[X] "My goal... no, my dream... is to become strong enough that I never have 'no other choice' again. And I will stand by that, to continue living a life I can be proud of. Suck on that, Contessa."
[X] Write in... Have the whole crew carefully move Garp's hammock to a dingy and cut it loose. He can drift until he wakes up and then row to shore, and by then well be long gone.
[X] "My goal... no, my dream... is to become strong enough that I never have 'no other choice' again. And I will stand by that, to continue living a life I can be proud of."
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Sanji dragged a barrel onto the middle of the deck under Luffy's watchful and eager eye. "This is where we'll make our vows to the sea," Luffy said.
Garp, who was busy sitting on the Bast's figurehead, snorted, but the rest of the crew all seemed to take the moment seriously.
Taylor had no idea what Luffy was on about, which was pretty typical all things said and done, so she decided to just play along. It didn't help any that the Bast was being thrown from side to side by a freakish storm that Nami had been predicting for a while now.
Luffy patted the top of the barrel. "You put your foot on this, then you make a promise to the sea, and then we drink to it before tossing the rest into the water. It's a tradition!"
The others all moved up, hair being whipped this way and that, clothes plastered to their frames by rain that shifted from horizontal to vertical at a moment's notice. Luffy was the fist to put his foot on the barrel, heel-first. "I'm going to become king of the Pirates!" he declared.
Taylor looked over to Garp, but the big man just crossed his arms and huffed.
"I'm going to become the world's greatest swordsman," Zoro said, his foot joined Luffy's.
Nami was next, and for some reason she was wearing heels. "I'm going to make a map of the entire ocean!"
"I'm going to find the All Blue," Sanji said as he moved his foot onto the barrel.
Sogeking moved up next, shoulder bumping against Sanji's as he stayed close. "I... I am going to become a b-brave warrior of the sea!"
Kay was next, she pinched her tongue between her teeth as she moved her leg up, then leaned against Sogeking for balance. "I'm going to marry my childhood sweetheart!"
Sanji held onto Sogeking when his eyes rolled back into his skull. A quick smack upside the head from Zoro woke him back up.
Tashigi shifted nervously on the spot until she looked over to Garp. The Marine gave her a nod. "I... I'm going to find all the great swords of the world, and I'll free them from the hands of villains!"
"I'm going to be an awesome pirate!" Bartolomeo said as his huge boot thunked onto the barrel.
Taylor felt the peer pressure rise as a few looked her way. She sighed. It was silly, but seemed harmless enough. Then something tugged at her leg and she looked down to see a soaking wet Queenie glaring up at her.
[Place Avatar Queenie upon the container.]
Taylor lifted the cat-erpillar and hung it off the side of the barrel, one paw flat on its surface.
[Queen Administrator will Prevent the Heat Death of the Universe... with Host.]
"She said that, ah, she'll prevent the heat-death of the universe," Taylor translated. It earned her a few looks, but she doubted that even half of the crew knew what entropy was and now wasn't the time to explain.
Taylor's booted foot clunking onto the last free spot on the barrel. "I'm going to help my... friends. And I'm going to become strong enough that I never have 'no other choice' again."
Their feet rose as one, then came crashing back down, the top of the barrel exploding apart into big chunks.
Sanji was quick to move in with some mugs which he passed around.
The alcohol was nice and warming, which was good, seeing as how the rain turned cold. Then they were at the foot of Reverse Mountain and any worries about hypothermia were replaced by much more poignant fears of crashing to death.
***
Yes yes, we'll get to the actual action in a moment. I feel as if that last few chapters have been heavy on the rails with your choices meaning surprisingly little to the overall plot. This is uncool, but we're stuck in a bit of a plot rut for a tiny while.
[] Pet the whale
[] Don't pet the whale you monster
[] Mutiny and turn the ship around
[] Write in...
That giant whale they run into right after climbing the mountain in canon that has a dude living inside him. Lobo? Lando? He died in canon so hopefully we can change that
