Ameliorate ✦ One Piece

45

"Are we dead?" Cries and wails echoed in the darkness, pitch black nothingness as far as the eye could see. "Oh my god, this is the afterlife! We're all dead!"

"We're not dead!" Akira yelled at him. She knew he was somewhere beside her. It was where he'd been when they went in moments ago, and it was where his voice was coming from. Which was why she felt confident in smacking her hand to the right, hoping to get him to pipe down. Only what she hit seemed a lot firmer.

"That was me," Zoro deadpanned in the darkness.

"Sorry," Akira apologized with a small sigh. "Okay, Usopp's alive-"

"Am I?"

"Shut up," Akira didn't have patience for the dramatics right now. "Zoro." She tapped her hand against what she now suspected was his chest before moving it away and reaching for the other side in the darkness. "Sanji?"

"Right here," his voice came moments before her hand bumped against his, Sanji seeming to work better in the darkness as he took hold of hers once he was sure he had it.

"Okay," Akira nodded. Of course, there was no reason they wouldn't be there, but she was still relieved to know it for sure. "Nami?" She called out into the darkness, ignoring the eerie feeling as her voice echoed back to her.

"I'm okay!" Nami's voice called back. "I'm just... stuck!" She explained. "I don't think I should be trying to get down from here if I can't see anything!" Akira could hear the slight tremor in her voice, and couldn't help but agree. The idea of getting down from the slick figure head without any clue on where to step or hold on to seemed like a nightmare.

"Don't!" So she instructed the navigator. "Just hold on! We'll figure it out and come and get you!"

"Make it quick, yeah?" Nami pleaded.

"How exactly are we meant to help her when we can't see a single thing?" Usopp questioned dubiously, voice quieter than Akira's yelling one.

"If you piped down long enough to let me think, maybe I'd come up with something," Akira snapped back at him, eyes glaring off to the side, though she couldn't be sure she was actually looking at him. Not that it mattered as silence filled the space again, giving her some time to focus as she thought through the layout of the ship. "Usopp, did you put the lanterns back on deck after cleaning them before Loguetown?"

"Oh, yes!" And now there was a new lack of doom and gloom in his voice as he remembered the detail. They didn't need to traipse around in blackness for all eternity, they just needed to make it down some stairs to the main deck.

"I'm on it," Zoro didn't waste time in taking the task upon himself, not at all worried about the darkness in which Akira could easily hear his footsteps as he began to move.

She listened as they grew further and further away, noticing the change as he seemed to start down the stairs while the rest of them could only wait. She really wished that she could see right about now, but even as her eyes instinctively widened as if that would help, there was nothing but sound to go off of.

At least until a small spark of light below caught her eye. Their lanterns weren't much, and while it didn't stretch so far for her to be able to see well on their own deck, the silhouette of the railing in front of her was enough to give her the confidence to move over to it, careful steps moving along the wooden floor until her hand reached the railing, allowing her to lean over and look down to Zoro who was already lighting the second lantern.

With some light to finally help them get around, it wasn't long before the whole group was gathered together again at the front of the ship, Akira and Zoro holding up the two lanterns while Sanji and Usopp helped Nami climb down from the figurehead and back to solid ground. Something that seemed to bring the navigator a great deal of relief once her feet finally hit the deck.