[Falling At The Final Hurdle]
In my past life, the largest boat I had ever been on was a canoe. I was twelve, at a summer camp that I could barely remember the name of, and nearly managed to drown myself by flipping it over while I was still inside. It was a vivid memory, and even to this day I could still smell the pond scum that had filled my sinuses as I was pulled out. Since then, I had stayed well away from boats or any body of water larger than a pool.
So it was somewhat ironic that I now found myself standing on the deck of a full-sized marine vessel, surrounded by ocean as far as the eye could see, with no land in sight whatsoever.
Or well, above it.
I shimmied along the main mast, holding onto the rigging as I tightened ropes along the sails. Nearly two stories above the deck, I thanked God that I didn’t have a fear of heights as I took a thick rope in calloused hands and pulled it taught before securing it around the piece of wood that I was straddling.
Once it was secure, I made my way over to the main mast and sat with my back against it, crossing my legs over one another as I looked out over the ocean.
The sea stretched out in every direction, an endless expanse of blue that seemed to go on forever. Waves crested and fell in the distance, their white caps catching the sunlight and sparkling like diamonds, and the wind was warm and salty, carrying with it the scent of brine and petrichor that indicated a storm wasn’t far out. It was the most peaceful thing I had experienced in nearly ten years.
I took a deep breath, letting the air fill my lungs. It tasted like freedom, and I found myself savoring it in a way that I hadn’t savored anything in a long time.
What now?
The question was one I had avoided asking myself in the mine, back when my path was already set to free myself and Umi or die trying. Now that that had been accomplished, what was I going to do?
The obvious answer was obvious. I needed to get Umi home. Nostra Island wasn’t on the map I had stolen, but it shouldn’t be hard to find. The ocean was vast, but there were bound to be trade routes and shipping lanes that we could follow, and someone along the way would know where it was. I would return the girl to her home and whatever family she had waiting for her, and then...
And then what?
I leaned back against the mast, tilting my head up toward the sky. Grey clouds drifted lazily in my field of vision, some dark, some as white and fluffy as cotton candy.
“Whatever I want, I guess...” I murmured to myself, the words sounding strange even as they left my lips.
My last life had been limited by the constraints of society. Bills, taxes, responsibility; they were all simply part of the human condition on Earth. You were born, you went to school, you got a job, you paid your dues, and then you died. You were a cog in a machine, and whether you liked it or not, you played your part until the day you stopped moving.
But not here. In the world of One Piece, freedom was the name of the game. If you didn’t want to be a part of polite society, you took to the seas and found one that wasn’t quite so polite. You could be anything from a bounty hunter to a royal guard in some far-off kingdom to a pirate searching for a treasure only one person would ever truly find. Whatever life you wanted, you simply had to reach out and take.
The question was, what did I want?
I had been so consumed by my depression in my old life that I had never really figured out what I wanted to do with myself. I had drifted from day to day, going through the motions of living without ever really experiencing it. The idea of having choices, of having the freedom to decide my own fate, was almost foreign to me.
I closed my eyes, imagining a world truly free, my choices spread out on a map in front of me. I could be whatever I wanted, could chase any dream that caught my fancy. Pirate, Marine, even a simple farmer on a deserted island. The world was my oyster...
So why did I feel so scared to open it up?
~~~
It was smooth sailing for the first two days. The ship had enough provisions to last us a month of good eating and at least three getting by on cured meat and dried fruit. A few slaves knew how to cook well enough to not waste ingredients so they were assigned to the kitchen while everyone else just sort of naturally fell into their own role.
My role was mostly administrative in that I walked around the ships telling people what to do. For some reason, they actually listened to me despite the fact that I was among the youngest of their number. Leading the charge against the Navy back at the mine had earned me a great deal of respect and beating Commander Aldric in a duel only increased their view of me.
Of course, that didn’t mean I didn’t do my part to keep things running as well.
The last lantern hissed to life as I touched the match to the wick, the flame flickering for a moment before settling into a steady glow. I cupped my hand around it for a moment, making sure it didn’t fade, before moving on to the next one.
It was the middle of the night and most of the crew were asleep below deck, leaving a skeleton crew to run things up here. The wheel was locked in the direction that Brogy thought would take us to land, and I and a couple others were walking around making sure that things were ship shape. The lanterns on the ship had to be lit so we could see anything, even if it was pretty bright out for the middle of the night.
I was just finishing up near the bow when I caught sight of a familiar head of blue hair out of the corner of my eye. Umi was sitting on the deck near the railing, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her shins, staring up at the sky with an unreadable expression on her face.
With a small sigh, I snuffed out my match and made my way over to her. She didn’t look up as I approached, didn’t even seem to register my presence until I sat down beside her with a soft grunt.
“You’ll catch a cold if you stay out here,” I said, leaning back against the railing and tilting my head back to look up at the sky.
Umi didn’t say anything. She just continued to stare up at the stars, her cyan eyes reflecting their light like twin pools of water. I let out another sigh, this one softer than the first, and shifted my position. Reaching behind me, I grabbed the handle of the axe that I had taken from Commander Aldric and pulled it free of the makeshift holster I had fashioned from a strip of cloth. I had thought about ditching it for one of the swords in the ship’s armory, but the truth was that it was a good weapon.
I set it down on the deck beside me, the heavy head thunking softly against the wood. With the weapon out of the way, I settled in beside Umi, pressing my shoulder against hers and tilted my head to join her.
There weren’t any clouds way up there, not like the ones that had been gathering on the horizon earlier in the day. The sky was clear and dark, a vast canvas of black dotted with countless points of light like pinpricks in a velvet sheet.
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
Umi nodded, her eyes still fixed on the heavens above. “I forgot how many there were,” she said in a small voice. “In the mine, you couldn’t see them at all. And before that... I guess I just never really cared.”
We sat in silence for a while longer, the two of us staring up at the sky like a pair of children seeing it for the first time.
“Tell me about your home,” I said eventually, turning my head to look at her. “Nostra Island. What’s it like?”
Umi’s expression shifted, something soft and wistful coming into her eyes as she thought about it. “It’s... it’s beautiful,” she said. “The whole island wraps around a big lagoon with white sand and water so clear that you can see all the way to the bottom even in the deepest parts. All kinds of fish from all over swim around the bottom and if you’re careful, you can even catch some with your hands.”
She paused, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “There’s a lighthouse on one side of the island, right on the edge of a cliff looking over the port. It’s been there for as long as anyone can remember, and it’s tall and white and it has this big bell at the top that rings whenever a ship comes into port. You can hear it all over the island.”
I closed my eyes, imagining it. “It sounds nice.”
“It is,” Umi agreed, before her smile faded slightly. “I used to climb to the top of the lighthouse all the time. The keeper was this old man with a big white beard, and he would let me help him polish the lens and refill the oil. My parents didn’t like me going up there, though. They said it was too dangerous.”
Her voice caught on the last word, and she trailed.
“I miss them,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“We’ll find them,” I said softly, reaching over to wrap my arm around her thin shoulders. “I made you a promise, didn’t I? I’m going to get you home, Umi. No matter what it takes.”
Umi leaned into my side, and I wrapped a comforting arm around her. We stayed like that for a long time, watching the stars wheel overhead as the ship rocked gently on the waves. The sound of the ocean was soothing, the ebb and flow of the waves lapping against the hull. It was the most at peace I had felt since arriving in this world.
Eventually, Umi’s breathing began to slow, her body growing heavy against my side as sleep crept up on her. I shifted my position slightly, letting her head rest against my shoulder, and wrapped my other arm around her as well. She mumbled something in her sleep, too quiet for me to make out, and I tightened my hold on her.
“Just sleep,” I murmured into her hair. “I’ve got you.”
She did, and I stayed there with her long after she had drifted off, watching the stars until my own eyes grew heavy and the night faded into dreams.
~~~
The next day found me back up in the rigging, adjusting the sails for what felt like the hundredth time. The wind had shifted overnight, and the sails needed to be reoriented if we wanted to keep moving in the right direction. It required me to climb halfway up the main mast and hang off the side while I wrestled with ropes that seemed determined to tangle themselves at every opportunity.
Why is it always me doing this? I grumbled internally as I yanked a particularly stubborn knot free. We had over a hundred people on this ship and apparently I was the only one who could figure out which way the wind was blowing. It wasn’t exactly rocket science.
“Irana!” A voice bellowed from below, and I looked down to see Jerrik standing on the deck, looking up at me with hands cupped around his mouth. “Get down here! The sky’s turning!”
I frowned, looking up toward the horizon. Sure enough, the sky that stretched out before me was beginning to darken, with distant clouds taking dark shapes that spoke of bad weather to come. Already, the wind was picking up, catching my hair and making me squint into the distance.
Great. Just what we need.
I scrambled down from the mast, dropping the last few feet to the deck with a grunt. Jerrik was already moving toward the helm, his injured leg making his gait awkward and uneven.
“How bad is it?” I asked as I fell into step beside him.
Jerrik shook his head. “Hard to tell, but bad enough. That storm stretches pretty far. There won’t be any outrunning it so we’ll need to weather it.”
I looked back toward the horizon, where the dark clouds were growing thicker by the minute. Even as I watched, they seemed to be spreading across the sky like ink dropped in water, swallowing up the blue stretches of day with alarming speed. The wind snapped at the sails, sending loose ropes slapping against the mast.
“How long do we have?”
“An hour. Maybe less.” Jerrik shook his head, his expression grim. “I’m sorry, Irana. I should have been paying more attention.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “You’ve been cooped up in that mine as long as the rest of us. We’re just doing the best we can.”
Jerrik’s mouth twitched, though it couldn’t quite form a smile. “Let’s hope our best is good enough.”
We set to work immediately. I barked orders to the freed slaves who were well enough to help. Ropes were secured, cargo was lashed down, and the sails were reefed so they wouldn’t catch as much wind. Jerrik took the helm, his massive hands gripping the wheel tightly as he tried to keep us on a course that would take us through the worst of the storm rather than directly into it.
Tension settled as we sailed deeper into the darkened clouds. In less than an hour, the squall was upon us.
The sky and sea turned black as night as the forces of nature battered at our vessel. Wind howled and the deck became slippery and treacherous as water lashed across the wooden planks.
“Hold on to something!” I screamed over the roar of the wind, though I doubted anyone could hear me. Rain and salt water fell across us in sheets, and cargo that someone had failed to secure rolled around the deck, slamming against the rails and cannons with abandon. I grabbed hold of the nearest mast and wrapped my arms around it, my fingers digging into the wood so hard that I felt splinters drive themselves under my nails.
The ship crested a wave and then dropped down the other side like a rollercoaster, sending my stomach lurching into my throat. I could hear screaming somewhere behind me, but I couldn’t tell if it was fear or pain. There was no time to check, no time to do anything but hold on and pray that the ship held together.
Please don’t let this be it for us, I prayed. Don’t be cruel to them, giving them freedom just to snatch it away.
I wasn’t sure who I was praying to. The entity that had sent me here? God? The universe? It didn’t matter. None of them seemed to be listening anyway.
Another wave crashed over the deck, this one strong enough to wash several feet of water across the ship’s surface. I felt the mast shudder beneath my grip, and for a terrifying moment I thought it was going to snap. But the wood held, and I held with it, my muscles screaming in protest as I fought to keep my grip.
“Irana!”
The voice cut through the howling wind and straight across my heart. I turned my head just in time to see Umi come tumbling across the deck. She had been holding onto a rope near the bow, but a sudden lurch of the ship had sent her sprawling, and now she was sliding toward the railing with her fingers scrabbling uselessly against the wet wood.
For a single, breathless moment, our eyes made contact. Her’s, wide and terrified, and mine much the same.
The deck pitched beneath me as I threw myself forward, my hands reaching for Umi’s small body as she slid closer and closer to the edge. My fingers closed around her wrist just as her legs went over the side, and the weight of her body nearly pulled me off my feet.
“Hold on!” I screamed over the wind, my other hand grabbing hold of the railing. The wood was slick with rain and seawater, and my grip kept threatening to slip. Umi dangled below me, her feet kicking at nothing as the ocean churned beneath her like a living thing, desperate to drag her under.
“Irana! I’m slipping!” Umi cried out, her voice shrill with terror. I could feel her wrist sliding through my fingers, the rain making it impossible to keep a solid grip.
“No you’re not!” I snarled through gritted teeth, hauling her up with everything I had. Her skin was slippery and hard to hold onto, but I managed and inch by agonizing inch, I dragged her back over the railing and onto the deck. She collapsed against me, shaking like a leaf and whimpering as I held her tightly.
“Jerrik!” I bellowed, looking towards the giant who was wrestling with the wheel. “Take her!”
I shoved Umi in his direction just as the ship pitched on that side. She scrambled across the deck on her hands and knees until she reached his side, and Jerrik hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her close, anchoring her to his body as he continued to fight the wheel.
The relief that flooded through me at seeing her safe was short-lived. A sound reached my ears over the roar of the storm, a deep, groaning creak that seemed to reverberate through the very bones of the ship. I looked up just in time to see one of the cargo ropes snap like a rubber band, sending a heavy wooden crate sliding across the deck toward me.
I tried to move, but the ship chose that exact moment to pitch in the opposite direction and my feet went out from under me. I hit the deck hard, the breath driven from my lungs as the crate slammed into the railing right where I had been standing a second ago. It splintered apart on impact, sending shards of wood and cargo flying in every direction.
“Irana, watch out!” Umi’s scream reached me just as another wave crashed over the deck and into my side. My world was washed away under a deluge of salty water, and suddenly I was sliding, tumbling, rolling across the deck with no way to stop myself. My hands reached for something to grab onto, but there was nothing but wet wood and slippery rope that bit into my hand but refused to grant me purchase.
Then the railing was there, and then it wasn’t.
I went over the side so fast that I barely had time to register what was happening. One second I was on the deck of the ship, the next I was falling, and then the ocean swallowed me whole.
In movies or shows, whenever someone falls into the ocean or even a large lake, they always made it seem like a minor inconvenience. One moment they’re underwater, and the next they’re treading it like a fishing bob, gasping for air but otherwise alright.
Those movies were absolute bullshit.
Falling into the sea was like being plunged into a vat of ice water. It drove the air from my lungs in a shock and dragged me deeper as I flailed for any sense of direction. Up, down, left, right; everything became meaningless in the weightless void and I couldn’t fucking see.
I thrashed wildly, my arms and legs kicking out as my primal mind searched for something solid in the drink. Saltwater filled my sinuses, burning my throat and making me cough which only let in even more water. My lungs screamed for air, and my chest felt like it was going to explode from the pressure of the ocean weighing down on me from all sides.
Something hard struck me in the side, and I let out a gasp that I immediately regretted as more water rushed into my lungs. I couldn’t tell if it was a piece of the ship or just debris from the storm, but it sent me spinning in a random direction that could have been up or down for all I knew.
My chest burned from the lack of oxygen, an all-consuming fire that seemed to radiate outward from my lungs and consume every fiber of my being. It was the most painful thing I had ever experienced, which was really saying something, given the life I had lived.
I continued to thrash, my limbs moving in erratic, uncoordinated bursts as I tried to find the surface. But the ocean was a chaotic mess of currents and debris, and every time I thought I was swimming up, I found myself being dragged back down by some invisible force. The storm above me was a maelstrom of churning water and howling wind, and I was caught in its grip like a leaf in a whirlpool.
This is it, I thought, the words echoing through my mind with a strange sense of calm. This is how it ends.
It was almost funny, in a morbid sort of way. I had survived four years in a seastone mine, beaten and starved and worked to the bone. I had survived a battle against armed marines, had a fight to the death with a marine commander and come out on top, and now I was going to die because of a storm. Not a villain, not a tragic sacrifice, just... bad luck.
I didn’t stop fighting, but there was nothing I could do as the fight left me anyway. My body was exhausted, my lungs were full of water, and the surface was nowhere in sight. I felt myself sink, my limbs drifting outward as I surrendered to the pull of the ocean.
As the darkness closed in around me, I found myself thinking about the strangest things. I thought about Andrew and Bianca, and how I had never gotten the chance to say goodbye to them properly, about the life I had left behind, the one filled with grey nothingness that was even more unbearable than slavery. And I thought about Umi, her small hand clutching my shirt as she looked up at me with those big cyan eyes, begging me not to leave her.
I had fought for four years in that godforsaken mine, struggling to survive day after day, promising myself and Umi that I would get us out. And I succeeded, only to be swallowed by the sea before I could see my efforts bear fruit.
There was a certain poetry to it, I supposed. A tragic irony that would have made for a compelling story if I wasn’t the one living it. The girl who wanted nothing more than to die, finally given a reason to live, only to have it snatched away before she could truly appreciate it.
And that was the crux of it, wasn’t it? For the first time in either of my lives, I didn’t want to die.
The realization curled up in my head and made itself at home. I didn’t want to die—not here, not now, not like this. I wanted to see Umi again. I wanted to watch her face light up when we got back to civilization and when we brought her home. I wanted to see her unite with her family and visit that lighthouse with her.
I wanted… to explore this new world, to see the islands and the people and the wonders that I had only ever seen through a screen. I wanted to find out if I was capable of being happy, or at least content with this new existence that had been thrust onto me.
I wanted to live.
But the ocean didn’t care about what I wanted.
My body had stopped thrashing, the last of my strength depleted by a fight that I was never going to win. The current pulled me deeper, and I could feel my consciousness slipping away like sand through my fingers. The burning in my lungs had faded to a dull ache, and the darkness that had been encroaching on the edges of my vision was slowly swallowing everything else.
Somewhere above me, through the impossible depths that separated us, I imagined I could hear Umi calling my name. I knew it was practically impossible, but it brought me a small amount of comfort as my world faded away.
I’m sorry... I thought, and then didn’t think anymore.