COAST - Luffy x Reader

67. Goodbye Going Merry

Safe to say, this one needed its own chapter.

Rest assured, too, that I will be writing a LOT of fluff and happy-feelies after this. I can only listen to my 'sad-vibes' playlist too many times before it loses effect lol.

Anywho... This one is pretty short today! Trying to make things easier for myself with the business of Summer. Plus, I've been chipping away at a little side-project for a while now, and it's finally coming to fruition? So... A big announcement should be coming pretty soon.

Happy reading <33

—

"Well, then... Are you guys ready?"

Sparkling flecks of vivid orange glitter along the surface of a calm, cool ocean. Alone, bearing a torch and standing firm aboard a dinghy, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates holds steady in reverence. He resists the crippling twinge of misery that climbs from chest to throat.

The Going Merry's figure silently regards him with a latent smile.

A few paces behind are his crew. The rowboat we share, alongside Luffy's dinghy – offered by Galley-La Company – permitted us to stand with the Going Merry, sharing her waters in what was intended as the vessel's final moments. With the towering galleon at our backs, all onlookers would not be privy to whatever was said below. Our farewell would be as intimate as we could've hoped for.

Cloud-bundles are tied with shining ribbons of sunset-hues. Slightly overcast, every passing minute renders the sky dimmer. It's quiet, save for the mellowed rush of waves as they connect with ships. Perhaps the ocean was grieving, too.

The Merry's head dips, body slanted after it split in two, lowered to the water. Her expression reflects there, almost pondering.

Zoro and Sniper King parallel my figure, the whole line of Straw Hat's stew in gloomy inevitability. Myself seated on the boat, Ivory props himself up onto my legs, tail limply dangling to the floor. He was quiet, too.

There's no major speech to give. All of us, as a unit, have already accepted that this is the right option... Facing her last day on the open seas, our friend was deserving of the best send-off we could offer. She was the one member on our crew that truly made us who we are; the glue that held us together.

"Yeah." Cigarette crumpled between his lips, Sanji murmurs the words, and blows a line of smoke.

"Yeah..." Chopper whimpers – the only other member who can find a response – tears dribbling down his face.

One last time, Luffy scans across the Merry's battered, scraped, and worn-out physique. Sights drop to the crevice at the very base of her frame, a sharp 'v' in place of where she'd split into halves.

Torch lowered, the splintered remnants caught aflame in an instant.

"Merry... I know the seabed is dark and lonesome, so we'll watch you to the end." A trail of flame lines the cracks of her paneling, spreading like wildfire. "Maybe it was good that Usopp wasn't here. There's no way... That he could bear this."

Voice veiled by the popping, crackling fire, Zoro speaks softly; "What do you think?"

Red-hot and searing, the fires wisp around the Going Merry's old boards, a marr of sooty scarring in their wake.

"I disagree." The goggles on Sniper King's mask flicker in the warm light, hoarsely maintaining the facade of his made-up character. "We must all say our farewells someday... This is a man's parting. Not even a single tear must be shed."

An obtrusive sizzle – The torch is tossed aside, into the sea.

"Luffy knows... What has to be done."