high_seas | Mayhem at Malihini

As far as I've been able to tell, he's still a Marine admiral. Even though the Navy here doesn't seem to want help with their law-enforcing, the Marines still aren't pirates like us.

[he bends down to wet his fingers and then cup a little of the water. Yep, it does taste fresh and untainted. Perfect.]

I don't know what to expect, but I reserve a right to say 'I told you so' if he appears on the opposite side as us someday.

[Elsa nods as she mulls it over for a moment.]

Even if the Navy isn't interested in receiving help from people brought here by Davy Jones, I could see him still considering the pirates from his world as part of his jurisdiction and responsibility. I can't say that I know him, but if the ideals I saw in him during our conversation hold true, I think that at best he won't come after us until we cause trouble on purpose. Though I don't see how that could work, handing us to the Navy would risk his own neck and I don't think he could maintain all of us as prisoners locked somewhere until the situation is resolved.

[She shakes her head falling silent for a moment. She could understand Aokiji's position and she respected and admired it even. It wasn't the same as with others who failed to see the reality, he didn't seem to be that kind of man. But she really couldn't see how it could work out, for how long those ideals could support him in this world. Not engaging in actual piracy? That was easy, no one was aiming a crossbow at them to force them to do so. Actually retaliate against other crews and try to maintain his jurisdiction over those from his world? Hardly possible.]

Zoro, what do you think will happen when all the shards are found? With the way the situation is, the shards are most probably going to end in different hands. Without an idea of how the wish granting will work, don't you think that it's possible that it will all end in an all out war among the crews of people brought here?

[he lifts his head, at that.]

War is one possibility. Unity is another. It depends on the minds of the people who all end up with shards. I think, right now we're all just assuming that piecing the jewel back together and wishing on it is the one and only way home, but nobody's proven that there's any other options. So, willing or begrudging, if the captains don't think they have the strength to take on all the other crews, they're gonna have to ally instead.

If the map's right and there's one here, it'll be the first one I've seen. Dunno how big it is or how many more are out there, but something tells me it's no easy task.

[The jungle is quiet and the river is nice, Zoro is content to sit down in the long grass at the water's edge and relax for a bit. Elsa is clearly intelligent and already thinking of the crew's good, he finds her pleasant company even if the subject is serious.]

I hope that it's here and that we can find it, maybe with one of our own we could study it somehow and discover something new. Or at least confirm the extent of its power. Right now we don't even know if the wish the legend talks about is one per person who holds the jewel or if it's possible to make a general wish like "I wish that everyone who doesn't belong to this world returns to their right place".

[The thought makes her voice die and a shudder to go through her as she shifts, looking at the stream in silence. Her right place... What would happen to her if such a wish was possible? Arendelle isn't for hers anymore, she has nowhere to go, no right place. Would she be left behind in this world? Alone?

Solitude never bothered her. But after being able to be herself, free and still not be alone it will be hard to get used to it again.]

[He glances up at her, sensing that there's something behind that little twitch. But he doesn't press.]

No, you're right. We're taking an awful lot on trust, here. We just have to keep moving forward, and see what comes of it.

There might be people here who don't want to go back, too. It'll be tricky.

[he already knows of at least one. No one in their crew, but even so...]

[She nods at his first words but falls silent at the next ones. Did she want to go back? No. What for? There was nothing in Arendelle for her anymore, all she had was the north mountain and her ice palace, and she could remake her palace anywhere else. If she's going to be alone, what's the difference here or there? It would be better to stay here, there she would still be under the risk of someone chasing her, finding her by chance or on purpose. And what then? The only thing that would wait her would be a dungeon... Or a fire pyre.]

I do not want to go back. Or rather, there's nothing for me to go back to. All that I have back in the world I come from is an ice palace that I made, and which I can remake anywhere whenever I want.

[As proved when they found the island she was in.]

Still, rather than who may wish to return or not, there's another kind. Did you see it? A message from someone insisting on people giving up the shards and destroy them or hide them away forever.

Someone who doesn't want to return won't have anything against those who want, so long as a way for them to not be affected is found. But that person didn't seem to be like that.

[A cold look sweeps through his eyes for a moment]

Yeah. That guy. If he stands in our way, or attacks anyone to try to get their shards, I'll kill him. It's one thing to find a way for people who want to stay to stay and who want to go home to do so, but it's another to just destroy any chance at even having a choice.

Until someone can prove there's another way to get home, that's no solution.

[He would never force anyone to do anything against their will, but in the end, his interests are selfish - he wants to get the Straw Hats back home, to get Luffy to the end of the Grand Line and see him become Pirate King. Nothing else will get in the way.]

I agree. As I said, I don't want to go back, but I don't wish to stand in the way of those who want to. If it comes to it I would prefer everyone returning, even myself, rather than trapping everyone here. Or at the very least, that the members of this crew would be able to return.

[Most of them had dreams, things they wanted to achieve back in their world, that they couldn't achieve here or that just wouldn't be the same. Celestia had a country to rule, a sister to return to, Pinkie Pie had her friends... If worst came to be, how could she stand in the way? How could she force a delay or difficult in any way their return just for her own selfish reasons? The answer is simple, she can't do that.]

I can understand why the shards and the jewel would pose a threat, to this world and any other as well as to all of us. But I can't approve of sentencing everyone to being trapped here just because of a "what if". However, the point stands, that even before all the shards are gathered, this quest already sets us at the opposite side of someone else. And if one is able to think that way, many more may come and share that idea.

Mm. That's something we can't know until it happens. It's good to know the possibilities, but there isn't much point in fretting about it. We'll know what to do when the time comes.

[He looks up and around, then, at which way the river is flowing. The sea would be that way, right? That means the ship. Sure, they can just follow the river back to the ship even though there wasn't a river anywhere near the ship before. Details!]

I guess we should report back on what we found.

[He has a point and Elsa nods accepting it. But worrying is something she does way too naturally to simply stop. It was the worry and fear of hurting Anna what kept her isolated for so many years. Unlike that fear this is a very real thing that is already occurring, but the sea is vast and it's possible that they would never even come to cross paths with that person or others who thought like him.

She moves slowly, standing up once more at his next words.]

Then, should we redo the path we did or follow another one back there?

Uh. [that is a very good question for the directionally-challenged]

I guess it depends on if you wanna see if our kitty friend managed to thaw himself out or not.

[She chuckles a bit.]

If it has and still wants to attack us I could immobilize it again. But it's probably better to go through another route, it may also help for when we start the search for the shard.

[Make them more familiar with the area and such. Or at least make her so, since Zoro will probably not pick anything.]

[Nobody needs him treasure-hunting, no, he'll be lost in the jungle for days.]

Hm. Yeah, that's a good point. All right.

[and without even consulting whether it's a good idea, he just starts off following the river, assuming without proof that it leads to the sea]

[Elsa pauses for a moment as he starts to follow the river, but ends following him deciding that it's a direction as good as any other to find another path back to the ship. She will give directions if they get too far in the wrong direction.]

So, do you know for how long has this crew been in this world?

[he's mostly concentrating on beating a path through the trees, but he has room to chat]

...eh. I didn't ask how long they'd been here before me. A couple months, maybe? And I've been here...uh. A few months myself. [totally lost count] Feels weird.

[Well, that's a really helpful and specific time frame. Elsa smiles a bit anyway, clearly either he doesn't care about time or he just lost count.]

You mean that it feels weird to be here? Or that they were here before you?

All of it.[something he hasn't really talked to anyone about, lately] I'm from the same time as Robin, more than two years past where most of the rest of 'em came from. If they'd all disappeared on us back then, we would have noticed, but it's like it never happened. But here we are.

Wait, so you didn't know they were taken here? Were they still with you back in your own world when you were brought here?

[She knows that there must be a powerful magic at works regarding bringing people here, but that's just... Way too strange.]

[he's quiet for a moment, trying to reconcile what he actually knows about his crewmates' whereabouts]

There was a bit of time when we got split up. But I don't know if they came here during that time or not. I know I didn't.

If it's okay to ask, for how long were you split exactly?

[Maybe they had come here during that time, if it was more than the amount of time they have been in this world it could work. Except that then...]

But wait... No matter for how long, you were with them before coming here, right? Wouldn't they have... Commented on this place if they knew you were going to end here because of how the came before?

[ow, Elsa, don't hurt his head with all that thinking]

...yeah, I was kind of wondering that myself. So something's gotta be up, with all that.

But it's no secret. We spent two years apart, all of us.

Two years is a good enough cushion for the time being here... But that would still not explain the rest.

I suppose that the magic that worked to brought us here does more than just rip us from our worlds.

[A pause.]

Unless they figured it useless to give you any warning since they knew that everything would work out?

[It... Could be possible, not wanting to ruin the adventure or something? Luffy doesn't seem to her as the type who would want to have all the information even if it's for his advantage if it ruins the adventure.]

[he grunts a negative sort of noise as he pushes tree branches out of their way]

They wouldn't do that.

[though, he has his doubts. The same way none of them have talked about where they spent those two years, is it possible they wouldn't tell him? There's no way to really know.]

Guess it's just a mystery we have yet to solve.

Another one to the pile.

[There's a soft humorless laugh on her part.]

This world really doesn't want us to be bored.

[She falls silent after that, focusing on the walk and finding the silence just as good as talking. Talking non-stop would be more Anna's thing, as many questions as Elsa may have, they eventually run out or don't come to her mind at the moment, so she's prone to just be silent after that happens without trying to force further conversation.]

Mayhem at Malihini

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