE A GREAT FIRST WHAT-IF TO DISCUSS. ANYWAYS, THANK YOU GUYS FOR READING.
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SpiritFest13
SpiritFest13 this is a thought i have been having for the past month, to create a what-if channel where i could discuss and explain various situations and changes that could happen in the main storyline just some some things being different. if you guys want, we could discuss this in the comments below.
Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
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