She Came From Outta Space... I Think?

Can You Hear The Bells? Singing Hello

Zoro laid down on the stony stair case of Mihawk's castle. Out of all the places he could turn up, it had to be the man he was destined to defeat.

The swordsman's wounds from Thriller bark were still healing, but had recovered enough for him to start training again. Even if that pink ghost pest wouldn't stop bothering him about all her hard work.

"Hey Greenie meanie,"

Speak of the devil.

"Huh?" he cracked open an eye, staring at the large sheet of paper that Perona shoved in his face.

"Straw hat pirates, that's your crew right?" she asked. Zoro sat up, cringing slightly at the pain in his abdomen. Perona dropped the paper into Zoro's lap, the front cover of the news stared back at him.

"Whitebeard, emperor of the sea has died." he read out loud. What did that have to do with-

"Not that you dolt." she pressed her finger on a smaller spot on the front page. Zoro's eyes followed and...

"No..."

Staring back at him was a small photo of Tani's wanted poster. Beside her wanted poster was a photo of Luffy standing with his hat to his chest, a bouquet of flowers at his feet. The headline underneath them... Spoke of...

"It's impossible!"

Zoro's jaw clenched so hard it hurt. The wounds from Thriller bark ached from his failure as a first mate... His failure as a friend. To protect the weakest member on their entire crew!

The swordsman stood up, ignoring the pain that jolted to life with the jerky movement. Perona was quick to complain. Zoro didn't care.

He had something he needed to do... Whether he liked it or not. The fate of his crew would depend on him taking this seriously.

He couldn't lose another important person in his life... Not again.

Wado felt heavy on his hip.

"What are you doing?! You'll open your-"

"Shut it Pinky," Zoro snapped, pushing open the doors to the castle.

He had a master swordsman to talk to.

...

Nami stared at the cloud farms with fascination, taking notes on how Usopp could improve on the clima-tact, when they meet up again.

The weather wizards were planning a course for Sabaody, in order to drop Nami off. The old men were very kind to her, even if she came off rather rude when first meeting them.

"Looks like Whitebeard kicked the bucket," one of the wizards said solemnly. Nami perked up at the name, that was Ace's captain.

"The war really did change the course of history. Imagine all the territories that Whitebeard held... That's gonna make our job a lot-"

"Oi, mind if I take a look at that paper?" Nami asked, though she'd already snatched the paper out of his hands.

Sure enough, the front cover was Whitebeard, standing in all his glory. The headline declaring him dead.

Nami's heart sank, poor Ace. Luffy wouldn't be happy to hear about his brothers grief that's for... What's that?

Two photos one of Tani, the other was Luffy. The navigator read the headline, then the paragraph of text. All the words seemed to say... That Tani was... That she...

That's not possible, she can't be!

Nami's eyes watered, tears threatening to spill. Nami's arm covered her eyes. She had to look away.