Missy

Goodbye Merry, and thank you

I don't own One Piece. If I did, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this chapter.

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"Hey! Hey hey hey! Usopp!"

"Where are you, Usopp?!"

"Heeeeeeeeeeeey! Usoooooooooopp! Where are you, Usopp!"

"Hey," Sanji hissed through a row clenched teeth, "he's calling for you."

"Uuuuuh..." The skin behind Usopp's (no Sniperking's) mask paled a few shades. "T-this isn't good... Without thinking, I..."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Luffy flung his arms into the air as he paraded around on Chopper's shoulders, "COME OUT ALREADY! Oi Sniperking, do you know where he is?"

"Oh, uh, d-don't worry. He, um, went back ahead of us on a small boat earlier."

"Huh?!"

Zoro's brow furrowed, "Just what is it they need to recognise him, huh?"

You snorted a chuckle, one arm draped over the edge of the crow's nest. The warships had long since stopped chasing you, perhaps realising it wasn't worth it anymore, but it was only really once Luffy had been able to move again that everyone had really fallen into a sense of calm.

At least for the rest of the crew.

"I'm sure they know what will happen just the same as we will."

"Mello..." Your eyes stared out across the tauntingly brilliant swathes of blue, deliberately avoiding the black weapon curled around your shoulders "I appreciate you trying to cheer me up but..."

Those things were useless when they were blatantly untrue.

It wasn't as if they could see Merry's life tick down the same way you could.

"As we suspected..." Down below Nami exited the galley with a dark expression. "I can't find anyone anywhere on this ship."

Sanji arched a brow. "Strange."

"I wonder who on earth sailed this ship to us..."

"But we definitely heard that voice calling out to us," Zoro crossed his arms.

"Yes." Robin mused. "Someone most certainly called to us."

Luffy pouted. "Like I said all this time, it was Merry! That was Merry's voice!"

"What?! Really?!" Chopper's jaw dropped. "Are you sure this isn't yet another side effect of the repeated head trauma you've experienced over the past few days?!"

"Nuh-uh! You really spoke to us didn't you Merry?! Say something!"

You winced, straining once again to try and sense the thin beating pulse that had once thrummed through Merry. A few weeks ago you would have felt a burst of energy the moment your fingertips so much as grazed her... a web of Merry's lifeblood and future threading and weaving its way through every nook and cranny of the ship. But now...

It was like watching a dear friend's heart monitor gradually begin to flatline.

"Oi (y/n)!" A rubber hand clasped onto the edge of the crow's nest around you, quickly followed by the rest of your captain's body. "You think Merry can talk too can't you? You said you heard her voice too!"

You... you didn't know what to say. While it seemed so simple and innocent, just the process of getting the words out your mouth was more than you could possibly handle. As if just by saying that you had heard her then and couldn't now was...