Chapter 103: Departure

This is that last chapter I have, and it's well timed, too. The next arc isn't done yet and my summer job starts next week. I'll be dark for as while. Not sure how long, but hopefully work will jostle my muse. Until next time!

Chapter 107:

Departure

"That's the last of it," Usopp panted, dropping the last crate in the hold before returning to the deck of the Thousand Sunny. The sun shone brightly on the ship as its crew prepared to leave Thriller Bark that day. All of Moria's treasure had been left on the ship from when Perona had tried to steal it, so it was only the food that had to be replaced on the ship. The sniper blinked away the sunlight as he stepped out on the grassy deck to take in the scene.

Luffy, Nami, Amy, Grace, Brook, and Merry were all relaxing on the deck itself, the navigator all but passed out on a pile of riches. Luffy rummaged through it, pulling out an armband and throwing it on without preamble. Amy all but followed the navigator's example, using a lawn chair to tan rather than have a cash coma. Grace was painting her, something about contrast between the dark backdrop and her sunny disposition that no one understood. Brook basked in the sunlight, a soft melody drifting from his violin. Lola watched all this with a hint of confusion as if she couldn't believe that they were free or that this carefree bunch was the group that freed them.

"Where did you say you were going?" the female pirate captain asked, shaking herself out of her daze. Luffy turned to her with a smile.

"We're going to Fishman Island!" Luffy answered. "That marks the halfway point to the One Piece!"

"Fishman Island?" the smaller Risky Brother questioned, popping up over the railing.

"I remember that place!" the larger brother added, joining his brother.

"You've been there?" Luffy gasped, boggling. Usopp appeared out of the kitchen where he had been helping Sanji set booby traps to protect the food, drawn to the discussion like a moth to a flame.

"Sure have!" the first brother laughed. "I will never forget it! Those mermaid beauties are beyond compare!"

"Mermaid beauties?" Sanji demanded, bursting from the kitchen.

"Yohoho!" Brook laughed. "I wonder if they'd be willing to show me their panties!" Within seconds, Brook and Sanji were dancing a cancan whist singing about mermaids.

"No, you idiots!" the larger brother admonished with a lecherous smile. "Think about it! Mermaids don't wear panties!" Sanji and Brook gasped before their dancing redoubled in intensity, now including the Risky Brothers. Lola shook her head with exasperation before turning back to the captain and his wife.

"So you've been to Fishman Island?" Nami question, ignoring the morons with practiced ease. "Then what are you doing back here?"

"Oh, no," Lola shook her head. "We came to Fishman Island from the other direction. See, my crew originated from the New World on the other side of the Red Line."

"Wow, really!" Luffy's eyes sparkled.

"Mhm," Lola nodded, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a small piece of paper. "You all are headed the direction, so I'm going to give you this." She signed a bottom corner before tearing away part of the paper and handing it to Luffy.

"What is it?" Luffy asked, Nami peering at it over his shoulder.

"It's my mama's Vivre Card. She's a powerful pirate in the New World, so if you see her, tell her hello and that I'm doing well. She should help you if she knows we're friends."

"What's so special about it?" the captain wondered, the paper slowly growing.

"Vivre Cards are special papers that only one island in the world can make. They're able to infuse part of a person's soul into these little papers so they reflect the life force of a person. See, this one is whole and growing, so Mama is alive and well. Also," she held out her hand, the paper inching along toward her fingers, "they are drawn to their original owner, so you can always find them by following their Vivre Card."

"Hey, Luffy?" Nami began as Luffy handed her the card. "Don't you already have one of these?"

"You have a Vivre Card? But they're only made in the New World!"

Luffy nodded, digging out a card from within his hat. Unlike the card Lola had given them, this card had a red tinge, nearly a fourth of it having disintegrated.

"Who...?" Lola began hesitantly. "Who's card is that?"

"My big brother's," Luffy answered solemnly, staring at the card as if trying to make a decision. "What does this mean?"

"Your brother is in terrible danger," Lola responded, equally solemn. "If the paper burns away, then the person has died." Luffy nodded before tucking the paper back into his hat securely.

"Are we going to go after Ace?" Nami questioned, Lola jolting at the name.

"Nah," her husband waved off. "Ace wouldn't want me to interfere with his adventure. He's been in plenty of tight spots before; I'm sure he'll be fine. He'd never live it down if his little brother saved his life."

"If you're sure," Nami relented.

"I'm sorry," Lola interjected, "but did you say Ace? As in Firefist Ace?"

"You know him?" Nami asked over Luffy's "Yeah!"

"Only in name. Mama wanted to recruit him after he gained his Logia Fruit, but Whitebeard snatched him up first."

"Oh well!" Luffy laughed, his jovial attitude returning in an instant. He snatched a handful of gold from the pile behind him and handed it over to Lola. "Here. We don't need all this to ourselves and you'll need to buy food or something."

"Don't give away my treasure without permission!" Nami roared, not taking the gold from Lola.

"Are..." Lola swallowed. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Nami pouted. "Luffy, we should leave soon. Franky should be done fixing up Brook's old ship for the Rolling Pirates in about an hour and, from what I can tell, the weather will be good for sailing until nightfall at least."

"Alright!" the captain cheered. "All hands on deck! Prepare to set sail!"

The Straw Hats left Thriller Bark with many goodbyes and farewells, waving until the island of the dead was nothing but a spot in the distance. They continued forward for another hour or so before Chopper called them together in the dining room. Everyone was present, even Gin despite him still being unable to do any heavy work until Chopper deemed him healthy enough. It was a good thing too, for his participation was necessary.

"Alright, Chopper," Zoro muttered, breaking the ice. "I was in the middle of training, so this better be good."

"I'm... not sure if good is the right word," the fluffy doctor responded, his eyes meeting with Gin's. The Logia nodded, allowing the Zoan to take a deep breath and press ahead. "As I'm sure you all know, Gin was heavily injured during our fights with both Moria and Kuma, two of the Warlords of the Sea. Injured moreso than the rest of us."

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Sanji asked, breathing out a puff of smoke.

"It's something to do with the voices, isn't it?" Merry questioned before Chopper could respond. "I remember the conversation you two had just after Alabasta."

"Voices?" Usopp all but demanded. "What voices? We aren't haunted, are we? We're haunted, aren't we?!"

"We're not haunted by anything, Long-Nose," Amy grunted. "The closest thing we have to a ghost is the lemon-hating bonehead we call our musician."

"Ghosts?!" said undead yelped. "Oh, you mean me. You almost scared me out of my skin, Ms. Amy. Not that I have any skin anymore! Yohohoho!"

"Can we get back on topic, please?" Coby asked. "I believe Merry said something about voices?"

"The Voice had been with me for most of my life, or it feels that way at least" Gin spoke up, pulling everyone's attention to him. "I never knew my mother, but my father tried his best to raise me alone. We lived in a small, coal-mining town on a small island in the East Blue, and that's where I stayed for the first sixteen years of my life.

"I was almost seventeen when it happened; the mines exploded, killing every worker inside including my father. His death, it hit me hard. Gave me nightmares and made it hard to sleep. Still does sometimes." Gin blinked, the bags under his eyes seeming suddenly more pronounced.

"It was during those long, sleepless nights that the Voice first showed up. It nagged me, yelled at me that the explosion hadn't been an accident. It ordered me to track down the person who owned the mine and to beat the answer out of them. To get my revenge." Gin's face fell and he turned away from Luffy, a single tear sliding down his face. "I held on for a week.

"It was my seventeenth birthday when I tracked her down to the next town over. No one questioned me or asked where I was going. To them, I was just another kid going out to practice with my weapons in case pirates attacked. I can't even remember the woman's name, but I got her to confess. Looking back, I wonder if she just said that so I'd end her pain.

"And then Krieg appeared, his crew pillaging the town. He found me like that, covered in human blood, the still-warm corpse in front of me, all alone in the world. He swept me away, told me I had a special gift, a little friend that would help both me and him. I sailed the East Blue with him for almost six years before we made for the Grand Line and met Mihawk.

"The Voice stayed with me, always urging me to fight and kill. I... I listened to it, obeyed it, until Don Luffy and Sanji saved me from the path I'd accepted. Since then, I tried my best to ignore it unless I knew I could control it or direct it: Whiskey Peak, Eneru, Enies Lobby... Those were the only times I ever gave in.

"But, the Voice is gone now. I thought that was good news, but..." He raised his eyes, glancing around at the shocked looks of his crewmates. "Chopper... What happened?"

The doctor was silent for a few moments, trying to find the phrasing needed for everyone to understand. "The damage you sustained when we fought the Warlords far exceeded any of us. We had mostly physical damage, but... I don't know what you did, but it wasn't good. The Voice you mentioned... it's still there." Gin slumped, but he did not interrupt Chopper as he pushed ahead. "The trauma you experienced has somehow caused this Voice to manifest itself into another personality altogether, one that acts while you're asleep. It... It tried to attack Amy and Grace last night."

A heavy silence weighed down on the crew at that revelation. None of them knew what to think. Gin was Gin to them, but this information was nothing less than disturbing.

"Don Luffy, I-"

"No." Luffy stared at the Logia, his gaze serious.

"But-"

"I said no. Captain's order. You're not leaving us because of some stupid Voice taking over your body. We'll find some way around this. Guys?" The Captain glanced around at his crew.

"I'll get to work on his hammock," Franky nodded. "It should super hold him still."

"I'll start work on some booby traps to wake him or us up if it gets out," Usopp nodded.

"I'll help you, Uncle Usopp!" Merry added.

"I'll make my paints stronger than ever!" Grace promised.

"And I'll dig through my books," Chopper finalized. "There might be some medication that can keep the Voice at bay."

"E-Everyone," Gin sniffed. "Why... Why would you go so far for me?"

"You're one of us, Gin," Robin smiled. "You're a Straw Hat Pirate, and we take care of our own."

Gin would deny it until the end of time, but he absolutely cried... until Robin finished.

"Besides, if we did not, then tonight you would rampage through our ship, possibly killing most, if not all, of us and ending our journey prematurely."

"Robin!"

"Baaahahaha!" Merry laughed, clapping her hands in a way that attracted the others' attentions. "Funny as that is, we should have a better name than 'Alternate Gin'."

"Why not Rum?" Amy offered. Gin sent her a questioning glance. "Your name might be pronounced 'Geen', but it's spelled 'G-I-N' like the alcohol. Rum is alcohol, but very different."

Gin shrugged. "Sure. Why not? And... thank you all."

(Unknown Location - Grand Line)

BADA-BADA-BADUP... BADA-BADA-BADUP... BADA-BADA-BADUP...

The first mate of the pirate group almost missed the sound of their den-den mushi ringing on account of the fiesta the rest of the crew were enjoying. How his brother, the captain, could nap with such noise confused him, but he was grateful. Should something wake his brother while in the middle of one of his siestas, someone would not have a good day.

BADA-BADA-BADUP... BADA-BADA-BADUP... CA-LICK

"Hola. Quién estás?"

"Is this the Amigo Pirates?" the tired voice on the other side of the snail asked.

"Sí," the man answered. "Who is this?"

"Am I speaking to Captain Largo?"

"No. Ze capitán is indisposed at ze moment." He paused, turning to the fiesta happening in the rest of their submarine. "¡Silencía, idiotas!" The men quieted, all staring at their Vice-Captain as he turned back to the snail. "Zis is Vice-Capitán Corto speaking on 'is behalf."

"Very well," th snail sighed. "I've called to inform you that Captain Shiki has decided to accept you into his alliance as the fifty-first division. Congratulations."

"It's about time."

"But," the snail continued, halting the men before they could resume their fiesta. "There is a condition that must be met before you can officially join. A mere formality, you see."

"¿Un conditión?" a new voice asked, a man with a guitar rising from a rope hammock to stare at the transponder snail. "Do tell."

"It's a simple retrieval mission. Make your way to Kansorn Island."

End of Chapter 107

Do any of you have fan theories about what happened to Gin? Where I should go with that? I'd love to hear then!

Until next time, hopefully not too long!

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods