Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 35: Merry's Tears and Sunny's Smile Part 1

Everyone was celebrating and cheering at such a tremendous ending to the fight. It was one that none of them were likely to forget in a hurry, and it was just as amazing as the ending to the other fights in the past. Like Crocodile or Eneru... this was one for the record books.

Though there were still a few of them that weren't as happy about this turn of events as they should've been. Though pleased and proud of seeing Luffy pull out a win, Zoro was deeply unsettled by all of this. He had always known that Luffy's Gears—especially his Second Gear—were hard on him, but he had no idea until now just how dangerous they were for him.

If what Chopper said was true—and he'd bet one of his swords that he was—then Luffy was slowly destroying his own body by using these techniques. Sure, Lucci's didn't do Luffy any good, but those Gears of his only seemed to have made most of the damage. While he was glad to know that Luffy's Gears don't hurt him nearly as much as they did back then... he still had bad feelings about them.

He wasn't the only one who was worried; Robin was biting her lower lip anxiously, remembering just the kind of shape that Luffy had been in when they were forced to flee from Enies Lobby. And Chopper was pulling so hard on his hat that he might've torn it if he wasn't more careful. He looked like he wanted to start scolding Luffy for how reckless he was behaving here.

Because the little reindeer knew that it was true what Lucci said... Luffy could be shortening his own life for a few minutes of strength. It wasn't worth it to him. As for the Luffy they were watching right now, he was breathing almost painfully now. He seemed to be on the verge of passing out, judging from the way the memory flickered and faded in and out.

"All you have to do now is escape right?" Brook asked anxiously, more than ready to see them leave Enies Lobby behind them. "You have a boat, everyone's on the bridge, and all of CP9's defeated! So you just have to make it to the ship and escape the rest of the bombardment."

"Yeah, but like with everything else, it sounds simple in theory," Sanji hissed, "There was one thing we hadn't counted on."

"And what's that?" Brook asked nervously, wondering what in the world could've gone wrong when they were so close to the end.

"You're about to find out in a minute," Zoro said, grinding his teeth together. Brook still looked confused and scared here, but at that moment they could hear more screaming going on from the speakers. But these screams were different. They were jubilant and full of excitement as they cheered for Luffy...

And then they heard a familiar voice shouting out above all the noise, "Way ta go, Straw Hat!"

Brook recognized that voice. "Isn't that Zambai?" he asked.

"Yeah, those losers," Franky said, his nose starting to run and tears welling up at the memory of finding out that his bros and sisters were alright. He'd never forget that awful moment when he heard the Marines broadcast, saying that everyone else on the island was dead... he was going to kill them someday for making him worry about them.

Paulie's voice then began to start shouting as well. "You morons keep it down! Everyone can hear us!"

"It's a little late for that," Sanji smirked as Chopper cheered happily.

"Who cares?! We want them to know!" Zambai informed him and then screamed out, "Alright Big Bro!"

"You guys..." current Franky sniffled before he turned away and began to sob unrestraint when he heard the other members of the Franky Family screaming out for him as well over the speakers.

"Stop it! They still think we're dead remember?!" Paulie yelled angrily at them all. "You're gonna blow it!"

"Dead?!" Brook cried out in shock.