𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 ➳ 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐭 𝐒𝐞𝐚 (one piece fanfic)

Chapter 108

Somewhere beyond

"Hello Konan." The voice was soft and gentle, a stark contrast against the vast darkness of the surroundings.

Konan pushed herself up, noticing in that split second the lack of pain in her body. "Am I dead?"

The small child standing mere feets from her shook her head with a small smile. "No. Not yet at least." She turned around, skipping over to a large screen, pushing it in Konan's direction. "Your body is badly damaged though."

Konan only frowned, taking in the scene—Shanks held her close to him while confronting Garp and Sengoku. The tension could be felt even through the silent screen.

"Will they be alright?" Konan couldn't help but ask, the tip of her fingers fluttering over the scene before she turned away toward another screen showing Ace and Luffy unconscious, bleeding out.

"Shanks or your brothers?"

Konan glared at her before answering, "all of them."

With all the innocence of an omniscient god, she simply shrugged, "Who knows." When she saw Konan merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow, she answered with a small pout, "Don't worry, Shanks can easily deal with the aftermath, as for your brothers, they are in good hands."

After a beat of silence, F smiled, "Are you enjoying your new life?"

"I-" Konan paused, staring at the different screens, all showing different people she had met, helped or antagonized. A wide array of faces she would have never encountered without this new life. Sabo was watching over his brothers. Dragon's fingers drummed against his desk as he watched the broadcast of the war, the rest of the revolutionaries standing by his side, along with Robin. Hina was trying to make her way through the battlefield to reach her. In some dark shadows, Big Mom kept an eye on the events while Kaido nursed the wounds inflicted by Shanks. Whitebeard's crew were beginning to retire from the battlefield, protecting the body of their captain carefully but keeping an eye on Konan.

Some other screens showed civilians, watching with bated breaths the culmination of this war. Some she recognized, others she didn't.

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity." She was truly thankful... It had not been an easy life but it was one she mostly enjoyed. Although there were plenty of times she struggled to breathe and keep her head above water, there were other times when the warmness of life made it bearable to keep on living.

F nodded in silent understanding. She sat down on the transparent floor, swiping her finger left and right, moving the screens to her will till they all showed different unknown scenes—undiscovered islands, unnamed people. "Do you want to continue this adventure?"

"Of course, why wouldn't i?" Konan smiled, it was an easy choice, she hadn't seen Luffy become the Pirate King yet.

"Won't be easy." F glanced at Konan's arms pointedly.

"It's alright, I knew what I was getting into," Konan grimaced... "Will you continue watching?"

"Maybe..." F shrugged. "Maybe."

Konan felt her eyelids become heavier and heavier, the last thing she managed to see was F's back, standing further and further away, alone in the darkness of the void. Alone as always. Unimaginably powerful and yet inexplicably lonely. That was the description she remembered from over a decade ago, when she first met the unknown being. It seemed to still hold true. Why else would such a being meet her, twice.

Konan woke up with a start, panting heavily as her heartbeat resounded loudly in her ears. Her pupils took a moment to adjust as paper wings instinctively formed around her, forming a protective shell.

She was still alive, she wasn't in jail, she wasn't tied down. Her arms were—bandaged. Her breath heavened out, her heartbeat fading back to normal as she took in her surroundings.

When she tried to push herself up with her arms, she immediately crumbled back down.

There was a familiar herbal scent overwhelming all her senses. It didn't take long for her to connect all the dots. It took even less for all her recollections of her earlier meeting to come back to her. She was still alive.

"Your arms are in a pretty nasty state..." a voice she recognized as Benn's commented. "Wouldn't recommend putting pressure on them for now, Hongo said you'd be lucky if you could even move them."

"Thanks I guess," Konan replied, gauging her chakra reserves. They were pretty much back to full capacity. "Would Hongo kill me if I wanted to move right now?" Apart from the excruciating pain coming from her arms, all her other injuries were bearable, nothing she wasn't used to. Some old wounds had opened back up but Hongo had done a good job of dealing with them.

She felt stuffy in the small room, the pungent smell of disinfectant reminded her of old memories in no need of excavating.

Benn hummed with no small amount of interest, "Well who knows, you could always try, it would sure be fun to watch."

Konan nodded, papers pushing her up till she could seat with a groan. "How long was I out of it?"

"About two week I would say," Benn answered, "The world thinks you're dead though."

That made her wince, "How troublesome." There was a lot to gain from going under the radar once more, but at the same time, she didn't want the people she cared for to be mourning and grieving her. "Why would they even think that?" Paper arms carried her up till she was standing, half leaning on them.

"Shanks told them so in order to calm things down before taking you away."

"And they believed him?" That was laughable, how could the Marine have fallen to that state...

"Probably didn't want another war on their shoulders, so they pretended to accept it, that way no one would lose face."

Konan hummed, trying to put more weight on her legs little by little till she wasn't wobbling anymore and could stand somewhat straight.

Benn patiently waited for her to regain some semblance of control over her body. He couldn't wait to see the face of the crew as she walked out.