Maki slowly opened her eyes, her body aching from the fall. The sun was bright, the sea breeze cool. She sat up, confused, as she looked around at the huge white ship and the strangers staring at her.
"What just happened?" She was, by all means, supposed to be either in a hospital or lying among utter ruins after she—at least what she believed—passed out once Sukuna was defeated.
"But that can't be a dream, can it?" she doubted it.
"Maki," a familiar voice drew her attention, and an even more familiar boy came, kneeling beside her. "You're awake."
"Yuta." She blinked in confusion. Suddenly, encountering nothing but sea and clear blue sky above her, she thought this must be a dream. Then she remembered the domain of that squid-looking special grade curse spirit.
However, seeing Yuta here, that couldn't be the case.
She looked at him sharply. "Where… where are we? What happened? Last thing I remember… didn't you beat Sukuna?" she asked. Though she knew he did, her current surroundings looked too surreal, and she began to doubt her own memories.
Yuta scratched the back of his head, a little nervous. "Yeah… about that. This might sound crazy, but… we're not in our world anymore."
Maki blinked, repeating his words silently to herself and pondering whether she had misheard him. But when it became clear that her ears weren't at fault, she raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
This was the last thing she wanted to hear. Did that Sukuna bastard have powers to do this? Sending them to another world?
"This is the world of One Piece," Yuta said. "It's a completely different world. I've been here once before, during the Marineford war."
Maki stared at him, stunned. Why did this boy suddenly make no sense? Well, not that he always made sense, but today was exceptionally confusing. Did all that power he used against Sukuna fry his brain? She knew there had to be some kind of backlash.
"One Piece… you mean that anime? Are you serious?" She gave Yuta a ridiculous look that said, "I'm not falling for this. You better come clean."
She knew One Piece, barely... it was pretty famous in Japan. Even someone like her, who didn't give two shits about anime, knew about the series.
"I wish I was joking," Yuta sighed. He knew this would be troublesome to explain. Why the hell did she have to come here with him? More importantly, how did Maki even know this was an anime?
Wasn't she supposed to be the hardworking super girl who technically shouldn't have time to watch anime or read manga?
"I'm… what they call a world traveller. I don't fully understand it myself. But sometimes, I end up in another world. It's not under my control most of the time—when I travel or where I travel. But I always travel alone. This is the first time someone got dragged along with me."
Maki frowned, clearly struggling with the idea. She couldn't sense anyone familiar around, and if this was a lie, it was too ridiculous to be a joke. "Please tell me you read the manga," she muttered.
"I did..." Yuta smiled. That was rather quick and effortless to make her believe. He doubted she truly did, though—perhaps she was just accepting it to avoid the nonsense.
"So you believe me?"
"No... but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."
"But it's the truth. This world is full of pirates, marines, and people with strange powers called Devil Fruits. The ship we're on belongs to Whitebeard—one of the strongest pirates here. I helped save them last time, so they trust me."
"I see."
"Aren't you taking this all in too easily?" Yuta was now a little worried because of her lack of reaction.
"Believe me, nothing surprises me anymore..." she sighed, like she no longer wished to explain whatever was on her mind.
Maki looked around, watching the sea and the massive ship again. Everything felt too real to be a dream. "So… we're stuck here?"
Yuta nodded. "Until I'm somehow teleported back again, yeah. I don't have control over it. I was here a year ago, in this world's time."
Maki looked down, quiet. Then she gave Yuta a side glance. "This explains a lot. Some of the insane powers you used… and your sudden disappearances."
"Yeah... that was mostly world traveling. I just pick things up from everywhere I go."
"So my world is not your world, is it?" Maki asked.
"Yeah, I came from another one. Sorry, I should have told you all before, but it's a tough nut to digest, as you can see," he sighed.
"So, where are we exactly?" Maki asked as she got to her feet. Currently, she had the same kind of power Toji once had. She might not be his size, but this girl was beyond dangerous. A little dimensional travel was nothing to her. She was already on her feet.
It didn't take her long to get used to the place—or to Yuta's description.
"Sorry, I didn't wish this to happen. My fault..."
"Don't bother. It's not like I have somewhere to go back to in Japan anyway. If anything, I appreciate a little time away from all that madness."
"You think that was madness? Then you certainly don't know One Piece beyond just the name of the anime." Yuta couldn't help but shake his head at this.
"Hey..." Yuta said, and when Maki looked at him, he hesitated whether he should even ask.
"You said there's nothing to go back to? What about Mai? Is she—?"
Maki's expression immediately darkened. Her face alone was enough to give Yuta his answer.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. She chose to die. It was her choice."
Yuta was more confused by this but didn't bother asking more.
"Let's go and talk with Whitebeard. The old man's probably grumbling about how the others are looking at us." Yuta noticed how the other pirates aboard the Moby Dick were eyeing them. They gave him space to talk with Maki, but their eyes never left him.
"Sure. There's nothing else to do," Maki shrugged and stood.
---
"Brat... be my son..."
"What?" Maki turned to Yuta, and he just sighed.
xxx
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