The Will of D. reamers (A One Piece Fanfic)

There was a fresh, salty smell whenever ocean spray filled the air as the ship cut through the waves. Some of it landed on Marcus as he pulled tight the line in his hands. He quickly tied it off with practiced ease to the railing of the ship before the line snapped tight. The wood of the ship groaned near the anchor point for the line as the mainsail pulled it tight and the ship gained more speed.

“Marcus! Help readjust the mizzenmast sails.” Benn called out from his spot near the helm.

Marcus moved towards the aft of the ship and quickly helped the other crew members as they trimmed the sails into the wind to get the best angle to increase the ships speed. Once completed Marcus moved back to his normal piston next to the main mast. Since he temporarily joined the crew for their trip to Elegia island, Marcus and his brothers turned into gofers for the crew. As long as something needed to be done that wasn’t important or needed a special skill set, one of the boys would be forced to do it.

It wasn’t that bad, all things considered, since it gave them a great chance to learn new skills that were needed on any ship out at sea. Sure a few of the jobs weren’t fun, but it was stuff that needed to be done for a ship to run properly. As for the more technical and skill based things like ship maintenance/repair or navigation. The boys were all given a chance to learn some of the basics from other crew members during the trip and so far it went pretty well. Sure Luffy didn’t learn much, but Marcus, Ace and Sabo took in everything they could from the experience.

During the two week trip to Elegia, the voyage was rather tame with almost no other ships to be found. Well they met one merchant ship, but it was only in passing as both ships were headed in opposite directions and neither one wanted to stop. Especially when the other ship realized the other ship was full of pirates. It was on the fifteenth day of the trip that Elegia island came into view and the lookout yelled down, “I see an island six degrees off the port bow!”

Benn, who was at the helm, turned to port slightly as he yelled out to the crew, “Adjust the sails to maintain speed!”

Marcus and the other quickly trimmed the sails into the wind before the lookout called out, “The island is now directly ahead. We should reach it in an hour or so if we maintain speed.”

While the rest of the crew seemed excited at the prospect of reaching the island soon, Marcus felt nervousness in his heart. He knew what was supposed to happen here and really hoped he could change it. But he still held doubts if he could. Sure he was strong for a kid, but he wasn’t that strong compared to the rest of the world. His only real hope was to stick with Uta for the whole trip and make sure she isn't tricked into performing the Tot Musica.

Marcus and his brothers kept busy as the island expanded from a tiny black dot on the horizon into a lush green island. As they closed in on the island, the lookout guided the ship towards the port where they finally docked. Since the ship flew a pirate flag, it looked like the people who lived in the area around the port completely deserted the city next to it.

Only a single person greeted them at the edge of the dock. A dignified air hung around the man who wore a white tuxedo like suit as he stood at the end of the dock with a handful of chests next to him. Shanks was one of the first people off the ship and he confidently walked up to the man as he said, “I have to say, this is a pretty unique greeting.”

The man smiled politely as he said, “Hopefully you aren't offended by it.”

Shanks waved it off as he said, “It's no big deal, but I have to ask why?”

The man bowed low for a moment as he said, “My name is Gordon and I am the current king of Elegia island.”

After the man stood back up he adjusted his black sunglasses and pointed at the chests as he said, “This is all the valuables on the island. It was prepared so you don’t have to destroy our homes looking for anything worth monetary value.”

The man started to sweat a little before he added, “I would also like to humbly request that you don't harm anyone on the island.”

Shanks smiled for a moment before he started to laugh, which made Gordon tremble slightly as he started to sweat even more. Shanks moved closer to Gordon and placed a hand on his shoulder before he said, “While I appreciate the offer. We didn't come here looking for wealth or to hurt anyone.”

Gordon looked a little relieved but still cautiously asked, “If that's not your goal, can I ask what is?”

Shanks smiled wide as he said, “To visit one of the most famous islands known the world over for its love of music!”

Shanks turned around, placed his arm over the man's shoulder and pulled him a little closer like they were best friends as he said, “Me and the crew love music, so we wanted to visit this place while we had the chance. Isn't that right everyone?”

The entire crew erupted into cheers before they started to sing happily as they finished docking the ship properly. Gordon was taken back slightly but hesitantly smiled as he said, “If that's the case let me welcome you again to Elegia, the island of musicians. We might not be rich in material wealth, but we're never lacking in music or entertainment.”

After Gordon went to get the citizens who were hidden outside of the city. The awkward atmosphere quickly disappeared and the town turned into a lively place filled with people. A unique feature of the city was the amount of small open air theaters where people could perform for the public.

They were spaced a certain distance apart so that the music played in one didn't affect any of the other ones. But they were close enough that you never stopped hearing some type of music being played as you walked around the city. The city was also cleverly designed so that the music reflected around the area of each theater.

The design made it so no matter where you were in relation to that specific theater, the music volume never changed. If you were close or far it all stayed the same volume. But once you passed the boundary to the next theater area, the music instantly changed like you turned the dial on a radio. It was strange at first but everyone quickly adapted to the unique environment.

It was ingenious honestly and Marcus seemed to be the only one interested in how it worked as they explored the town. His brothers just happily explored the new and different environment, while Uta enjoyed all the new types of music. Another thing Marcus noticed was any group or person who performed had to have a certain level of skill. Not a single theater they visited had a bad or even mediocre level performance going on.

After a few hours of wandering around, Marcus and the others headed back towards the port. It was the area where Shanks told them to come back so they could eat lunch together. Well it was more for Uta then the boys, but the boys would never turn down a free meal. So Marcus and his brothers just invited themselves when they heard about it.

The lunch was held in one of the bigger restaurants in town and the king along with a few other people were there. The main feature of this particular restaurant was a stage where a band played music while guest ate. There was also a small dance floor in front of the stage, in case people wished to dance as they waited for their food.

Marcus and the other boys sat at a long table as they happily stuffed their faces. Next to them sat Gordon who was in the middle of a conversation with Shanks as they politely ate their meal. Shanks took a drink from his mug before he asked, “So how long have you been the king of Elegia?”

“Almost a year now.”

“Sorry for your loss.” Shanks said.

Gordon looked slightly confused as he asked, “What?”

“Oh, sorry. I might have misunderstood what you meant. I thought you took over recently because a relative passed away.” Shanks said with a slightly awkward smile.

Gordon chuckled slightly before he said, “Being the ruler of Elegia is a lot different from other places. On other islands being a ruler is determined through birth, blood or other more complicated means. You also have duties and obligations to take care of your subjects.”

Gordon smiled as he looked at both of his hands and said, “To be the ruler of Elegia you must be considered the best musician. It's a title mostly for bragging rights, but like you saw today, it is also used in certain situations.”

Uta perked up at that as she asked, “Really? So I could become the queen of Elegia if I wanted?”

Gordon nodded slightly as he said, “There are rules and requirements you must meet to qualify. But if you pass them you can challenge the current ruler to a music duel.”

Uta's eyes lit up but before she could ask more about the process Gordon said, “One of the requirements is you must be a resident of the island for at least a year to even start the challenge ritual.”

As Uta started to frown, Gordon said, “While you lack the qualifications to start it, you can at least see what a challenge ritual looks like tonight if you want.”

Uta looked towards Shanks as she asked excitedly, “Can we go? Please? I really wanna watch it.”

Shanks patted Uta on the head as he said, “Sure, if it’s not a big deal.”

Gordon smiled wide as he said, “Of course not! It’s held at the island's main concert theater. Even if the island had three times its current population, it still wouldn’t be close to being filled!”

Later that night Gordon was proved to be right. The island's main concert hall was massive, it was larger than a football stadium. When Marcus asked why, Gordon explained that twice a year they would hold massive concert events and that people from all over the world would come to watch. He wasn’t lying when he said it was an island famous for its musicians.

Currently the stadium was only about one fifth full with the entire island's population being the majority. Shanks’s full crew was in attendance along with a handful of other visitors who were also staying on the island. As for the challenge ritual itself, it wasn’t that complicated.

The challenger had to have a few things to even qualify in the first place, so they didn’t waste everyone's time. First they needed to be extremely skilled in music, and have composed at least five original songs. Next they needed the recognition of at least six other accomplished musicians on the island. Once they had all of that out of the way, they could make a formal challenge to the current ruler.

The challenge ritual itself was basically a concert battle between the two people. The opening act was the six people who vouched for the challenger, each one performed one music piece each. Then the challenger would come up and play a handful of songs to prove they were worthy of making a challenge. Then the current ruler would come out and play a few songs in defense of their title. After that the challenger and defending ruler would go back and forth playing different songs for up to an hour. Afterwards the audience decided on who was the winner.

Even though Marcus wasn’t that excited about the whole thing at the start. Once Gordon and the challenger started to battle it out with songs he found it rather enjoyable. Gordon was an amazingly skilled pianist and his challenger played the violin like the devil. The duel actually went over by half an hour and by the time it ended both Gordon and the challenger were drenched in perspiration.

Marcus was so caught up in the whole thing that when he turned to ask Uta what she thought, he found her missing. For a moment Marcus froze in his seat as he tried to remember if Uta said anything about leaving. A moment later he felt a slight tremor, it was faint, but he definitely felt it.

As Marcus’s heart rate spiked, he jumped out of his seat and asked, “Did anyone see where Uta went?”

Shanks glanced over at Marcus to tease the boy, but when he saw the panicked look on the boy's face he asked, “What’s wrong Marcus?”

“We need to find Uta! We need to find her right now!”

“Settle down Marcus, I’m sure she’ll be back in just a moment.” Shanks said before another tremor shook the concert hall. This time it wasn’t faint like the last one and everyone took notice of it.