Steel Heart

Ch 52 - Legacy

To the surprise of both Akamai and Nana, the islanders were happy to pitch in and help Nana build her ship. The mechanic couldn't tell if it was because they were just that good-natured, or they just wanted to see how her ship would break from the harsh waves during shaka time.

They had taken a day to build a ship. It was a caravel smaller than the Going Merry and Nana had built a masthead of a mermaid and used two coconut shells from the island for the bra. She named it the Camie. Nana figured if the mermaid brought her and Sanji together once, she can bring them together again.

Akamai was generous enough to even load the ship with fruits and fish to last her at least three full days. Nana prayed it would not take that long. She also built a beehive box, out of the wood of a coconut tree, and caught a few of the blue bees so that she could harvest the wax.

Nana hugged Tavi goodbye and gave him a small ship in a bottle to remember her by. It was an exact replica of the Camie. "We'll probably never see each other again," she said to him, "As it'll be almost impossible for me to come back."

She felt a lump in her throat and she gritted her teeth. Shit. I hate goodbyes.

"But anything is possible, sister," he replied with an infectious grin.

Nana dug into her pocket and held up the two shells that he had given her. "Yes, anything is possible," she smiled back.

Nana and Pygmy climbed aboard the ship and she waved goodbye to the islanders. "Thanks, old man!" she called to Akamai, "You've been very generous!"

"We'll see you soon, sister," he laughed back, "Mother Sea will return you to us soon enough."

Nana scoffed as she raced around the dock to get ready to set sail. "We'll see about that."

She took out Rayleigh's Vivre Card and held it in her palms for direction. Guys...I'm coming! Wait for me!

She tightened her fist and got the ship ready for sailing. Soon her and Pygmy started to sail forward out to sea and they had not been in the water for more than 5 minutes before it was shaka time. Large waves rose up in front of her and started to reach out to the Camie, like Mother Sea was using them as fingers to grab the ship.

"Ahhhh! Sister!" she could hear Tavi call out from the island but Nana was not worried.

She raised her glove towards the wave and turned her dial. "Nana Special!" she roared, "Sea Wave!"

The burst of energy, mimicking the frequency of the sea, rushed out from Nana's glove and hit the wall of water directly in front of her. Suddenly, the wave leveled off, while the waves around it continued to surge. It created enough room for Nana to sail forward and as soon as the ship passed the wave, the gate of water shot back up like nothing had happened

"I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" Nana shouted with joy. She continued to keep her hand in place as they passed wave after wave like that. Her glove pinned the water down with its energy.

Pygmy barked behind her as he ran in circles on the deck. "We're going, Pygmy!" Nana shouted as soon as they got far away from the island and away from the jurisdiction of Mother Sea. She turned her glove off and then ran to the ship helm. She pulled out Rayleigh's Vivre Card and adjusted their direction, "We're going back to Sabaody!"

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Nana and Pygmy sailed by themselves for two full days before getting to the archipelago. When the mangrove trees came into view, Nana felt like crying, laughing, and cursing at the same time. She didn't know what would be waiting for her when she got there. Was she the last one to arrive? Would the marines be waiting for her? Was her nakama in danger?