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[New Story] One Way Home, chapter 1
🕑 Added 2023-09-26 05:39:34 +0000 UTCJujutsu Kaisen x One Piece
Main characters: Zen'in Maki, Straw Hat Pirates.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Friendship, NO ROMANCE.
Chapter 1: Fate and Coincidence.
—OoOoO—
Jujutsu sorcerers were people with powers that defy common sense. They were existences that coexisted with supernatural things that caused anomalies and disasters. Their presence in the world was to eradicate cursed spirits, creatures created from human emotions accumulated over a certain period.
However, in practice, many jujutsu sorcerers were disobedient and preferred to pursue their personal interests. And in the end, civilians had to be the victims.
Shibuya, October 30 2018, became the biggest tragedy in jujutsu history. A planned disaster involving the entire Shibuya city. It began with the goal of a group of cursed spirits and a mastermind to seal Gojo Satoru, the strongest sorcerer in the world.
The sorcerer side suffered a lot of losses here. Some were even trapped in Domain Expansion, a high-level technique capable of creating an artificial dimension that conformed to its user.
They were Zen'in Maki, a girl who was considered the disgrace of the Zen'in clan. The other two were Zen'in Naobito, head of the Zen'in clan, and Nanami Kento, a first-grade sorcerer. Apart from the three trapped from the start, a new figure opened into the domain, Fushiguro Megumi. However, an uninvited also barged in through a hole Megumi created.
Those who inherited the curse of The Zen'in clan, the one who couldn't entirely leave behind that curse. They would all bear witness to the bare flesh of the one who was free and left it all behind and his overwhelming intensity.
The man who had just entered then looked at Maki sharply. More precisely, he looked at the three-section staff that she held. In just a blink of an eye, he appeared before her. That was too fast. No eyes were able to follow his movements. Even an experienced person like Nanami and a sorcerer who specialised in speed like Naobito found it difficult to keep up with his pace.
The man was holding the three-section staff. He shook it off and made Maki fly away like a paper.
'What? I lost in a battle of strength? Me?'
Maki fell, her back touching the surface of Megumi's domain, which was literally a shadow. However, like a solid object touching liquid, Maki's body continued to plunge and penetrate the shadow. And that made her quite panicked.
"Megumi!"
The boy turned around when someone called his name. Not only Megumi, Nanami and even Naobito also looked at where the girl was. They were equally shocked when they saw Maki's body quickly being devoured by the darkness of the shadow.
"Maki-san!"
Megumi jumped towards Maki. It was late, but not completely late. The shadow only left Maki's face and left hand, looking up and hoping for help. The black-haired boy managed to grab her hand, but the strong force pulled Maki into the shadows.
Megumi didn't know what really happened. He didn't understand why Maki kept getting sucked down. He had even summoned a shikigami from within his shadow, but it wasn't strong enough to push Maki back up.
It was a dilemma for Megumi. He could have cancelled the domain so that the shadow surface disappeared. However, if he did that, the sure-hit effect of his opponent's domain would immediately hit them. And if that happened, there was no longer any guarantee to protect them because he could only use Domain Expansion once a day.
Maki was panicked, but she understood the burden Megumi was carrying.
"Megumi, it's fine," said the bespectacled girl.
She was just a fourth-grade sorcerer. No, she couldn't even be called a sorcerer in the first place. Maki hated to admit it, but she knew her level wasn't high enough to participate in future battles.
"Don't worry, maybe I'll be fine when you cancel your domain later," she added.
Megumi had a crumpled face when he heard those words. His hands were no longer strong enough to withstand the pull sucking Maki in. His muscles felt torn apart, and his bones would shatter at any moment.
"Yeah, it should be fine. Just wait."
Reluctantly, Megumi let go of Maki. And that strong pull sucked the girl into that endless shadow.
The ocean was a place that held many questions. In fact, scientists agreed that the deep sea held far more mysteries than outer space. No one knew what lay deep at the cold ocean's bottom.
The same thing also applied to Ten Shadows, Megumi's cursed technique. It was said to be able to rival Six Eyes user of the past. However, not much was known about the cursed technique and what really lay within the endless darkness of the shadows.
Sea and Ten Shadows. When these two things collide, you would never know what was created from the mystery of that endless sea of darkness. That would probably be the end for anyone caught in it. Maybe it would crush anyone who got caught in it.
However, no one knew what would happen, and no one could guess how any substance would react if it interacted with it. As such, no one knew what Maki's fate would be.
—OoOoO—
The Grand Line was an area full of mystery. It was an ocean that stretched around the earth from West to East. Even though many sailors had explored it, not all the mysteries were solved. Many sailors raced to that place, hoping to gain fame, fortune and glory. However, quite a few also end up tragic because they fail to adapt to the harsh seas of the Grand Line.
In the first half of the Grand Line, Paradise, two large ships were seen escorting a smaller ship. They were stopped in the middle of the sea.
"That sure is one weird bird," said a long-nosed boy with curly hair.
"It really can't face any other direction than South! It's like a compass. Hahaha!"
A boy wearing a red sleeveless shirt with a straw hat on his head responded to his interlocutor with a happy expression.
They were playing with a bird, similar to a toucan but larger in size, with predominantly purple and light green feathers. It was a southern bird, an endemic bird that could only be found on Jaya Island. The bird had a very unique characteristic, its head always faces south.
"Hey, you idiots! Stop playing around. We still have a lot to do!"
Their laughter gradually died out when they heard the scolding from the woman with short orange hair.
"Besides, Luffy! They both called you," continued the girl, pointing to the large ship escorting them.
The boy in the red sleeveless shirt adjusted the straw hat on his head. Because it bothered him a little, he took the hat down and left it hanging on his back.
"Yo. What's up, guys?" asked Luffy shouting.
"No, never mind. I think... there's something much more important that you guys should see, especially Miss Navigator," replied the large man with an ape-like build.
The man and his companions looked up at the sky. Seeing this, the entire crew on the small ship also automatically followed their line of sight.
"What the hell is that?" said the green-haired man, his mouth agape.
"Nami-san, do you know something?"
The leader of the small group, Luffy, also showed his surprise. However, it turned into a big smile with sparkling eyes.
"Nami, Nami! Is that the Knock Up System you mean?"
"It's Knock Up Stream, Luffy," Nami corrected, "And no, it was supposed to be a burst of water from below, not a black hole appearing in the sky."
It was a black hole. However, it wasn't a space object with supermassive mass. More precisely, the phenomenon they witnessed was like a tear in the sky, and all inside was darkness.
The long-nosed guy in the group was trying to find something. He took out binoculars and monitored the sea around him,
"I didn't see anything. Could it be from a devil fruit user?"
"Something's coming out of there!" exclaimed one of the black-haired women.
Their eyes focused on the object spewed from the tear in the sky. The group of sailors on the two large ships couldn't interpret this phenomenon even though they had more experience at sea.
They all fell silent. Their legs seemed to be glued, and their mouths sewn shut. Their bodies seemed to be frozen, so they couldn't react. They felt no threat at all from the dimensional tear. There was only beauty filled with mystery. However, above all that, their attention was also focused on the object that was spewing out from inside there.
"It's a human!" shouted the group leader of the big ship.
They wanted to catch the human who fell from the sky. However, gravity pulled it down faster than their reaction. The collision between a human and the sea surface caused a loud 'splash' sound, and the water was lifted high enough to create waves.
"Zoro! Sanji! A woman fell into the sea."
Hearing their captain's incomplete words, the green and blonde-haired man swiftly jumped into the sea to find out what had just fallen from the sky.
—OoOoO—
Maki thought her life was over when she was sucked into something created by the collision between Megumi's Chimera Shadow Garden and the Horizon of the Captivating Skandha belonging to the cursed spirit she fought. She never thought it would suck her into something akin to a singularity. The dark green-haired girl thought her body would be crushed by the pull that seemed to be able to tear out anything trapped inside.
However, the strong wind blew against her face. Rather than blowing, it was more like she was about to break through the air barrier. The sound of friction caused by something rubbing against the air filled her ears. And those combinations forced her to open her eyes.
Her eyes with golden irises widened when she found she was free-falling from the sky at high speed. Below her was a sea with three ships that became increasingly larger as their distance decreased.
With her current position, it would be painful if she crashed on the sea's surface just like that. The best position to land was perpendicular to the surface. However, if she placed her legs down, her skirt would rise due to friction with the air. It was far more terrifying than anything else, and she would rather die than be in such a stupid position. Therefore, the only option left was to place her head down with her body straight up.
Maki crossed her arms in front to protect her face from the high friction with the air. Also, a direct impact on the water surface from that height would probably crush her skull if she didn't dive properly.
When she was only 20 meters away from sea level, Maki put her hands pursed above her head to reduce the impact.
She fell straight into the sea, but the resulting effects were minimised due to her proper judgment. However, it still made quite a loud sound.
Maki remained calm as her body continued to be attracted by gravity even though she was in the water. It would be foolish if she wasted her energy fighting the gravitational pull that was still too strong. When she felt that the seawater had done its job by slowing down the force of gravity to the point where she could move freely, the ponytail girl turned her body around. She turned her body so that her head was facing upwards again.
It surprised her when she found a green-haired man about to grab her just as she turned around. Out of reflex, Maki hit him in the face without knowing the man's true intentions.
His eyes seemed to bulge when the fist hit his nose. Even though the friction of the water had slowed the blow, it still felt heavy. The man was pushed away as an aftereffect. It hurt, but it wasn't a problem because he used to live with it. However, what bothered him the most was when he felt a blonde boy laughing at him contemptuously.
The green-haired boy ignored it. He looked up only to find that the person they were supposed to save had swam quickly towards the surface.
—OoOoO—
"Hosh… Hosh… where the hell is this?"
Maki was breathing heavily. She felt relieved when she finally reached the surface and could breathe properly. Even though the landing into the sea was smooth, that didn't mean there was no effect at all. Moreover, parts of her body still felt sore after the fierce battle in Shibuya.
"Hey, you! Are you okay?!"
Maki looked at one of the ships when she heard a girl scream. However, her mouth was too busy taking in as much oxygen as possible to respond.
"Here, take this!"
The same girl once again shouted at her. However, this time, it was accompanied by throwing a buoy tire. Maki was initially hesitant to reach for the object. It took her a moment to consider it. In fact, the person she had hit earlier had appeared on the surface with his face wrinkled.
"Oh, Zoro! Sanji! You guys are really slow! Hahahaha!" said a black-haired boy in a shrill voice.
"Shut up!"
Meanwhile, another guy diving with the man named Zoro looked excited when he saw the figure that had fallen from the sky a few moments ago.
"Oh my god! A beautiful lady descended from the sky! Are you an angel?!" he said happily, swam around the girl.
Maki furrowed her eyebrows at this ridiculous behaviour. For a moment, it made her forget her tiredness. However, at the same time, she felt disgusted and wanted to kick him in the face.
"Grab the buoy! We will lift you up!" shouted the orange-haired girl for the umpteenth time.
Maki had no other choice. She hugged the object and let the people on the ship pull it. However, for some reason, a long hand suddenly appeared to wrap around her body and pull her with velocity.
"Let me take care of this!" shouted the hand owner.
"Hey, be careful, Luffy. I'll kick your ass if the lady gets scratched!" shouted the blonde boy.
Maki was surprised when suddenly something wrapped around her and pulled her. Her body stiffened, and she clenched her jaw. Her eyes sharpened, and she thought that she was too careless.
The elastic arm wrapped around her began to loosen. Quickly, it returned to its original size, and all that remained was the normal hand of the black-haired young man who continued to grin.
Maki jumped back. However, she also caught a man with a long nose and sped away. She held the curly-haired boy with a thin body hostage in front of her body. Her palms clutched his neck and prepared to crush it whenever necessary.
"Wait, wait, wait! What are you doing?" said the long-nosed boy.
"I'm the one who should be asking."
Maki said that with a cold expression while glaring at Luffy. Meanwhile, the orange-haired girl standing beside her knew what Maki meant and hit Luffy hard on the head.
"See, that's why I told you not to be careless. You scare her, you know?!"
"What? She looked exhausted, and I just wanted to get her up ."
"That doesn't mean you can do that without consent, Luffy!"
Maki watched that scene with doubts starting to grow in her mind. She initially thought they were terrible people who wanted to catch the helpless girl falling into the ocean. However, after seeing their looks, they didn't look like that in her eyes. Moreover, the skinny guy she held hostage was too cowardly for a kidnapper.
'Hell, he even begged many times to let him go.'
"What the hell is happening here?"
A baritone voice made them turn their eyes to the two who had just boarded the ship.
"Zo-zo-zoro! Help me! This girl is crazy!"
The guy Maki was holding as a hostage shouted and immediately got a reply from Maki.
"Who are you calling crazy?"
"Hiii!!!"
Zoro didn't immediately take action even though his friend screamed in fear. Roughly, he could guess that it was a preventive measure from the girl after being suddenly wrapped around by an elastic arm and simply pulled onto the ship. Even so, considering her suspicious appearance, the man didn't rule out the possibility that the girl was dangerous.
"Well, well, calm down. We don't mean anything bad to you," the orange-haired girl coaxed, "My name's Nami. You don't need to worry. We really want to help you."
"I'm Luffy, the man who'll become the king of the pirates!"
Maki looked at the girl and boy sharply.
'Pirate King? Is he a chuuni or something?'
She didn't feel any hostile aura from them except for the green-haired man. However, she still doubted whether she could let down her guard. Moreover, she was in a place she wasn't sure where.
Maki closed her eyes, contemplating the steps she should take. She wasn't sure where she was and didn't even know what was really happening to her. Moreover, her body still felt tired after the long battle in Shibuya. And on top of that, she alone couldn't possibly fight them. Considering many things, Maki decided not to start an unnecessary fight.
"All right then. The name's Maki."
Only one second after the brief introduction, although not everyone had introduced themselves, Luffy had already dashed in front of Maki's face. That made her slightly and reflexively pulled her head back.
"Hey, could it be that you came from Sky Island? No, you fell from the sky. You must be from the sky island, right?" Luffy asked excitedly.
Maki frowned because she didn't understand the meaning of the question. However, before she was about to answer, the orange-haired girl approached and pinched Luffy's ear, which, surprisingly, stretched like rubber.
"Luffy, I told you not to make her feel uncomfortable."
"It's fine," said Maki, "I don't understand what you mean by sky island. But no, I'm not from there."
Nami turned her gaze to Maki with her mouth rounded.
"Oh, really? You fell from the sky, so it's natural for us to assume you came from the sky island."
Once again, Maki didn't get their words' gist. Is the sky island they were referring to a metaphor? Is that the name of an island? She didn't know at all.
"I'm from Japan. By the way, where is this?" replied the girl in the ponytail.
"Japan? Never heard of it."
The one who said those words was a green-haired man Maki later found out was called Zoro. However, that reply actually made her even more confused. Japan wasn't just any country. It wasn't a third-world country but one of the most developed countries in the world.
'You don't know Japan, you say? Forget about that. You've three katanas but don't know anything about Japan? Are you an idiot or something?'
Maki looked away from Zoro and then looked at Nami questioningly. For her, Nami was the person who looked more educated than the other two boys. However, her questioning glance was only met with a shake of Nami's head, which astonished her even more.
"Well, the world is wide, and we have yet to explore it all. So, it might be on the other side of the world that we've explored. What's certain is that we are currently in the sea of the Grand Line, more precisely a few kilometres from Jaya Island."
"Geen Land Ocean? I thought it was a cold place?"
"Well, not all places on the Grand Line are cold or dangerous."
'What do you mean by not cold? Even though I've never been to Europe, I know enough that Green Land can be even colder than Hokkaido.'
Maki thought about the oddity. What she discussed and what Nami said were like two completely different things. However, it might be because her body was exhausted, or her mind still had difficulty organising the unreasonable phenomena she had just experienced. But once her brain was stimulated, Maki began to realise something that became the turning point of her situation.
'Wait, weren't we talking in Japanese?'
Maki's eyes suddenly wandered around, looking for something. She scanned all corners of the ship without missing a beat. She found something she was looking for. It was a newspaper. However, what she needed wasn't the information contained within, but something else.
'They speak Japanese, and the grammar is the same, but all the letters are in the alphabet. On top of that, except for Zoro, they don't look like Japanese.'
Maki had just realised something so astonishing that even her logic didn't want to accept that fact. To avoid any suspicious movements, she tried her best to remain calm. However, there was one thing she didn't know, perhaps a mistake she didn't realise. She ignored a woman's gaze, observing her silently, analysing all her movements without missing a beat and eliminating all possibilities to only come up with an absolute conclusion.
The most intelligent woman in the group, she had extraordinary calm in analysis and was the figure who was the most difficult to deceive because of her bitter life experiences. Nico Robin, that's her name. That she had just been silently watching didn't mean she had no interest in Maki. On the contrary, how the girl fell from the sky stimulated her brain to work harder than usual.
Robin entered the conversation as if she had finished collecting evidence as a reference.
"You… aren't from here, are you?"
Luffy and the others looked at Robin questioningly. Meanwhile, Maki subconsciously swallowed her own saliva.
"What do you mean, Robin? Didn't she just say that?" asked Luffy.
"That's not what I meant," replied Robin, "You spelt 'Green Land' instead of 'Grand Line'. You emphasised that you're not a resident of Sky Island even though you fell from up there. You also explained that you come from a place that even I, as an archaeologist, have never heard of."
Everyone was stunned by the deduction show that suddenly started. Moreover, no one expected that Robin would actively start this initiative.
"Besides, you glanced at the newspaper over there, right?" Robin continued her analysis, "I assume you checked what kind of letters we use and maybe checked the grammar too. You've sharp eyes, and I can see them. So, you must have confirmed that you and we use the same language, grammar, and perhaps the same script, right?"
Nami and Ussop felt uneasy when Robin suddenly carried out the deduction session. Luffy looked at the woman with sparkling eyes as if he had been presented with something interesting. Meanwhile, a quiet fawn hiding strangely was increasingly establishing his strange hiding place.
Forget about the blonde man still going somewhere after boarding the ship. Zoro, who heard Robin's explanation, secretly tightened his grip on one of his swords. Among their group, perhaps he was the one who lacked naivety. From the start, he showed no signs of friendship towards Maki. Let alone the girl he had just met, he still hadn't entirely accepted Robin as a member of their crew.
"So, the point is?" Zoro asked Robin.
He might have thrown the question at Robin, but his eyes looked straight at Maki. Zoro didn't take a fighting stance, but his hands were always ready to draw his swords whenever necessary. Depending on how Maki reacted when she was cornered and her secret revealed, Zoro was prepared to fight at any time.
"Well, the conclusions that came to my mind were all unreasonable. But, to put it bluntly, you're from another world, aren't you?" Robin asked in her flat tone.
—OoOoO—
Did Maki feel cornered? Yes, of course. She never thought that someone would come to such a conclusion just from the few clues she had. Hell, Maki herself only understood that she was in another world after she realised they were speaking Japanese with the same grammar. Still, they used the full alphabet instead of a mixture of kanji and hiragana.
"You… come from another world?" Nami muttered.
Nami was the first to react. She was surprised, of course. She really had a sincere intention to help Maki. However, no one expected that the girl she helped turned out to be from another world. That was indeed a conclusion that hadn't been confirmed. But the way Robin laid it out and the logic behind it, it was hard to deny that conclusion.
Meanwhile, Zoro had pulled one of his swords by an inch. That was the best precaution he had to take. The possibility that the girl was from another world couldn't be underestimated.
Why did otherworldly people come here? For what purpose did she come to this world? Did she come together with her colleagues? Or worst of all, did she come bringing disaster? Those were the things in Zoro's head. Let's say he was too paranoid and overly suspicious, but he couldn't trust people he had just met. Moreover, if that person turned out to be from another world.
On the other hand, Maki noticed Zoro's movement as he slightly took his sword out of the sheath.
'If a battle breaks out, I can't win with my current condition. Moreover, if this is true in another world, I must immediately find a way to return, whatever it takes.'
Maki had prepared for all possibilities if a clash couldn't be avoided. However, the reaction from the person who seemed to be the leader of the small group was beyond her expectations.
"Hey, are you really from another world? Isn't that too amazing?" The black-haired boy said excitedly, "You, your name is Maki, right? Be my crew!"
"Luffy!"
Zoro immediately shouted when he heard his captain's impulsive declaration.
"Even madness has to have limits, you know?!" he added.
"What? It's precisely because she comes from that other world that I want her to join!"
"She's a person from another world. Her background and purpose are all suspicious!" shouted Zoro, who couldn't stop thinking about his captain.
Hearing Zoro's firm refusal, Luffy turned his gaze to Maki and stared at the girl closely. After scanning the girl with the ponytail, Luffy looked back at Zoro.
"She's anything but suspicious."
Zoro felt like he wanted to slap his forehead for the baseless belief that Luffy always had. It wasn't a problem if he had a positive mindset, but it would backfire if someone wanted to take advantage of his kindness.
Maki closed her eyes while exhaling roughly. Honestly, she was mentally exhausted. Forget about Shibuya, just switching dimensions in the middle of a fierce battle was enough to drain her sanity. That she didn't lose control in this situation alone was already an incredible feat. However, she couldn't just keep quiet. If she wanted to return to her homeland, she had to decide her next step.
"That's right, I come from another world. But I didn't have any intentions at all. Hell, I don't even understand how I ended up in this place."
Maki's words automatically stopped the dispute between Luffy and Zoro.
"See? She said she didn't have any bad intentions," the straw hat said to the green-haired man.
"With your nature, it wouldn't be surprising if someone stabbed you in the back one day."
Zoro said harsh words to Luffy, although he didn't pay any attention to them. However, he looked back at Maki sharply.
"You don't think we'll just believe that, did you?" Zoro asked.
"I don't care whether you believe it or not. And I've no business with you."
Maki shifted her gaze to Robin.
"You, you guessed me right. Do you know anything about this?"
"Unfortunately, no." replied the woman with long black hair. "And if you want to ask about the way back to your world, I don't know anything about it either."
Maki tsked with dissatisfaction, but she couldn't do much. She also didn't expect the woman to give her the answer she was looking for.
"Even all this otherworldly stuff still sounds alien to my ears," said Ussop.
"Yeah, is there anything that can be done?" Nami asked Robin.
Nami was initially quite reluctant when she learned that Maki came from another world. Fear first took over her brain. However, when she discovered Maki was a typical girl who got lost, Nami felt she wasn't dangerous and seemed quite friendly despite her sharp eyes.
"Well, it's okay. "I'll find the clues myself," Maki replied without waiting for Robin's reply.
Maki was grateful for the attention given by the orange girl. But she didn't intend to make small talk too long because that would only be a waste of time. Moreover, even since she was a child, she wasn't used to relying on others. It wasn't like she didn't expect people's help, but from the start, her condition was already very different from most people.
In her career as a jujutsu sorcerer, she had powers very different from others. Even Gojo Satoru himself had difficulty helping her even though he admitted she had enormous potential. The same was true when she was trapped in this world. She didn't care what happened or who she met since none of them knew about this phenomenon.
However, what Robin said next made her interested enough to pay attention again.
"I don't really have the answer you want. And perhaps no text in this world can give you a clue. If anything, it is most likely a forbidden text hidden by the World Government."
"And why are you so sure?" Maki asked.
"Because I'm an archaeologist. I have read many texts in this world."
Maki frowned. She didn't interrupt Robin because she knew the woman still had much to say, likewise with the others, who just watched Robin's presentation in silence.
However, just before Robin continued, they heard the sound of a boy humming. It was a blonde guy who disappeared somewhere after entering the ship.
"Sanji is here~. Bringing a warm chocolate and a blanket for our most beautiful guest," said the boy.
Sanji danced, twirling his body in a strange rhythm. Maki, who was offered those items, actually felt disgusted. Even so, she still took them. After all, she did need something to warm her body. However, she hesitated to drink the gift from the stranger and only used the blanket.
Meanwhile, Nami patted her forehead when she realised one thing.
"Wait, that's right, I'm sorry for not bringing you a change of clothes."
"Nah, don't worry about that."
"No. I'll be right back."
Maki looked up and saw that the sky was starting to get cloudy.
"I guess there's something else for you to worry about, right?"
Hearing this, they all looked up. And before anyone responded, a man's voice was heard from the large ship next to theirs.
"I don't know what you guys are talking about, but you've got to be prepared. Knock-up stream's coming soon!"
Right after that warning, the waves on the sea, which were initially relatively calm, began to sway. Except for Luffy and Robin, the entire crew prepared everything to face whatever was about to arrive. All the preparations had been done beforehand, and they had to apply them. That was why Luffy didn't take part. Meanwhile, Robin didn't have good basics as a sailor, so she didn't take part in these menial jobs.
"It seems we'll have to postpone our conversation. But don't worry, I've a few things you can consider," said Robin.
The woman didn't point at anyone, but Maki knew that her words just now were directed at her.
"Well, that's fine. We can continue after this storm is over."
'And I still have to clear my mind first,' Maki added to herself.
The girl had to admit to losing her cool a little earlier. However, after she drank the warm chocolate Sanji gave her, it helped to recover her shape.
"Hey, your name is Luffy, right? You're the captain of this ship, right?" Maki asked, "If you don't mind, I'd like to hitch a ride to the next land."
Luffy, who heard this question, felt excited.
"Oh, do you finally want to join my crew?"
Maki looked at Luffy with a facepalm, "How did you come to such a conclusion?"
"Eh? You don't?"
Before Maki answered the question, Robin interrupted her first.
"Well, even if you just want to hitch a ride until we dock, I think you should wait a little longer."
Robin paused her sentence and glanced at Luffy.
"Isn't that right, Captain?"
And Luffy smiled broadly at this statement.
"Exactly! Because for now, the most important thing is that we'll have a crazy adventure in the sky full of fantasy!"
"What? No, I don't want to—."
Before Maki finished her words, her instincts suddenly screamed out a warning. She turned her head, scanning her surroundings for anything odd. But it was useless since she found nothing but an increasingly crazy storm. However, she didn't fully understand the real danger was the ocean they were sailing in.
"Everyone, get ready! This might be a painful blow!" Nami shouted.
They clenched their jaws, preparing to face the worst, except Luffy, who actually showed a face of joy.
"You'd better hold on to something, Ms. Otherworlder," said Robin, giving an advice
Along with the words she said, Robin crossed her wrists forward. Several hands appeared around her legs and held tightly as if they prevented the woman from falling.
Maki didn't know what they would face, to be honest. However, her instincts screamed louder, warning that what would happen was a big deal. She knew she could trust her instincts even though she knew nothing.
Maki walked towards the nearest pole. She didn't want to look like a coward, so only one hand held the bar. However, looking at how her muscles tightened, anyone would know she wouldn't fall so easily.
"It's here! Knock Up Stream is really coming!" Luffy shouted cheerfully, "Okay, everyone! Next stop is the sky island!"
And right after that declaration, the sea was really shaking crazily. As if an atomic bomb had been detonated at the bottom of the sea, a tremendous shock and wave emerged from within and pushed the small ship into the sky. And that crazy explosion was what would start Maki's journey in this world.
—To Be Continued—
Author Note: Hello. Yes, as I said, I wrote a new story as one of my efforts to overcome writer's block. Yes, I also touch the grass more often, but I also have to write something down because I'm quite afraid that my touch will gone. It's quite effective. Apart from writing this story, I am also quite smoothly continuing the next chapter of Hachiman's story. I will upload the newest chapter between the first Saturday and Sunday in October.
As you can see, this story is about Maki going to another world. I hope the opening part isn't too cringy lol. I already had this idea during the Sakurajima arc. Anyway, what do you think about this first chapter?
Oh, because this chapter is very long, I split it into two parts. So, the second chapter is ready, and maybe I'll upload it later this afternoon (in my time zone) after I do proofreading. While Hachiman's story is my main project, I might make this a side project. So, I hope you guys can enjoy it.
