"How much will it cost?" Luffy gets right to the point. "I have a ton of money to pay! If possible, please make it super strong and then add some cannons, and make it go faster."

"Please also do some decorative remodeling on the exterior and some remodeling for the rooms, too," Nami adds.

"And maybe a tiny blacksmith area," I nervously raise my hand.

"Allow me to speak frankly, but your ship suffered significant damage," Kaku speaks up, and I miss the friendly smile that was on his face when we first met. "Your trip here must have been very eventful."

"Sure was!" Luffy grins. "We climbed a mountain and went into the sky! So please, repair her good."

"Will it take a long time?" Nami nervously ask.

"No, the truth is, even we, aren't able to fix your ship," Kaku answers.

My heart drops to my stomach at the news. These are the best shipwrights in the entire world. They are the ones who can fix any ship, yet, here is one of them standing in front of us saying that Going Merry's journey has come to an end. That she can't be fixed, even by them. I can't process this information, let along accept it.

Luffy's hand that is still interlocked with mine shakes for a second, and then he grips my hand a little harder. Nami lets out the tiniest sound of shock.

"Even if we patch it as much as we can, the probability of you making it to the next island is," Kaku takes a deep breath. "Zero percent."

"What!?" Nami and I blurt out.

"But we had been sailing perfectly all this time!" Luffy exclaims.

"Is something wrong with the keel?" Paulie looks at Kaku.

"Yes, it is severely damaged," Kaku replies.

My legs wiggle for a moment before I brace myself and push the astonishment deep down. "I'm sorry, but I don't know enough about ships to understand why Going Merry isn't fixable."

Luffy isn't nearly as composed as I've forced myself to be. "You can't fix Going Merry!? Why? Aren't you the best shipwrights in the world!? If its money that you want, I have lots!" Luffy forcefully pats one of the briefcases.

"That's not the problem," Kaku says. "The ship cannot be repaired no matter how much money you have. It's already a miracle that you sailed here safely with that ship," he tilts his head down just enough to hide his eyes with his cap. "I'm really interest about that."

"What do you mean?" Nami asks. "What's wrong with the Going Merry?"

"Please, what did you find?" I can barely get my voice above a whisper to ask this hard question.

"Do you know what the keel is, shameless girl?" Paulie calmly looks up at us.

"It's on the bottom of the ship," Nami answers.

"Correct. It's the support that goes from the head to the tail of the ship. It's the most important part of the entire ship. When you build a ship, you have to start with the keel, then the head, the tail, the spine, the rib, the pillar. Every piece of wood in the ship is put together with the keel at the center. That is the basics of ship construction. The keel at the center is the lifeline of the ship. If the keel is broken, you can't just take it off and put in a new one. Replacing the keel is the same as building a whole new ship! Thus, no one can repair your ship. Your ship is nothing more than a pile of wood waiting to be scrapped."

"Hey! How could you say that!?"

"But...Going Merry...she's been with us since the start..." I blubber out.

"I'm only telling the truth," Paulie shrugs.

"Then, just remake the ship from the start!" Luffy shouts. "Remake Going Merry!"

"That's not possible either," Lucci says through Hattori.

"Why not!?"

"While it is possible for us to build a ship that looks like yours, it's still not technically remaking the same ship. In this world, there is no two identical ships."

"What are you talking about?" Nami questions.

"Are there two completely identical trees in the world? And ships are built form pieces of wood. The size and shape of the ship depends on the wood. So even if we have the blueprint, we can't build an identical ship. Even if we do make a nearly identical ship, the one who will most strongly feel, 'This is not the same ship,' will be yourselves!" The pigeon points at us.

"So then, what you are saying, is that, Going Merry will never sail again?" I force myself to ask, but I don't want to hear the answer.

"That is correct," Kaku replies. "You can either take her apart now, or let her die and sink naturally."

I look up at Luffy, knowing that he is the one that has to make the decision as the captain. He's looking back at the shipwrights that have delivered the news with a slight frown on his face. His thoughts only for him to know at the moment.

"Hm," Iceburg speaks up. "The ship has lived out her life, but if you think of it another way. With your old one gone, you can buy a brand-new ship. You have the money for it, no? I heard about your ship's caliber. It's a very old model. The sea beyond this point is too rough for it even if she's not broken."

"No!" Luffy cuts him off. "I don't want a new ship!"

"Luffy..." Nami's voice fades away.

"Luff, you heard the men," I gently say, feeling my heart cracking as I even think about Going Merry's fate. "I hate it just as much as you-"

"Our ship is the Going Merry!" Luffy bellows. "If you just fix her, she'll definitely keep going! Plus, we sailed perfectly today! Who says she can't go on!?" He's reached the point of distraught that his eyes squeeze shut. "I don't believe you! You have no idea how strong our ship is!"

"Then you can just sit in that ship and sink with her," Iceburg says. "Lil' punk. You call yourself a captain?"

Luffy's eyes shoot open as he glares at the man.

"That's enough talking for today," he nods. "Think about it. Come back when you want to buy a new ship. With three-hundred million, you can easily afford the best ship we can make. Kalifa."

"Yes sir," Kalifa nods, pulling a catalog out of her binder and handing it to Nami. "Please reconsider. This catalog lists everything from secondhand ships to the newest in production."

"Iceburg-san!" A man's voice changes the direction of everything in an instant. "There are customers at the front door! They're representatives of the World Government again. Should I tell them to leave?"

The man that has stepped up to us is tall and quite muscular as he shows off his upper body by forgoing a shirt. He has black hair with one piece sticking straight out, a nicely trimmed mustache, and sunglasses that are hiding his eyes. He's only wearing dark grey pants that is a lighter gray around his waist, and a pair of black shoes. His upper body is covered in intricate tattoos with the ones on his chest being green and the ones on his arms being red.

"Hm, tell them I'm not here," Iceburg orders. "Also, did you comb your hair after your nap, Lulu?"

"Excuse me," Lulu reaches up to place a hand on the hair that is stick straight out of his head. When he pushes it down, it just pops up on the other side. "I'll tell them to come back at another time. Yes, that's what I'll do."

"Hold on a second, Iceburg-kun!" some man announces his presence, and it must be the guy that Iceburg was about to run from. He laughs like he's blowing out air. "I knew you would be here."

"Hey, you three, hide," Paulie warns. "They're from the government!"

The three of us grab a briefcase each before rushing around to hide behind the covered stack of wood. With everything that we've learned in the last hour or so, I can't even hear what the World Government representative is even saying. I'm only focused on the fate of Going Merry.

"We'll have to let everyone know the deal with Going Merry," I whisper. "We can make a decision as a group, but I don't like thinking of being without Merry."

"We'll figure something out," Luffy whispers. "Something is wrong with my briefcase though." He starts to weigh the three briefcases against one another.

"These guys are so annoying," Paulie grumbles. "What do they want with Iceburg-san this time?"

"It's none of your business," Hattori coos.

"Let's beat them up!" Lulu declares.

"Don't be a fool," Kaku says. "They're from the government!"

"What are you doing, Luff?" I ask, speaking a little louder as the voice of the government representative and Iceburg fade away.

"Huh?" Luffy's face is all scrunched up in confusion.

"What? What's wrong?" Nami asks.

"It's light," Luffy holds up one of the briefcases.

"Don't joke around like that," Nami nervously grins. "There's one-hundred million in there. How can it be light?"

With only one way to figure it out, each of us flicks open the briefcases. At the sight of two empty ones, Nami lets out a blood curdling scream that must reach every canal in the city.

"What the hell are you screaming for!?" Paulie explodes as he comes into view. The anger reaches a new level when he sees how Nami is sitting with as much leg exposed as possible. "Shameless girl! Why are you sitting like that!?"

"I'm going to throw up," I groan, focusing on the briefcases.

"Two-hundred-million Berri!" Luffy and Nami are on their feet as they scream at the empty briefcases. "Gone!"

"Hold on!" I jump to my feet, pointing at the emptiness. "Those briefcases aren't even ours!"

The three of us look at Paulie, but I can't see how he swapped out two briefcases. We've been with him almost the whole time since he was dragged back to return them, and they felt the right weight then.

"Hey, don't scream," Hattori waves his wing around.

"What!?" Paulie snaps. "I didn't take it!"

I snap out of my stupor with a shake of my head. "I believe you, Paulie."

"Then believe me when I say you should cover your legs with something other than socks!"

"I look cute, and you just can't take it!" I stick my tongue out at him.

"So noisy," Lulu scolds. "Hey, Kaku, weren't you with the Franky's earlier?"

"Hm?" Kaku looks up. "What are you talking about? I haven't seen them at all today."

"That's weird...I'm sure that I saw your long nose."

"Hey!" Nami bursts into the conversation. "Back up! What did you just say!?"

"That I saw a long nose guy with the Franky Family, and I thought it was Kaku."

"Usopp!" Luffy blurts out.

"That's where he disappeared to!" I slap my hands together.

"He's with the Frankys!?" Nami asks.

"More precisely, they were carrying him." Lulu pushes in on the hair sticking out on his head and it pops out on his mustache.

"Kidnapped!?" Nami turns her anger at Lulu into action by looking at Luffy and me. "Luffy, Akari, go find him!"

"We've got this!" Luffy declares, grabbing my hand.

"You can count on us!" I nod before Luffy and I turn and head out of the shipyard as quickly as we can.

"Wait!" Nami screams. Do you even know where to go!?"

"Luffy!" I shout as we skid to a halt before careening into the canal outside the shipyard. "We really don't know where we are going, and this city is huge!"

"All we have to do is find where the Franky Family hangs out, and that can't be hard," he turns to look at me. He's determined, and he's hiding the fury well. "It wasn't anywhere we've already been, so that knocks out some places."

"We haven't been to many places!" I frustratingly huff. "Neither of us have a map! If we get lost, they'll have to come looking for us, and we can't waste time!"

"Then let's go!"

I can't let him go off on his own, so I run with him in the direction that he wants. Except it doesn't take me long to overtake him. I've always been a little bit faster than Luffy. I'm even told that I crawled around faster than him. Then I started sneaking off to go on adventures with the boys, and I had to be able to turn tail as quickly as possible. The boys could only protect me from so much, so I learned to get out of danger in the blink of an eye. Now being fast comes in handy in a similar way, but I don't run from fights anymore. I use my speed to avoid the enemy, and to surprise them. If I could just get a little faster...

"Akari!" Luffy snaps me out of my thoughts as he pulls us to a stop. "I doubt he's still on this level! We need to get down to the ground level! And quickly!"

"What do you suggest?" I look over at him.

"Remember the dude that looks like Usopp? He just leapt right off the edge!"

"No!" My eyes widen as I frantically shake my head. "Luffy, we don't even know how he was able to jump mid-air to get to his destination. We're not going to learn just by jumping off a cliff!"

"I won't let you get hurt, okay?" He takes a step closer. "Even if we just fall straight down."

"This is a really stupid idea," I can't stop the smile from spreading across my face. "If I didn't trust you with all my heart-"

"Great!" He flashes a smile, pressing a firm kiss to my lips. Then he wraps his arms around my stomach, and then rushes to the edge before leaping off.

"What about a warning!?" I scream, tucking my head under Luffy's chin.

"The longer you think about it, the worse it would be!" One of his hands snakes up to cradle my neck.

"Can you please try to jump through the air!"

"I already did, and I can't."

"LUFFY!"

I'm fairly positive that I didn't pass out, but everything blurs together after I empty my lungs. Probably because I emptied my lungs. First, Luffy's back slams into the side of a building, sending a jolt through my body from the impact. Then, spectacularly, we flip around enough for him to crash into the pavement on his back once more. The next thing I know, I'm surrounded by water as we splash into the canal.

My eyes burst open as I look up at Luffy's shocked face already looking down at us. He's a rock in this water, so I have to try and get us to dry land before he sinks us both. With powerful kicks, accompanied by Luffy's struggling kicks, we burst through the water and quickly fill our lungs.

"Help!" Luffy screams the second he can.

"Please, anyone!" I am already struggling to keep both our heads above water.

"Luffy!?" Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper's voices fill my ears. "Akari!?"

I crane my neck to see the three boys on the sidewalk, staring at us. "Well, don't just stand there!"

"I'm coming, my darling!" Sanji declares, diving into the water. He surfaces on the other side of Luffy, wrapping his arm around the boy to take almost all the pressure off me. "Are you okay to swim to shore?"

"Yes," I start kicking.

It doesn't take long to reach the sidewalk, and then Sanji is tossing Luffy up onto it. Zoro holds a hand out for me, which I grab with both of my hands for him to pull me up. Sanji slaps his hands onto the pavement to pull himself up.

"Couldn't talk him out of whatever the hell that was?" Zoro teases as I slump against him.

"I tried, but then I thought, what the hell?" I softly speak up. "In the end, it worked out."

"What the hell were you thinking!?" Sanji is scolding Luffy, but he's also patting the coughing boy on the back to help expel seawater. "Akari could have gotten seriously hurt! Where did you even jump down from!?"

"I tried to fly down like the shipwright guy and find Usopp," Luffy gets out through his coughing. "Ah!" He jumps to his feet, still drooping from the sea's effect. "That's right. Usopp disappeared! He was kidnapped along with the money!"

"We know," Sanji motions Luffy forward. "Come! We're going to their place right now. Usopp got beaten and the money got stolen."

"Can you walk?" Zoro asks, holding me out with a single hand on my shoulder.

I take a deep breath, "Let's go."

Zoro grins, and then we start walking in hopefully the right direction. The only confirmation I get is the others following behind us.

"You don't feel hurt, do you Akari?" Chopper bounds up to be right next to me as he changes into his Heavy Point. "It looked like Luffy had a good hold on you, so you probably don't have a concussion. I mean, you didn't throw up, so that's a good sign."

"I promised Akari she wouldn't get hurt, and I made sure she didn't," Luffy says.

"That's true," I nod. "I felt a jolt rush through my body when we first hit the wall, but I think that was just the shock of impact. I'm feeling good enough to kick ass."

"I wasn't lying when I said that Akari is as tough as any man," Zoro says.

"I'll still do whatever I can to protect such a darling," Sanji gushes.

"Enough of that," I say. "I'm assuming that you three know where you're going, and that must be the Franky Family house. Are we heading in the right direction?"

"We are," Sanji's voice is serious once more. "Nami came back to the ship in a frenzy and told us everything. First we were going to find the two of you, and luckily you fell right into our hands. Now, we're continuing to get to Usopp, and then to the Franky Family house."

"I just don't understand why he wouldn't come get us to help him fight these people. Did you feel responsible and decided to go there alone? He's just one boy," I sigh.

"I think I see him," Zoro announces.

We all pick up the pace, heading off the paved path to a deserted area where a single patched together house stands in the distance. Before we can even think about that, Usopp is lying sprawled out about halfway to the house. He doesn't look good, and I can barely see his body expand as he takes in a breath.

"Is he still breathing, Chopper?" Sanji asks.

Chopper is crouching next to Usopp's head examining him. "Yes, he's alive. Even though he lost consciousness, he'll be okay."

I swallow the bile that threatens to climb up my throat as I stare at Usopp's bloodied body. I'm on my knees next to his head without thinking about it, and this close I can see the tear stains on his cheeks. "Wait here a little bit, Usopp," I whisper, leaning down to press a kiss to his cheek before standing back up.

Sanji lights a new cigarette, Luffy cracks the knuckles on both his hands, Zoro ties his bandana around his head,