In the calm of the sea currents, the Straw Hat crew stood in awe, watching the light of the surface move ever further from them. Luffy was stationed at the front of the boat, scanning the surface, searching, waiting. Finally a movement caught their attention and they saw Lucia coming towards them, completely surrounded by a bubble similar to the one now covering their ship. She slowly approached them and, very gently, put her hand on her bubble so that it would merge with Sunny's bubble and enter the ship's space. The operation lasted a few seconds and very quickly, the young woman was on the deck with them, her bubble disappearing, swallowed by the ship's skin. Without hesitation, Luffy threw himself into her arms once more, having not had enough earlier. Lucia did not hesitate and returned his embrace. Neither of them shed any tears this time, they were smiling, happy to be together again. Luffy had wrapped his arms around her waist many times, preventing her from running away if she wanted to. She laughed a little and he finally let go of her. Then, in a gesture that surprised her, he grabbed her bracelet and pulled it off his wrist to hand it to her, smiling.
"I- Okay I wasn't expecting that... I wasn't going to claim it you know..."
"Yeah, but I'm thinking that until a few minutes ago I didn't even think I'd be able to give it back to you... it was inconceivable, so now that I've got the chance, I realise that I'm pleased."
Lucia smiled, moved, and took back her jewel, which she turned between her fingers for a moment. The inscription inside was still there, scratched and a little faded in places, but it was there. It was not a jewel of great market value, but to her it was worth all the gold in the world. She slipped it gently onto her right wrist and had to admit that she was glad to have that familiar feeling again.
"Thanks for keeping it for two years..."
"Oh I didn't do much, Jinbei gave it to me when he told me you were dead and then I kept it with my hat."
Knowing that he had elevated this little accessory to his precious headgear made Lucia's heart swell with pride and she smiled fondly. She looked around the ship and was surprised to find a canvas bag sitting in the corner. She sighed and walked over to it. It was hers, she shook her head and laughed:
"Let me guess, Ray put this down when he came to give you directions to the ship?"
"Yes," Nami admitted, "but I completely forgot it was there. Is this yours?"
"Yeah..."
"He must have known you'd go with us," Robin answered with a smile.
"No doubt," Lucia muttered, "he's always been one step ahead of me, it's annoying."
"What's in it?" asked Chopper, curious.
Lucia smiled and opened the bag to show them the contents:
"Mostly clothes and survival supplies, a lot of research work too. I've spent the last two years learning a lot."
Usopp grabbed a sheet of paper that was sticking out of a book and unfolded a huge, partially completed sky map:
"Woaaaah this is amazing, did you make this?"
"Yes," she confirmed. "I've been fascinated by the stars ever since I was a little girl and I've always wanted to be able to see the sky at a glance. Unfortunately the data we have on Sabaody is quite limited and even in these two years I only have a fraction of what it has to offer. This is also one of the motivations that drives me to travel. I won't be able to see much if I don't move myself."
"That's for sure," agreed Nami.
"That's great," said Franky, "we have two cartographers now, one for the seas and one for the sky! That's great !"
Luffy looked at Lucia's documents and smiled as he recognised a shape drawn in a corner:
"The eagle."
"Do you remember it?"
"Of course," Luffy murmured. "You'll be the best astronomer in the world, Luce, that's for sure!"
They exchanged an affectionate glance. Zoro, on the other hand, had been attracted by another bundle of sheets that had escaped from the young woman's bag. She looked at the papers he had grabbed and smiled:
"It's rudimentary, it was at the beginning when I needed to diagram and repeat the movements after training."
They were sketches of small figures wielding a sword and detailing the steps to reproduce the moves. Zoro glanced at the sword on her belt:
"This is not the same weapon as before."
Lucia put her hand on the cold pommel of the sword and smiled:
"No indeed, I just got it. I'll have to master it in turn."
The swordsman smiled:
"If you feel like having an opponent, I'd be happy to fight you. You had a hell of a grip on the other one from the Navy."
"Thank you, but if you don't mind, we'll wait, I don't want to burst this freshly created bubble."
"Speaking of bubbles," Robin continued, "you came in one of them, right? Can you materialize them?"
Lucia stood up and waved her hand to create a thin film of thick, slightly soapy, spongy water:
"I spent almost all my years on the archipelago studying coating bubbles and playing with watery elasticity to make the best combination I could. My work was never bad, on the contrary, but it was not perfect. For a year now I have been able to materialise this structure at will, the same structure that is covering your boat at the moment."
"So you can swim freely in the ocean?"
"Yes," confirmed Lucia. "This protection prevents me from drowning and I can go into the depths once protected. But I'm still subject to a certain lethargy and my body mustn't cross the bubble, otherwise it's ruined and I have to act quickly, if I don't have the reflex to produce this protection, I'll drown. So I might as well say that in the current situation, I wouldn't be the first to rush out."
They continued to talk for a while and if Lucia was still a little afraid of being too much in this crew, she eventually felt comfortable. They were easy to get along with and talking to them was a real pleasure. They gave her a small cabin that was previously unoccupied. Lucia decided to take some time to sit down and get used to being here. She unpacked her belongings and put them away. She put the book "The Key to the Starry Sky" on her desk and was surprised to see something fall from the last page. It was an envelope with her name on it. Intrigued, she grabbed it and sat down on her bed to open it. She immediately recognised Rayleigh's handwriting.
Lucia,
If you're reading this, you're finally away from Sabaody, and that's good. You need to move on and have your own adventures instead of living your father's, mine or Luffy's by proxy.
I took you back almost ten years ago. Ten long years during which I have seen you grow up. You were one of the most beautiful things that happened to me in my life. Not only were you the last remaining part of my best friend, but you were also a little spark in my miserable retirement.
I did lie to you a little though. I told you that Roger wasn't sure if he had a child. That's not true. In reality I also know who your mother is, she sailed with us for a few years at most. She was a good woman and you are very much like her. Roger was found of her. He would have given her his whole life but things were different, you know better than anyone what I'm talking about. The fact is that one day Roger received a letter from your mother. It was a short letter and it contained a pendant, a small turquoise stone with 'Lucia' engraved on it. Roger was overjoyed. He came straight away to tell me, I had never seen him as happy as he was that day.
At the time I didn't quite understand why a child could bring so much happiness to someone, but I was happy for him without a doubt. Today I regret so much that he didn't know you. He would have been so proud of you and he would be even prouder now. The second I saw you, ten years ago, when you stepped off that Navy ship, I saw him in you. You have your mother's face, there's no doubt about that, but you still have your father's character and look, for anyone who knew him it's obvious. You are a good woman, Lucia, and you aspire to be a great person. Even apart from this "D" thing, I'm speaking as a surrogate father - if you'll allow me to call myself that - you're going to turn the world upside down.
I know you're scared, that the world scares you more than anything else because you have trouble finding your place in it. But you don't have to look for it, Lucia, you have to create it. Make your place for yourself and never doubt your right to exist. No matter what the Navy says, no matter what the pirates say, you have the right to be where you are and you have the right to be loved as you should be. It is not you who needs the world to exist, Lucia, it is the world that needs you to heal itself. Whatever your future choices on these seas, I know that you will take the path that resembles you the most and in which you can finally realize your dreams. Know that you will have my support no matter what.
It took me years to find you, far too many years. You don't know how much I felt when you told us everything you had been through since your mother died. I was ashamed of myself. I never told you. I'm sorry. I should have found you before all this. But in the end, I dare to believe that this ordeal will have built you up and then finally, you had the opportunity to forge your first real family. To find your family in the person of Ace.
You have often asked me if everything was already written up there... I still don't know, but I like to think that you are shaping the future. You are writing it and shaping it. I can't wait to see the world once you have fulfilled your dreams. In the meantime, the Sabaody will always be open to you, and so will the door to Shakky's bar. I will miss you Lucia, as an assistant to work with but also as a protege. I will be waiting for you.
Take care Lucia, think of yourself and live fully, you are surrounded by beautiful people you can trust,
I love you,
Ray.
Ps: There is an eternal pose placed in the inside pocket of the bag, it points to the archipelago wherever you are. You never know, if you feel lost, you know how to get home.
Lucia sniffed and wiped her eyes in a rage:
"Ray... you bastard..."
She cried for a while in her room, upset by these words that she had never heard from Rayleigh, who was never really expressive about his feelings. And yet she knew that every letter was thought out, every syllable, every sentence was sincere. For a few minutes she regretted having left, she had a crazy desire to go back, to go back there. Then she remembered that this was not what she wanted, nor what he wanted either. So she just smiled and folded up the letter, put it in the envelope and put it in the corner of the desk, placing the eternal pose she had gone to get from the bag on the paper. The pose was surrounded by a wooden base with "SABAODY" engraved on it, and the trembling needle pointed desperately to the surface. She ran her hand over her eyes one last time to wipe away the few remaining tears:
"I love you too, Ray. I love you too."
When she emerged from her cabin, she discovered a rather intriguing scene. The ship's cook, Sanji, was hooked up to half a dozen blood bags while the entire crew was having an improvised meal. She went down to join them. Franky announced that he had something to tell the rest of the crew. Lucia took a seat on the grass and lay down on the ground, her eyes fixed on the ocean above them. Franky glanced at her:
"You know what I'm going to talk about, right?"
"I have my own ideas on the subject," the young woman replied. "But please go ahead, I can add details it if you need to."
Franky nodded and began to tell the story of how their ship, the Sunny, had been the object of multiple attacks by the Navy who wanted to take it. Hachi and then Duval had been seriously wounded while defending it at the risk of their lives, they had to give up. And finally another warrior had intervened. Bartholomew Kuma, the Warlord. Franky explained that when he had arrived in front of the Sunny a week ago, he had found the pirate in front of the ship and had simply stood up after saying that his mission was over. The boat was intact. He also transcribed the part of the story Rayleigh had told him. When he had dispersed the crew two years earlier, Kuma had approached the ex-pirate and explained that what he wanted to do was to save the Straw Hat crew and that ejecting them from the island was the best solution. In reality, Kuma was part of the revolutionary army and he had saved their lives that day. Since then Kuma had become a laboratory test and had become a cyborg. He had just obtained a promise from the one who had completely modified him: to protect the Sunny until one of its crew member returned. That explained Kuma's presence in front of the Sunny until then.
"So far, does it match your version, Lucia?" asked Franky.
"I have nothing more to say about it. All I can say is that when Kuma kicked me out of the archipelago too, he said some words I'll never forget. "I'm sorry. I have to maintain my cover as much as possible now. You are the one who will help me do that. But if it's any consolation, they're all safe. This is goodbye, The Elementalist Lucia.""
"Maintaining his cover?" Nami wondered. "Towards whom? The Navy?"
"That's what I deduced too. I came back to the archipelago six months ago, Ray asked me to go and take a look at the ship after he'd put the coating on so I could check it out by myself. I couldn't get near the boat. Kuma was defending him tooth and nail, so I argued with him. I'm not a member of your crew so I wasn't part of his mission. I think Kuma knew that his actions would be viewed with suspicion by his superiors. I wasn't part of his plan, but I was a sort of guarantee against myself. Kuma willingly sent me to the outskirts of a Navy headquarters to deliver me into their hands and reassure them of his cooperation as a Warlord. He sacrificed his humanity, but to the end he wanted to protect you. Whether this has anything to do with Dragon or not, I have no idea, but you all owe him that much."
"I agree," Franky continued.
The carpenter finished his story and the whole crew nodded. They were stunned by the story he had just told them but they had to keep going. They were more than 1000 metres deep.
"It's very quiet," said Robin. "It's very different from what you feel when you're in a submarine, it's like flying in the sky."
Lucia smiled, Robin's reflection reminding her of the long weeks she had spent in the Pirates Heart Polar Tang:
"Yes... I agree," she confirmed. "It's very relaxing. Almost hypnotic."
She loved being underwater, she was sure. She had never been so calm as when she was surrounded by water. And the sea was beautiful. It's so cruel for devil fruit eaters to be deprived of this sight because of the fear of imminent death that it inspires.
Usopp broke their peace by announcing the imminent arrival of a ship heading straight for them. Within seconds, the hull of the oncoming pirate ship collided violently with the Sunny's, throwing everyone off balance. They straightened up and discovered a row of pirates, ready to board the ship and take possession of it. The crew immediately set about avoiding them and fleeing the ship, but their adversaries were not letting up.
"They want to merge the two bubbles," said Lucia.
Lucia put a hand on her sword, ready to fight, as did all the other members. With a leap, Caribou launched himself onto the deck of the Sunny, but he could not be followed by his crew because their sea cow fled and dragged the ship away from them. The Straw Hat pirates immediately let the tension drop, realising that they had only one opponent and that he had not noticed anything. Very calmly, he was tied up with a rope and the incident was over.
Soon the temperature of the water began to drop as they sank into the depths. Lucia gave them a briefing on the underwater currents, supplemented by Nami, Brook and Franky who were well informed.
"Lucia, you can't influence the underwater currents I suppose?"
"No, that's just it, the strength of these currents is insane and it's sea water after all... I can feel them but that's all. If we get close to a current that's too dangerous and leads us into the abyss, I'll warn you, no need to panic."
"Great, I'm much more reassured to know that you're with us," answered Usopp, kneeling down in front of her.
"Ah... by the way," Lucia remarked. "We're entering a current, here we are."
"It's the Feather," explained Nami.
"Yep, hang on, it's going to move," said Lucia, laughing. "It's a gigantic waterfall!"