"Thank you, little girl, thank you so much." Granny He, frail and wrapped in layers of robes, adjusted her presbyopic glasses resting low on her nose. Her frame was thin, and she looked kindly—too kindly, given the wreckage around her.
"Thanks? I told them I shouldn't have come to Loguetown, but Barto and the others insisted—this must be divine punishment! Oh heavens, what a sin! Look at your forehead, little girl. Here, I'll teach you a recipe. Find some clean cloth, wrap some ice—"
"Granny, please step aside." Vivi gently nudged her. "You go rest, alright? You've helped enough. You're too old for this."
Vivi prided herself on her capability, and Karoo the duck was loyal to the bone. But five injuries? Five! She herself had just dodged death. This kind old woman, with only dusty glasses and tattered sleeves, had survived a shipwreck on a floating island—no Haki, no Devil Fruit, not even a weapon! It was either luck, madness, or something else entirely. She briefly wondered if the granny was some sequestered master from East Blue. But… no, that couldn't be.
After much effort, Vivi finally dragged Karoo out from a pile of shattered wooden boards. The duck was unconscious, his webbed feet limp.
She collapsed in a heap, soaked in sweat. Her sky-blue hair was caked in grime. Her right arm throbbed, her left knee swelled purple. But they were alive.
While saving Karoo, she'd managed to rescue others too—Johnny and Yosaku among them.
"Johnny! Wake up!"
"Yosaku! Your captain Zoro's here!"
The ragtag bunch of battered pirates and one duck stirred. Vivi slumped onto a shattered plank. Beside her lay her rapier "Huazhou" and a katana she'd found lodged in a beam—clearly no ordinary blade. Her eyes glazed, thoughts racing for a plan.
No sign of the Golden Lion. That maniac didn't even try to stop them from regrouping. Either arrogance or madness. Or both.
She peeked over the edge of the floating island—so high the clouds floated below. Ten thousand meters? Maybe more?
One Piece's physics had always been absurd. Enel flew to the moon without a space suit. Vegapunk's balloon-powered robot made it to the stratosphere. Could they jump and survive?
Vivi sighed. "Karoo… could you… maybe glide?"
"Quack?!" Karoo looked over the edge. He stretched his neck and immediately jerked back, wings crossed into an "X". No. Absolutely not. This was suicide.
Vivi massaged her temples. "Too much to ask, huh…"
Johnny and Yosaku, despite their injuries, were still helping civilians. Thanks to Vivi's quick actions, many merchant crews had survived. The rest weren't so lucky—bodies floated among shipwrecks, blood mixing with splinters. Most died from the collision when Shiki's island plowed through the fleet.
"Huh? 'Old Fan'—why are you here?" Vivi blinked at the sight of Van Augur, the former Blackbeard sniper now traveling rogue.
They may have been enemies yesterday, but in chaos like this, grudges felt trivial.
Van Augur—dubbed "Old Fan" half-mockingly by bounty hunters—wore only tattered rags now. His velvet sniper cloak was gone. His glasses intact. His precision rifle still gleamed, not a scratch on it.
He gave Vivi a complex look but kept quiet. Instead, he pointed to a valley up ahead. "No idea why, but that lunatic's focused on the Marines. We got dragged along. They might know more."
"The Marines are here?" Vivi blinked. She hadn't seen them during the battle—she'd been below deck trading war stories with Johnny and Yosaku. Maybe they'd been tailing the ships from afar?
She glanced at Augur. He had no intention of moving. Civilians were gathered nearby. Vivi had no choice—she'd negotiate herself. First priority: find a Den Den Mushi. Preferably with access to someone powerful. Smoker, Garp, or anyone with a brain.
In the col below, Marines were scattered—wounded, bleeding, confused. Not a single white cloak of justice in sight. Just one civilian-looking woman sitting alone.
Vivi squinted. That girl's palms bore thick sword calluses—evidence of serious kenjutsu training.
"Hey! Is this your sword?" Vivi called, holding up the ornate blade she'd recovered.
The moment "sword" was said, the woman's eyes snapped up. Sergeant Tashigi, known for her obsession with famous blades, had been unconscious until now—beaten by Shiki in one hit. She hated how weak she'd been.
"That's… that's mine!"
Vivi tossed the blade. "Tashigi, right? Sergeant of the Roguetown base? I've heard of you! Where's Colonel Smoker? Did he come too?"
Vivi remembered Smoker's Smoke-Smoke Fruit. If Enel could ride a ship into space, Smoker could surely drift down as smoke. He could even carry civilians if needed. She, a weak noblewoman and a flightless duck, needed help desperately.
Tashigi's answer crushed her hopes.
"Colonel… Colonel Smoker got captured by that flying freak…"
Her words had the tone of a disciple reporting her master's defeat. Vivi's brows twitched. "Then where's the transponder snail? You have one to contact Marine HQ?"
Tashigi muttered, "The colonel had it…"
Vivi groaned. Smoker, you reckless oaf…
She needed options. Could she train Karoo to glide like Pell? Use sailcloth to make a makeshift parachute like Guo Jing in old Wano folklore? Or should she contact Cobra in Alabasta and have Pell fly up?
Before she could decide, a voice bellowed nearby.
"Women! Always worrying! Navy's honor doesn't fall with weaklings like you! If HQ soldiers can't do it, then watch my men from the 153rd Branch! I used to be blind to justice—but now, if that golden-maned freak comes back, I'll split him in half with my axe!"
The voice belonged to Captain Morgan—axe still bolted to his arm, pride twice as sharp.
Vivi blinked. "You again?"
He bared his teeth. "This is our battlefield now! Marines don't beg for help. I'll handle that sky demon myself!"