Chapter 378
378
That's the reason for Going Merry's sudden design change.
From far the ship looked nothing like the Going Merry. It still had its same layout and design. But the similarities ended there.
Gone was the white elegant design with furnished wood. Now the ship was painted black and red, and with its metallic design and the front part sporting a large dinosaur head, that covered the front portion of the ship, with a rib-cage going along the keel of the ship. Giving it a look that didn't even remotely look close to the Going Merry.
Well it did kind of resemble it, but almost an edgy-version of the Going Merry. If one looked closely, the ship's original sheep-head and other design was still intact, but hidden to give it the look.
'I think the ship was happy or something,' Luffy mused, 'I am pretty sure I saw our ship's Klabautermann, wearing sunglasses with a cape, posing quite dramatically after its redesign… well, it looked cute rather than anything if I'm being honest…' Luffy chuckled remembering how panicked she was when Luffy saw her, 'Yup, she's definitely a Straw Hat that's for sure.'
Unknowingly the ship now looked a lot similar to Victoria Punk, Kid's ship. However it was half of its size. With this, any outsiders would think of it as a random pirate ship.
Well, that was their main goal to begin with. Luffy had discussed it the night prior, the Going Merry needed to go incognito.
There were several reasons for this as mainly the crew would need to split in Water seven. Primarily because, Luffy and a few of the members will need to go to Marineford.
Right before Water 7 there was a sea-train station, and one could catch the sea train to go to Enies Lobby. From there one can easily go to Marineford. And Luffy wanted to use that way to get to Marineford.
No need to bring his crew or his ship there with him. Not yet at least.
So while one group would go to Marineford, the other would go to the Water seven to recruit Franky and patch up any damages to the Going Merry.
And seeing as Luffy wasn't on the ship, if Saint Camael has people in Water 7 (which he most probably does) he will try to attack the ship like he did before in Drum Island. That's why last night Usopp, Anchor, and those of the straw hats that were available, went and did a lot of modification of the outlook of the ship.
That's why even the Straw Hat flag wasn't flying above the Going Merry. Just a plain skull as the Jolly Roger. It kind of looked a bit bland for his taste, but oh well.
.
"This feels like Alabasta all over again…" Luffy said, with a helpless smile on his face. While the crewmates he left behind in Alabasta were sad, the people of Skypiea were much more sadder.
"Well you are their heroes," Sabo said with a smirk on his lips, as he rested Stormforge on his shoulder, "You know this happened to me before a few times, when we liberated a few countries with revolutionaries. Almost every time, people act this way… this… in a way, reminds me of why we fight the good fight. Why we do what we do…"
Luffy looked back at him and nodded, "Yeah… you are right," he said with a smile, "Even though it's a bit too much, I still prefer this to when we first came here. They were literally scared of their own shadows."
Sabo gave a grim nod. Even when Enel was beaten, the people of Skypiea took more than a few days for them to accept the news. So for most of them, they were still traumatized by the experience.
Sparky who usually had a cheery expression was a bit down as well. He was going to miss Skypiea, mainly for the great snake Nola and other animals he had befriended over the stay.
Speaking of Nola, the great snake was also looking at the crew with sadness in his eyes. But unlike before he wasn't the massive snake. Of course, he was big, but was comparable to the average snake, —maybe a bit larger— thanks to Usopp's powers.
The snake liked the size change a lot, as this made him easy to travel through the Golden City and do other stuff that he lost when he gained his massive size over the years. The snake had bonded really well with Usopp, and Sparky. So he would miss them.
Speaking of Usopp, the sniper was crying his eyes out for his followers and Nola. Followers as in the kids that had posters of him and were also crying for him. Over the past few days, many people (mostly children) from Skypiea had talked to Usopp about his great stories and adventures.
Some kids even went as far to declare on joining the Straw hat crew one day. Especially kids from the Shandora tribe, they were a tribe of warriors after all. And for them, the Straw hats were the greatest warriors to ever be seen.
It wasn't just Usopp either, even Kuina had a down expression on her face. She was quite popular with the kids as well, due to her showing and teaching a few kids that got up the courage to get pointers from her.
Zoro had joined in on teaching as well, when Kuina wasn't around to train the kids, and roughed them up into shape. So he was going to miss them as well.
The Going Merry started to sail in the White Sea, with Nami's instructions while most of the crew grieved over leaving the sky island.
Robin, Chopper, Bepo, Bartolmeo, Penguin and Sachi stayed on the port while waving the crew off. Even Momoo, the sea king was poking his head out of the water to wave at them, they were a bit sad that they had to stay back. But still, they wished for their crewmates' safe journey.
"Be ready everyone!" Nami shouted as she navigated the ship into the white sea. Before them was a huge fall, that would take them down to the blue sea.
There were other safer ways to get down but where was the fun in that.
"Everyone hold onto something!" Luffy said with a grin as he sat on the ship's figurehead. On top of the giant skeleton that covered the sheep-head of the Going Merry.
The crew hurried as they held onto anything to keep themselves stable. And like that the fall happened.
"Woooohooooo!" Luffy cheered over the sound of his crew's panicked screams. The Merry flew off the end of the ramp, staying airborne for several seconds, enough time for the entire crew to float away from the deck. Just as they began to fall, Luffy gave the order, "Do it Usopp! Anchor!"
Both the black-smith and sniper did their part as a giant red hot air balloon grew above the ship's sails. Ropes tied down the hot air balloon to the ship, as the ship got fully air born.
The crew tumbled to the deck, with a unified groan and complaints. While Luffy looked at the work balloon design of the Going Merry.
"You guys are really awesome! Shishishi…" Luffy said to Anchor and Usopp, who both sported grins on their faces.
Other than the hot air balloon above, there were also two bone-like wings on the side to navigate through the air as the ship traveled forward.
Of course, the hot air balloon wouldn't last for too long. Only around two days, but with the added wings and the crew's preparations it would be enough to cross at least two third of the distance towards Water seven.
Sanji had already started using his powers passively on the ship, making it move a lot faster in air without any resistance. A large fan made out of hardened maple was on the back side of the ship, pushing the ship forward.
Nami had gotten a lot better with her powers, unlike others she might not be training her body, but her devil fruit was a logia. One that was unique in its qualities. That's the reason why she chose to focus on her fruit powers rather than anything else. The giant fan behind the Going Merry spun, pushing the floating ship forward as it traveled through the sky.
"Amazing!" Coby said, looking down at the endless sea. From up above everything just looked different.
"It is…" Gin nodded.
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