I wasn't enjoying the mini party because I had sustained too many wounds from my own battles. I had been able to run on my own, but that was about it. My hand had been broken so badly it the bone felt like it had been completely shattered, but the ocean was healing it just fine. At least, I was finally able to move my thumb again. The rest of my fingers could take some time.
I scanned the shoreline in boredom. Off to the left was my pirate crew's ship, the Going Merry, docked at a bay not too far from Cocoyashi Village—I'd say about half way between here and there. To the right, Mohmoo, a giant sea bull that Lucy had defeated in the battle for Nami's freedom, floated with swirly eyes, signaling his unconsciousness. And directly in front of me, headed for the pool that led into the demolished Arlong Park, was a large Marine ship.
I blinked. Marines? What were they doing here? A vague memory of a rat-faced captain getting beat to a pulp by an angry Marimo popped into my head, but I frowned and shrugged it off. I was in too much pain to do much of anything right now, and my captain, Monkey D. Lucy, and my other crewmates could handle themselves just fine.
"What the hell are you doing, idiot?" a familiar voice said. "You should join them in the celebration. Plus the Marines are coming. We'll need to beat 'em up."
My eye twitched and I turned myself around to see none other than the before-mentioned Marimo scowling down at me. His real name wasn't Marimo, of course. It was Roronoa Zoro, better known in the One Piece world as the bloodthirsty Pirate Hunter. In real life he was an idiot.
"Those morons can handle themselves just fine," I voiced my own thoughts. "And I'm healing myself."
"Healing yourself?"
"Just go with it, dude."
He raised an eyebrow skeptically and shrugged. "Whatever. But you'll miss out on the fun."
My eye twitched some more. He was right. Beating the hell outta annoying Marines was pretty fun. But at the same time, my hand bone was in a simply unacceptable state. I waved dismissively with my good hand. "Nah, you go on ahead. Stab some mofo's for me, will ya?"
"Sure. ...What's a mofo?"
"Don't even ask."
His scowl deepened, but he nodded and walked off.
By now the Marine ship had docked at the demolished Arlong Park, and the celebration had been abruptly cut off. A minute later, however, a person in a white Marine captain's getup hightailed it out of there, screaming in a high-pitched voice, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS! I'LL MAKE CERTAIN OF IT!"
I grinned evilly and sent a wave to dunk him under the ocean. Then I lifted him up on a different wave and sent him to the nearest island I could sense—although I couldn't really sense an island, it was just like a major disruption in the surface of the ocean. Hell, for all I knew, it could be a storm.
My detection range was vastly increasing.
"Hey, Yuril!" said Lucy's voice. I blinked and turned around. There she was, peering down at me from the wall of Arlong Park. "Come join us! We're exchanging fight stories!"
I thought for a moment and flexed my hand. To my surprise, I was now able to move all four of my fingers (technically, the thumb is not actually a finger). I grinned and nodded. "Alright! I'll tell you all about mine then!" Something else hit me, something I had forgotten until now. "Oh, and I also wanna tell you what I was doing before we arrived at Arlong Park."
"Yosha! Come on, everyone's waiting!"
I climbed out of the sea, up onto the coastline, and jogged to the rectangular pool with her. Nami, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp were already there, waiting patiently. Patiently except for Zoro, that is. The green-haired swordsman was scowling into the pool.
"What the hell was taking you so long, Yuril?" he complained.
"I told you, I was healing myself," I grumbled.
"EVERYONE!" Lucy shouted. "STORY TIME!" She grinned like a little kid and sat down Indian style. We all looked at each other, shrugged, and sat down.
Sanji started off with his fight against Gorilla Chest, a fishman with enormous muscles (hence my nickname for him) and protruding, webbed elbows whose name turned out to be Kuroobi. He explained how he'd battled him underwater and was nearly crushed by water pressure until he realized that fishmen's lungs would be useless in the ocean, and that covering their gills would force them to surface.
Zoro told us of his fight with the six-sword style user, the squid fishman Hatchi. He won by cutting his opponent's swords up in a huge twister created by a new attack.
Usopp explained how he almost backed out of his fight with the long-mouthed fishman Chew, but realized that if he did that, then he wouldn't be able to feel like he could sail or laugh with us again. Lucy was reduced to giggles when he told us about all the 'Usopp Hammers' he bestowed upon his opponent.
I hesitated before detailing my own fight against the demigod fishman Fennu. Fennu was another child of Aeso I'd been forced to face off against because he'd been corrupted by greed. They were pretty shocked to hear of another demigod of the sea out there.
"Will there be other demigods, too?" Usopp whined, crying anime tears.
"It's a possibility," I confirmed.
"You had to battle with hellhounds?" Sanji inquired, raising his curved eyebrow (I couldn't see his other because the entire left side of his face was hidden by his blonde hair). "But I thought they were just myths!"
"I thought gods and demons were just myths, too," I said. "Yet here I am a daughter of a god and fighting against demons. Oh, and I was at the oracle goddess's house earlier today. Her name is Lady Vestionora and she gave me this sword, Raising Blue."
"That sword is cursed," Zoro muttered darkly.
I blinked and looked down at the sword, which suddenly seemed to weigh a hundred pounds. "Um... sorry? Did you say it's... cursed?"
"Yeah. I can feel it."
I decided not to argue. If anyone knew swords, it was Roronoa Zoro.
"So that's what Vestionora is?" Nami asked. "A goddess? I wondered what she was. She never appeared human the few times she came out of her castle."
"Yup. Besides the sword, she also gave me a prophecy: From the east/Across the sands/Above the clouds/Before the gates/Into the shadows/Through the land/Under the seas/With one plus eight/The sun shall rise at break of dawn/And the ember ejected from darkness's yawn ."
As before, at Lady Vestionora's shop, a strange wind blew across Arlong Park.
"Darkness's yawn..." Nami frowned. "That doesn't sound good."
"What the hell?" Lucy whined. "It's a riddle? I hate riddles! Can't understand them. Plus, they tell what the future is about, and I want the future to be a surprise! If you know the future, then that takes all the adventure out of it!"
I raised my eyebrow. "So... tell me why you want me to be your psychic, again?"
"... You're awesome!"
"Geez, thanks," I deadpanned, but was secretly pleased and smirked at Zoro, who raised his eyebrow. Nami blinked and got a devilish grin on her face, making me sweatdrop and back away a little.
"Got any ideas on what it means?" Sanji asked.
I rubbed my chin. Actually, now that I was thinking about it, I did have a few. The first seven lines sounded like the original One Piece story arcs, except for the sixth, Through the land. I wasn't sure what that one was about. Maybe the Red Line? Anyway, the only line that really bothered me was the eighth, with one plus eight. Why did it say 'eight?'" The original Straw Hat crew had nine members, if I remembered correctly. Would I somehow cause one of the original crewmembers to not join? Or maybe prevent Usopp from rejoining after the events at Water 7?
"I got nothin,'" I lied.
"Oh well." Lucy giggled. "Come on, everyone! There's gonna be a big party! You did hear those villagers talking about it, right? There's gonna be a humongous party! Let's go!"
Usopp grinned. "Captain's orders!"