One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter One Hundred and Six [Rewritten]

-Chapter One Hundred and Six-

"This is bad! I change my mind—I want to go back!" Usopp frightfully cried.

"Sorry, Usopp, it's too late for that—you know who's already excited" Zoro said, wrapping a comforting arm around my trembling form.

"Our fates were already decided the minute that rubbery idiot decided he wanted to go into the sky" I shivered, fear quick to grab hold of me as the weight of what was about to happen finally settled in.

"Let's go to the sky!" Luffy cheered, either ignorant or just choosing to blatantly ignore the sudden shift in mood in some of the others who now started to tremble with regret and fear. I flinched when a Sea King suddenly burst out of the water—its large, slim body pitifully squirming against the current of the whirlpool before finally, it crashed back into the water in defeat. Upon seeing this, Nami, Chopper, and Usopp's jaws dropped as they watched how the large predator disappeared into the center of the whirlpool.

"It's time for us to go" Masira waved as he, his brother, and their crew released our ship from theirs. "The rest is up to you now, good luck."

"Bye, guys, and thanks a lot for everything!" Luffy cheerfully waved back.

"Don't go!" Usopp whimpered, now clinging to Chopper as they began to cry.

"No one said anything about diving headfirst into a giant whirlpool!" Nami screamed as a shiver racked up my spine. Upon seeing just how close we were getting to the whirlpool, I felt my hand reach out and automatically grabbed a handful of Zoro's shirt. Balling it up inside my fist, I attempted to ground myself yet the trembling persisted.

"It's going to be alright..." he muttered, soothingly rubbing small circles against my back as he cooed gentle words of comfort into my ear.

"These lies are not comforting" I whined after a while.

"Well, what else am I supposed to say?" he softly frowned before blushing when I tilted my head back and stared up at him. Upon seeing his reddened cheeks as he embarrassingly darted his gaze elsewhere, I softly smiled with a breathless laugh. Despite my stomach currently doing summersaults and my legs feeling like nothing more than jelly, I couldn't help but feel somewhat calm at the moment the longer I stared up at him. "Well?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"Oh no! We're being sucked in!" Chopper loudly cried out.

"Don't be so unreasonable, Luffy! Let's go back while we still have time—don't you understand this Sky Island stuff is just a bunch of make-believe? It's not worth getting us killed!" Usopp cried.

"It's all make-believe? Is that what you think?" Luffy asked with a sudden seriousness to him that would send shivers down anyone's spine.

"Usopp's right, I think it's a really bad idea" Nami nodded, tears now streaming down her face.

"It may be a stupid dream, but I have to try" Luffy said, turning to face the two with wide, glossy eyes that currently sparkled with eager excitement. "It could be our greatest adventure!"

"So bright..." I squinted, my smile growing at the sight of just how ecstatic our captain was. If it wasn't for the fact that there was a high chance of failure, I probably would have basked in his excitement along with him...but then again, heights have never really been my thing outside of certain circumstances.

"No, it's too late!" Nami wailed.

"Instead of wasting your time bickering, you all might want to look" Zoro frowned, pointing ahead of us.

"What do you mean?" Usopp asked.

"It's sucking us in" the swordsman bluntly responded, bringing notice to the fact that the ship was now being sucked straight down toward the center of the whirlpool.